Some matrilineal communities in South and North-East India, like the Nairs, Bunts and Khasi, have family names which are inherited from their mother.
In July 2023, the Constitutional Court of Kyrgyzstan decided that adults may have the right to use a matronymic instead of the traditional patronymic on their official documents.
This could be due to, for example, an absence of the father such as in the case of Punsalmaagiin Ochirbat, the first elected president of Mongolia.
Common English matronyms include Madison, Beaton, Custer, Tiffany, Parnell, Hilliard, Marriott, Ibbetson, Babbs, and Megson.
[16] In the old Finnish system, women were standardly given matronyms, while men were given patronyms, for example, Ainontytär (female) or Pekanpoika (male).
Family names derived from matronyms are found in France, especially in Normandy: Catherine, Marie, Jeanne, Adeline.
Matronymics appear in medieval Celtic tales such as Cath Maige Tuired and the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi (the children of Dôn).
For instance the famous mythological King of Ulster, Conchobar mac Nessa is named after his mother Ness.
Examples include surnames such as Katić, Sinđelić, Nedić, Marić, Višnjić, Janjić, Sarić, Miličić, Milenić, Natalić, Zorić, Smiljić, Anđelić and many others.
In Ukraine, the suffix chak interprets as "daughter of" implying an original history of matronyms (similar to American last names ending in 'son' [Davidson, Williamson]).
The practice of taking a mothers name ended in the mid 19th century, but the matriarch lines are still traced.
Specifically, in East European Jewish society, there appeared various matronymic family names such as Rivlin (from Rivka/Rebecca), Sorkin (from Sarah), Zeitlin (from Zeitl), Rochlin (from Rachel), Feiglin (from Feige), Dworkin (from Dvora), and others.
In the 18th century, numerous European nations, such as the Holy Roman Empire, passed laws and issued decrees which mandated that Jews adopt consistent, legal surnames.
They are what is known as a matriname, since these particular cases don't derive family names from a mother's forename, instead opting to do so from their surnames.