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To give one example, the scholar-official [[Nakijin Chogi|Nakijin Chôgi]] ([[1702]]-[[1787]]) was ''[[anji]]'' and ''[[jito (Ryukyu)|jitô]]'' of [[Nakijin]] (this was the territory he administered, or held in fief); combined with his Ryukyuan name Chôgi, he is thus known as Nakijin Chôgi 今帰仁朝義 or Nakijin ''anji'' Chôgi. However, he was also head of the [[Gushikawa family]] 具志川家, a branch of the [[Sho Dynasty|royal family]], and bore the Chinese-style name Shô Senbo 向宣謨. His father, [[Nakijin Choki|Nakijin Chôki]] 今帰仁朝季, bore the same title of "''anji'' of Nakijin," the same Chinese-style surname Shô, and the same Ryukyuan family name of Gushikawa, but a different "given name" Chôki, and a different Chinese "given name" as well.
To give one example, the scholar-official [[Nakijin Chogi|Nakijin Chôgi]] ([[1702]]-[[1787]]) was ''[[anji]]'' and ''[[jito (Ryukyu)|jitô]]'' of [[Nakijin]] (this was the territory he administered, or held in fief); combined with his Ryukyuan name Chôgi, he is thus known as Nakijin Chôgi 今帰仁朝義 or Nakijin ''anji'' Chôgi. However, he was also head of the [[Gushikawa family]] 具志川家, a branch of the [[Sho Dynasty|royal family]], and bore the Chinese-style name Shô Senbo 向宣謨. His father, [[Nakijin Choki|Nakijin Chôki]] 今帰仁朝季, bore the same title of "''anji'' of Nakijin," the same Chinese-style surname Shô, and the same Ryukyuan family name of Gushikawa, but a different "given name" Chôki, and a different Chinese "given name" as well.
==Under the Ryûkyû Kingdom==
==Under the Ryûkyû Kingdom==
'''Naha''': The scholar-aristocracy of Naha included families such as the Bai 貝, mentioned above.
'''Naha''': The scholar-aristocracy of Naha included families such as the Bai 貝, mentioned above.
===House Names===
Meanwhile, particularly in rural villages, the dividing of families into collateral houses as younger sons married out and formed households of their own led to the development of a system known as ''yaa n naa'', or "house names." While the households (and the residences themselves) of the royalty and aristocracy of the ''[[anji]]'' and above were known as ''udun'' (御殿), and those of middle- and lower-ranking aristocrats as ''dunchi'' (殿内), the lowest ranks of aristocrats, along with commoners, simply called their households ''yaa'' (家).<ref>These divisions may have been fairly strict in terms of official designations, but commoners, looking "upwards," so to speak, would have termed even the lowest of aristocratic households as ''dunchi''.</ref> ''Udun'' and ''dunchi'' households were typically named after the territory that family held in fief, or the territory they administered, resulting in names such as [[Uchima udun]] and [[Miyara-dunchi]].
Ryukyuan society was basically patri-local. The eldest son inherited the main household, or ''muutuyaa'', while younger sons married out and formed branch houses, known as ''wakariyaa''.<ref>These two terms, ''muutuyaa'' and ''wakariyaa'' are closely related to the Japanese concepts of ''honke'' (main house) and ''bunke'' (branch house), and would be written with the same [[kanji]]: 本家 and 分家.</ref> Despite creating new households, however, people very often remained within the same village, and continued to maintain close ties to their broader lineage. This broader lineage might be known as a "clan" (氏, J: ''uji''), or ''munchuu'' (門中, lit. "all within the same gate"). Thus, it became quite standard for numerous households within the same village to bear the same surname and associate themselves alongside one another with the same lineage. For example, at a given time in the village of Kanegusuku, there was a main house (''muutuyaa'') known as Kuchinda, and three branch houses (''wakariyaa'') known as Tuku Kuchinda, Iri Kuchinda, and Mii Kuchinda, all of whom shared the surname Ufugushiku (J: Ôshiro), despite Kuchinda (or Kochinda) being a place elsewhere on the island. As seen in these examples, branch households often included location words, describing the location of the household within the village, such as ''iri'' (west), ''wii'' (upper), ''mee'' (front), and ''naka'' (middle), as well as other descriptive terms such as ''mii'' (new), ''jinan'' (second son), and ''jô'' (gate).
Another larger lineage in the same village was known as the Nnagu-bara, in which ''hara'' or ''bara'' means "lineage." It contained 65 households, with complex relationships amongst them. Just one of these houses, which was not the singular main Nnagu household, claimed descent (also) from the Uchima lineage, and called itself Ufuiri (J: ''Ônishi'', "Great West"). The Ufuiri household had at least five branch houses, several of which had their own branches, which in turn had their own branches. Some of these families bore house names such as Front Great West (''Mee ufu iri''), Second Son Great West (''Jinan ufu iri''), and Fukuji Gate (''Fukuji jô''), with branches of the latter bearing names such as Upper Fukuji Gate (''Wii Fukuji jô''), Front Fukuji Gate (''Mee Fukuji jô''), and Tuku Gate (''Tuku jô''), yielding in turn New Tuku Gate (''Mii Tuku jô'') and Fourth Son of Tuku Gate (''Yunan Tuku jô'').
==Modern Era==
==Modern Era==