Since 1992
Print and digital marketing
By Barbara McAllister
Word of the Day: Surname
A woman at the post office filling out a form wanted to know if her surname was her first name or her last name. The correct answer is, “it depends.” In America, a surname is the last name, or family name. The “sur” prefix refers to “over, above or in addition,” as used in surface, surcharge, and even survive and surveillance.
As we become more global, the answer to the name question is not quite as straightforward. The family name as last name is a Western convention, used primarily in European countries and countries they have influenced. In some African countries, a person’s legal name consists of their given name followed by the given name of a parent and the given name of a grandparent. The legal name may include the father’s full name and grandfather’s names where the father’s name becomes the middle name. Unlike Western naming traditions, different generations do not have the same last names. Classical Middle Eastern names have at least four components: a first name, father’s name, grandfather’s name and family name. It may also include personal, descriptive, geographical, tribal, occupational or nicknames derived from a person’s trade or family history. As in many African names, an individual’s name may be a string of multiple names reflecting their personal family history.
Many Asian countries list the family name first followed by the given name. When addressing people in Chinese, the order is surname, first name, middle name. Some traditions include family name, generational Indicator and given name. Asian athletes or actors who become known in the west often change to the Western order for simplicity. Yao Ming, the Houston Rockets superstar, was accused of flaunting convention by wearing his first name on the back of his NBA jersey, a misunderstanding of the Chinese naming convention. His westernized name is Ming Yao. Jackie Chan is known by his real name, Chan Kong-sang, in his native Hong Kong.
Thanks to increasing globalization, the answer to Shakespeare’s famous question “What’s in a name?” may be, “More than you think.”
