A patronymic is a name or surname that indicates belonging to a family or caste.
The Greek word patrōnymikós came into Late Latin as patronymĭcus , which is the closest etymological antecedent of the term patronymic . It is an adjective that refers to a surname or a name formed to indicate a lineage, a filiation or ancestry .
First or last names
Patronymics can be given names or surnames. They arose in ancient times from the names of parents or other ancestors , allowing to designate membership in a family , caste or clan .
In Spain , for example, the father gave his son the patronymic surname according to his own name. In this way, Rodrigo's son was Rodriguez , while Alvaro's son was Alvarez . This is how numerous surnames were formed that are very common today: Dominguez ( Domingo ), Fernandez ( Fernando ), Gonzalez ( Gonzalo ), Hernandez ( Hernando or Hernan ), Martinez ( Martin ), Ramirez ( Ramiro ), etc.
It is important to note that the way patronymics are formed depends on each culture . In Slavic nations, it is common for it to be a form derived from the name of the ancestor and used after the given name, thus becoming the second name of the individual in question.
In Russia , for example, it is common for patronymics to be developed with the endings -ichna , -ovna or -ievna for women and with the endings -evich or -ovich for men. In Russian society, people are usually called by their first name and patronymic in official or formal settings , as a sign of respect and education.
Uncertain origin
Although this concept has been discussed in countless sources, there is no consensus about the origin of this system of creating names and surnames. In fact, in this regard we must point out that there are several hypotheses, each of which can provide us with a point of view and a theoretical basis for approaching the history of patronymics. We can begin with the Latin hypothesis : in Latin, the so-called genitive case is used, a declension that denotes "descent or ownership ", and which is recognized by the ending ius .
In this way, patronymics such as Gratius arose, from Gratus , as well as Gratidius , for the son of the first, or Quintos , Quintius and Quintilius . When Neo-Latin was formed, and eventually our language, the transition towards the creation of surnames based on the father's name began, as we pointed out in previous paragraphs, although this took a long time and was not a clear or well-defined process. This is due, in part, to the fact that many people did not know how to read or write, so that some combinations did not respond to the same rules. Some current examples are Ruiz, Ferraz and Paez , from Rodericus, Ferrando and Pay , respectively.
Patronymics are officially printed on identity documents.
Moving on to the Germanic hypothesis , we can say that the most common patronymics of the Crown of Castile have the suffixes az, ez, iz and oz , which denote the same meaning as ius . Its origin is not known precisely, but it is believed to be related to the Gothic language , in which this ending is also commonly found in its patronymics.
Finally, we have the Basque hypothesis , according to which these endings indicating belonging are similar to the effect produced by the Basque suffix -z, which gives us Muñoz and Antúnez , based on Munio and Antón . Although there seem to be exceptions today, such as the patronymic Galíndez , which should end in oz since it derives from Galindo , there is evidence from the 10th to the 12th centuries in which we find several surnames that do respond to the aforementioned rule, and among them is Galíndoz .