What exactly is in a name? More than you may anticipate! Group labels can take clues to a household’s beginning or parents relationships, welfare, occupations, areas, and also relationships to royalty. If you have Armenian traditions, recognition Armenian surnames can help you relate with all your family members just like you discover your own Armenian family history. See all about Armenia in the FamilySearch wiki to assist you manage your hunt!
Armenian Surname Build
Most Armenian surnames contain a root plus one or even more suffixes. The basis vel, or it could be a title, personal characteristic, career, or place-name. Types of root in addition to their definitions are the next:
- Kade (magistrate, assess, cadi)
- Kabasakal (having a coarse or bushy beard)
- Baghdasar (a€?Balthasara€? in English, indicating protector on the master)
- Zeytounts (a city in historical Armenia)
Armenian Surname Suffixes
The most frequently used suffix are -ian and its particular modifications, such as -yan, -jan, ians, and others. This suffix suggests a€?issued froma€? or a€?family of.a€? Eg, someone because of the surname Zakarian will be the son or daughter or descendant of Zakar.
- -li, which denotes a spot name. For instance, the surname Sivaslian indicates a connection toward town of Sivas. (observe that this surname has two suffixes: a€?li,a€? talking about the place-name, as well as the altered a€?ana€? for a€?ian.a€? And this surname show an individual who is the youngster or descendant of an individual linked to Sivas.)
- -tsi, which points to a location of beginning. As an example, the surname Shirakatsi suggests a family group beginning of Shirak.
- -ji or -chi, which denotes a business.
- -ter or -der is actually a name of regard for a priest. A surname eg Ter-Petrosyan indicates that anyone have an ancestor who was simply a priest.
- -uni indicates a family group link with Armenian nobility. These include Pahlavuni and Mandakuni.
Patronymics in Armenian Surnames
The -ian and similar suffixes come from the patronymic naming system useful for many years in Armenian surnames. Contained in this system, the surname of son or daughter will be based upon the most important title of this dad. Thus, for example, men called Samvel Petrosian is the child of Petros. And Samvel’s child Alex will be known as Alex Samvelian.
Patronymics progressively fell from use within early 1900s as Armenians, like rest, began using the same surname over numerous years.
A New Land, a New Term
If you have forefathers which immigrated to the U . S ., you might have read reports about immigration officials assigning newer surnames to immigrants. Perhaps it simply happened in certain cases. However, researcher es on many ship manifests, in which he found a€?no facts that anybody of Armenian ethnicity was actually arbitrarily designated an a€?American’ label on ship manifest.a€?
Alternatively, he uncovered more reasons immigrants decided to changes her brands. Typically they wished to conform to an innovative new culture and language. On top of that, some thought we would reduce their long surnames. Samourkashian might being Samour, or Aznavourian might become Aznavour. Occasionally Armenian surnames comprise simply translated-Ohannisian might become their English counterpart, Johnson. Some days, surnames comprise 
altered to a similar-sounding English word without any linguistic connection to the original-for instance, Buyukian (Buyuk indicates a€?large persona€?) might become Bacon.
Dictionary of Armenian Surnames
One of the more useful budget for learning about Armenian surnames is the Dictionary of Armenian Surnames, a work of like by C. K. Garabed. By their own account, Garabad isn’t a linguist or philologist; the guy going recording Armenian surnames as an interest. Through the years, the guy obtained more 10,000 names and also noted definitions for many regarding the sources. The dictionary includes very long records of Armenian surnames, prepared alphabetically. It’s fascinating actually to look through this dictionary.
