Ridiculously Long-lived Family Name

Sometimes in fiction, it appears as if family names are absurdly enduring. It might make sense for royal or noble families to have names go on for generations, but it doesn't make as much sense for others, especially because the way surnames are inherited varies by culture and time period. China has had family names since 2000 BC, while in the West, surnames fell out of fashion after the collapse of the Roman Empire, if they didn't just use patronymics to begin with, like many Germanic and Celtic tribes. In England, nobles didn't get surnames until the Norman Conquest in the 11th century and commoners did not get them until the 14th century.

Even family names that can be traced back some generations are likely to undergo some alterations or translations somewhere down the line, especially if they immigrate to a country with a different common language. In the United States, immigration officials have long had a habit of changing the names of non-English immigrants to something they can pronounce. Yet, fictional surnames can remain relatively unchanged for hundreds, even thousands of years.

Often seen because having the Same Surname Means Related. Compare Lineage Comes from the Father. See also Ancestral Name and King Bob the Nth. Not to be confused with Overly Long Name.

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Examples

Anime & Manga

• Captain Harlock: In both Arcadia of My Youth and Dimensional Voyage continuity, the Harlock family has stated to be existence since the medieval period, with members depicted in the 19th century and both world wars bearing the same surname, meaning the family name has largely been unchanged for almost 2,000 years by the time it got to the Pirate Captain that we know. Tochiro's family the Oyamas dates back at least to the 19th century, and implied to be much older than that.
• Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: Tanjiro’s Kamado family have consistently been poor coal sellers living in the same countryside mountain village for 400 years, but despite these ignoble origins their name has been preserved as well as storied Samurai lineages such as the Rengoku family. In the end both the Kamado and Rengoku families were still going strong 100 years later, in the modern 2010's/2020's.
• Fairy Tail: The name Heartfilia goes back at least four hundred years, as shown with Anna Heartfilia, and has continued on since into the present day of the series, as shown with Anna's present-day descendants, Layla and Lucy Heartfilia.
• Fruits Basket: The Sohma Clan dates back thousands of years, to the time of the creation of the Eastern Zodiac. Ever since the original "god" of the zodiac died, certain members of the Sohma family have been possessed by the spirits of the 12 zodiac animals, the cat, and the god (though they were not usually all alive at the same time until the generation alive during the series).
• The Last: Naruto the Movie reveals the existence of Toneri Otsutsuki, the last living member of the legendary Otsutsuki clan. He is a direct descendant of Kaguya Otsutsuki through her second son, who lived a millennium ago.

Comic Books

• In Runaways, Nico's family, the Minoru clan, dates back at least as far as the 15th century; one of her ancestors was part of Agatha Harkness' coven.
• An Asterix side-story strip has the strip's creators meeting a modern-day Identical Grandson of Obelix, whose name is Obelisc'h. Apparently, the name survived for over two thousand years, with only a slight shift to represent the difference between Ancient Gaulish and modern Breton.
• In DC One Million, the first people Superman meets in 853rd century Metropolis are Jarada Olsen and Luthor Luthor. Not only have the names lasted all this time, but Mayor Olsen has red hair and freckles, and Luthor is a bald scientist.

Fan Works

• In The Apprentice, the Student, and the Charlatan, while ponies usually don't use last names, there are a few exceptions, such as Twilight Sparkle, whose distant ancestor Starlight Sparkle is the matriarch of the Sparkle family and was born close to 1000 years prior to when the fic takes place. In addition, slightly enforced by the various noble unicorn houses that have been around for 1,200+ years, such as the Novus family and the Lulamoon family. Sometimes members of the family do take on the family name as a surname, such as Comet Novus (Starlight Sparkle's father) or Ray Novus (protagonist Nova Shine's father), or most members of the Lulamoon including Trixie, her father Tantalus, and the clan matriarch Lucia.

Film — Animation

• Klaus (2019): The town of Smeerensburg houses two families: the Krums and the Ellingboes. These two families have been in a big feud for generations, and even have art from previous generations of their fights. How long have these two family names been fighting? Let's just say their oldest depiction of the feud is from a cave painting.

Film — Live-Action

• The Underworld series has a fairly absurd version of this. Michael Corvin, the Living Macguffin of the first film and secondary character in the others, can trace his family name back millennia to the very first Vampire. The whole reason he's targetted as a potential candidate in the first place is because his last name is similar to that of the first Vampire.

Literature

• Artemis Fowl: The Butlers have been, well, butlers to the Fowl family for centuries, the first known one (Virgil Butler) being servant, bodyguard, and cook to Lord Hugo de Foley sometime in the Middle Ages, leading to in-universe speculation that the job title comes from the family name.^note In fact, it comes from the Old French boteiller, the man in charge of the bottles of wine.
• The Belgariad: In Polgara the Sorceress, The Ageless title character strikes up an Odd Friendship with a workman named Killane and hires him as her estate manager. His descendants, the Killanesons, work for her for the next 600 years.
• Harry Potter: While many old wizarding families in Britain did experience name changes through the centuries (e.g. the Gaunts were direct descendants of Salazar Slytherin but did not carry the Slytherin name), some can trace their surnames back over a thousand years. Justified, since wizards tend to live longer and thus are better able to pass on their family names, and certain wizarding families (usually those associated with Slytherin House) became obsessed with proving their blood purity, so kept strong records.
  • Sirius Black states that the House of Black could trace their name back to the Middle Ages, and many members intermarried to "keep the line pure", not something he was particularly proud of. With his death, the Black family name died out, though their blood lives on in the Tonks and Malfoy families.
  • Armand Malfoy arrived in Britain with William the Conqueror as part of the invading Norman army. The Malfoy Family has since lived on the same plot of land for ten consecutive centuries.
  • The Potter name traces back to the 12th century, when Linfred of Stinchcombe became known as "The Potterer", passing his name to his son, Hardwin Potter.
• In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a throwaway gag reveals that there was "an accident with a contraceptive and a time machine" which means that Zaphod Beeblebrox's father was Zaphod Beeblebrox II, his grandfather was Zaphod Beeblebrox III and so on. In Life, the Universe and Everything, in a historical flashback scene set billions of years ago, we meet a Zaphod-like character called Zipo Bibrok 5 x 10^8.
• The surname Kinnison, in the Lensman series goes back to ancient Atlantis (in the form "Kinnexa") and from there forward to 20th-century Earth and then to the undated far future of Kimball Kinnison's time. In the GURPS Lensman setting book it's implied that the name goes all the way to a pre-human plains ape named Kinah.
• Night World:
  • The Harman family have kept their surname for thousands of years, dating back to the family's founder, Hellewise, in the Stone Age, though it should be noted that originally their surname was Hearth-Woman (which was originally treated more like an inherited title) and over the centuries it morphed into Harman. The family has been known as the Harmans since the 17th century at the very least. It helps that witches are matrilineal, so surnames are passed from mother to daughter, and female witches are far more common than male witches. Some Harmans who became separated from witch society have different surnames due to adopting patrilineal naming conventions, though they're still considered Harmans.
  • The Redfern family named themselves after their prehistoric founder Red Fern and have retained this name up to the present day (1990s). In their case, this is a bit easier to maintain, considering they're vampires and so can potentially live for centuries. It's also explicitly stated that Hunter Redfern decreed that his daughter Garnet and her descendants would bear his surname to keep the family line going, as he officially had no male heirs (although another of his daughters, Roseclear, followed witch conventions by taking her mother Maeve Harman's surname).
• In Cordwainer Smith's book Norstrillia, the protagonist's name is Rodrick Fredrick Ronald Arnold William McArthur McBan - the one hundred fifty-first. That's about four thousand years' worth of Rod McBans.
• In Reflections of Eterna, the four Ducal houses (Alva, Oakdell, Epine, Pridd) and most of their vassal clans essentially trace their family names all the way back to the creation of the world by the four creator deities whose mortal representatives they are supposed to be. This is justified in-universe by a magical law dictating that no Duke can die unless there exists a male heir to pass on their title and powers to. According to the same law, when the Dukes start dying without heirs, it spells the impending End of the World as We Know It.
• Secret Histories: The Drood family are an Ancient Order of Protectors (or Ancient Conspiracy, depending on whom you ask) dating back from the present day to Roman Britain, when they began as a Druid splinter sect.
• In A Song of Ice and Fire: Noble family names last a very long time. The Stark name lasts about 8,000 years as of the start of the series. Though, this is according to the Maesters: according to author George R. R. Martin, their recordkeeping isn't nearly as good as it's cracked up to be. History in ASOIAF is prone to exaggeration for various reasons, not least of which is wanting to make the incumbents look better. For what it's worth, we can be sure that all of the current Great Houses have existed since at least Aegon Targaryen's conquest 300 years ago (an event that undisputedly happened), and Houses Stark of the North, Lannister of the Westerlands, Arryn of the Vale, and Martell of Dorne have been ruling their respective regions since that far back.^note The Iron Islands and Riverlands were ruled by House Hoare, who were literally roasted by the Targaryens and replaced by the Greyjoys and Tullys, respectively; House Gardener ruled the Reach at the time and were similarly roasted crispy, to be replaced by the Tyrells; and Orys Baratheon, a bastard half-brother of Aegon I, killed the last Durrandon king to rule over the Stormlands.
• Tortall: A Spy's Guide contains plenty of Continuity Nods to the rest of the Tortall Universe, but fewer all told to the Beka Cooper books, which take place a good two centuries before the others. The organizational chart for the Tortallan spy service does include Rebekah Lofts, noted in parenthesis to be the seven-times great grandaughter of Tansy Lofts.
  • A Lower City villain from the first Beka Cooper has a last name that appears associated with a Lower City hireling in Protector of the Small but there's no telling if the two are actually related.

Live-Action TV

• In Angels in America, the full name (not just the surname) "Prior Walter" has been passed down as a family name for centuries, including one in the Bayeux Tapestry (11th or 12th century).
• Arrowverse: The Legends go back to feudal Japan and met the man who forged Tatsu's sword. His family name is also Yamashiro.
• In the first Blackadder series, in the year 1485 Prince Edmund decides to call himself "the Black Adder." In every other iteration of the series the protagonist, a direct descendant of Prince Edmund, is named Edmund Blackadder, even as the family's social status descends; his servant is also always named Baldrick.
• In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the episode "Bar Association" reveals that O'Brien (a man in the 24th century) has an ancestor from the 19th century named Sean O'Brien.
• Star Trek: The Next Generation: In the episode "Journey's End", Captain Picard learns of one of his ancestors from the 17th century, which is about 700 years past. This ancestor was a Spaniard named Javier Maribona Picard, while Captain Picard has long been established as a Frenchman.
• Teen Wolf: The Argent family can supposedly trace their ancestry back to an Argent who hunted werewolves in 1767.

Tabletop Games

• BattleTech: The names of each of the Great Houses that control the Successor States: Davion, Kurita, Steiner, Marik, and Liao, all go back centuries. House Kurita, the family that controls the Draconis Combine, traces its name all the way back to Terra in the 20th century!

Video Games

• The Belmont clan of Castlevania have fought Dracula throughout his various revivals, from the 11th century knight Leon Belmont to Julius Belmont of the 21st century. One of the few exceptions is Reinhardt Schneider, from Castlevania 64, and the Morris Family (Quincey of Dracula fame, John in Bloodlines, and Jonathan in Portrait of Ruin). They don't bear the name but are still a close enough relation to wield the Vampire Killer whip.
• In the Chzo Mythos, almost every character who has a last name has an ancestor or descendant (or both) in the form of another character. And in each and every case, these characters all share the same last name, despite being separated by up to five centuries.
• The Elder Scrolls series:
  • The Septims were the ruling dynasty of the Third Tamriellic Empire, lasting for over 400 years. Every single recognized monarch in that span (not counting a select few regents-turned-monarchs) bore the Septim surname. Even real-life dynasties that last half of that span rarely keep the same "surname" (or equivalent, like a house name) as they usually, eventually pass through a female line, causing it to change in most cases.
  • House Tharn is a noble Nibenese family who has been impacting Tamriel for thousands of years. Tharanus Ye Redde-Hand is believed to be the founder of the line in the 1st Era when Cyrodiil was still part of the Ayleid Empire. Later members including Chancellor Abnur Tharn (who plays a role in The Elder Scrolls Online along with numerous other Tharn family members) and Jagar Tharn (Big Bad of Arena), whose death seems to have finally brought the family line to an end.
  • Many of the noble Dunmeri (Dark Elf) families of Morrowind can trace their origins back to the nation's founding under Indoril Nerevar, who was an adopted member (via his marriage to Almalexia) of the still-extant Great House Indoril, some 4000 years prior. In Morrowind itself, you can meet Dunmer NPCs (ranging in plot importance) with the surnames of some of the other Great Houses and other historically significant figures like the Tribunal Temple Saints.
• The Cooper Clan from the Sly Cooper games are a family of raccoons who were all Karmic Thieves, making their living stealing from less honorable criminal elements. Their family have lived and traveled across every corner of the Earth, detailing their techniques and accomplishments in a book named the Thievius Raccoonus. Their earliest known ancestor who made the book was Slytunkhamen Cooper I, a thief who stole from corrupt noblemen as early as 1350 BC in Ancient Egypt. Thieves in Time would reveal that the Coopers have been thieves as early as 10,000 BC, a Prehistoric raccoon named "Bob" Cooper having been an egg thief for his clan in the Stone Age.
• In between Tales of Symphonia and Tales of Phantasia, the Fujibayashi name has remained unchanged for thousands of years - four thousand according to the most popular Fanon.

Web Comics

• Girl Genius: The House of Heterodyne was established over a thousand years ago by Genghis Ht'rok-din. While the name has evidently changed a bit, most of Agatha's ancestors from what appeared to be the Middle Ages have been referred to by the surname "Heterodyne."

Western Animation

• The Back to the Future animated series features a member of the Tannen family as the antagonist of almost every episode, regardless of when in time that episode takes place. Counting only those with the unmodified surname of "Tannen", this extends from Goodman Tannen from 1692 all the way to Ziff Tannen from 2091.
• Dragons: The Nine Realms: While Olivia's great-grandfather was the last known Haddock, since the series takes place 1,300 years after the events of the movies, it still means the name lasted for at least a thousand years.
• Gargoyles: The Canmore family claim descent from 11th-century Scottish king Malcolm III Canmore^note  apparently through his son Domnall/Donald, of whom historians know basically nothing aside from the fact that he existed, so he could have living descendants today for all we know. It's an odd case since Canmore (generally used to mean "great chief", though a more direct translation would be "big head") was Malcolm's nickname (and in real life may not even have been applied to him during his lifetime), not his surname, although presumably in-story his descendants took it to reflect the fact that he was the first in their line to assume the mantle of Hunter, and they are continuing his legacy of hunting gargoyles into the present day.
• Loonatics Unleashed: Ace Bunny finds himself being targeted by one Electro J Fudd, a "sportsman" with cloaking technology. Lexi Bunny is able to trace the Fudd lineage all the way back to the Stone Age when a Fudd died on a hunt after being stepped on by a dinosaur. The Fudd bloodline apparently considers hunting their raison d'etre, they tend to perish on a hunt, but they're smart enough to breed before going out after their quarries.
• In The Real Ghostbusters, two of Egon's ancestors (one seen in "Egon's Dragon" and the other seen in "If I Were a Witch Man") still have his last name, Spengler, despite being around in the medieval age.
• The Simpsons: "The Saga Of Carl" reveals Carl's adopted Icelandic family, despite being regular folk and pariahs, have held the surname Carlson for over a thousand years to the point they still get the blame for their ancestors being perceived as cowards who abandoned the defences and allowed Viking Raiders to massacre their kinsfolk. This is made all the more absurd by the fact that Icelandic surnames don't work like other cultures' family names.

Real Life

• The Roman gens Julia, best known for producing Gaius Julius Caesar, lasted at least 1,200 years judging by the election of Gaius Julius Iullus in 489 BC, with the last notable member being Julius Celsus in the 7th century AD. And family legends claimed the clan was founded by Iulus, son of Aeneas, a survivor of the Trojan War.
• The Kong/Kung family claims descent from Confucius, who lived around 2,500 years ago. The family is still extant to this day, having held the title of Duke of Yansheng during the days of imperial China.
• Oda Nobunaga's family still exists, with figure skater Oda Nobunari being his direct descendant. Likewise, Tokugawa Ieyasu's family is also still around and even maintains the Tokugawa Memorial Foundation to preserve and display the various artifacts and documents passed down in the family over the centuries. In 2023, writer and critic Iehiro Tokugawa, 57, was named 19th head of the household. Meanwhile, no direct descendants of Toyotomi Hideyoshi exist (partially because Hideyoshi himself didn't have that big a family to begin with), but there are some people believed to be descended from branches of the family (who no longer use the Toyotomi name, unlike the Oda and Tokugawa).
• There is a large family named "Silva" in Spain that claims to be the same one as Lucius Flavius Silva, the Roman general most famous for the siege of Masada.
• House Grimaldi— the rulers of Monaco—were founded in 1160 AD, and still control the city-state to this day.
• The Lurie family is speculated by some scholars to trace all the way back to the Jewish King David; if that's the case, then the Luries have over 3000 years of heritage.

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