One-character inheritance type - ichiji keishougata

...While the bilateral type of ancestral name succession is a form in which the personal names of both paternal and maternal ancestors are inherited, the single-line type is a form in which the personal name is inherited only from paternal ancestors. In addition to name succession, single-line ancestral name succession methods include the one-character succession type, in which only one character from a paternal ancestor is inherited, and the name-no-gashira type, in which all males inherit the name-no-gashira. Name succession was once a fairly common method of ancestral name succession among farmers, merchants, samurai families, and head families, and especially among farmers and merchants, the name succession was one of the important symbols of the family, and even if they did not have a surname, it served to classify the family. ...

*Some of the terminology explanations that refer to the "single-character inheritance type" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…双系型の祖名継承法が父方と母方の両方の先祖の個人名を継承する形態であるのに対して，単系型は父方の先祖のみから個人名を継承する形態である。単系型の祖名継承法には襲名のほかには父方の先祖の1字のみを継承する一字継承型や，男子全員が名乗頭を継承する名乗頭型がある。襲名はかつて農家や商家ならびに武家や家元でかなり広く行われてきた祖名継承法であり，とくに農家や商家にあっては襲名が家族の重要なシンボルの一つであってこれが苗字をもたない場合でも，家族の類別の機能を果たしていた。…

※「一字継承型」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報