The Patterns of Uxorilocal Marriage Couples Surnaming Their Children in the Hakka Settlements in Colonial Taiwan

In the society of Han Chinese, that children take the surnames of their fathers is a norm. Giving children their mothers' surnames was a custom of uxorilocal marriage. However, not all children of uxorilocal marriage took their mothers' surnames. We therefore are interested in learning how...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inMin su qu yi no. 197; p. 77
Main Authors Chun-hao, Li, Ying-chang, Chuang, Wen-shan, Yang, Shu-yao, Hsu, Yu-ling, Huang
Format Journal Article
LanguageChinese
English
Published Taipei Shih Ho-cheng Folk Culture Foundation 01.09.2017
Subjects
Birth order
Children & youth
Colonialism
Colonies & territories
Families & family life
Land settlement
Marriage
Names
Japan
Xinzhu Taiwan
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:In the society of Han Chinese, that children take the surnames of their fathers is a norm. Giving children their mothers' surnames was a custom of uxorilocal marriage. However, not all children of uxorilocal marriage took their mothers' surnames. We therefore are interested in learning how uxorilocal marriage couple surname their children, and what factors would affect the surnaming behaviors. This research will rely on "Taiwan Historical Household Registers Database, 1906-1945" to study children of 714 uxorilocal couples in 4 Hakka settlements in Xinzhu. The results show that, first, the patterns of surnaming children vary across time and space. Second, birth order and sex of children were associated with the likelihood of taking mothers' surnames. The likelihood of giving children mother's surname decreased with later birth order. A male offspring was more likely to take his mother's surname than his female counterpart. Third, giving children their mothers' surnames may be necessary to maintain the family lineage and/or to guarantee family labor force in the future. We found that the first-born boys were more likely to take mother's last name than girls. When the women of uxorilocal marriage had brothers, the likelihood of their first-born children taking their surnames was low. When the first child was a girl and the second child was a boy, the likelihood of the boy taking mother's last name was high. Finally, the likelihood of the second child was associated with the labor force in a family.
ISSN:1025-1383