In DS9: Heart of Stone, Quark says "No nephew of mine is going to disgrace our family name by joining star fleet!".
My question: do Ferengi even have family names?
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Not an answer, but in the episode 'House of Quark', he is temporarily made head of a Klingon household, and does not give a surname by which to name the house - this could just be Quark not realizing they wanted a surname, or it could be a total lack of one.– ZibbobzCommented Apr 7, 2014 at 19:38
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1@Zibbobz Klingons don't have family names ("Worf, son of Mogh", "House of Martok", etc), so I'd be surprised if they were expecting one– IzkataCommented Apr 7, 2014 at 22:59
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@Zibbobz Scratch, don't normally have family names. Worf and Alexander inherited "Rozhenko" from the humans who raised them– IzkataCommented Apr 7, 2014 at 23:02
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9I believe Ferengi once had surnames, but they sold them to the Cardassians in exchange for a licence to export kanar.– James SheridanCommented Apr 8, 2014 at 1:56
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1@Izkata Alexander inherited the name because he had been raised in human culture by K'Ehleyr. I've never heard Worf called "Worf Rozhenko", only ever "Worf, son of Mogh."– ApproachingDarknessFishCommented Jul 14, 2017 at 19:06
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3 Answers
The best answer I could find was this...
http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Surname
The Ferengi do not appear to use surnames, although they have occassionally been heard to use "son of..." or "daughter of..." in a similar fashion to the Klingons.
Quark might just be using the term "family name" by showing disgust that somebody related to him would be joining Starfleet.
answered Apr 7, 2014 at 21:06
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1"been heard to use "son of..." or "daughter of..." in a similar fashion to the Klingons." the only time I remember this is in House of Quark, where he was deliberately doing it to imitate the Klingon style. I didnt think to look at the Surname entry through.– beenetoCommented Apr 7, 2014 at 21:11
Ferengi don't appear to have surnames but they do have a clear concept of lineage.
In DS9: House of Quark, Quark identifies himself (Klingon style) as;
Quark, son of Keldar
Although this is done in Klingon fashion it's pretty clear that the Ferengi place great stock in family and parentage. His decision to break the contract with Brunt in DS9: Body Parts results in his brother, mother and nephew being cut off from Ferengi society and that his mother's decision to earn profit will also result in Quark, Rom and his son being declared persona non grata in Ferengi society.
While they don't seem to use surnames in Federation fashion, there is an obvious family name at stake.
I am quite sure Ferengi have but one name. In DS9, Nog - when he first joins StarFleet - is called Cadet Nog. Generally, StarFleet personnel are called by their rank and surname - e.g Captain Picard or Commander Sisko. Therefore, if Nog had a surname, his surname would have followed his rank of Cadet. This is much like the way Worf is called Lieutenant Commander Worf, of how Data is Lieutenant Commander Data.
Although, it is possible that Ferengi surnames are unpronounceable to humans - similar to how Spock's first-name cannot be pronounced by humans. But, as - unlike Spock - no Ferengi has ever explicitly mentioned the existence of a surname - unpronounceable or otherwise - it is to be assumed they lack surnames. This is logical reasoning. Although, from Quark's mention of a family name - it is likely the concept of lineage is present in Ferengi society.
Perhaps this anomaly - compared to what we know of Ferengi society and what I suggest of them - is down to a fault in the Universal Translator device that we know the Ferengi, and other species that don't speak the language of the Federation, wear. Given that, at this point in the Federation's history, interaction between Ferengi and humans are few, it is quite possible that such a fault occurred.
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