The relationship between the head of a family and Shoke is the same as that of the head of a household and a branch family, Shoke differed from an ordinary branch family because a branch family ordinarily had the same family name as that of the head family while many Shoke avoided or were prohibited from using the same family name and instead used another family name.
宗家と庶家の関係はいわば本家と分家と同義であるが、一般的な分家と異なるのは、分家であれば本家と同姓を称するのが通例であるが、庶家という場合、その多くは宗家と同姓を用いることを避け、或いは禁じられその多くが別姓を称した家柄が多いという点にある。