I Am X, Son of Y

Surtur: Thor, son of Odin.
Thor: Surtur! Son of... a bitch!

— Thor: Ragnarok

Until the latter half of the 20th century, it was generally accepted that openly bearing your father's or culture's good name as a badge of honor was perfectly acceptable behavior, as it showed filial loyalty to one's roots. Not only was "Son of Y" basically your surname in ancient times, but Patronymic surnames are also where many modern last names come from ("Jacobson", "MacDonald", "Alexeyev", "Ivanov", "bin Tariq", "González" and "Giannopoulos" for example).

This is exceptionally true amongst Proud Warrior Race Guy societies in Real Life, such as the Samurai of Japan and the Knights of Europe, who by custom formally stated their names followed by father, clan and lineage out of respect for the foes before battling to the death.

Expect any Proud Warrior Race Guy (or Gal) who enacts this trope to be The Stoic and admirably honorable person who is loyal to the traditions of their culture. They might even be the Heir to the Throne of said culture.

An increasingly common Variant B is a character who bears the name of their father and culture as a badge of pride, despite being an outcast from said culture. Bastards and children of (often wrongfully) dishonored parents are of this variant.

Note that My Name Is Inigo Montoya is almost always crossed with this trope, as one would more often than not want the subject of his vengeance to quake in terror knowing just whom they have wronged and who is about to take their lives.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• In Code Geass R2, Lelouch has he makes his way to the Sword of Akasha, Lelouch says, "I am Lelouch Vi Britannia, son of the late Empress Marianne, the prince who was abandoned by his Empire!"
• Dragon Ball Z:
  • "I Am Vegeta, Prince of Saiyajin Warrior Race!!"
  • When Gohan is fighting the Ginyu Force on Namek, one of the phrases he repeats as he keeps getting up, despite the horrible beating he is receiving, is “I...am...son...of...Goku.”
  • In Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn, the Great Saiyaman reintroduces himself to the resurrected Freeza as "Son of Goku, guardian of all that is good — Gohan."
  • Also appears in Dragon Ball Z: Bojack Unbound, where in the English Dub as Gohan ascends to Super Saiyan 2, “I know your kind, you think you can just waltz in and take our planet...But you forgot one thing—I’M MY FATHER’S SON!”
• In Fate/Apocrypha, before their final duel, Achilles declares himself, "Achilles, son of Peleus" and Chiron declares himself, "Chiron, son of Cronus".
• Being born a "filthy half-human bastard", bullied and ridiculed by other werewolves since childhood, does not stop Fiery Red Head Riza Wildman of Monster Princess from proudly announcing herself before battle as "Riza Wildman, Daughter of the Werewolf Warrior Borg Wildman!!"
• Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind:
  • "I am Nausicaa, child of King Jhil!"
  • And later, "I am Ohma, son of Nausicaa, warrior, arbitrator and judge."
• Inverted in One Piece where after The Reveal at Marineford, Luffy is occasionally referred to as "son of Dragon" though he never refers to himself as such.
• Time Stop Hero: Kuzuno Sekai meets a woman who introduces herself as "Sayuki Takegawa, daughter of Aritsune Takegawa."
• Vinland Saga: "I am Thorfinn, son of Thors."
• The final episode of Yu-Gi-Oh! gives us this: "I am the son of King Aknamkanon. My name is Atem."

Comedy

• In one of the spoken sections of The Unfinished Spelling Errors of Bolkien:
  "Éowyn and Éomer, son of Éomund; Théoden, son of Thengel; and Gríma, son of a bitch."

Comic Books

• In Adventure Comics #420 Supergirl visits another planet. When she meets one of the local inhabitants, the man says: "Welcome, traveler! I am Togran, son of Vorko!"
• Green Lantern: In a "Tales of the Green Lantern Corps" short story written by Alan Moore and published in Green Lantern (Volume 2) #188, there was Bolphunga the Unrelenting. He pursued the Green Lantern Mogo, not knowing that the seemingly uninhabited planet that he'd landed on to find Mogo was Mogo, and introduced himself as "Bolphunga, son of Boff!"
• DC's Kingdom Come features Ibn al Xu'ffasch, the son of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul. "Ibn al Xu'ffasch" is Arabic for "Son of bat".
• During J. Michael Straczynski's run on The Mighty Thor, the Norse goddess Kelda meets Bill, a fry-cook, leading to one of the better romances published by Marvel Comics in recent years:
  Kelda: My name is Kelda. Born I was of light and sky and sunrises and wind. And you are...
  Bill: Bill. Born of Bills.
• There are two Red Robin villains who go by "Daughter of Acheron" and refer to each other as sister. Though they've both left behind their birth names one does call herself a promise of vengeance and "Promise" ends up being used like her name by others when referring to her, the other is the half-sister of Ra's al Ghul.

Fan Works

• Bait and Switch: The USS Bajor's chief of security is identified as Lieutenant Dul'krah, Clan Korekh. His species doesn't have surnames in the traditional sense and instead identify by clan. In The Headhunt, where Dul'krah is the narrator, he states his full name as "Dul’krah, son of Var'takh, Home-Clan Korekh, Blood-Clan Rustra, Ship-Clan Bajor." In a slight diversion, his bio on Memory Gamma wiki indicates that Var'takh is his mother rather than his father.
• Empath: The Luckiest Smurf: "I am Duncan McSmurf of the clan McSmurf."
• Fates Collide: Before they begin their duel, Achilles announces, "My name is Achilles, son of the hero Peleus." Yang responds, "My name is Yang Xiao Long, daughter of the hunter Taiyang."
• Harry Potter and the Rune Stone Path:
  Fleur: I am Fleur Delacour. Daughter of Sȇbastien and Apolline Delacour. I am not defined by my blood!
• Akiko from the Horseshoes and Hand Grenades sidestory Month of Sunday states this to a brainwashed Shotaro: "I am Akiko Narumi-Terui, daughter of the famous Souichi Narumi... and the new Kamen Rider Skull!"
• Done by Gene in one Iron Man: Armored Adventures Fan Fic, directed at his abusive and violent stepfather. "I'm not your puppet or your slave! I'm Temugin Khan, son of Aung Htain, who was five times the man you will ever be! He laid down his life to fight evil and I am honored to call him my father. But you? You're just a dirty coward with superpowers." Doubles as a Moment of Awesome and I Am What I Am for Gene.
• Shadows over Meridian: When Ymir demands Vera, who's surrounded by him and the Mogriffs, to identify herself in Chapter 28, she proudly introduces herself as the heir of House Bexley, daughter of Idina Bexley and granddaughter of Jesekiel Bexley. Against her expectations though, her grandfather's name earns no reaction from the Mogriffs because they know him only as the "Nest Butcher", and Ymir only recognizes her mother who's the governor of Castwell's Peak. It's only when Metalbeak shapeshifts into Jesekiel to question Vera and she rages at her grandfather's killer for taking his appearance that the Mogriffs connect the dots and react with fury.
• Son of the Sannin: During the Fourth Ninja War, Tsunade introduces herself to Madara Uchiha this way:
  "My name is Tsunade Senju, and I am Hashirama Senju's granddaughter! And just like my grandfather did in the past, so shall I protect both my loved ones and Konoha from scum like you!"
• The How to Train Your Dragon fanfic A Thing of Vikings uses this trope on occasion. Hiccup's full name in this story, for example, is "Hiccup Horrendous Stoicksson of Clan Haddock". Eirish and Alban (Scottish) people have "mac [father's name]" (if male) or "nic [father's name]" if female, while Jews have "ben/bat [parent's name]".^note Interestingly, it seems to be whichever parent is the same gender as the child. So, "Esther bat Rivkah", even though historically her name would probably have been "Esther bat Dovid".
• "The Universe Doesn't Cheat" has Eleya use this when addressing some Klingons in their language.
  “SuvwI’pu’ tlhIngan batlh, Eleya, Torvo puqbe’ jIH. HoD Constitution yuQjIjDIvI’ ’ejDo’. jatlh neH.”^translation"Honored Klingon warriors, I am Eleya, daughter of Torvo. I am Captain of the Federation Starship Constitution. I want to talk."

Films — Animation

• How to Train Your Dragon 2 introduces "Eret, son of Eret."
• Master Thundering Rhino, son of Master Flying Rhino from Kung Fu Panda 2.
• In The Lion King (2019), adult Simba utters the phrase "I am Simba, son of Mufasa" after meeting Rafiki and conversing with his father's spirit.

Films — Live-Action

• In The 13th Warrior, Antonio Banderas' character introduces himself as "Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan Ibn Al Abbas Ibn Rashid Ibn Hamad," where "Ibn" means "son of". The Norsemen he's talking to conclude his name is "Eben".
• Alice in Wonderland (2010): "My father was Charles Kingsleigh. He had a vision that stretched halfway around the world, and nothing ever stopped him! I'm his daughter — I'm Alice Kingsleigh!"
• Apocalypto: When the hero briefly evades his pursuers by jumping over a waterfall, he yells, "I am Jaguar Paw, son of Flint Sky. My father hunted this forest before me. My name is Jaguar Paw. I am a hunter! This is my forest! And my sons will hunt it with their sons after I am gone."
• In the 1974 sexploitation movie The Arena (a.k.a. Naked Warriors) one of the women Made a Slave introduces herself this way, only to be told derisively, "Nobody cares who your father was. If you were worth knowing, you wouldn't be here."
• In Avatar, in a moment when Jake needs to be very respectful, he addresses Tsu'tey as "Tsu'tey te Rongloa Atey'itan" — "Tsu'tey of the Rongloa family, son of Ateyo". Also parodied earlier when Jake introduces himself as "a warrior of the Jarhead clan." He and Colonel Quaritch had a good laugh about that later.
• Cool Runnings: "My name is Derice Bannock. I'm Ben Bannock's son."
• Connor, Duncan and Colin "Macleod, of the Clan Macleod" all bear their Highlander heritage with pride, despite the fact that the first two are cast out from their families for being 'demons' and the third being an adopted Briton.
• The Lord of the Rings: Almost everyone in the trilogy gets referred to in this way at some point. We have Gimli, son of Glóin, Haleth, son of Háma, Éomer, son of Éomund, Legolas Thranduilion etc.
  Legolas: This is no mere ranger. He is Aragorn, son of Arathorn. You owe him your allegiance.
• Justified in Mad Max: Fury Road. When the "Rig family" reach the lands of Vuvalini, Furiosa introduces herself with her whole tribal lineage so she won't be gunned down from ambush in the belief that they're Desert Bandits. Also a case of I Am What I Am, since this is probably the first time in the last 20 years when she fully acknowledges her origins and starts reconnecting with her past.
  Furiosa: I am one of the Vuvalini! Of the Many Mothers! My Initiate Mother was K.T. Concannon! I am the daughter of Mary Jabassa. My clan was Swaddle Dog!
• Marvel Cinematic Universe:
  • Played straight in Thor with Thor Odinson (or "Son of Odin"). Parodied with Agent Phil, Son of Coul.
  • Thor: Ragnarok:
    • Parodied when Thor is confronted by Surtur.
      Surtur: Thor, son of Odin.
      Thor: Surtur! Son of... a bitch! You're still alive! I thought my father killed you, like, half a million years ago?
    • Later, when Thor is enslaved on Sakaar, he repeatedly tries to invoke his status as Son of Odin, but nobody there knows or cares who he is.
  • Black Panther: Announcing one's name and lineage is Serious Business for Wakandans (which ties directly to the Arc Words "Who are you?"). Early in the movie, T'Challa says this during his coronation tribal combat to affirm his worthiness. Halfway through, Erik "Killmonger" Stevens dramatically introduces himself as N'Jadaka, son of N'Jobu, to publicly reveal his royal lineage. Interestingly, it seems one can only formally introduce themselves in a conversation when asked to, as Killmonger himself patiently waits and tries to goad others into asking his name.
  • Avengers: Infinity War: Variant; the guardian of the Soul Stone greets people by lineage. When he meets Thanos and Gamora, he refers to them as "Thanos, son of A'Lars" and "Gamora, daughter of Thanos." It underlines the keeper's mysticism, since he's sitting alone on a planet in the middle of nowhere.
  • In Avengers: Endgame, he greets Black Widow and Hawkeye as "Natasha, daughter of Ivan" and "Clint, son of Edith." Hawkeye dismisses this as a parlor trick, but Black Widow is shaken since she didn't even know her father's name.
• Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends: Right before Ultraman Zero prepares to deliver a Curb-Stomp Battle to the remaining members of the 100 Monster Army and Ultraman Belial to avenge his father, he introduces himself to the latter when asked who he is with this quote.
  Belial: "Who are you?"
  Zero: "Zero, Ultraman Zero. The Son of Seven!"
• From Monty Python and the Holy Grail:
  Arthur: I am Arthur, son of Uther Pendragon of the Castle of Camelot. King of the Britons, defeater of the Saxons, sovereign of all England.
• In Mortal Kombat: The Movie:
  Liu Kang: I am Liu Kang, descendant of Kung Lao. I challenge you to Mortal Kombat. Do you accept, or yield?
• Spaceballs:
  Vespa: I am Princess Vespa, daughter of Roland, King of the Druids!
  Lone Star: Oh, that's all we needed — a Druish princess.
  Barf: Funny... she doesn't look Druish.
• In Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, the Vulcan high priestess, T'Lar, addresses Ambassador Sarek as "child of Skon, child of Solkar". When she asks for the keeper of Spock's katra, McCoy responds, "McCoy, Leonard H., son of David."
• Star Wars:
  • With slight variation, in Return of the Jedi:
    Luke: Never. I'll never turn to the Dark Side. You've failed, your highness. I am a Jedi, like my father before me.
  • Rogue One gives us this during the Battle of Scarif:
    Krennic: Who are you?
    Jyn: You know who I am. I'm Jyn Erso, daughter of Galen and Lyra.
  • Solo: Chewbacca introduces himself to Han, in Shyriiwook, as "Chewbacca, son of Attichitcuk." This is only clarified in the script and novelization.
• Supergirl (1984): When Selena attempts to threaten Supergirl, she responds, "I am Kara of Argo City, daughter of Alura and Zor-El, and I don't scare easily."
• Moses does this several times in The Ten Commandments (1956). "I am Moses, son of Amram and Yoshabel".
• In The Thief of Bagdad (1940), Abu introduces himself as Abu the thief, son of Abu the thief, grandson of Abu the thief.
• TRON: Legacy: "I'm not a Program. My name is Sam Flynn!" Queue a Mass "Oh, Crap!" from every Program in range.
• Wonder Woman: Wonder Woman identifies herself as "Diana of Themyscira, daughter of Hippolyta" as an oath before killing Ludendorff, who she thinks is Ares.

Literature

• In Animorphs, on the Ishkoort planet, the main characters hire a guide named Guide, son of Skin-Seller, Brother of Memory Wholesaler.
  • When Ax contacts his home planet he gives his full name as well as the names of both his parents to indicate who he is. Of course the most notable detail is that he's Elfangor's brother. Somewhat interesting is that Ax and Elfangor each share a "middle name" with one of their respective parents, though it's not clear if that's an extra example of this trope.
• Arn: The Knight Templar is set in medieval Scandinavia, so patronymics are all over the place. If further clarification is needed, the name of the family home is used, for example "Arn Magnusson of Arnäs", "Cecilia Algotsdotter of Ulvåsa". There is one significant example in Bengt Elinsson. After Svante Sniving, his abusive drunk of a father, killed his mother Elin in a drunken rage and was in turn killed by Elin's clansmen, Bengt chose to identify himself as his mother's son.
• In The Bible, family lineage is a big deal to the Jews due to laws about inheritance and such relating to one's tribe. Thus, many important characters have their geneaologies listed or at least use the "son of Y" shorthand. In particular, two of The Four Gospels introduce Jesus this way, tracing his (human) lineage back to Abraham (Matthew) or even all the way to Adam (Luke).
  Jesus, ... being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of [about 6 dozen generations], the son of Adam, the son of God.
• By the Waters of Babylon: The protagonist declares himself "John, son of John".
• In The Chronicles of Prydain, it's very common for characters to introduce themselves by the patronymic or matronymic. Protagonist Taran is deeply bothered by the fact that he's an orphan and can't introduce himself that way; he eventually comes to be known by many as Taran Wanderer.
• In Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, this form of introduction is common in the Mid-World. In Wizard and Glass, Roland adresses the Wicked Witch Rhea as "Rhea, daughter of none", as he doesn't know who her father was. In Wolves of the Calla, Eddie, who never met his father, introduces himself as "Eddie Dean of New York, son of Wendell", while thinking: "At least that's what Ma always claimed."
• In The '80s pulp series Doomsday Warrior, our hero Ted Rockson is at one point referred to as "Ted, son of Rock", though you'd think "Pebble, son of Rock" would be more appropriate.
• Dragonriders of Pern:
  • In the series, characters do not have surnames; instead, they tend to be given names which are an amalgamation of both parents' names. For example, Lord Jaxom was the son of Lord Fax and Lady Gemma. Lessa, in the first book, invokes the trope a bit more directly in response to F'lar implying she's a coward: I am the daughter of the Lord of Ruatha! I am afraid of nothing!
  • The trope is also discussed when Kylara has a son—she says—by T'bor, and names him T'kil. F'lar notes to Lessa that if she'd stuck perfectly to convention she would have named him T'lar, but that might "cause confusion," deliberately needling Lessa, whose jealousy is piqued by the promiscuous Kylara. Though he was monogamous subsequent to becoming Lessa's weyrmate, F'lar mentally concedes (but does not say) that the child could conceivably be his.
• Circle of Magic has Sandrilene fa Toren, Sandry for short, goes with this in the first book: "My name is Lady Sandrilene fa Toren, daughter of Count Mattin fer Toren and his Countess Amiliane fa Landreg. I am great-niece to His Grace Vedris IV, Duke of Emelan, and cousin to Empress Berenene of Namorn..."
• The Deed of Paksenarrion's title character uses the surname "Dorthansdotter", a contraction of "Dorthan's daughter". Her father is once addressed as Dorthan Kanasson.
• Dinotopia has dinosaur names like this. The wise old triceratops, Brokehorn, for example is Brokehorn, son of Grayback the Wise.
• Discworld:
  • In the novel Sourcery, wannabe barbarian hero Nijel introduces himself as "Nijel the Destroyer, son of Harebut the Provision Merchant." Later, when he wants to impress a girl, he changes it to "Harebut the Mighty".
  • Parodied with dwarf (usually Nordic) names: there's a dwarf with the name Snorriscousin.
  • And also parodied with the Hublandic barbarians, who can end up with names like "Volf Volfsonsonsonsonsonson". In The Compleat Discworld Atlas, we're told that a polite greeting to a Nothingfjord chieftain involves going back about forty generations. Most of whom are called Eric.
• Akane's first chapter in the web-novel Domina starts with "My name is Akane Akiyama. Daughter of Akio, son of Yoshrou. I am the last of the honorable samurai house Akiyama, founded in the first days of the Edo period."
• Inheritance Cycle: Patronymics/matronymics seem to be the rule in Alagaesia, with Roran Garrowsson and Katrina Ismirasdaughter. Eragon, being an orphan with an unknown father, introduces himself as "Eragon, son of None" (at least until he kills Durza, after which he mainly uses the epithet "Shadeslayer". And then he learns who his father is, after which he calls himself Eragon Bromsson.).
• Joshua Son Of None is a 1973 sci-fi/political thriller about Joshua Kellogg, a boy cloned from the remains of who is clearly intended to be John F. Kennedy.
• The Odyssey:
  • "I am Odysseus, son of Laertes." This makes this trope Older Than Feudalism.
  • Also in The Odyssey, the recurring formal way of addressing the hero is "diogenes Laertiade, polymechan' Odysseus" or "Son of Laertes, sprung from Zeus^note For Odysseus that was not just flattery: his mother was a granddaughter of Hermes, son of Zeus., Odysseus of many devices" (translation by A. T. Murray).
• The mountain clansmen in A Song of Ice and Fire: Gunthor son of Gurn of the Stone Crows, Timmett son of Timmett of the Burned Men, Chella daughter of Cheyk of the Black Ears... and, when he introduces himself, Tyrion son of Tywin of the Clan Lannister (actually a noble house). The Dothraki are also fond of this; Drogo son of Bharbo et cetera.
• In the Redwall series, Martin the Warrior announces himself as "Martin, son of Luke" multiple times in his eponymous book. Also spoken by Martin at least once in the books Mossflower, and The Legend of Luke. It should be noted that at first, he introduces himself as "Martin, son of Luke the Warrior". It isn't until later that he introduces himself as "Martin the Warrior, son of Luke".
• In The Seventh Tower, Chosen surnames are their parents' first names put together. For example, Tal's parents are named Graile and Rerem, thus he has the surname Graile-Rerem.
• The Shahnameh: On his third Labor, Rostam encounters a murderous talking dragon. When the Dragon asks Rostam's name so he knows who he's about to kill, Rostam proudly gives him not only his own name but also his father Zal, grandfather Sahm and great grandfather Nariman's name.
• Invoked by both the Monsalve sisters on Sho-shan y la Dama Oscura.
  • Violeta choosed Murasaki Fujita as her pseudonym, Murasaki being the translation of her name to japanese (and the nickname that her mother gave to her) and Fujita because Danae Fujita — a terrorist — was the supposed real identity of Dagmar Obscura, Violeta's mother. As she says to Sasuke I choosed Fujita as a way to tell those idiots that I will love my mother no matter whom she was.
  • Yuga uses this trope with Violeta when he calls her Comrade Xingcun, being Xingcun the last name of Violeta's biological father.
  • Luisa is called Mori-chan in Japan because of her father, who changed his name from Luis Monsalve to Rintaro Mori when he exiled in Japan.
• The Outskirters, the Proud Warrior Race of the Steerswoman series, have three-part names of the form "X, Ysdotter (or Ysson), Z", where Y is one's mother and Z is one's great-great-...-great-grandmother, sixty-some generations back, at the inception of the culture. One is also expected to know all the intervening names, and to be able to trot out the full list from memory at appropriate ceremonial occasions. The character who gets the most page time is Bel, Margasdotter, Chanly.
• To Shape a Dragon's Breath has both versions. The Masquisit and Naquisit do not have last names but are referred to by others among their people as the child of their parents with the mother's name first, e.g. Anequs is called the daughter of Chagoma and Aponakwe. Among the Anglish, due to heavy Norsman influence, many people have patronymic surnames. Anequs has been assigned the patronymic surname Aponakwedottir — "Aponakwe's daughter." She hates it.
• The Stormlight Archive:
  • The Shin use their father's name as part of their full name, so it would be for example Gashash-son-Navammis. Women use their mother's instead, for example Ali-daughter-Hasweth. The main Shin character Szeth, though, is a dishonored Truthless and does not use his father's name, since he doesn't want to disgrace him by association. He uses his dead grandfather's name instead. Therefore, rather than Szeth-son-Neturo (what his name would normally be), he goes by Szeth-son-son-Vallano. Several people call him Szeth-son-Neturo over his objections, as they believe that he was named Truthless incorrectly.
  • The Horneaters normally don't do this, but in Dawnshard Rock's daughter Cord does it to announce herself as a princess of her people. "I am Hualinam'lunanaki'akilu, the daughter of Numuhukumakiaki'aialunamor, the Fal'ala'liki'nor, he who drew the Bow of Hours at the dawn of the new millennium, heralding the years of change!"
    Nikli: I... have no idea what any of that means.
    Cord: ...you don't?
    Nikli: No.
• The Thrawn Trilogy:
  • It's an unusual example — she hates her blood father and everything he stood for — but when Leia Organa Solo is almost kidnapped by a Noghri commando, he is able to smell her bloodline and calls her the Mal'ary'ush, the daughter of the savior. Of course, he doesn't mean Bail Organa. After their world was poisoned, Darth Vader showed up, created peace among the clans, had droids sent down to purify some of the soil, and got them into a deep debt to the Empire. Leia ends up accepting this and even visiting the ruined Noghri homeworld to attempt to coax them away from the Empire, and when she finds the proof that they do not in fact owe the Empire for their continued existence, she introduces herself to the Imperial-loyal ruling body as Darth Vader's daughter. When they attempt to capture her, in accordance to their new overlord's commands, she holds and ignites her lightsaber using the Force, finally getting their full attention.
    Leia: I am not merely the daughter of Lord Vader. I am the Mal'ary'ush: heir to his authority and his power. I have come through many dangers to reveal the treachery that has been done to the Noghri people.
  • It is highly interesting that Vader's daughter is considered his "heir" not his son. Leia remains the Mal'ary'ush even after the Noghri know about Luke. In the third book of the trilogy the Noghri greet Luke as the "Son of Vader". Actually becomes a plot point, when Mara asks who this "Son of Vader" the Noghri are expecting show up and save them is. When she finds out it's Luke...
  • Interestingly, Thrawn's own full name, Mitth'raw'nuruodo, is this in Cheunh (which is why it's near-unpronounceable for humans), despite being exiled; in Basic/English, it would read as something to the effect of "Thrawn Nuruodo of the Mitth family". This is as Chiss names have the Ruling family as prefix and the House they are a part of within that family as suffix, forming the "Core name" by attaching the last character/sound of the Family and the first of the House name to the beginning and end of the personal (childhood) name.
• Tolkien's Legendarium:
  • In J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth books, modern-style family names are only used in the Shire and Bree-land. Everyone else works with patronymics.
  • One of the best examples is Thorin declaring himself in Lake-town in The Hobbit:
    Thorin: I am Thorin son of Thráin son of Thrór King Under the Mountain! I return!
  • In The Lord of the Rings: "I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn; and if by life or death I can save you, I will."
  • In The Silmarillion: "I am Beren son of Barahir, friend of Felagund. Take me to the King!"
  • Even the hobbits use patronymics once out of the Shire and past Bree-land. In Rivendell, Elrond introduces "Frodo son of Drogo" to the council, and later Frodo introduces himself to Faramir that way. At Isengard Merry introduces himself to Theoden as "Meriadoc, son of Saradoc," and Pippin takes oath in Gondor as "Peregrin, son of Paladin."
• In the Uplift series, this is applied to species' names. The full name for a species includes not only the species "ancestors" (the race who uplifted them), but includes their "descendants" (races they've uplifted). In formal settings, the entire chain of ancestor species and descendant species is listed and can end up quite long.
• The Wheel of Time:
  • The Ogier give the names of their forbears two generations back when introducing themselves; male Ogier give the names of their father and grandfather, while female ones give the names of their mother and grandmother. While listing two forebears might seem cumbersome, the Ogiers' longevity means that an Ogier's grandparents are likely to be acquainted to any other Ogier he or she meets.
  • The Two rivers has a convention of using "al" to mean "son of", as in Rand al'Thor. However, it is only used in that manner in a flashback; by the time of the books it has devolved to an artifact, as there's no indication that Rand has any near relatives named Thor, more's the pity. Not that they would have been his relatives, regardless. The name causes him some trouble in the second book, as the same prefix is apparently used to denote royalty in the Borderlands.
• Dr. Tachyon's actual alien name in Wild Cards spans several thousand generations, but his first name is Tisianne brant T'sara sek Halima sek Ragnar sek Omian — "brant" probably being "son of" and "sek" being "daughter of", as his culture is matriarchal.
• Near the end of The Will Be Done Praen re-introduces himself as "Praen the Herald, son of Durex the Prophet". Which is actually impressive, because, A: Durex has been dead for a millenia and a half; and B: He was that world's version of Moses, Mohammed or Jesus.
• Interesting variation in the Winds of the Forelands series with the Qirsi who introduce themselves as the child of their opposite-gender parent. For example, the main Qirsi character, Grinsa, has the full name Grinsa jal Arriet, or "Grinsa, whose mother is Arriet". His sister Keziah, on the other hand, uses their father's name- which comes in handy later in the series, since even though the Big Bad has met both and knows both their names, he has no way of knowing that they're related.
• The first part of Roshaun's very long string of names/honorifics in Young Wizards is "Roshaun ke Nelaid". Given his father's name is Nelaid, "ke" can be assumed to mean "son of" in his language.

Live-Action TV

• Star Trek:
  • Even though his family have become dispossessed outcasts in the Klingon Empire due to his conflicting loyalties to the Federation, the first Klingon in Starfleet still calls himself "Worf, son of Mogh".
    • In Star Trek: Picard, he also calls himself "Son of Sergey, House of Rozhenko", being just as devoted to his adoptive human family as his deceased Klingon parents.
  • As Lieutenant Worf was named after his grandfather (Kirk and McCoy's lawyer in Star Trek VI), Worf's father's name would have been "Mogh, son of Worf".
  • Played With once at a meeting before the High Council in which Kurn, Worf's long-lost younger brother, introduces himself as "Kurn, son of Lorgh", Lorgh being a friend of Mogh who raised Kurn after Mogh and his mate were killed. As House Mogh is facing potential disgrace, Worf orders Kurn to hide his bloodline in order to protect him. Unfortunately, Duras (the greatest enemy of House Mogh) knows the truth and considers Kurn a threat to be dealt with.
  • Worf's own son Alexander uses his adopted grandparents' human surname, as Alexander Rozhenko, even when serving aboard a Klingon ship. Then again, he was raised by them and is 1/4 human — not to mention he is thoroughly poxed off with his dad for being an absentee father. This becomes a plot point in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Sons and Daughters". After a number of other Klingons introduce themselves as x son/daughter of y, Alexander gives his name as Alexander Rozhenko. Martok notices this and asks who he is the son of, only for Alexander to refuse to say as "My honor will be my own". Its used to show just how bad Worf's relationship with his son is.
  • Klingon females always introduce himself as "daughter of <father's name>", never "daughter of <mother's name>", implying that male heritage is more important (same as human patronymics). An exception is B'Elanna Torres, who sometimes refers to herself among Klingons as "B'Elanna, daughter of Miral", referring to her mother. This is probably because her father, John Torres, is human, and his name wouldn't mean anything to Klingons. It's unclear whether there would also be an exception for the very rare cases where a woman rather than her husband is the head of a noble house. (The quote below is from "The House of Quark", an episode introducing the only canonically verified case of a woman becoming the head of a noble house.)
  • And speaking of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine:
    Quark: I am Quark, son of Keldar, and I have come to answer the challenge of D'Ghor, son of... whatever.
  • Star Trek: Voyager. Seven of Nine often addresses Naomi Wildman as "Naomi Wildman, subunit of Ensign Samantha Wildman."
  • Star Trek: Discovery:
    • Subverted with "Voq, Son of None"("Voq pagh puqloD" in Klingonese), a rare albino Klingon who's considered a freak and an outcast. However, because of his desire to prove himself, T'Kuvma essentially adopts Voq as his torchbearer ("Sech qengwI'") and chosen successor.
    • One interesting variation comes when Cleveland "Book" Booker introduces himself at a council gathering as "Son of Kwejian"; in this case, Kwejian is the name of his (recently-destroyed) homeworld instead of his father.
• Andromeda:
  • "I am Tyr Anasazi of Kodiak Pride, out of Victoria by Barbarossa." Unlike the typical examples, the Nietzscheans always mention their mothers along with their fathers, as both genetic lines are important to them.
  • In one episode, an interested Nietzschean woman asks which Barbarossa was his father, as there were at least two. Given how important genetic heritage is for Nietzscheans, it makes sense that a woman interested in a man would want to know his bloodline.
• In Babylon 5:
  Ivanova: This is the White Star Fleet. Negative on surrender...we will not stand down.
  Earthforce Captain: Who is this? Identify yourself.
  Ivanova: Who am I? I am Susan Ivanova, Commander, daughter of Andrei and Sophie Ivanov. I am the right hand of vengeance... and the boot that is going to kick your sorry ass all the way back to Earth, sweetheart! I am Death incarnate... and the last living thing that you are ever going to see. God sent me.
• Parodied in Monty Python's Flying Circus with "Njorl's Saga" in which the narrator spends so much time explaining the family relationships of the characters that the story never starts.
• Parodied on season 2 of Saturday Night Live in a sketch parodying the scene in Roots where Kunta Kinte is whipped for not accepting the slave name Toby: John Belushi plays an African captive insisting while being whipped: "I am Bop Shoo Wop, son of Sha Na Na, grandson of the great holy man, Shboom Shboom!"
• A fake trailer for a "retelling" of Jesus Christ's life (allegedly with Sylvester Stallone as Jesus), by Les Inconnus, has this dialogue:
  Pontius Pilate: Who are you?
  Stallone/Jesus: Christ, Jesus Christ. Son of God.
  Pontius Pilate: Pilate, Pontius Pilate, Son of—
  Stallone/Jesus: a bitch!
• Made fun of on the satirical show Mock the Week in the "Scenes we'd like to see" segment "Things you wouldn't hear in a fantasy movie":
  Russel Howard: I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn, the heir to Isildur and part of the Fellowship of the Ring... please leave your message after the tone...
• Alex in Nikita, before shooting her former pimp, who'd been trying to make her admit her real identity on camera so he could collect The Mafiya bounty on her head: "I am Alexandra Udinov, daughter of Nikolai Udinov, and this is your reward."
• Game of Thrones:
  • Tyrion Lannister, trying to impress upon a particularly dim-witted prison guard that he's got the money to bribe him, introduces himself as "Tyrion, son of Tywin" (Tywin Lannister being the richest and most powerful lord in the Seven Kingdoms). Later on Tyrion is introducing the leaders of the hill tribes to his father in this way as this is a standard introduction amongst such hill tribes. "Shagga son of Dolf, Timett son of Timett, Chella daughter of Cheyk..." When Tyrion gets to the mercenary Bronn he says "Bronn, son of...", pauses, and Bronn interjects with "You wouldn't know him."
  • This is also a standard introduction among the Dothraki. Particularly noteworthy is Drogo son of Bharbo.
• In Stargate Atlantis, Teyla first introduces herself as "Teyla Emmagan, daughter of Tagan". Her father's name is later revealed to be Torren, suggesting that "daughter of Tagan" is a matronymic.
• In a variation, the Tok'ra in Stargate SG-1 introduce themselves as "X, host of Y".
• In the Community episode "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons", the voiceover calls Jeff "Jeff the Liar, son of William the Barely Known".
• Lorne and his cousin in Angel demonstrate the clan/tribe surname variation, they're Krevlorneswrath and Landokmar of the Deathwok Clan.
• In Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., in a Continuity Nod, Sif greets Agent Coulson as "Phil, Son of Coul".
• On Arrow, Nyssa always introduces herself as "Nyssa, daughter of Ra's al Ghul, Heir to the Demon".
• One episode of QI discussed the Icelandic use of this practice, and listed what all of the panelist's names would be if they used their father's name with the "-son".
• Season 11 of Mystery Science Theater 3000 introduces Max, who insists on being known as "TV's Son of TV's Frank".
• The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Galadriel presents herself to Queen Miriel as ‘Galadriel of the Noldor, Daughter of the Golden House of Finarfin, Commander of the Northern Armies of High King Gil-galad’.
• Highlander has Duncan’s trademark introduction line of “I am Duncan Macleod of the Clan Macleod” despite his being disowned by his father, the chief.

Music

• Jessica Andrews, "Who I am" has the lines,
  I'm gonna be just fine
  'Cause I know exactly who I am
  I am Rosemary's granddaughter
  The spitting image of my father
  And when the day is done
  My momma's still my biggest fan

Tabletop Games

• According to the 3rd Edition Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting the inhabitants of Unther use patronymics in place of surnames.

Video Games

• Practically overlaps with Badass Creed in Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories — "I am Rozalin, the only daughter of Overlord Zenon!"
• Final Fantasy VII: I am Nanaki son of Seto... I am afraid of nothing... it's all right, all right. I'm Nanaki, the son of brave Seto... I'm not afraid of Sephiroth..."
• In Luminous Arc 2, the first time Roland meet Queen Sophia. "I am Roland, son of Sir Steven."
• In the Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles redub of Symphony of the Night, Dracula refers to Richter as "Belmont, son of Belmont".
• In Warcraft III: "I am Thrall, son of Durotan, Warchief of the Horde."
  • This seems to be an orc thing in the Warcraft universe; while not nearly every orc declares their parentage, enough do that it sounds like a cultural thing. Examples include "Durotan, son of Garad", "Draka, daughter of Kelkar", and "Aggra, daughter of Ryal". Also, Garrosh originally bore the title "Son of Hellscream" to let players know he was the progeny of Grom Hellscream.
• Altaïr's full name in Assassin's Creed is Altaïr ibn-La'Ahad, meaning "Flying One, son of Nobody". Which is strange as his father's name is revealed in Assassin's Creed: Revelations.
• In Mass Effect, quarian names follower a similar line, though based on their ship as opposed to their parents. Tali'Zorah is, for example, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya when Shepard first meets her, which effectively is "Tali, of the family Zorah, passenger of the Rayya.", and later, when she is renamed to Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, this effectively translates as "Tali, of the family Zorah, crew of the Normandy." Since the difference between a passenger (One who is provided for by their ship) and crew (one who provides and contributes to their ship) exists, the identifiers of Vas and Nar are important. Other translations for Nar can be "Child of" and for Vas can be "Citizen of" or "Contributor of". She is also identified as Tali'Zorah vas Neema during Mass Effect 2. Additionally, it appears that a Quarian's child-ship is still a part of their name, as during Tali's loyalty mission she at one point refers to herself as "Tali'Zorah vas Neema nar Rayya".
  • A less dramatic example is everyone's least favourite reporter, Khalisah bint Sinah al-Jilani. "bint" is Arabic and means "daughter", meaning that she is Khalisah, daughter of Sinah, of the Jilani household. ^note Or possibly, due to the Culture Chop Suey of the Mass Effect future setting, that one of her ancestors was the daughter of Sinah of the Jilani household, and it ended up being appended to her family name. After all, that's more or less how it happened to the other English-speaking examples.
• The Elder Scrolls
  • Traditional Orc names follow this structure with the prefixes "gro" and "gra" meaning "son of" and "daughter of", respectively; when referring to a parent, a male orc will use his father's name as his last name, and a female will use her mother's. So, for example, an Orc named Agron gro-Malog is "Agron, the son of Malog". It is also not uncommon for them to use their place of birth as a last name in place of a parent's in some cases.
  • In Skyrim, draconic Big Bad Alduin just loves to announce the fact that he is the "firstborn" of Akatosh, the draconic God of Time and Top God of the Nine Divines pantheon.
    "I AM ALDUIN! FIRST BORN SON OF AKATOSH!"
• Star Trek Online has a variant with Captain Koren, CO of the Klingon Defense Force flagship IKS Bortasqu'. In her appearance in "Sphere of Influence" she introduces herself as "Koren, daughter of Grilka", referring to her mother rather than either her biological father J'nek or her stepfather Worf. Her mother Grilka is one of the only female heads of a Klingon noble house in the Empire's history (watch DS9: "The House of Quark" for the full explanation).
• Guild Wars 2 has one that doubles as a "Facing the Bullets" One-Liner by Forgal Kernsson at the climax of the Battle of Claw Island. "I am Forgal, son of Kern! My father was the last Dolyak shaman! I am a Warmaster of the Vigil! You will never make me kneel!"
• Dynasty Warriors:
  • In 5, Guan Ping often introduces himself as "Guan Ping, son of Guan Yu," to signify that he's still living under the God of War's shadows. His dream stage in Warriors Orochi seeks to defy this by having him, along with Gracia and Cao Pi, challenge their fathers and prove themselves worthy of their own name.
  • In 8, Wen Yang repeatedly introduces himself as "Wen Yang, son of Wen Qin", until his father dies and, realizing he wasn't particularly worthy of his respect, he makes a Heel–Face Turn.
• In Crusader Kings, many, many cultures use automatically generated patronymics as surnames. For example, by default the second Petty King of Dál Riata, an Irish realm available in the 769 AD start in the second game, will be named Eochaid mac Áed ("Eochaid, son of Áed", after the initial king Áed III). A character's full name will also typically include the name of their dynasty, for Eochaid mac Áed Mac Gabráin in this case. This can sometimes have bizarre results with intercultural marriages, such as a Basque child with an Anglo-Saxon father, e.g. Æthelred, ending up with a surname like "Æthelredez".
• Eternity: The Last Unicorn introduces the Viking character, Bior, in this manner. "I am Bior, son of Bathor, and I have never breathed such evil air as this..."
• In the lore of Final Fantasy XIV, Roegadyn Sea Wolves follow this naming convention in their native language. A Roegadyn's last name will be their father's name with the suffix -syn(son of) or -wyn(daughter of). An example would be Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn, or "Merlwyb, daughter of Bloefhis".
• Ajna from Indivisible frequently introduces herself as, "Ajna, daughter of Indr, of the village Ashwat". Though it's her standard formal introduction, there's a particular edge to it when she's speaking to those who bear responsibility for Ashwat's destruction or Indr's death.
• In Bloons Tower Defense 6, Quincy parodies this tropes by saying "I am Quincy, son of Quincy." This is also played with his skins.
  • Cyber Quincy Skin has "I am Quincy, evolved from Quincy!", and his "Wolfpack Quincy" skin has "I am Quincy, of pack Quincy!"
  • You can buy the spirit of Quincy, dad of Quincy as a cosmetic pet for Quincy.

Web Comics

• Subverted in No Rest for the Wicked, where Jack says, "I'd tell you "Jack, son of..." ...but my dad made me swear never t' let on I'm his."
• The Order of the Stick: "I am Miko Myazaki, samurai of the Sapphire Guard, loyal vassal of Lord Shojo, daughter of Eyko and Paladin of the Twelve Gods of the South."
• Girl Genius "I am Zeetha, Daughter of Chump! [...] And yes, I know what it means in your language." Though between Word of God and hints dropped in-comic, it seems "Chump" was just an alias. He was probably being self-deprecating when introducing himself to Zeetha's people.
• Parodied in DM of the Rings.
  Aragorn (son of Arathorn): Hail to the king, baby! Aragorn, son of Anduril, is back!
  DM: Anduril is the name of your sword, dumbass.
• The main character of Tales of the Questor is Quentyn, son of Quinn. His father is generally named simply "Quinn". Though the sci-fi spinoff Quentyn Quinn, Space Ranger seems to imply that Quinn becomes a surname (like many real life Patronymics) sometime in the next 700 years.

Web Original

• Tales of MU gives us Dee, who is incredibly proud of her lineage, traced matrilineally back quite far, which is understandable given the culture form which she hails. To mispronounce the name of, or insult one of her foremothers is to commit a grave offense to her. The early prequel chapter given to her offers a look at just how far back her lineage goes.
  Delia Daella was the daughter of Daella Degra, who was the daughter of Degra Daura, who was the daughter of Daura Duala, who was the daughter of Duala Deneira, who was the daughter of Deneira Deshalla, who was the daughter of Deshalla Duquesna, who was the daughter of Duquesna Desiera, who was the daughter of Desiera Docia, who was the daughter of Docia Demara, who was the daughter of Demara Della, who was the daughter of Della Dolora, who was the daughter of Dolora Delissa, who was the daughter of Delissa Deliza, who was the daughter of Deliza Dasera, who was the daughter of Dasera Dasera, who was the daughter of Dasera Decatia, who was the daughter of Decatia Delia, who was the daughter of Delia Deshara, who was the daughter of Deshara Denala, who was the daughter of Denala d'Wyr... an unbroken chain of first daughters that went as far back as had ever been reckoned.

Western Animation

• Avatar: The Last Airbender "My name is Zuko! Son of Ursa and Fire Lord Ozai! Prince of the Fire Nation, and heir to the throne!" Unfortunately, Zuko delivers this speech in the middle of a land the Fire Nation had been waging war upon for a century, so the people he was helping are less than thrilled.
• Fantastic Four: The Animated Series: Thor introduces himself as "Thor, Son of Odin." Thing answers, "Son of Odin, eh? Thou has ticked off Ben Grimm, son of Mr. and Mrs. Grimm!"
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
  • In the episode "Hearthbreakers", Pinkie Pie's father introduces himself as "Igneous Rock Pie, son of Feldspar Granite Pie."
  • In the episode "Triple Threat", Ember the new Dragon Lord introduces herself to the Ponyville townsponies as "Ember, Daughter of Torch."
• Rolf from Ed, Edd n Eddy often refers to himself as the "son of a shepherd."
• Jim's biological father walked out when he was five, so when Jim becomes the Trollhunter, the trolls, who use patronymic names, call him "Jim, son of Barbara". (Although they have trouble with her name, so it comes out more like "Bah-buh-rah".)

Real Life

• Many family names in many languages actually come from such patronymics: Johnson or Ivanov (as in "John's Son" in both cases), for example. Which becomes entertaining when you meet a John Johnson Jr. Or are told by a baby-names website that "Jackson" means "Son of Jack," and that "Jack" is "Short for Jackson". Or, if you speak Russian, Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov (See below for Slavic naming conventions).
• Ever wonder why all Armenian surname ends in "-ian/-yan"? No?^note We'll forgive you, you're probably not from Russia. Or Beirut. Or Cairo. Or Los Angeles. Or Detroit. Well, we'll tell you: "-ian/-yan" translates to "-'s son" in Armenian, and all Armenian surnames are ultimately patronymic. So "Vardanian" = "Son of Vardan", "Manoogian" = "Son of Manoog", "Grigoryan" = "Son of Grigory", etc., etc., etc.
• O'Brien comes from Ó Briain and means "Descendant of Brian." If you want an example of an Irish name that does follow the "son of..." pattern, try McMahon (Irish form Mac Mathuna). And then there's also the female forms, both married and unmarried. For an unmarried woman, it would change from Ó Dubhda, for example, to Ní Dhubhda, or from Mac Mathuna to Nic Mhathuna, meaning "daughter of the grandson/female descendant of Dubh" and "daughter of the son of the bear," respectively. And if she married into that name, it'd be Uí Dhubhda (wife of the grandson/descendant of Dubh) and Mhic Mhathuna (wife of the son of the bear), repectively.
• Most, if not all, Spanish surnames ending in '-ez' or '-az' come from patronymics: Sánchez (son of Sancho), Rodríguez (son of Rodrigo), Fernández (son of Fernando), Díaz (son of Diego), etcetera. El Cid, for instance, was Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, son of Diego Laínez and father of Diego Rodríguez. Exceptions are some Latin American surnames like Chávez and Cortez, that are actually derived from Spanish surnames Chaves (Medieval Spanish for "Keys") and Cortés ("Polite").
• The Portuguese equivalents end in '-es' and '-as'.
• Iceland is the only land in the western world where people commonly don't have surnames, with some few exceptions, mostly for foreigners. To tell each other apart, people add X, son of Y or daughter of Y ("-son" and "-dóttir," respectively) to their names. It's however not a surname and people address each other and are listed in phone books by their given names. And addressing someone by their patronym or matronym is culturally insensitive. The former president should be called Ólafur, Ólafur Ragnar, or Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, never just Grímsson. Another former president should be called Vigdís or Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, never just Finnbogadóttir.
  • This was standard practice in large parts of Scandinavia well into the 19th century as well - Sweden didn't officially require a family name until 1901, and didn't officially abolish patronymicons until 1966. Anyone doing geneaology on Swedish families will inevitably get sucked into a long line of "Erik Johansson, son of Johan Eriksson, son of Erik Johansson, son of..."
• In German, many family names are patronymic in origin. The most obvious ones are those ending in "-son" (e. g. Janson), "-sohn" (e. g. Mendelssohn, Wolffsohn) or "-sen" (North German, e. g. Thomsen, Jensen), but there are also those that combine a given name with an "s" genitive (e. g. Michels, Hinrichs) or are nothing but a given name (e. g. Otto, Augustin, Hinz), which can be less easy to detect when it uses an odd regional or archaic derivative form, such as Maske (rooted in slavic Tomaszek "little Thomas") or Klose (a Silesian surname rooted in Nikolaus). And sometimes people used Latin genitives to be fancy (e. g. Michaelis, Henrici) and introduce creative spelling. Thus "son of Jacob (James)" is the root of Jacobsen, Jacob, Jacobs, Jacobi, Jakobi, Jacobj, Jacoby, Jakoby, Köppe, Koeppen, Köpke, Koep, Koop, Kopp and so on.
• In Russia, patronymics are still parts of names, like middle names in English. In fact, the polite way of addressing someone is in the form of "name patronymic" with the surname omitted (unless the person is being introduced, in which case it's either in the "name patronymic surname" format or as "surname name patronymic" which is what all official forms require). Unlike in Iceland, you can address a Russian by patronymic alone. But it's a highly familiar form of address, implying closeness, so if you call a barely-known Russian by patronymic alone, you'll be stared at.
• "Dracula", Vlad III's nickname and the inspiration for Bram Stoker's infamous vampire, means "son of the dragon".^note Language evolution later turned it into "son of the devil". The 'dragon' in question was his actual father Vlad II Dracul, i.e. the "Dragon" or "Last Dragon" as he was one of the last members of the Order of the Dragon. Modern Romanian has the patronymic ending -escu.
• In Jewish Torah services and certain blessings, people will be called by "[Hebrew Name], bat [Name of Father]" (if female) or "[Hebrew Name], ben [Name of Father]" (if male). Traditionally, converts called to the Torah give their parents' names as Abraham and Sarah, the first ancestors of the Jewish people. Just to make this complicated though, this is reversed if someone is sick, then they are prayed for as the child of their mother. Originally, it was exclusively male, but after the Romans came through, that was ... not feasible. When you have a reasonable fraction of the population born to single mothers, rules like that just have to go. However, they haven't totally given up the male-line issues. For example, you're Jewish if your mother's Jewish. However, identification as a Levite or a Kohen comes strictly from the father. Add to this that surnames are a relatively new development at least among Ashkenazi Jews. While Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews adopted surnames as early as the 13th century, Ashkenazi Jews did not adopt them until forced by law in the 18th century.
• As mentioned above, Arabic names also get this treatment, with ibn or bin used for sons and bint used for daughters. Sometimes it's even expanded to "[name] ibn [father] ibn [grandfather]", and sometimes they also include the tribe.
• Historical example; circa 600 BC, thousands of landless Greek soldiers became soldiers for hire in the Egyptian army. Some graffiti found at the Abu Simbel temples in Egypt reads, "Archon, son of Amoibichos, and Ax, son of Nobody, wrote me."
• The notorious terrorist Carlos the Jackal's real name is Ilyich Ramírez Sánchez. That translates into "son of Elijah, son of Ramiro, son of Sancho." Now whose son he is? His father (José Altagarcia Ramírez-Navas) and his mother (Elba Maria Sánchez), and he and his brothers were named after Vladimir Lenin.
• Ancient Rome had a naming convention known as filiation, in which an individual's full name included the name of his father, his grandfather, and (sometimes) the voting tribe he belonged to. Considering that most Roman males drew from a very shallow pool of first names, this could help distinguish a man on official records from his identically-named third cousin.
• The stupidly huge inscription of Ashurnasirpal II contains "son of Tukulti-Ninurta, the great king, the mighty king, king of Assyria, the son of Adad-nirari, the great king, the mighty king of Assyria".
• In a variant, Chinese names can contain 2 or 3 characters. The first is the surname, and the second (if of three) can be a "generation name", which all children of a given generation of that family share, the third character being the personal name. So if the Li family has children, and the generation name is 光 (Guāng), the children would be Li Guangfu, Li Guangbao, Li Guanghua, etc.
  • Ditto in Korea, although there is an increasing tendency to ignore naming conventions as of 21st century.
• A slight tweak are the 'Fitz' names, which originally meant "son of" (it's a Norman variation of the French word fils) but was later appropriated to mean "illegitimate son of". Please note that this use came into play after most of the larger families, such as the Fitzgeralds of Ireland, were founded, so no, there wasn't some Gerald who was sleeping around a ton.^note Well, there was at least one Gerald, and whoever he was he was almost certainly a Norman knight in the 11th-12th century, so he probably did sleep around a ton. But that's just what Norman knights did in Ireland in the 11th and 12th centuries and is nothing to do with his descendants' being called Fitzgerald. On the other hand, someone named FitzRoy is almost certainly a descendant of an illegitimate child of a king, very probably Charles II, who did sleep around a ton; the most famous of this lot are the Dukes of Grafton and their family, including Captain Robert FitzRoy (the commander of HMS Beagle, who hired Charles Darwin essentially as a conversation partner, putting Darwin on the voyage of his lifetime). For another example, anyone named "FitzClarence" or "Fitzclarence" is very probably a descendant of William IV, who was Duke of Clarence before ascending to the throne; he did not sleep around a lot, but rather had a steady mistress whom he couldn't marry because she was an Irish actress and he was, well, the Duke of Clarence in 1791 (they had ten children).
• Ancient Greeks used patronymics, many of which evolved into common Greek surnames of today. To an ancient Greek, a patronymic was an important sign of legitimacy and identity; illegitimate children were not referred to by their patronymic (the best a bastard son could hope for is something similar to the example of "Themistokles, called son of Neokles", as in Herodotus. Less polite is the poet Metagenes, who refers to another man as "that bastard-thing of Kallias").
• Many older noble and ruling houses were and are named after an (sometimes mythical) ancestor, such as the gens Julia, which claimed to be descended from Julus, son of Aeneas) and ruled the Roman Empire from C. Julius Caesar to Emperor Nero. Some examples would be the Merovingians, the Carolingians, the Robertinians (later called Capetians after the nickname of Hugo Capet), the Liudolfingians (also known as the Ottons), the Przemyslids and the Rurikids. The House of Welf (in German: die Welfen) is known in English in its romanized form "the Guelphs" (one of its branches came to rule the United Kingdom as the House of Brunswick-Luneburg or The House of Hanover).
• The house of David, which ruled Israelite kingdom and kingdom of Judah after secession of ten tribes of Israel under Jeroboam. The royal houses of Menelikids of Ethiopia (descending of king Menelik, illegitimate son of Solomon and Queen of Sheba) and Bagratids of Armenia and Georgia (the modern day Bagration family) claim their ancestry to the House of David.
• Ancient Wales had both patronymic and matronymic naming conventions. Men were ap their father's names; for instance, the last native Prince of Wales was Llywelyn ap Gruffydd — Llywelyn son of Gruffydd. Women were merch or ferch their parents' names; building on the previous example, Llywelyn's only child was Gwenllian ferch Llywelyn.
• Christopher Robin was always regarded as the son of A. A. Milne. He grew to resent this title in his adulthood because he felt that his father denied him the ability to create his own legacy. To the public, he will always be regarded as "The Son of A. A. Milne", no matter what he does or achieves.
  It seemed to me, almost, that my father had got to where he was by climbing upon my infant shoulders, that he had filched from me my good name and had left me with nothing but the empty fame of being his son.
• This used to be common practice in English. Anglo-Saxon culture gave patronymics to both sons and daughters. The son of a man named Edmund, for example, would be Edmundesson, while a daughter would be Edmundesdottor. This practice continued for the lower-class population of England — usually those of Anglo-Saxon descent - after the Norman Conquest and the introduction of more familiar names like John, Robert and Richard. This is reflected in many common English surnames today, such as Johnson, Robertson, and Richardson.
• In some parts of Brazil, a child is usually referred of "X of/from [father]". This even led once-president José Ribamar Ferreira de Araújo Costa, always referred to as "Zé do Sarney", to legally change his name so as to use his father's name as a surname, José Sarney.

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