A son is a male offspring; a boy or a man in relation to his . The female counterpart is a daughter. From a biological perspective, a son constitutes a first degree relative.
Social issues
In pre-industrial societies and some current countries with agriculture-based economies, a higher value was, and still is, assigned to sons rather than daughters, giving males higher
social status, because males were physically stronger, and could perform farming tasks more effectively.
In China, a one-child policy was in effect until 2015 in order to address rapid population growth. Official birth records showed a rise in the level of male births since the policy was brought into law. This was attributed to a number of factors, including the illegal practice of sex-selective abortion and widespread under-reporting of female births.
In patrilineality societies, sons will customarily inheritance an estate before daughters.
In some cultures, the eldest son has special privileges. For example, in Biblical times, the first-born male was bequeathed the most goods from his father. Some Japanese social norms involving the eldest son are: "that parents are more likely to live with their eldest child if their eldest child is a son" and "that parents are most likely to live with their eldest son even if he is not the eldest child".
Christian symbolism
Among
Christianity, "the Son" or Son of God refers to
Jesus. Trinitarian Christians view Jesus as the human incarnation of
God the second person of the
Trinity, known as God the Son. In the Gospels,
Jesus sometimes refers to himself as the Son of Man.
Indications in names
In many cultures, the
Given name of the family means "son of", indicating a possible ancestry—i.e., that the whole family descends from a common ancestor. It may vary between the beginning or the termination of the surname.
- Arabic language
-
bin or ibn. Examples: "Ibn Sina" ("son of Sina"), "Ibn Khaldun" ("son of Khaldun").
- Berber languages
-
U (also spelled ou). Examples: "Usadden" ("son of Sadden"), "Uâli" ("son of Âli").
-
Ayt (also spelled ait or aït). Examples: "Ayt Buyafar" ("sons of Buyafar"), "Ayt Mellul" ("sons of Mellul").
-
n Ayt (also spelled nait or naït). Examples: "n Ayt Ndir" ("son of the Ndir tribe/family"), "Naït Zerrad" ("son of the Zerrad tribe or family").
- Danish language
-
Sen. Examples: "Henriksen" ("son of Henrik"), "Jensen" ("son of Jens"), "Andersen" ("son of Anders").
- Dutch language
-
Sen. Examples: "Jansen" ("son of Jan"), "Petersen" ("son of Peter"), "Pietersen" ("son of Pieter")
-
Zoon. Examples: "Janszoon" ("son of Jan"), "Peterszoon" ("son of Peter"), "Pieterszoon" ("son of Pieter")
- English language
-
s. Examples: "Edwards" ("son of Edward"), "Williams" ("son of William"), "Jeffreys" ("son of Jeffrey")
-
Son. Examples: "Jefferson" ("son of Jeffery"), "Wilson" ("son of William"), "Edson" ("son of Edward"), "Anderson" ("son of Ander").
- French language
-
es. Example: "Fernandes" ("son of Fernand").
-
ot. Example: "Pierrot" ("son of Pierre").
-
de or d'. Example: "Danton" ("son of Anton").
- Hebrew language
-
ben or bin before 1300 BC. Example: "Benjamin" ("son of a right-hand man"). Also, the Hebrew word for "person" is ben Adam, meaning "son of Adam".
- Hindi language
-
beta. Example: "Mera beta Tim" ("my son Tim").
-
बेटा. Example "मेरा बेटा टिम" ("my son Tim").
- Hungarian name
-
-fi or -ffy. Examples: "Petőfi" ("son of Pető"), "Sándorfi" ("son of Sándor"), "Péterffy" ("son of Péter") (archaic spelling, indicates aristocratic origins).
- Irish name
-
Mac or Mc. Examples: "MacThomas" ("son of Thomas"), "McDonald" ("son of Donald"), "MacLean" ("son of Lean").
- Italian name
-
di. Examples: "di Stefano" ("son of Steven"), "di Giovanni" ("son of John"), "di Giuseppe" ("son of Joseph").
-
de. Examples: "de Paolo" ("son of Paul"), "de Mauro" ("son of Maurus"), "de Giorgio" ("son of George").
-
d`. Examples: "d'Antonio" ("son of Anthony"), "d'Adriano" ("son of Adrian"), "d'Agostino" ("son of Augustine").
-
-i, which comes from Latin ending for Genitive. Examples: "Paoli" ("son of Paolo"), "Richetti" ("son of Richetto, a short name for Enrico").
- Norwegian
-
Son. Examples: "Magnusson" ("son of Magnus"); "Sigurdson" ("son of Sigurd"), "Odinson" ("son of Odin").
- Persian language
-
pur/pour. Example: "Mahdipur" ("son of Mahdi").
-
zadeh. Example: "Muhammadzadeh" ("son/daughter of Muhammad").
- Tagalog Language
-
Anak Example: mga Anak ni Pedro (son and daughter of Pedro)
- Tamil language
-
Magan. Example: "En Magan Murugan" ("my son Murugan").
-
மகன். Example "என் மகன் முருகன்" ("my son Murugan").
- Polish language
-
ski. Examples: "Janowski" ("son of John"), "Piotrowski" ("son of Peter"), "Michalski" ("son of Michael").
- Portuguese name
-
Es. Examples: "Gonçalves" ("son of Gonçalo"), "Henriques" ("son of Henrique"), "Fernandes" ("son of Fernando").
- Romanian
-
a as prefix (except for female names that start in "a" and probably for others that start in vowels) and ei as suffix. Example: "Amariei" ("son of Mary"), "Adomniței" ("son of Domnița"), "Alenei" ("son of Elena/Leana").
-
escu or sometimes aşcu comes from the Latin -iscus which means "belonging to the people". Examples: "Petrescu" ("Petre's son"), "Popescu" ("Popa's son", Popa meaning Priest), "Constantinescu" ("son of Constantin").
- Russian language
-
ov , ovich . Example: "Ivanov" ("son of Ivan").
-
ev , evich . Example: "Dmitriev" ("son of Dmitri").
- Spanish language
-
Ez. Examples: "González" ("son of Gonzalo"), "Henríquez" ("son of Henrique"), "Fernández" ("son of Fernando"), Gómez ("son of Gome"), Sánchez ("son of Sancho").
- Turkish language
-
oğlu. Examples: "Elbeyioğlu" ("son of foreigner Bey"), "Ağaoğlu" ("son of Ağa"), "Yusufoğlu" ("son of Yusuf").
-
zade. Examples: "Begzada" (son of a Bey), "Aşıkpaşazade" ("son of Ashik Paşa), "Mehmedzade" (son of Mehmet).
- Ukrainian
-
-enko or -ko, meaning simply "son of". Example: "Kovalenko" ("son of Koval")
-
sky . Examples: "Stanislavsky" ("son of Stanislav"), "Chaykovsky" ("son of Chayko"), "Petrovsky" ("son of Petro").
-
shyn. Examples: "Petryshyn" ("son of Petro"), "Danylyshyn" ("son of Danylo").
-
chuk. Example: "Ivanchuk" ("son of Ivan").
- Welsh language
-
ap or ab. Examples: "ap Rhys" ("son of Rhys", Anglicization to "Price"), "ab Owain" ("son of Owen", anglicized to Bowen).
Semitic
The
Arabic word for son is
ibn. Because
family and
ancestry are important
cultural values in the
Arab world and
Islam,
and most
(e.g.
) often use
bin, which is a form of
ibn, in their full names. The
bin here means "son of." For example, the Arab name "Saleh bin Tarif bin Khaled Al-Fulani" translates as "Saleh, son of Tarif, son of Khaled; of the family Al-Fulani" (cf. Arab family naming conventions). Accordingly, the opposite of
ibn/
bin is
abu, meaning "the father of." It is a
retronym, given upon the birth of one's first-born son, and is used as a
moniker to indicate the newly acquired fatherhood status, rather than a family name. For example, if Mahmoud's first-born son is named Abdullah, from that point on Mahmoud can be called "Abu Abdullah."
This is cognate with the Hebrew language ben, as in "Judah ben Abram HaLevi," which means "Judah, son of Abram, the Levite." Ben is also a standalone name.
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