From ancient times to the present, why do children take their father's surname and not their mother's?

Since the Western Zhou and Spring and Autumn Periods, under the patriarchal system, Chinese relatives were centered on the paternal line, on closeness. ? Chinese surnames are mainly passed on patrilineally, but it is still common to change one's surname (including taking one's mother's surname), but this is only a small percentage of the total population. Once a person has changed his or her surname, his or her descendants will pass it on with the new surname, but it is still inherited in a patrilineal fashion.

The Excess of the Mother's to the Father's SurnameThe origin of surnames can be traced back to the period of matrilineal clanship in primitive human societies. Surnames were used as specific symbols to distinguish clans. Many of China's ancient family names are female characters, which suggests that our ancestors once experienced a matriarchal clan society. All surnames were intermarried, marriage was forbidden within clans of the same surname, and children were given to the mother's side of the family, with the mother as the surname.

The emergence of the last name is a sign that primitive mankind is gradually getting rid of the obscurity. With the development of social productive forces, matrilineal clan system transition to patrilineal clan system, the last name was changed from the father , the type of women's family use. Later, the clan system was gradually replaced by the class social system, giving the land to the fate of the country's governance methods, means came into being. The emergence of the clan shows that the footsteps of human history into the class society. Surname and clan are two stages of human progress, and are products of civilization.

Later, during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the surname and clan were united and no longer distinguished, indicating that the surname and clan are both surnames, indicating the symbols of individuals and their families. This is what we understand the meaning of surname today. ? Nowin Chinese people's surnames, most of them are passed down from generation to generation from thousands of years ago. They are characterized by their long origin, rich content and specific provenance.

The formation of surnames has a different historical process. The same surname is not necessarily the same source, such as the surname Liu has five origins. Different surnames may also be of the same origin, the surname Gu, Wu two surnames were originally of the same origin, are the descendants of the ancestors of the ancient Gong...?

Genetics point of view of the son passes on the father's surname

Genetics point of view, although changed the surname, but its generation of male ancestors genetic inheritance is not any change. It is only in the society that many surnames of different ancestors with the same surname are constantly produced, especially in Zhang, Wang, Li, Zhao, Liu and other big surnames are very common. This is a major feature of Chinese surnames, a phenomenon on which the traditional conception and modern genetics exist essentially different views. ?

Legal aspects of surnames

In a legal sense, a child can take either the father's or the mother's surname. It is also permissible to take the surname of both parents. However, in the real world, the father's surname is still the dominant one.