Tvorba andronima, patronima i metronima u zapadnoj Hercegovini

Western Herzegovina has got a rich identification system, including not only first names, nicknames and surnames but also the different andronymics, patronymics and metronymics forms. Andronymics are motivated by surname, first name or the husband's nickname, whereas patronymics are motivated by surname, first name or the husband’s nickname (sometimes even by an older ancestor) and metronymics by first name, nickname or the mother’s patronymic. Andronymics, patronymics and metronymics may have both an official form (the andronymic, patronymic and metronymic surname and the ancestor’s first name given to a descendant) and an unofficial form (two-partical or three-partical syntagm, the andronymic formed by using the suffixes -ovica, -e\dca or -inica, the patronymic formed with the suffixes -ac, -ovac, -ic, -o\ic, -e\ic or -usa, and the metronymic formed with the suffix -ic). An andronymic expresses the wife’s belonging to her husband whereas a patronymic and a metronymic the father’s or the mother’s origin.