Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common 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 kinship which is through any combination of lineages, and from 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.
