1-6.3 Example of personal name propagation.
Even in western cultures there are many
elements comprising a person's name. In a greatly simplified form the linguist sees four obvious parts:
1) pre-positive title, such as "Mr.," 2) given names, 3) surnames, and 4) postpositive title, such as
"Esq." Lacking a given name it is often appropriate in America to refer to a male by "Mr.," to a
married female by "Mrs.," and to an unmarried female by "Miss" with the surname. In this country
the wife usually acquires and children all inherit the surname of the husband viz. father as their
family name. Particularly irksome is the novice genealogist who writes a name for the wife in her family of
procreation as one acquired in full from the husband: Mrs. John Smith. We call the pre-positive title as
an indication of given name interpretation a name prefix.
