People are well aware of the inherent sexism of several cultural practices regarding the adoption and use of surnames. Upon marriage most women take their husband’s surnames. Even if a woman retains her “maiden” name she has simply replaced one man’s name for another – her father’s – because of the even more universal custom of bestowing upon a child the surname of its father. Moreover it is customary in professional, commercial, and political settings to refer to a woman by her first name (“Hillary”) and a man by his last name (“Trump”). All of these traditions are so deeply entrenched in our habits and daily lives that they seem to be unremarkable. In fact these customs are very remarkable indeed – we should remark upon them -- they should be reflected upon, and studied, and changed.
I write today of an even simpler and more obvious and therefore even more remarkable gender bias in the use of surnames. The names themselves refer almost exclusively to males.
Many last names are simply men’s first names. Alexander. Alfred. Allen. Anthony. Archibald. Benjamin. Bernard. Bradley. Brian. Bruce. Calvin. Carroll. Charles. Clifford. Craig. Curtis. Dennis. Dewey. Douglas. Earl. Elliott. Franklin. George. Harold. Henry. Howard. Irving. Kenneth. Kent. Kirby. James. Joseph. Karl. Keith. Lawrence. Lee. Leonard. Lindsey. Louis. Luther. Martin. Maxwell. Mitchell. Murray. Oliver. Oswald. Palmer. Patrick. Percy. Perry. Quinn. Randall. Randolph. Raymond. Reed or Reid. Rich. Roderick. Russell. Ryan. Saul. Simon. Spencer. Stanley. Stewart or Stuart. Theodore. Thomas. Timothy. Tracy. Trent. Vance. Vaughn. Victor. Vincent. Wade. Wallace. Warren. Wayne. Wesley. Xavier. Zachary.
Every name ending in “-son” is a patronym and has a double gender bias; the name of the father and the name of the son. Anderson. Carlson. Christopher. Davidson. Emerson. Erikson. Harrison. Henderson. Jackson. Jefferson. Johnson. Nelson. Patterson. Peterson. Robinson. Thompson. Williamson. Wilson.
Many other last names are men’s names followed by an “-s.” This may be short for “-son” or it could indicate a possessive; that is, belonging to the father. Adams. Alberts. Andrews. Daniels. Davis. Edwards. Fredericks. Jacobs. Jeffries. Jones (John’s). Matthews. Michaels. Peters. Phillips. Richards. Roberts. Robins. Rogers. Samuels. Stevens. Williams.
Male gender bias appears in the last names of people in many countries. The ubiquitous Irish and Scottish prefix “Mc-“ or “Mac-“ means “son of.” The Irish prefix “O’-“ means “descendant of.” The many variations of the Slavic suffix “ic” means “son of” and the Slavic suffix “ov” means “belonging to.” MacDonald. O’Brien. Petrovic. Ivanov.
Many other last names refer to occupations that were exclusively male; some of these are also commonly men’s first names. Butler. Clark. Cooper. Hunter. Mason. Parker. Porter. Prince. Smith. Tanner. Taylor. Wainwright. Walker.
Many last names simply end in “-man.” Many of these are also occupational names. Coleman (servant to a man named Cole). Freeman (freeborn man). Hartman (hardy man). Herman (army man). Hoffman (farm laborer). Lehman (feudal tenant). Lipman (dear man). Norman (man from the north). Sherman (shearer). Tubman (cooper). Truman (trusted man). Zimmerman (carpenter).
This phenomenon of men’s names being used as everyone’s last names is not simply a relic or vestige of a bygone era. Instead it reflects the depth and extent of male privilege. Women, children – all of us – are called by the names of men who used to own their families. It’s time to invent new traditions of naming that will respect everyone’s identity.