Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Of, relating to, or derived from the name of one's mother or maternal ancestor.
- n. A name so derived.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Pertaining to or being a name derived from a mother or maternal ancestor.
- n. A name derived from a mother or maternal ancestor: correlative to patronymic.
- n. A word of a form used for matronymic designation; a matronymic formation.
Wiktionary
- adj. Of, relating to, or derived from the given name of one's mother or a female ancestor.
- n. A surname or byname acquired from the given name of one's mother's or from a female ancestor's given name.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. See metronymic.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a name derived from the name of your mother or a maternal ancestor
Etymologies
- From Latin māter ("mother") + -nym + -ic (Wiktionary)
- Greek mātrōnumikos, dialectal variant of mētrōnumikos : mētēr, mētr-, mother; see metro- + onuma, name. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The “Kuniyah,” bye-name, patronymic or matronymic, is necessary amongst Moslems whose list of names, all connected more or less with religion, is so scanty.”
“Even less common is the use of both matronymic and patronymic names – e.g.,”
“In the above family, the two kids would be named Jón Guðrúnsson and Siga Guðrúnsdottir if matronymic naming was followed.”
“I cut off my hair, I went naked in public, I learned ideas by the fistful, I changed my last name to Jochild (a matronymic) and I came back courageous.”
““Kunyat” = patronymic or matronymic; a name beginning with “Abu” (father) or with “Umm” (mother).”
“One explanation for Simons mysterious background lies in his actual name: fitz means son of but FitzMary is in fact a matronymic (i.e. derived from his mothers Christian name) which commonly denoted illegitimate birth (as in Martin FitzAlice, alderman of St Michaels, Paternoster Royal, in 1281).”
“I think that Iceland was the only one of these countries to use matronymic names regularly.”
“Hence the great clans, Habr Gerhajis and Awal, who prefer the matronymic — Habr signifying a mother, — since, according to their dictum, no man knows who may be his sire. 9 These increased and multiplied by connection and affiliation to such an extent that about 300 years ago they drove their progenitors, the Galla, from”
“They were calling the names now, using the full formula of given name, matronymic, and clan name: Beridon siv-Klastru sar-Toth.”
“And my matronymic, Bratley, should have established my financial position for life.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘matronymic’.
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A Name
Nouns meaning a name
nomen, binomen, cognomen, appellation, epithet, agnomen, designation, surname, alias, autonym, eponym, anonym and 18 more...
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