"family name" meaning in English

See family name in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: family names [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun}} family name (plural family names)
  1. Synonym of surname: a name designating a person as a member of a family. Synonyms: surname [synonym, synonym-of]
    Sense id: en-family_name-en-noun-Xx95Q0KI Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 45 1 54 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 47 2 51 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 48 1 50
  2. A family’s honor or reputation.
    Sense id: en-family_name-en-noun-Wx74pgRq
  3. (uncommon) A given name common within a family or given because of another family member. Tags: uncommon Categories (topical): Onomastics
    Sense id: en-family_name-en-noun-080zbqJI Disambiguation of Onomastics: 28 1 72 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 45 1 54 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 47 2 51 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 48 1 50

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "family names",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "family name (plural family names)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "45 1 54",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "47 2 51",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "48 1 50",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "In the Chinese name Mao Zedong, Mao is the family name and Zedong is the given name.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of surname: a name designating a person as a member of a family."
      ],
      "id": "en-family_name-en-noun-Xx95Q0KI",
      "links": [
        [
          "surname",
          "surname#English"
        ],
        [
          "name",
          "name"
        ],
        [
          "designating",
          "designating"
        ],
        [
          "person",
          "person"
        ],
        [
          "member",
          "member"
        ],
        [
          "family",
          "family"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "extra": "a name designating a person as a member of a family",
          "tags": [
            "synonym",
            "synonym-of"
          ],
          "word": "surname"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1814, Maria Edgeworth, chapter VI, in Patronage. […], volume I, London: […] [J. M‘Creery] for J[oseph] Johnson and Co., […], →OCLC, page 199:",
          "text": "He says, however, that he is sure he is happier, even in this situation, than are some of his cousins at this instant, who are struggling in poverty to be genteel, or to keep up a family name, and he would not change places with those who are in a state of idle and opprobrious dependance.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1829 November, “Art[icle] XVIII.—Die Bildhauer; Roman, von Karoline von Woltmann. (The Sculptors, a Novel, by Caroline Woltmann.) […]”, in The Foreign Quarterly Review, volume V, number IX, London: Treuttel and Würtz, Treuttel, Jun. and Richter, […], published 1830, page 338:",
          "text": "A certain worthy individual, Udalrich, Count of Auffemried and Bishop of Bamberg, who lived some three or four centuries ago, was equally bent upon raising his family name as high as possible, and upon providing as liberally for the younger branches of his race as for its head.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Gilbert Morris, chapter 13, in The Mermaid in the Basement (The Lady Trent Mysteries; 1), Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson, →ISBN, page 170:",
          "text": "I’m talking about that actor you’ve been running around with all over town. You’re going to ruin the family name!",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A family’s honor or reputation."
      ],
      "id": "en-family_name-en-noun-Wx74pgRq",
      "links": [
        [
          "family",
          "family"
        ],
        [
          "honor",
          "honor"
        ],
        [
          "reputation",
          "reputation"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "45 1 54",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "47 2 51",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "48 1 50",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "28 1 72",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Onomastics",
          "orig": "en:Onomastics",
          "parents": [
            "Linguistics",
            "Names",
            "Language",
            "Social sciences",
            "All topics",
            "Proper nouns",
            "Terms by semantic function",
            "Communication",
            "Sciences",
            "Society",
            "Fundamental",
            "Nouns",
            "Lemmas"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Yeah, we named her Mildred. It's an old family name. Don't worry, though. She also has four middle names to choose from.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1840 March, John Bowring, “Memoirs of Jeremy Bentham”, in Tait’s Edinburgh Magazine for 1840, volume VII, number LXXV, Edinburgh: William Tait, […], page 169, column 1:",
          "text": "He had the name of Jeremy given to him, because Jeremiah, as his father said, was a family name; and there was an advantage in curtailing a syllable, and in shewing a preference towards the names of the New Testament over those of the old.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A given name common within a family or given because of another family member."
      ],
      "id": "en-family_name-en-noun-080zbqJI",
      "links": [
        [
          "given name",
          "given name"
        ],
        [
          "common",
          "common"
        ],
        [
          "family",
          "family"
        ],
        [
          "given",
          "given"
        ],
        [
          "because of",
          "because of"
        ],
        [
          "another",
          "another"
        ],
        [
          "member",
          "member"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(uncommon) A given name common within a family or given because of another family member."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncommon"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "family name"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "en:Onomastics"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "family names",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "family name (plural family names)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "In the Chinese name Mao Zedong, Mao is the family name and Zedong is the given name.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of surname: a name designating a person as a member of a family."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "surname",
          "surname#English"
        ],
        [
          "name",
          "name"
        ],
        [
          "designating",
          "designating"
        ],
        [
          "person",
          "person"
        ],
        [
          "member",
          "member"
        ],
        [
          "family",
          "family"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "extra": "a name designating a person as a member of a family",
          "tags": [
            "synonym",
            "synonym-of"
          ],
          "word": "surname"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1814, Maria Edgeworth, chapter VI, in Patronage. […], volume I, London: […] [J. M‘Creery] for J[oseph] Johnson and Co., […], →OCLC, page 199:",
          "text": "He says, however, that he is sure he is happier, even in this situation, than are some of his cousins at this instant, who are struggling in poverty to be genteel, or to keep up a family name, and he would not change places with those who are in a state of idle and opprobrious dependance.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1829 November, “Art[icle] XVIII.—Die Bildhauer; Roman, von Karoline von Woltmann. (The Sculptors, a Novel, by Caroline Woltmann.) […]”, in The Foreign Quarterly Review, volume V, number IX, London: Treuttel and Würtz, Treuttel, Jun. and Richter, […], published 1830, page 338:",
          "text": "A certain worthy individual, Udalrich, Count of Auffemried and Bishop of Bamberg, who lived some three or four centuries ago, was equally bent upon raising his family name as high as possible, and upon providing as liberally for the younger branches of his race as for its head.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Gilbert Morris, chapter 13, in The Mermaid in the Basement (The Lady Trent Mysteries; 1), Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson, →ISBN, page 170:",
          "text": "I’m talking about that actor you’ve been running around with all over town. You’re going to ruin the family name!",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A family’s honor or reputation."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "family",
          "family"
        ],
        [
          "honor",
          "honor"
        ],
        [
          "reputation",
          "reputation"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with uncommon senses",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Yeah, we named her Mildred. It's an old family name. Don't worry, though. She also has four middle names to choose from.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1840 March, John Bowring, “Memoirs of Jeremy Bentham”, in Tait’s Edinburgh Magazine for 1840, volume VII, number LXXV, Edinburgh: William Tait, […], page 169, column 1:",
          "text": "He had the name of Jeremy given to him, because Jeremiah, as his father said, was a family name; and there was an advantage in curtailing a syllable, and in shewing a preference towards the names of the New Testament over those of the old.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A given name common within a family or given because of another family member."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "given name",
          "given name"
        ],
        [
          "common",
          "common"
        ],
        [
          "family",
          "family"
        ],
        [
          "given",
          "given"
        ],
        [
          "because of",
          "because of"
        ],
        [
          "another",
          "another"
        ],
        [
          "member",
          "member"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(uncommon) A given name common within a family or given because of another family member."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "uncommon"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "family name"
}

Download raw JSONL data for family name meaning in English (3.7kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-18 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (e4a2c88 and 4230888). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.