Surname Law

The Surname Law was a piece of legislation passed in December 4162 by the Qedarite Kingdom of Barmenia that officially abolished patronymics and clan names, until then a central characteristic of Jelbic culture, for the entire population of Barmenistan. The Law required all citizens of the Qedarite Kingdom to adopt a hereditary and fixed surname. Much of the population, particularly urban dwellers and the Kathuran and Yeudi citizens, already had surnames.

The main purpose of the Law was to eliminate the power of the Brmek clans and to remove clan allegiance and solidarity from the Jelbic population, with the end goal of assimilating the Jelbics into the Kathuran ethnicity. The law also officially forbade patronymics, which had been in use both among the Brmeks as well as the Kathuran population, presented as a modernizing measure. The old clan names could still be used as surnames, but only after providing genealogical evidence, meaning that only the leading family of each clan could continue to use the clan name, and only if they had kept accurate family records going back generations.

The Surname Law, in spite of its Phalangite ideological justification, proved to be a success. Within a generation the old Jelbic tria nomina naming system (first name + patronymic + clan name) was completely forgotten in Barmenistan, and now all Barmenian Jelbics use a hereditary surname in addition to their given name.