# Patrilineality > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Patrilineality > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Patrilineality.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrilineality > Source revision: 1325254179 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Tracing of kinship through the male line Not to be confused with [Patronymic surname](/source/Patronymic_surname). Part of a series on the Anthropology of kinship Basic concepts Family Lineage Affinity Consanguinity Marriage Incest taboo Endogamy Exogamy Minor Moiety Monogamy Polygyny Polygamy Concubinage Polyandry Bride price Bride service Dowry Parallel / cross cousins Cousin marriage Levirate Sororate Posthumous marriage Joking relationship Clan Cohabitation Fictive / Milk / Nurture kinship Descent Cognatic / Bilateral Matrilateral Lineal Collateral House society Avunculate Linealities Ambilineality Unilineality Matrilineality Patrilineality Household forms and residence Extended Matrifocal Matrilocal Neolocal Nuclear Patrilocal Terminology Kinship terminology Classificatory terminologies By group Iroquois Crow Omaha Inuit (Eskimo) Hawaiian Sudanese Dravidian (debated) Case studies Australian Aboriginal Burmese Chinese Philippine Polyandry in Tibet / in India Feminist Chambri Mosuo Sexuality Coming of Age in Samoa Major theorists Diane Bell Tom Boellstorff Jack Goody W. D. Hamilton Joseph Henrich Gilbert Herdt Don Kulick Roger Lancaster Louise Lamphere Eleanor Leacock Claude Lévi-Strauss Bronisław Malinowski Margaret Mead Henrietta Moore Lewis H. Morgan Stephen O. Murray Michelle Rosaldo Gayle Rubin David M. Schneider Heinrich Schurtz Marilyn Strathern Related articles Alliance theory Matrilineal / matrilocal societies Feminist anthropology Sex and Repression in Savage Society Social Bonding and Nurture Kinship "The Traffic in Women" Social anthropology Cultural anthropology v t e **Patrilineality**, also known as the **male line**, the **spear side**[1] or **agnatic kinship**, is a common [kinship](/source/Kinship) system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritance of property, rights, names, or titles by persons related through male kin. This is distinguished from [cognate](/source/Cognatic_kinship)[2] kinship which is through any combination of lineages, and from [matrilineality](/source/Matrilineality) which is through the mother's lineage, also called the spindle side, the distaff side or enatic kinship. A patriline ("father line") is a person's father, and additional ancestors, as traced only through males. ## In the Bible In the [Bible](/source/Bible), family and tribal membership appears to be transmitted through the father. For example, a person is considered to be a [priest](/source/Kohen) or [Levite](/source/Levite), if his father is a priest or Levite, and the members of all the [Twelve Tribes](/source/Twelve_Tribes_of_Israel) are called [Israelites](/source/Israelites) because their father is Israel ([Jacob](/source/Jacob)). In the first lines of the [New Testament](/source/New_Testament), the descent of [Jesus Christ](/source/Jesus_Christ) is counted through the male lineage from [Abraham](/source/Abraham) through [King David](/source/King_David) to [Joseph](/source/Saint_Joseph) (the husband of [Mary, mother of Jesus](/source/Mary%2C_mother_of_Jesus)). ## Agnatic succession Patrilineal or agnatic succession gives priority to or restricts inheritance of a [throne](/source/Throne) or [fief](/source/Fief) to male heirs descended from the original title holder through males only. Traditionally, agnatic succession is applied in determining the names and membership of European [dynasties](/source/Dynasty). The prevalent forms of [dynastic](/source/Dynasty) succession in Europe, Asia and parts of Africa were [male-preference primogeniture](/source/Male-preference_primogeniture), [agnatic primogeniture](/source/Agnatic_primogeniture), or [agnatic seniority](/source/Agnatic_seniority) until after [World War II](/source/World_War_II). The agnatic succession model, also known as [Salic law](/source/Salic_law), meant the total exclusion of women as hereditary monarchs and restricted succession to thrones and inheritance of fiefs or land to men in parts of medieval and later Europe. This form of strict agnatic inheritance has been officially revoked in all extant European monarchies except the [Principality of Liechtenstein](/source/Principality_of_Liechtenstein). By the 21st century, most ongoing European monarchies had replaced their traditional agnatic succession with [absolute primogeniture](/source/Absolute_primogeniture), meaning that the first child born to a monarch inherits the throne, regardless of the child's sex. ## Genetic genealogy Main articles: [Genealogical DNA test](/source/Genealogical_DNA_test) and [Y-chromosomal Adam](/source/Y-chromosomal_Adam) The fact that human [Y-chromosome](/source/Y_chromosome) DNA (Y-DNA) is paternally inherited enables patrilines and agnatic kinships of men to be traced through genetic analysis. [Y-chromosomal Adam](/source/Y-chromosomal_Adam) (Y-MRCA) is the patrilineal [most recent common ancestor](/source/Most_recent_common_ancestor) from whom all Y-DNA in living men is descended. An identification of a very rare and previously unknown Y-chromosome variant in 2012 led researchers to estimate that Y-chromosomal Adam lived 230,000 years ago.[3][4][5][6] Before this discovery, estimates of the date when Y-chromosomal Adam lived were much more recent, estimated to be tens of thousands of years. ## See also - [Agnatic seniority](/source/Agnatic_seniority) - [Cadet branch](/source/Cadet_branch) - [Derbfine](/source/Derbfine) - [Family name](/source/Family_name) - [Historical inheritance systems](/source/Historical_inheritance_systems) - [Hypodescent](/source/Hypodescent) - [Hyperdescent](/source/Hyperdescent) - [Maiden and married names](/source/Maiden_and_married_names) - [Matrilineality](/source/Matrilineality) - [Matriname](/source/Matriname) - [Order of succession](/source/Order_of_succession) - [Patricide](/source/Patricide) - [Patriarchy](/source/Patriarchy) - [Patrilocal residence](/source/Patrilocal_residence) - [Primogeniture](/source/Primogeniture) - [Royal and noble ranks](/source/Royal_and_noble_ranks) - [Y chromosome](/source/Y_chromosome) ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["spear side"](http://www.dictionary.com/browse/spear-side). *Dictionary.com*. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Cognate Definition & Meaning"](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/cognate). Dictionary.com. Retrieved 2022-05-13. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-Mendez13_3-0)** Mendez, Fernando; Krahn, Thomas; Schrack, Bonnie; Krahn, Astrid-Maria; Veeramah, Krishna; Woerner, August; Fomine, Forka Leypey Mathew; Bradman, Neil; Thomas, Mark; Karafet, Tatiana; Hammer, Michael (2013). ["An African American Paternal Lineage Adds an Extremely Ancient Root to the Human Y Chromosome Phylogenetic Tree"](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3591855). *The American Journal of Human Genetics*. **92** (3): 454–9. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1016/j.ajhg.2013.02.002](https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.ajhg.2013.02.002). [PMC](/source/PMC_(identifier)) [3591855](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3591855). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [23453668](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23453668). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["Welcome to FamilyTreeDNA Discover"](https://discover.familytreedna.com/). *FamilyTreeDNA Discover*. Retrieved 2025-11-17. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["A00 YTree"](https://www.yfull.com/tree/A00/). *www.yfull.com*. Retrieved 2025-11-17. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["Modern_Humans/A00-T 现代全人类最近共同祖先 - TheYtree（Free Analysis, Scientific Samples, Ancient DNA）Ytree, Y-DNA tree"](https://www.theytree.com/tree/Modern_Humans). *www.theytree.com*. Retrieved 2025-11-17. ## External links [Wikisource](/source/Wikisource) has the text of the [1911 *Encyclopædia Britannica*](/source/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica_Eleventh_Edition) article "[Agnates](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Agnates)". v t e Family History Rights Household Nuclear family Extended family Conjugal family Immediate family Matrifocal family First-degree relatives Parent mother father Child son daughter Sibling brother sister Second-degree relatives Grandparent Grandchild Uncle/Aunt Niece and nephew Third-degree relatives Great-grandparent Great-grandchild Great-uncle/Great-aunt Cousin Family-in-law Spouse wife husband Parent-in-law Sibling-in-law Child-in-law daughter-in-law son-in-law Stepfamily Stepparent stepfather stepmother Stepchild Stepsibling Kinship terminology Kinship Australian Aboriginal kinship Adoption Affinity Consanguinity Disownment Divorce Estrangement Family of choice Fictive kinship Marriage Nurture kinship Chinese kinship Hawaiian kinship Sudanese kinship Inuit kinship Iroquois kinship Crow kinship Omaha kinship Genealogy and lineage Bilateral descent Cadet branch Common ancestor Family name Heirloom Heredity Inheritance Lineal descendant collateral descent Matrilineality Patrilineality Progenitor Clan Royal descent Family trees Pedigree chart Genogram Ahnentafel Genealogical numbering systems Seize quartiers Quarters of nobility Relationships Agape (parental love) Eros (marital love) Philia (brotherly love) Storge (familial love) Filial piety Polyfidelity Holidays Mother's Day U.S. Father's Day Father–Daughter Day Siblings Day National Grandparents Day Parents' Day Children's Day Japan Family Day Canada American Family Day International Day of Families National Family Week UK National Adoption Day Related Breadwinner model Single parent Wedding anniversary Godparent Birth order Only child Middle child syndrome Sociology of the family Museum of Motherhood Astronaut family Dysfunctional family Domestic violence Incest Sibling abuse Sibling estrangement Sibling rivalry Authority control databases International GND National Czech Republic Latvia --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Patrilineality](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrilineality) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrilineality?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.