family name

Definition

Synonym of surname: a name designating a person as a member of a family.

Example Sentences

• "In the Chinese name Mao Zedong, Mao is the family name and Zedong is the given name."
• "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."
• "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."