English

Noun

patronymy ‎(countable and uncountable, plural patronymies)

1. The practice of naming children after their fathers.
   • 1998, Chris Wickham, Community and Clientele in Twelfth-century Tuscany, ISBN 0198207042:

     Neither of the two other Rodolfi in the oath can be Rodolfo di Andrea, it should he added, for they have other patronymies; and there are almost no other Rodolfi in the documents.

   • 2007, Anne Lorene Chambers, Misconceptions, ISBN 0802082467:

     The practice of women taking their husbands' names has been critiqued but little discussion of the impact of patronymy on children has occurred.

   • 2009, Rebecca Probert, ‎Stephen Gilmore, & ‎Jonathan Herring, Responsible Parents and Parental Responsibility, ISBN 1847315054, page 120:

     Patronymy often reflects and reinforces a number of gender stereotypes. It is claimed that: By the rules of patronymy, therefore, the woman is symbolically compelled into a posture of existential derivation, dependence, and submission.

   • 2009, Yasmeen Abu-Laban, Gendering the Nation-State: Canadian and Comparative Perspectives, ISBN 0774858346:

     In what follows, I will argue that the ongoing legal and social tolerance of patronymy reinforces a monovocal notion of womanhood, thereby striking at the heart of women's right to liberty and unique personality.

2. A son's name which is derived from his father's name.
   • 1862, Leonhard Schmitz, Grammar of the Latin language, page 168:

     Masculine patronymies commonly terminate in ides, which is added to the stem of the proper name— as Priamides, Cecropides (from Cecrops).

   • 2005, Rāḥēl Ḥak̲lîlî, Jewish Funerary Customs, Practices And Rites In The Second Temple Period, ISBN 9004123733:

     In the Hanan (Ananus or Annas) family of high priests (first century CE) recurrent names are Hanan (Ananus), a patronymy repeated for three generations, and Matthias.

3. An extended family grouping centered around the father's family.
   • 1986, James George Frazer, Marriage and Worship in Early Societies - Volume 2, page xx:

     It was a hierarchical group which consisted of concentric 'circles which formed patronymies of the first, second and tertiary order. A totality of patronymies made up a Patriarchal Clan.

   • 1978, Soviet Anthropology and Archeology: - Volume 17, page 5:

     However, the sib and the joint family are two social units differing totally in their structure. For this reason the patronymy must be borne in mind here. As M. O. Kosven writes, the patronymy is a group of families, joint or nuclear, that came into being as the result of segmentation of a single patriarchal family commune.