A son is a

male Male (symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or ovum, in the process of fertilization. A male organism cannot reproduce sexually without access to ...

offspring In biology, offspring are the young creation of living organisms, produced either by a single organism or, in the case of sexual reproduction, two organisms. Collective offspring may be known as a brood or progeny in a more general way. This ca ...

; a boy or a

man A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromo ...

in relation to his

parent A parent is a caregiver of the offspring in their own species. In humans, a parent is the caretaker of a child (where "child" refers to offspring, not necessarily age). A ''biological parent'' is a person whose gamete resulted in a child, a male t ...

s. The female counterpart is a

daughter A daughter is a female offspring; a girl or a woman in relation to her parents. Daughterhood is the state of being someone's daughter. The male counterpart is a son. Analogously the name is used in several areas to show relations between groups ...

. From a biological perspective, a son constitutes a

first degree relative A first-degree relative (FDR) is a person's parent (father or mother), full sibling (brother or sister) or child. It constitutes a category of family members that largely overlaps with the term nuclear family, but without spouses. If the persons ...

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 Social status is the level of social value a person is considered to possess. More specifically, it refers to the relative level of respect, honour, assumed competence, and deference accorded to people, groups, and organizations in a society. St ...

, because males were physically stronger, and could perform farming tasks more effectively. In

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

, a

one-child policy The term one-child policy () refers to a population planning initiative in China implemented between 1980 and 2015 to curb the country's population growth by restricting many families to a single child. That initiative was part of a much bro ...

was in effect until 2015 in order to address rapid

population growth Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 83 million annually, or 1.1% per year. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to ...

. Official birth records showed a rise in the level of male births since the policy was brought into

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

. This was attributed to a number of factors, including the illegal practice of

sex-selective abortion Sex-selective abortion is the practice of terminating a pregnancy based upon the predicted sex of the infant. The selective abortion of female fetuses is most common where male children are valued over female children, especially in parts of Eas ...

and widespread under-reporting of female births. In

patrilineal Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritan ...

societies, sons will customarily inherit 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

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ� ...

, "the Son" or Son of God refers to

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...

. Trinitarian Christians view Jesus as the human incarnation of

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

the second person of the

Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God th ...

, known as

God the Son God the Son ( el, Θεὸς ὁ υἱός, la, Deus Filius) is the second person of the Trinity in Christian theology. The doctrine of the Trinity identifies Jesus as the incarnation of God, united in essence (consubstantial) but distin ...

. In the Gospels,

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...

sometimes refers to himself as the Son of Man.

Indications in names

In many cultures, the

surname In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full 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 Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

* ''bin'' or ''ibn''. Examples: "Ibn Sina" ("son of Sina"), "Ibn Khaldun" ("son of Khaldun"). ;

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–19 ...

* ''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 * ''Sen''. Examples: "Henriksen" ("son of Henrik"), "Jensen" ("son of Jens"), "Andersen" ("son of Anders"). ;

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

* ''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 English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

* ''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 French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

* ''es''. Example: "Fernandes" ("son of Fernand"). * ''ot''. Example: "Pierrot" ("son of Pierre"). * ''de'' or ''d'.'' Example: "Danton" ("son of Anton"). ;

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

* ''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 Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...

". ;

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

* ''beta''. Example: "Mera beta Tim" ("my son Tim"). * ''बेटा''. Example "मेरा बेटा टिम" ("my son Tim"). ; Hungarian * ''-fi'' or ''-ffy''. Examples: "Petőfi" ("son of Pető"), "Sándorfi" ("son of Sándor"), "Péterffy" ("son of Péter") (archaic spelling, indicates aristocratic origins). ; Irish * ''Mac'' or ''Mc''. Examples: "MacThomas" ("son of Thomas"), "McDonald" ("son of Donald"), "MacLean" ("son of Lean"). ;

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

* ''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 Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

ending for

Genitive In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can a ...

. Examples: "Paoli" ("son of Paolo"), "Richetti" ("son of Richetto, a short name for Enrico"). ;

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

* ''Son''. Examples: "Magnusson" ("son of Magnus"); "Sigurdson" ("son of Sigurd"), "Odinson" ("son of Odin"). ; Persian * ''pur/pour''. Example: "Mahdipur" ("son of Mahdi"). * ''zadeh''. Example: "Muhammadzadeh" ("son/daughter of Muhammad"). ;

Tagalog Tagalog may refer to: Language * Tagalog language, a language spoken in the Philippines ** Old Tagalog, an archaic form of the language ** Batangas Tagalog, a dialect of the language * Tagalog script, the writing system historically used for Taga ...

*''Anak'' Example: ''mga Anak ni Pedro'' (son and daughter of Pedro) ;

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, na ...

* ''Magan''. Example: "En Magan Murugan" ("my son Murugan"). * ''மகன்''. Example "என் மகன் முருகன்" ("my son Murugan"). ; Polish * ''ski''. Examples: "Janowski" ("son of John"), "Piotrowski" ("son of Peter"), "Michalski" ("son of Michael"). ; Portuguese * ''Es''. Examples: "Gonçalves" ("son of Gonçalo"), "Henriques" ("son of Henrique"), "Fernandes" ("son of Fernando"). ;

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania ** Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditiona ...

* ''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"), "Adomnitei" ("son of Domnita"), "Alenei" ("son of Elena/Leana"). * ''escu'' or sometimes ''aşcu'' comes from the

''-iscus'' which means "belonging to the people". Examples: "Petrescu" ("Petre's son"), "Popescu" ("Popa's son" Popa meaning Priest), "Constantinescu" ("son of Constantin").. ; Russian * ''ov'' , ''ovich'' . Example: "Ivanov" ("son of Ivan"). * ''ev'' , ''evich'' . Example: "Dmitriev" ("son of Dmitri"). ;

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

* ''Ez''. Examples: "González" ("son of Gonzalo"), "Henríquez" ("son of Henrique"), "Fernández" ("son of Fernando"), Gómez ("son of Gome"), Sánchez ("son of Sancho"). ; Turkish * ''oğlu''. Examples: "Elbeyioğlu" ("son of foreigner Bey"), "Ağaoğlu" ("son of

Ağa Ağa is a Turkish surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Mustapha Aga, Ottoman Empire ambassador to the Swedish Court *Osman Aga of Temesvar, Ottoman army officer * Sedefkar Mehmed Agha, Ottoman architect of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque *Su ...

"), "Yusufoğlu" ("son of Yusuf"). * ''zade''. Examples: " Beyzade" (son of a Bey), "

Aşıkpaşazade Dervish Ahmed ( tr, Derviş Ahmed; "Ahmed the Dervish; 1400–1484), better known by his pen name Âşıki or family name Aşıkpaşazade, was an Ottoman historian, a prominent representative of the early Ottoman historiography. He was a descen ...

" ("son of

Ashik An ashik ( az, aşıq, ; tr, âşık; fa, عاشیق) or ashugh ( hy, աշուղ; ka, აშუღი) is traditionally a singer-poet and bard who accompanies his song—be it a dastan (traditional epic story, also known as '' hikay ...

Paşa), "Mehmedzade" (son of Mehmet). ;

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

* ''-enko'' or ''-ko'', meaning simply "son of". Example: "

Kovalenko Kovalenko ( uk, Коваленко) is a very common Ukrainian surnames, Ukrainian surname. It is used commonly to describe a son of a blacksmith and is the equivalent of ''Smithson'' in the English-speaking world, derived from the root ''koval'' ( ...

" ("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 Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

* ''ap'' or ''ab''. Examples: "ap Rhys" ("son of Rhys",

anglicized Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influenc ...

to "

Price A price is the (usually not negative) quantity of payment or compensation given by one party to another in return for goods or services. In some situations, the price of production has a different name. If the product is a "good" in the ...

"), "ab Owain" ("son of Owen", anglicized to

Bowen Bowen may refer to: Places Australia * Bowen, Queensland, a town * Bowen Hills, Queensland, a suburb ** Bowen Hills railway station, a railway station in Bowen Hills ** Bowen Park, Brisbane, a park in Bowen Hills * Bowen Bridge, crossing the Derw ...

Semitic

The

word for son is ''ibn.'' Because

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

and

ancestry An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder or a forebear, is a parent or ( recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from w ...

are important

cultural Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.T ...

values In ethics and social sciences, value denotes the degree of importance of something or action, with the aim of determining which actions are best to do or what way is best to live (normative ethics in ethics), or to describe the significance of di ...

in the

Arab world The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...

and

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

s and most

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

s (e.g.

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely surrounded by th ...

an) 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 A retronym is a newer name for an existing thing that helps differentiate the original form/version from a more recent one. It is thus a word or phrase created to avoid confusion between older and newer types, whereas previously (before there were ...

, given upon the birth of one's first-born son, and is used as a

moniker A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

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 In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical ef ...

with the

Hebrew language Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserve ...

''ben,'' as in "Judah ben Abram HaLevi," which means "Judah, son of Abram, the Levite." Ben is also a standalone name.

References

External links

* {{Family Family Men