 Also, it is legally possible for the husband to adopt his wife's surname(s), but this practice is rare.The Assyrian people are a distinct ethnic group, descendant largely from the population of ancient Assyria, indigenous to Mesopotamia with roots in the Middle East, mainly present-day Iraq, northwest Iran, northeast Syria and southeast Turkey.Surnames come from the Akkadian influenced Eastern Aramaic dialects of the Assyrian (Chaldo-Assyrian) people.