PATRONYMICS

What does PATRONYMIC mean? Patronymic means a name that is acquired from a person’s father’s first name. A name that is based on the name of a person’s mother is called matronymic. Each of these is a way of conveying one’s lineage. In many countries, the use of patrynomics predates the use of surnames. While some cultures use patrynomics, others use surnames, and some cultures, like Russia, use both a patrynomic and a surname in their naming systems. A patronymic name is often formed by adding a prefix or suffix to a name. Some suffix examples would be these German place names: -burg (castle) and -berg (mountain). Some names were derived from occupations, location of your land, or where you originated from. Another example would be my DIRKSEN surname from Moordorf, Germany. Frerich Dirk settled in Moordorf by 1782. Then in the early 1800’s, settlers in the area took on surnames. Frerich Dirk’s line took the Dirk surname because he was the first settler in Moordorf and added ~sen to the name, which means—family of. So, we have Dirksen, the family of Dirk. I find it quite exciting piecing together the puzzle of patronymics!


Written and Researched by Karla Archuleta