family name
- noun
- /ˈfæmɪli neɪm/
- And he made us repeat back to him what the family name meant to him.
- change the family name
- give up the family name
- underline the family name
His life is ruined, his family name is tarnished.
- His life is ruined, his family name is tarnished.
- She knows what the name means to me, as well as what my family name could do for our son's future.
- And they looked in the book at the camp and, and the Reiner family name was there.
- In any case, I said to you, the NASA guy, just make it hossydom because that's what they called me in school, what with my long family name and, and here we go.
- So this is a document that you put your first name to, then put your family name to saying yes, I'm going to do that.
- So that was like another nice link and a nice way to get my family name in there because obviously I lost mine when I got married.
- And he made us repeat back to him what the family name meant to him.
- And he I was, I mentioned the family name to him and I'm one of them.
Examples
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His life is ruined, his family name is tarnished.
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Listen, it's very important that the Murdoch family name is protected at all times.
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Is that a family name?
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- Your family name is Sunday, yes?
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One way is through your family, and it's sons who carry forward the family name, so to speak.
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You know, if you die here, your family name dies with you.
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Many think he was given the Personnel Director position because of his family name, not because he is qualified.
Academic text (1994) -
Please be sure to underline your family name to avoid confusion in the listings.
Academic text (1999) -
When I mentioned my mother-in-law's family name, he softened a little.
Fiction book (1993) -
In China, the practice is to put the family name first and the given name second.
Synonyms
A name people in the same family share, usually after the first name
A name that people in the same family share
A family name in ancient Rome that shows a person's family group
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'surname' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'family' (relatives) and 'name' (identifier): it denotes the name shared by family members, which a B1 learner who knows both words can infer. This noun–noun compositional pattern is common in English and in many other languages, so the expression is immediately comprehensible without prior exposure.
Etymology
Family name comes from the simple idea of a name for the whole family, like a shared 'label' passed down from parents to children. That's why family name means the 'surname' or 'last name' that family members share.