Peter Ring <>, 2007-08-10 12:45 +0200:
> OTOH, 'familyname' is culturally biased to the extent that we
> infer anything about the names of a person's relatives. Personal
> names are inherently bound to various cultural contexts.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_name
>
> My problem with 'surname' is that it suggests a certain sequential ordering.
It doesn't seem to suggest any sequential ordering to me, and I
doubt it does to most other people. For it to mean or suggest
anything more than just "surname" to people, they'd need to first
think of what "sur" means, or what its etymology is. But I don't
think most people actually ever spend any time thinking about that
(or would care to).
--Mike
