Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Japanese people could all be called Sato by 2531, study warns. But they’d need to get married first
In patrilineal societies, the surname is passed down from father to children, creating a line of descent that tends to preserve the same surname within a family lineage. Over generations, this can lead to a consolidation of surnames within certain family lines. In such societies, surnames are lost or die out over time with each new generation as women take on their husbands’ surnames. In Japan, married couples are legally required to share the same surname, and most couples choose the husband’s surname. According to a new study, if the requirement were to be kept, all Japanese people could have the same surname, Sato, the most common surname in Japan in the next two centuries. In fact, the five most common surnames in Japan are; Sato, Suzuki, Takahashi, Tanaka, and Ito, and combined, they represent nearly 6% of all the surnames. But the more pressing issues are the number of marriages, new births, and population, which are all declining fast. Indeed, if the denominator shrinks and the numerator increases, the fraction will become closer to one.
Read the article and learn about Japan’s shrinking population and surname variations.
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/03/asia/japan-people-could-all-be-called-sato-by-2531-intl-hnk/index.html
Japanese people could all be called Sato by 2531, study warns. But they’d need to get married first
In patrilineal societies, the surname is passed down from father to children, creating a line of descent that tends to preserve the same surname within a family lineage. Over generations, this can lead to a consolidation of surnames within certain family lines. In such societies, surnames are lost or die out over time with each new generation as women take on their husbands’ surnames. In Japan, married couples are legally required to share the same surname, and most couples choose the husband’s surname. According to a new study, if the requirement were to be kept, all Japanese people could have the same surname, Sato, the most common surname in Japan in the next two centuries. In fact, the five most common surnames in Japan are; Sato, Suzuki, Takahashi, Tanaka, and Ito, and combined, they represent nearly 6% of all the surnames. But the more pressing issues are the number of marriages, new births, and population, which are all declining fast. Indeed, if the denominator shrinks and the numerator increases, the fraction will become closer to one.
Read the article and learn about Japan’s shrinking population and surname variations.
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/04/03/asia/japan-people-could-all-be-called-sato-by-2531-intl-hnk/index.html
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