EU/UK

German Names

There are about 1,000,000 different family names in German. German family names most often derive from given names, geographical names, occupational designations, bodily attributes or even traits of character. Hyphenations notwithstanding, they mostly consist of a single word; in those rare cases where the family name is linked to the given names by particles such as von or zu, they usually indicate noble ancestry. Not all noble families used these names (see Riedesel), while some farm families, particularly in Westphalia, used the particle von or zu followed by their farm or former farm’s name as a family name (see Meyer zu Erpen).

Family names in German-speaking countries are usually positioned last, after all given names. There are exceptions, however: In parts of Austria and the Alemannic-speaking areas, the family name is regularly put in front of the first given name. Also in many – especially rural – parts of Germany, to emphasize family affiliation there is often an inversion in colloquial use, in which the family name becomes a possessive: Rüters Erich, for example, would be Erich of the Rüter family.

In Germany today, upon marriage, both partners can choose to keep their birth name or one of them can adopt a hyphenated name of their birth names (the latter case is forbidden for both partners and for the last names of children), or one of them can switch to their partner’s name (if the partner keeps it). After that, they must decide on one family name for all their future children, by pretty much the same rules. (German name)

Changing one’s family name for reasons other than marriage, divorce or adoption is only possible in Germany if the applicant can prove that they suffer extraordinarily due to their name.

Portuguese name

In the case of Portuguese naming customs, the main surname (the one used in alphasorting, indexing, abbreviations, and greetings), appears last.

Each person usually has two family names: though the law specifies no order, the first one is usually the maternal family name, whereas the last one is commonly the paternal family name. A person’s full name has a minimum legal length of two names (one given name and one family name from either parent) and a maximum of six names (two first names and four surnames — he or she may have up to four surnames in any order desired picked up from the total of his/her parents and grandparents’ surnames). The use of any surname outside this lot, or of more than six names, is legally possible, but it requires some bureaucracy. Parents or the person him/herself must explain the claims they have to bearing that surname (a family nickname, a lost and rare surname lost in past generations or any other reason one may find suitable).

In ancient times a patronymic was commonly used — surnames like Gonçalves (“son of Gonçalo”), Fernandes (“son of Fernando”), Nunes (“son of Nuno”), Soares (“son of Soeiro”), Sanches (“son of Sancho”), Henriques (“son of Henrique”) which along with many others are still in regular use as very prevalent family names.

In Medieval times, Portuguese nobility started to use one of their estates’ name or the name of the town or villaged they ruled as their surname, just after their patronymic. Soeiro Mendes da Maia bore a name “Soeiro”, a patronymic “Mendes” (“son of Hermenegildo – shortened to Mendo”) and the name of the town he ruled “Maia”. He was often referred to in 12th century documents as “Soeiro Mendes, senhor da Maia”, Soeiro Mendes, lord of Maia. Nobelwomen also bore patronymics and surnames in the same manner and never bore their husband’s surname. First-born males bore their father’s surname, other children bore either both or only one of them at their will.

Only during the Early Modern Age, lower-class males started to use at least one surname; married lower-class women usually took up their spouse’s surname, since they rarely ever used one beforehand. After the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake, Portuguese authorities realized the benefits of enforcing the use and registry of surnames. Henceforth, they became mandatory, although the rules for their use were very liberal.

During the mid-20th century, under French influence and among upper classes, women started to take up their husbands’ surname(s). From the 1960s onwards, this usage spread to the common people, again under French influence, this time however due to the forceful legal adoption of their husbands’ surname which was imposed onto Portuguese immigrant women in France.

From the 1974 Carnation Revolution onwards the adoption of their husbands’ surname(s) receded again, and today both the adoption and non-adoption occur; also, it is legally possible for the husband to adopt his wife’s surname(s), but this practice is rare.

Brazilians usually call people only by their given names, omitting family names, even in many formal situations (as in the press referring to authorities, e.g. “Former President Fernando Henrique”, never Former President Cardoso), or “President Lula” (“Lula” was actually his nickname). When formality or a prefix requires a family name, the given name usually precedes the surname, e.g. João Santos, or Sr. João Santos.

Finnish names

Finland has two predominant surname traditions: the West Finnish and the East Finnish. Until the early 20th Century, Finland was a predominantly agrarian society and the names of West Finns were based on their association with a particular area, farm, or homestead, e.g. Jaakko Jussila (“Jaakko from the farm of Jussi”). On the other hand, the East Finnish surname tradition dates back to 13th century. There, the Savonians pursued slash-and-burn agriculture which necessitated moving several times during a person’s lifetime. This in turn required the families to have surnames, which were in wide use among the common folk as early as in the 13th century. By the mid-16th century, the East Finnish surnames had become hereditary. Typically, the oldest East Finnish surnames were formed from the first names of the patriarchs of the families, e.g. Ikävalko, Termonen, Pentikäinen. In the 16th, 17th and 17th centuries, new names were most often formed by adding the place name of the former or current place of living (e.g. Puumalainen < Puumala). In the East Finnish tradition, the females carried the family name of their fathers in female form (e.g. Puumalatar < Puumalainen). By 19th century, this practice fell into disuse due to the influence of West-European surname tradition.

In Western Finland, the agrarian names dominated, and the last name of the person was usually given according to the farm or holding they lived on. In 1921, surnames became compulsory for all Finns. At this point, the agrarian names were usually adopted as surnames. A typical feature of such names is the addition of prefixes Ala- (Sub-) or Ylä- (Up-), giving the location of the holding along a waterway in relation of the main holding. (e.g. Yli-Ojanperä, Ala-Verronen)

A third, foreign tradition of surnames was introduced in Finland by the Swedish-speaking upper and middle classes which used typical German and Swedish surnames. By custom, all Finnish-speaking persons who were able to get a position of some status in urban or learned society, discarded their Finnish name, adopting a Swedish, German or (in case of clergy) Latin surnames. In the case of enlisted soldiers, the new name was given regardless of the wishes of the individual.

In the late 19th and early 20th century, the overall modernization process and especially, the political movement of fennicization caused a movement for adoption of Finnish surnames. At that time, many persons with a Swedish or otherwise foreign surname changed their family name to a Finnish one. The features of nature with endings -o/ö, -nen (Meriö < Meri “sea”, Nieminen < Niemi “point”) are typical of the names of this era, as well as more or less direct translations of Swedish names (Paasivirta < Hällström).[11]

In the 21st century Finland, the use of surnames follows the German model. Every person is legally obliged to have a first and last name. At most, three first names are allowed. The Finnish married couple may adopt the name of either spouse, or either spouse (or both spouses) may decide to use a double barrelled name. The parents may choose either surname or the double barrelled surname for their children, but all siblings must share the same surname.[12] All persons have the right to change their surname once without any specific reason. A surname that is un-Finnish, contrary to the usages of the Swedish or Finnish languages or is in use by any person resident in Finland cannot be accepted as the new name, unless valid family reasons or religious or national customs give a reason for waiving this requirement. However, persons may change their surname to any surname that has ever been used by their ancestors, if they can prove such claim.[13] Some immigrants have had difficulty naming their children, as they must choose from an approved list based on the family’s household language.

In the Finnish language, both the root of the surname and the first name can be modified by consonant gradation regularly when inflected to a case.

Greeks Names

Greek surnames are most commonly patronymics. Occupation, characteristic or ethnic background and location/origin-based surnames names also occur; they are sometimes supplemented by nicknames.

Commonly, Greek male surnames end in -s, which is the common ending for Greek masculine proper nouns in the nominative case. Exceptionally, some end in -ou, indicating the genitive case of this proper noun for patronymic reasons.

Although surnames are static today, dynamic and changing patronym usage survives in middle names in Greece where the genitive of father’s first name is commonly the middle name.

Because of their codification in the Modern Greek state, surnames have Katharevousa forms even though Katharevousa is no longer the official standard. Thus, the Ancient Greek name Eleutherios forms the Modern Greek proper name Lefteris, and former vernacular practice (prefixing the surname to the proper name) was to call John Eleutherios as Leftero-giannis.

Modern practice is to call the same person Giannis Eleftheriou: the proper name is vernacular (and not Ioannis), but the surname is an archaic genitive.However, children are almost always baptised with the archaic form of the name so in official matters the child will be referred as Ioannis Eleftheriou and not Giannis Eleftheriou.

Female surnames, are most often in the Katharevousa genitive case of a male name. This is an innovation of the Modern Greek state; Byzantine practice was to form a feminine counterpart of the male surname (e.g. masculine Palaiologos, Byzantine feminine Palaiologina, Modern feminine Palaiologou).

In the past, women would change their surname when married, to that of their husband (again in genitive case) signifying the transfer of “dependence” from the father to the husband. In earlier Modern Greek society, women were named with -aina as a feminine suffix on the husband’s first name: “Giorgaina”, “Mrs George”, “Wife of George”. Nowadays, a woman’s surname does not change upon marriage, though she can use the husband’s surname socially. Children usually receive the paternal surname, though in rare cases, if the bride and groom have agreed before the marriage, the children can receive the maternal surname.

Some surnames are prefixed with Papa-, indicating ancestry from a priest, i.e. “Papageorgiou”, the “son of a priest named George”. Others, like Archi- and Mastro- signify “boss” and “tradesman” respectively.

Prefixes such as Konto-, Makro-, and Chondro-, describe body characteristics, such as “short”, “tall/long” and “fat”. “Gero-” and “Palaio-” signify “old” or “wise”.

Other prefixes include Hadji- which was an honorific deriving from the Arabic Hadj or pilgrimage, and indicate that the person had made a pilgrimage (in the case of Christians to Jerusalem) and Kara- which is attributed to the Turkish word for “black” deriving from the Ottoman Empire era.

Arvanitic surnames also exist. For example, the Arvanitic word for “brave” or “pallikari” (in Greek) being “çanavar” or its shortened form “çavar” was pronounced “tzanavar” or “tzavar” giving birth to traditional Arvanitic family names like “Tzanavaras” and/or “Tzavaras”.[14]

Most Greek patronymic suffixes are diminutives, which vary by region. The most common Hellenic patronymic suffixes are:

* -poulos/-poulou, which has Latin origin (pullus) and means “the little”, representing “the son of …”, so a man whose family name is “Christopoulos” means that his father was named “Christos”. This suffix is very spread mostly throughout the whole Greece and is original from the Peloponessus in particular.

* -idis/-idou and -iadis/-iadou used in the Pontus and Asia Minor regions, i.e. “Michailidis”, the “clan of Michael”

* -akis/-aki is associated primarily with Crete and the Aegean Islands. A patronymic signifying “little” and/or “son” therefore “Theodorakis” being “little Theodore”.

Others, less common are:

* -atos/-atou (From Cephallonia and other Ionian Islands;

* -as/-a (From Macedonia and Epirus);

* -ellis/-elli (From Lesvos Island);

* -akos/-akou (From Mani in the Laconia region) and -eas/-ea (From Mani in the Messinia region),with the occasional ogkonas being found through out Mani;

* -oglou (From the Turkish suffix for “son of” used by both genders);

* -ou (Genitive, from Cyprus;

* -ou/ides/kos(From Macedonia);

* -ekas/las(From Epirus)

* -akis(From Crete)

The suffix -idis(often transliterated -ides in English and French languages) is the oldest in use. Zeus, for example was also referred to as Cronides (“son of Cronus”).

Either the surname or the given name may come first in different contexts; in newspapers and in informal uses, the order is given name > surname, while in official documents and forums (tax forms, registrations, military service, school forms), the surname is often listed or said first.

Irish names.

Many surnames in Ireland of Gaelic origin derive from ancestors’ names, nicknames, or descriptive names. In the first group can be placed surnames such as McMurrough and McCarthy, derived from patronymics, or O’Brien and O’Grady, derived from ancestral names.

Gaelic surnames derived from nicknames include Ó Dubhda (from Aedh ua Dubhda – Aedh, the dark one), O’Doherty (from dochartaigh, “destroyer” or “obtrusive”), Garvery (garbh, “rough” or “nasty”), Manton (mantach, “toothless”), Bane (bán, “white”, as in “white hair”), Finn (fionn, “fair”, as in “fair hair”) and Kennedy (“cennedie”, as in “ugly head”)

Very few Gaelic surnames are derived from placenames or venerated people/objects. Among those that are included in this small group, several can be shown to be derivations of Gaelic personal names or surnames. One notable exception is Ó Cuilleáin or O’Collins (from cuileann, “Holly”) as in the Holly Tree, considered one of the most sacred objects of pre-Christian Celtic culture. Another is Walsh (Irish: Breatnach), meaning Welsh.

In areas where certain family names are extremely common, extra names are added that sometimes follow this archaic pattern. In Ireland, for example, where Murphy is an exceedingly common name, particular Murphy families or extended families are nicknamed, so that Denis Murphy’s family were called The Weavers and Denis himself was called Denis “The Weaver” Murphy. (See also O’Hay.)

For much the same reason, nicknames (e.g. the Fada Burkes, “the long/tall Burkes”), father’s names (e.g. John Morrissey Ned) or mother’s maiden name (Kennedy becoming Kennedy-Lydon) can become colloquial or legal surnames. The Irish family of de Courcy descends from Anglo-Normans who came to Ireland following the Norman Conquest. (The name is of French derivation, and indicates that the family once held a manor of that name in Normandy .) The de Courcy family was prominent In County Cork from the earliest days of the Norman occupation and subsequently became prominent in Ireland.[15]

In addition to all this, Irish speaking areas still follow the old tradition of naming themselves after their father, grandfather, great-grandfather and so on. Examples include Mike Bartly Pat Reilly (“Mike, son of Bartholomew, son of Pat Reilly”), John Michel John Oge Pat Breanach (“John, son of Michael, son of young John, son of Pat Breanach”), Tom Paddy-Joe Seoige (“Tom, son of Paddy-Joe Seoige”), and Mary Bartly Mike Walsh (“Mary, daughter of Bartly, son of Mike Walsh”). Sometimes, the female line of the family is used, depending on how well the parent is known in the area the person resides, e.g. Paddy Mary John (“Paddy, son of Mary, daughter of John”). A similar tradition continues even in English-speaking areas, especially in rural districts.

Some Irish surnames can be mistaken for non-Irish. Anglicization of many surnames has been so thorough that bona-fide Irish names such as Crockwell and Harrington appear to be English. Other Irish names can appear to be German (Bruder), Italian (Costello), or Polish (Comiskey).

Surname prefixes

* Bean: “Wife”, pronounced [bæn̺].

* De: “of the”: a Norman-French habitational prefix used by some of the most common Irish surnames among which are De Búrca, De Brún, De Barra, De Cíosóg, Devane and de Faoite. ‘De’ historically has signaled ownership of lands and was traditionally therefore a mark of prestige.

* Mac: for most purposes, taken to mean “son of”, as in Mac Néill (son of Neil). However, literally, the “of” part does not come from the “Mac” prefix but from the patronymic that follows it. E.g., in the case of MacNéill, Mac merely means “son”, “Néill” (meaning “of Neil”) is the genitive form of Niall (“Neil”). In some cases if the second word begins with a vowel Mac then becomes Mag, as in Mag Eocháin. also “M’c and Mic” (Watery Descendent)

* Mhic: [vɪkʲ]. Compressed form of bean mhic (“wife of the son of”) e.g. Máire Mhic Néill (Máire, the wife of Mac Néill). This is the grammatically correct form of the prefix Mac always taken by a woman after marriage (i.e. a woman marrying someone of the surname Mac Néill would become Mhic Néill). Mhig (also pronounced [vɪkʲ]) is used similarly to Mag in some cases (e.g. Mag Shamhráin/Mhig Shamhráin).

* Maol: In Pagan times this was expressed as Mug, as in the case of Mug Nuadat. The literal expression of this is “slave of Nuada”, i.e. “devotee of Nuada”. In the Christian era the word Mael was used in its place for given names such as Mael Bridget, Mael Padraig, Mael Lagan, Mael Sechlainn, and Mael Martain. In later times, some of these given names evolved into surnames, e.g. Ó Máel Sechlainn and Mac Mael Martain or Mael Lagan, which became after the 15th Century the name Milligan.

* Fitz: a Norman-French word derived from the Latin word filius (“son”). It was used in patronymics by thousands of men in the early Norman period in Ireland (e.g. fitz Stephen, fitz Richard, fitz Robert, fitz William) and only on some occasions did it become used as an actual surname, the most famous example being the FitzGerald Earls of Kildare. Yet well into the 17th and 18th century it was used in certain areas dominated by the Hiberno-Norman of Ireland in its original form, as a patronymic. The Tribes of Galway were especially good at conserving this form, with examples such as John fitz John Bodkin and Michael Lynch fitz Arthur, used even as late as the early 1800s. A number of illegitimate descendent of the British royal family (who were not, due to their illegitimacy, members themselves) were given surnames which indicated their illegitimacy: some of the illegitimate children of King Charles II were named FitzCharles or FitzRoy (“son of the King”); those of King James II were named FitzJames; those of Prince William, Duke of Clarence and St Andrews (later King William IV) were named FitzClarence. Note that “Fitzpatrick” is not Norman: it is actually a Normanisation of the Gaelic surname Mac Ghiolla Phádraig.

* Ó: In Old Irish as ua (“grandson”, “descendant”). E.g., the ancestor of the O’Brien clan, Brian Boru (937-1014) was known in his lifetime as Brian mac Cennéide mac Lorcán (“Brian, the son of Cennéide, the son of Lorcán “). Not until the time of his grandsons and great-grandsons was the name O’Brien used as a surname, used to denote descent from an illustrious ancestor. It has for some three hundred years been written as O’, but in recent years the apostrophe is often dropped, bringing it into line with early medieval forms. The apostrophe came into existence as an error by the English, when in the process of anglicizing the surnames in Ireland, mistakenly recognized the accent above the O as an apostrophe.

* Uí: This is the plural of Ó and is used in reference to a kin-group or clan, e.g. Uí Néill, in reference to the O’Neill clan. It is pronounced [i].

* Ní: This is used for women instead of Ó before a surname and comes a shortened form of the Irish word for a daughter, e.g. Máire Ní Bhriain (“Mary O’Brien”).

* Nic: This is used for women instead of Mac, but only if this is their maiden name, never their married name. Compressed form of iníon mhic (“daughter of the son of/Mac…”), e.g. Máire Nic Charthaigh (“Mary, daughter of McCarthy”). Nig [nɪkʲ] is used in cases where the surname uses Mag e.g. Nig Shamhráin.

Italian Names

Italy has around 350,000 surnames. Most of them derive from the following sources: patronym or ilk (e.g. Francesco Di Marco, “Francis, son of Mark” or Eduardo De Filippo, “Edward belonging to the family of Philip”), occupation (e.g. Enzo Ferrari, “Enzo the Smiths”), personal characteristic (e.g. nicknames or pet names like Dario Forte, “Darius the Strong”), geographic origin (e.g. Elisabetta Romano, “Elisabeth from Rome”) and objects (e.g. Carlo Sacchi, “Charles Bags”). The two most common Italian family names, Russo and Rossi, mean the same thing, “Red”, possibly referring to a hair color that would have been very distinctive in Italy.

Both Western and Eastern orders are used for full names: the given name usually comes first, but the family name may come first in formal or administrative settings; lists are usually indexed according to the last name.

Since 1975 women keep their surname when married, but since recently they should have added the surname of the husband according to the civil code, although it was not a common practice. In recent years, the husband’s surname can be used only in unofficial situations.[16] In these unofficial situations, sometimes both surnames are written (the proper first), sometimes separated by in (e.g. Giuseppina Mauri in Crivelli) or, in case of widows, ved. (vedova).

Scandinavian names

In Scandinavia family names often, but certainly not always, originate from a patronymic. In Sweden, the patronymic ending is -son, e.g. Karlsson (“Karl’s son”). In Denmark and Norway, the corresponding ending is -sen, as in Karlsen. Names ending with dotter/datter (daughter), such as Olofsdotter, are rare but occurring, and only apply to females. Today, the patronymic names are passed on similarly to family names in other Western countries, and a person’s father doesn’t have to be called Karl if he or she has the surname Karlsson. However, in 2006 Denmark reinstated patronymic and matronymic surnames as an option.[20] Thus, parents Karl Larsen and Anna Hansen can name a son Karlssøn or Annasøn and a daughter Karlsdatter or Annasdatter.

Before the 19th century there was the same system in Scandinavia as in Iceland today. Noble families, however, as a rule adopted a family name, which could refer to a presumed or real forefather (e.g. Earl Birger Magnusson Folkunge[citation needed] ) or to the family’s coat of arms (e.g. King Gustav Eriksson Vasa). In many surviving family noble names, such as Silfversparre (“silver chevron”; in modern spelling, Silver-) or Stiernhielm (“star-helmet”; in modernized spelling, stjärnhjälm), the spelling is obsolete, but since it applies to a name, remains unchanged. (Some names from relatively modern times also use archaic or otherwise aberrant spelling as a stylistic trait; e.g. -quist pro -kvist “twig” or -grén pro -gren, “branch”.)

Later on, people from the Scandinavian middle classes, particularly artisans and town dwellers, adopted names in a similar fashion to that of the nobility. Family names joining two elements from nature such as the Swedish Bergman (“mountain man”), Holmberg (“island mountain”), Lindgren (“linden branch”), Sandström and Åkerlund (“field meadow”) were quite frequent and remain common today. The same is true for similar Norwegian and Danish names.

Even more important a driver of change was the need, for administrative purposes, to develop a system under which each individual had a “stable” name – a name that followed the person from birth till the end. In the old days, people would be known by their name, patronymic and the farm they lived at. This last element would change if a person got a new job, bought a new farm, or otherwise came to live somewhere else. (This is part of the origin, in this part of the world, of the custom of women changing their names upon marriage. Originally it indicated, basically, a change of address, and from older times, there are numerous examples of men doing the same thing). The many patronymic names may derive from the fact that people who moved from the country to the cities, also gave up the name of the farm they came from. As a worker, you passed by your father’s name, and this name passed on to the next generation as a family name. Einar Gerhardsen, the Norwegian prime minister, used a true patronym, as his father was named Gerhard Olsen (Gerhard, the son of Ola). Gerhardsen passed his own patronym on to his children as a family name. This has been common in many working class families. The tradition of keeping the farm name as a family name got stronger during the first half of the 20th century in Norway.

These names often indicated the place of residence of the family. For this reason, Denmark and Norway have a very high incidence of last names derived from those of farms, many signified by the suffixes like -bø, -rud, -stuen, -løkken (these being examples from Norway) or even more predominantly -gaard — the modern spelling is gård in Danish and has changed to gard in Norwegian, but as in Sweden, archaic spelling persists in surnames. The most well-known example of this kind of surname is probably Kierkegaard (combined by the words “kirke/kierke” (= church) and “gaard” (= farm) meaning “the farm located by the Church”.[21] It is, however, a common misunderstading that the name relates to its direct translation: churchyard/cemetery), but many others could be cited. It should also be noted that, since the names in question are derived from the original owners’ domiciles, the possession of this kind of name is no longer an indicator of affinity with others who bear it.

In many cases, names were taken from the nature around them. In Norway, for instance, there is an abundancy of surnames based on coastal geography, with suffixes like -strand, -øy, -holm, -vik, -fjord or -nes. A family name such as Swedish Dahlgren is derived from “dahl” meaning valley and “gren” meaning branch; or similarly Upvall meaning “upper-valley”; It depends on the Scandinavian country, language and dialect.