Birth name

Last updated

A birth name is the name given to a person upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth register may by that fact alone become the person's legal name. [1]

Contents

Maiden and married names

The French and English-adopted née is the feminine past participle of naître, which means "to be born". is the masculine form. [2]

The term née, having feminine grammatical gender, can be used to denote a woman's surname at birth that has been replaced or changed. In most English-speaking cultures, it is specifically applied to a woman's maiden name after her surname has changed due to marriage. [3] The term can be used to denote a man's surname at birth that has subsequently been replaced or changed. [4] The diacritic mark (the acute accent) over the e is considered significant to its spelling, and ultimately its meaning, but is sometimes omitted. [4]

According to Oxford University's Dictionary of Modern English Usage , the terms are typically placed after the current surname (e.g., "Margaret Thatcher, née Roberts" or "Bill Clinton, né Blythe"). [5] [4] Since they are terms adopted into English (from French), they do not have to be italicized, but they often are. [5]

In Polish tradition, the term z domu (literally meaning "of the house", de domo in Latin) may be used, with rare exceptions, meaning the same as née. [a]

Notes

  1. In historical contexts, "de domo" may refer to a Polish heraldic clan, e.g. "Paulus de Glownia nobilis de domo Godzamba" (Paul of Glownia noble family, of Godziemba coat of arms). See also De domo (disambiguation).

Related Research Articles

Surname conventions and laws vary around the world. This article gives an overview of surnames around the world.

Many words in the English vocabulary are of French origin, most coming from the Anglo-Norman spoken by the upper classes in England for several hundred years after the Norman Conquest, before the language settled into what became Modern English. English words of French origin, such as art, competition, force, machine, and table are pronounced according to English rules of phonology, rather than French, and are commonly used by English speakers without any consciousness of their French origin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Y</span> Penultimate letter of the Latin alphabet

Y, or y, is the twenty-fifth and penultimate letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. According to some authorities, it is the sixth vowel letter of the English alphabet. Its name in English is wye, plural wyes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surname</span> Hereditary portion of a personal name

A surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several given names and surnames are possible in the full name. In modern times the "hereditary" requirement is a traditional, although common, interpretation, since in most countries a person has a right for a name change.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shri</span> Sanskrit honorific

Shri is a Sanskrit term denoting resplendence, wealth and prosperity, primarily used as an honorific.

A gender-specific job title is a name of a job that also specifies or implies the gender of the person performing that job. For example, in English, the job titles stewardess and seamstress imply that the person is female, whilst the corresponding job titles steward and seamster imply that the person is male. A gender-neutral job title, on the other hand, is one that does not specify or imply gender, such as firefighter or lawyer. In some cases, it may be debatable whether a title is gender-specific; for example, chairman appears to denote a male, but the title is also applied sometimes to women.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Given name</span> Part of a personal name

A given name is the part of a personal name that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group who have a common surname. The term given name refers to a name usually bestowed at or close to the time of birth, usually by the parents of the newborn. A Christian name is the first name which is given at baptism, in Christian custom.

Personal names in German-speaking Europe consist of one or several given names and a surname. The Vorname is usually gender-specific. A name is usually cited in the "Western order" of "given name, surname". The most common exceptions are alphabetized list of surnames, e.g. "Bach, Johann Sebastian", as well as some official documents and spoken southern German dialects. In most of this, the German conventions parallel the naming conventions in most of Western and Central Europe, including English, Dutch, Italian, and French. There are some vestiges of a patronymic system as they survive in parts of Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, but these do not form part of the official name.

A misnomer is a name that is incorrectly or unsuitably applied. Misnomers often arise because something was named long before its correct nature was known, or because an earlier form of something has been replaced by a later form to which the name no longer suitably applies. A misnomer may also be a word that is used incorrectly or misleadingly. The word "misnomer" does not mean "misunderstanding" or "popular misconception", and a number of misnomers remain in common usage — which is to say that a word being a misnomer does not necessarily make usage of the word incorrect.

Lady is a term for a woman who behaves in a polite way. Once used to describe only women of a high social class or status, the female counterpart of lord, now it may refer to any adult woman, as gentleman can be used for men.

Mrs. or Mrs is a commonly used English honorific for women, usually for those who are married and who do not instead use another title or rank, such as Doctor, ProfessorPresident, Dame, etc. In most Commonwealth countries, a full stop (period) is usually not used with the title. In the United States and Canada a period is usually used.

Gospodar or hospodar, also gospodin for short version, is a term of Slavic origin, meaning "lord" or "master". The compound is a derivative of gospod / gospodin, transl. (L)ord / gentleman or Sir, or when spelled with a capital G it translates as Lord for God.

An augmentative is a morphological form of a word which expresses greater intensity, often in size but also in other attributes. It is the opposite of a diminutive.

Bachelorette (/ˌbætʃələˈrɛt/) is a term used in American English for a single, unmarried woman. The term is derived from the word bachelor, and is often used by journalists, editors of popular magazines, and some individuals. "Bachelorette" was famously the term used to refer to female contestants on the old The Dating Game TV show and, more recently, The Bachelorette.

French names typically consist of one or multiple given names, and a surname. One given name, usually the first, and the surname are used in a person's daily life, with the other given names used mainly in official documents. Middle names, in the English sense, do not exist. Initials are not used to represent second or further given names.

Polish names have two main elements: the given name, and the surname. The usage of personal names in Poland is generally governed by civil law, church law, personal taste and family custom.

A Turkish name consists of an ad or an isim and a soyadı or soyisim (surname). Turkish names exist in a "full name" format. While there is only one soyadı (surname) in the full name there may be more than one ad. Married women may carry both their maiden and husband's surnames. The soyadı is written as the last element of the full name, after all given names.

In the English language, the term negro is a term historically used to refer to people of Black African heritage. The term negro means the color black in Spanish and Portuguese, where English took it from. The term can be viewed as offensive, inoffensive, or completely neutral, largely depending on the region or country where it is used, as well as the time period and context in which it is applied. It has various equivalents in other languages of Europe.

Billion is a word for a large number, and it has two distinct definitions:

References

  1. "French administration must routinely use woman's maiden name in letters". The Connexion . 27 January 2014. Retrieved 1 February 2014. Laws have existed since the French Revolution stating that 'no citizen can use a first name or surname other than that written on their birth certificate' – but many official organisations address both partners by the husband's surname.
  2. "nee", The Free Dictionary, retrieved 5 July 2023
  3. "née – definition of née in English from the Oxford dictionary". Archived from the original on 13 January 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 Butterfield, Jeremy (10 March 2016). Fowler's Concise Dictionary of Modern English Usage. Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-106230-8.
  5. 1 2 Garner, Bryan (11 March 2016). Garner's Modern English Usage. Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-049150-5.