The article explores the use of matronyms and matronymic family names in Babylonia in diachronic perspective. Researches into matronyms were undertaken separately for each period — the Old, Middle and Neo-Babylonian, but there was no attempt to study this phenomenon in its development. The inconsistent use of personal determinatives constitutes a challenge for the research goals. Matronyms, though rare, appear as early as the Old Babylonian period; masculine determinatives prefixed to female names reflected scribal convention rather than gender designation. In the Middle Babylonian period, matronyms could replace patronyms for servile personnel and be applied to members of female-headed extended families. Unsystematic application of determinatives and use of matromyms derived from the names of the heads of extended families, persisted into the Neo-Babylonian period. References to a mother’s status, such as the designations mār ḫarimti, “son of a whore” or mār zakīti, “son of a freed woman”, functioned not as family names but as indicators of reduced legal rights and social standing, as seen in disinheritance cases.Over time, indicating a mother’s status or profession often took precedence over her name. Matronyms could mark independent women or specify lineage through a maternal grandfather’s household, without implying low status or absence of a legal father. Overall matronyms and maternal designations served specific purposes: denoting social status, legal capacity, or familial structure. Their use was not simply a substitute for a missing father but responded to contextual needs, whether highlighting a woman’s independent role, her household affiliation, or her offspring’s legal rights.