- published: 20 Mar 2015
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A family name (in Western contexts often referred to as a surname or last name) is typically a part of a person's name which has been passed, according to law or custom, from one or both parents to their children. The use of family names is common in many cultures around the world. Each culture has its own rules as to how these names are applied and used.
Having both a family name and given name ("first name", "forename", or "Christian name") is far from universal. In many countries it is common for ordinary people to have only one name (a mononym).
In many cultures (particularly in European and European influenced cultures in the Americas, Australia, etc., as well as the Middle East, South Asia, and most African cultures), the family name is normally the last part of a person's name. In other cultures, the family name comes first. The latter is often called the Eastern order because Europeans are most familiar with the examples from East Asia, specifically China, Korea, Japan and Vietnam. The Eastern order is also used in Hungary, Romania and in parts of Africa. Since family names are normally written last in European societies (except in Hungary and Romania), the term last name is commonly used for family name, while in East Asia (with vertical writing) the family name may be referred to as upper name (as in Japanese ue-no-namae (上の名前?)).