In most societies, surnames are passed on from father to son, just like the Y chromosome. This suggests that men who share the same surnames may have Y chromosomes that are related to one another. A ...

A shy child who liked to spend most of her time at home, Viviane Bowell grew up with the feeling that she was in the wrong society. Born in the vibrant Egypt of the first half of the 20th century, ...

Last names or surnames offer information on ancestry, occupation, geography, and even social standing. In several countries, certain surnames have gained such a majority that they are representative ...

In 2004, Buddhist Master Hsing Yun (星雲) wrote a letter to fellow Buddhists during the Lunar New Year, saying that Taiwanese were originally from provinces in China, which means the two sides of the ...

THERE is perhaps room for a new history of British surnames since Bardsley and Harrison published their works on the subject. Mr. Ewen has given his history a wider scope than Bardsley and has brought ...

It's a peculiarity of Ireland, or at least it used to be, that not only do most families here have two surnames, quite a few of them have three. There is the Irish original, of course, and there is ...

This intriguing book measures social mobility in a novel way, by tracing unusual surnames over several generations in nine different countries, focusing on intergenerational changes in education, ...

Many of us are keen to delve into our ancestry, family history, and potential relatives. The era of laboriously combing through heritage records and census data is over, thanks to various online ...

Korean family names are unlike those of any other country. First, there are so few. Roughly 250, traditionally. In recent years there is a scattering of new names, mainly of immigrants, some from ...