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Surname law

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Surname law can refer to any law regulating the use of surnames.

Canada

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Main article: Disc number

From 1941 to 1978, the Government of Canada issued disc numbers to identify Inuit in their records. In the mid-1960s Project Surname began, and, headed by Abe Okpik, Inuit were given surnames in a similar manner to how surnames were used among Canadians of European descent.

Iceland

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Icelandic law enforces the conventions of Icelandic names, which require that the last name be derived from a given name of the father or mother, suffixed with "-son" or "-dóttir". The law allows both derivations to be used, and for foreign last names to be inherited or kept by foreigners. This means that a father, mother, and child will all typically have different last names.[1] Foreigners who marry an Icelander and get Icelandic citizenship can take the last name of their partner, or a patronym or matronym from the name of a parent or parent-in-law; these possibilities are not necessarily open to native Icelanders.[2]

Further information: Icelandic Naming Committee

Iran

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Main article: Persian name § Surnames

Reza Shah Pahlavi ordered Iranians to adopt Western style surnames in place of old Islamic names and titles during his reign.[3]

Japan

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A law in Japan, dating from 1896, requires a married couple to have a common surname. Most commonly it was the wife who took her husband's name. In 2011, this law was challenged as unconstitutional on gender equality grounds, but the Supreme Court of Japan upheld the law in 2015.[4] The law was challenged again in 2018, and the Court upheld it again in 2021.[5][6]

Spanish-ruled Philippines

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The Catálogo alfabético de apellidos (English: Alphabetical Catalogue of Surnames;) is a book of surnames in the Philippines and other islands of Spanish East Indies published in the mid-19th century. This was in response to a Spanish colonial decree establishing the distribution of Spanish family names and local surnames among colonial subjects who did not have a prior surname. It is also the reason why Filipinos share some of the same surnames as many Spaniards and other Hispanic countries.[7] Among Filipinos, a Spanish surname does not necessarily imply Spanish ancestry.

The book was created after Spanish Governor-General Narciso Clavería y Zaldúa issued a decree on November 21, 1849, to address the lack of a standard naming convention.[8] Newly-Christianised Filipinos often chose the now-ubiquitous surnames of de los Santos, de la Cruz, del Rosario, and Bautista for religious reasons; others preferred names of well-known local rulers such as Lacandola.[citation needed] To complicate matters further, discrepancies like family members holding different surnames would hinder some of the colonial government's activities such as taking a census and tax collection.

Prussian-ruled Poland

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Prussia tasked the implementation of surnames to E. T. A. Hoffmann.[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]

Thailand

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According to the current law, Person Name Act, BE 2505 (1962), to create a new Thai name, it must not be longer than ten Thai letters, excluding vowel symbols and diacritics.[17] The same law also forbids the creation of a surname that duplicated any existing surnames, but there are some duplicates dating to the time before computer databases were available to prevent this.[18] Some creations added the name of their location (muban, tambon or amphoe) into surnames, similar to family name suffixes.[19][20][21]

Turkey

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Main article: Surname Law (Turkey)

On 21 June 1934, Turkey adopted the Surname Law which required all its citizens to adopt and use Western-style surnames. Only names with Turkish origin were permitted, and non-Turks with pre-existing surnames were required to adopt new Turkish names.

See also

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  • Naming law – Various laws restricting the names that parents can legally give to their children

References

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  1. ^ "The peculiarities of Icelandic naming". 24 February 2013.
  2. ^ "Icelandic Naming Laws | Iceland Review". Archived from the original on 2015-04-05.
  3. ^ "Disenchanted Worlds:Secularization and Democratization in the Middle East". September 12, 2006. Archived from the original on 2006-09-12.
  4. ^ "Japan upholds rule that married couples must have same surname". TheGuardian.com. 16 December 2015.
  5. ^ "Japan's top court says forcing couples to share surname is constitutional". The Japan Times. 23 June 2021.
  6. ^ Note, Recent Case: Japanese Supreme Court Holds That Forcing Couples to Share a Surname is Constitutional, 135 Harv. L. Rev. 1504 (2022).
  7. ^ Danico, Mary Yu (19 August 2014). Asian American Society: An Encyclopedia. SAGE Publications. p. 670. ISBN 9781483365602. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  8. ^ Woods, Damon L. (2006). The Philippines: A Global Studies Handbook. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781851096756. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  9. ^ "ORIGINS OF JEWISH SURNAMES". www.mrshea.com. Retrieved 2022-10-28.
  10. ^ "Bestowing Jewish surnames in Partitioned Poland | Family History Research in Eastern Europe". Archived from the original on 2016-04-16. Retrieved 2016-03-31.
  11. ^ "Why Did Jewish Immigrants from Europe Change Their Names when They Arrived in North America? - Zippy Facts".
  12. ^ "Re: Partitions of Poland and Jewish surnames". Archived from the original on 2016-04-12. Retrieved 2016-03-31.
  13. ^ "Trees, flowers, mountains, stones". 22 February 2007.
  14. ^ Norman Davies (1996). Europe: A History. Oxford University Press. pp. 169, 731. ISBN 978-0-19-820171-7.
  15. ^ Leopold Tyrmand (31 March 2014). Diary 1954. Northwestern University Press. pp. 362–. ISBN 978-0-8101-6749-0.
  16. ^ Doug Lennox (6 December 2013). Now You Know Absolutely Everything: Absolutely every Now You Know book in a single ebook. Dundurn. pp. 452–. ISBN 978-1-4597-2478-5.
  17. ^ รศ. ดร.นิตยา กาญจนะวรรณ. เรื่องของนามสกุล (๑) (in Thai). Royal Institute of Thailand. Archived from the original on 2014-12-28. Retrieved 2014-12-28.
  18. ^ รศ. ดร.นิตยา กาญจนะวรรณ. เรื่องของนามสกุล (๒) (in Thai). Royal Institute of Thailand. Archived from the original on 2014-12-28. Retrieved 2014-12-28.
  19. ^ สุวรรณ ทำเสมอดี (1995). นามสกุลชาวโคราช [Surnames of Korat people] (in Thai). Retrieved 2014-12-28. ในจังหวัดนครราชสีมาหรือโคราชนั้น นิยมตั้งนามสกุลตามภูมิลำเนาที่เกิด หรืออยู่อาศัย ใช้ชื่อตำบล อำเภอ และหมู่บ้านเป็นส่วนท้ายของนามสกุล
  20. ^ "อำเภอโนนสูง" [Non Sung District]. Ministry of Culture (Thailand). Archived from the original on 2014-12-28. Retrieved 2014-12-28. ชาวอำเภอโนนสูง ส่วนใหญ่ จะมีนามสกุล ลงท้ายด้วยคำว่า "กลาง" ซึ่งเป็นชื่อเดิมของอำเภอ เป็นส่วนใหญ่ ซึ่งเป็นเอกลักษณ์ของชาวอำเภอโนนสูง เช่นเดียวกับอำเภออื่น ๆ ในจังหวัดนครราชสีมา ที่นิยมลงท้ายนามสกุลด้วยชื่ออำเภอDOC(in Thai)
  21. ^ ต้นตระกูลไธสง (in Thai). Archived from the original on December 1, 2014. Retrieved 2014-12-28.
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