Editing Surname (section)

===Ornamental/artificial surnames===
{{anchor|Ornamental}}'''Ornamental surnames''' (also known as {{anchor|Artificial}}'''artificial surnames'''<ref>Johannes Czakai, ''Nochems neue Namen: Die Juden Galiziens und der Bukowina und die Einführung deutscher Vor- und Familiennamen 1772-1820'', footnote 78 at [https://books.google.com/books?id=lB8-EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA292 p 292], referring to Beider</ref><ref>[[Alexander Beider]], [https://www.academia.edu/95851463/Introductory_chapters_to_Beider_Alexander_2004_A_Dictionary_of_Jewish_Surnames_from_Galicia_Bergenfield_NJ_Avotaynu Introductory chapters to: Beider, Alexander. 2004. A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from Galicia ], Section 2.3 "Artificial surnames", pp. 27–41</ref>) are not specific to any attribute (place, parentage, occupation, caste) of the first person to acquire the name. They were generally acquired later in history and generally when those without surnames needed them. In 1526, [[Frederick I of Denmark|King Frederik I of Denmark-Norway]] ordered that noble families must take up fixed surnames, and many of them took as their name some element of their coat of arms; for example, the [[Rosenkrantz (noble family)|Rosenkrantz]] ("rose wreath") family took their surname from a wreath of roses forming the torse of their arms,<ref>Hiort-Lorensen, H.R., and Thiset, A. (1910) ''Danmarks Adels Aarbog'', 27th ed. Copenhagen: Vilh. Trydes Boghandel, p. 371.</ref> and the [[Gyldenstierne (noble family)|Gyldenstierne]] ("golden star") family took theirs from a 7-pointed gold star on their shield.<ref>von Irgens-Bergh, G.O.A., and Bobe, L. (1926) ''Danmarks Adels Aarbog'', 43rd ed. Copenhagen: Vilh. Trydes Boghandel, p. 3.</ref> Subsequently, many middle-class Scandinavian families desired names similar to those of the nobles and adopted "ornamental" surnames as well.

Most other naming traditions refer to them as "acquired". They might be given to people newly immigrated, conquered, or converted, as well as those with unknown parentage, formerly enslaved, or from parentage without a surname tradition.{{cn|date=February 2025}}

Ornamental surnames are more common in communities that adopted (or were forced to adopt) surnames in the 18th and 19th centuries.<ref name="bowman" /> They occur commonly in Scandinavia, and among [[Sinti and Roma]] and Eastern  [[Ashkenazi]] Jews in Germany and Austria.<ref name="hanks" />