What is in a reputation? A lot more than you could count on! Parents names holds clues to children’s origin or family affairs, passions, occupations, stores, plus connectivity to royalty. If you have Armenian traditions, knowing Armenian surnames shall help you relate to your children when you see your Armenian family history. See home elevators Armenia for the FamilySearch wiki to help you carry on your quest!
Armenian Surname Construction
Practically all Armenian surnames include a-root and something or more suffixes. The basis vel, or it may be a title, private characteristic, occupation, or place-name. Types of origins and their definitions range from the next:
- Kade (magistrate, assess, cadi)
- Kabasakal (having a rough or bushy mustache)
- Baghdasar (a€?Balthasara€? in English, meaning guard for the king)
- Zeytounts (a city in historic Armenia)
Armenian Surname Suffixes
Probably the most commonly used suffix is actually -ian and its particular differences, particularly -yan, -jan, ians, yet others. This suffix means a€?issued froma€? or a€?family of.a€? For instance, anybody with all the surname Zakarian would be the child or descendant of Zakar.
- -li, which denotes a location title. Eg, the surname Sivaslian show an association towards the town of Sivas. (observe that this surname features two suffixes: a€?li,a€? making reference to the place-name, in addition to modified a€?ana€? for a€?ian.a€? And this surname indicates someone who is the kid or descendant of an individual connected with Sivas.)
- -tsi, which points to someplace of source. Including, the surname Shirakatsi suggests a household origin of Shirak.
- -ji or -chi, which denotes a merchant.
- -ter or -der try a concept of esteem for a priest. A surname instance Ter-Petrosyan indicates that the individual got an ancestor who was a priest.
- -uni indicates a household link with Armenian nobility. These include Pahlavuni and Mandakuni.
Patronymics in Armenian Surnames
The -ian and close suffixes originate from the patronymic naming system useful for years in Armenian surnames. Inside program, the surname associated with the child is based on the very first identity in the parent. Therefore, eg, a man known as Samvel Petrosian is the boy of Petros. And Samvel’s child Alex might be known as Alex Samvelian.
Patronymics progressively fell from utilization in the early 1900s as Armenians, like rest, started using the same surname over numerous years.
An innovative new Area, a New Term
For those who have ancestors just who immigrated on the U . S ., it’s likely you have heard tales about immigration authorities assigning newer surnames to immigrants. Possibly it happened in some instances. However, researcher parece on countless ship shows, in which he discovered a€?no facts that anyone of Armenian ethnicity ended up being arbitrarily allocated an a€?American‘ identity on ship manifest.a€?
Alternatively, he discovered other factors immigrants chose to alter their particular labels. Frequently they wished to adapt to an innovative new heritage and vocabulary. In addition to that, some thought we would shorten their own long surnames. Samourkashian might being Samour, or Aznavourian might be Aznavour. Often Armenian surnames happened to be merely translated-Ohannisian might being their English similar, Johnson. Other days, surnames were changed to a similar-sounding English term without any linguistic connection to the original-for sample, Buyukian (Buyuk indicates a€?large persona€?) might come to be Bacon.
Dictionary of Armenian Surnames
One of the more useful sources for discovering Armenian surnames will be the Dictionary of Armenian Surnames, a labor of really love by C. K. Garabed. By his own account, Garabad is not a linguist or philologist; the guy began recording Armenian surnames as a spare time activity. Throughout the years, he amassed more 10,000 brands and contains noted significance for several associated with roots. The dictionary consists of very long listings of Armenian surnames, organized alphabetically. It really is fascinating even to browse through this dictionary.