Origin of Armenian Surnames

[Kojotas]

Re: Origin of Armenian Surnames

Hi, My name is Artiom, I am from Lithuania and I am new guy in your forum. Sorry for my english, there may be some mistakes... Our I have really rare surname "Hachpanian". I know that "Hach" means "cross", and want to find out what does "pan" mean. My father said that its like "to secure, protect". I dont speak in armenian and my parents knowledge is short too. I tried to translate and I found out that "protect, secure" in armenian sounds "պահել" [pahel]. So its not very correct. Maybe it means "protected"? If someone could help me I would be very grateful. Thank you.

[Kiffer]

Re: Origin of Armenian Surnames

The suffix ian or yan does not mean « son of » but « belonging to the family of »
Gomesh is the eastern armenian of « Komesh » in western armenian which means a buffalo.
Ter (or der in western armenian) is a prefix meaning that the person is a lord or priest.
Kun means sleeping. ( Maybe a sleeping priest.)

May be somebody else will find another meaning

[Sako]

Re: Origin of Armenian Surnames

Hi Inezian.

I did a basic search in Google and got these names...

Try searching Armand Inezian and Amy Lucid Inezian for example.

This let's you know that your last name is Armenian !

Hope I could help.

Re: Origin of Armenian Surnames

Hi,

I was wondering if someone could help me out about my surname. My father was born in Romania as well as his father. My grandfathers last name was translated in Romania to Inezian but I know that the original surname was different. My father tells me that it was jinezian or something of that matter. I really would like to know if someone knows if that's the case or knows anything about what my last name means. He says it comes from son of the nervous people but I literally can't find anyone with our last name. If anyone has any input it would be appreciate.

thanks,

[Moogey]

Re: Origin of Armenian Surnames

I think you're right that 2 names goes back a long way, way before the little French emperor.
The first name, we've all got one and the last name, well they're to seperate and identify the various Saco/Sakos etc.

Normally stemming from the easy one - father's name.

Physical description

Village/town/district

Profession or trade

In later years these would become more and more diverse.

Do Western Armenians have patrynomics? Mine's Alexandre and I was told these were forced upon Armenians by the Russians (ie: Alexandrovich)

In Iceland, children take their family name from their father's first name, and therre's a big difference between sexes.

For example : Father - Olaf Jacobsen

Son - Sven Olafsen

Daughter - Ingrid Olafsdottir

I understand this system was used all over Scandinavia but only Iceland, maybe Greenland, still use it. The "dottir" or daughter suffix having disappeared in Norway & Sweden.
Must be a hell of a job researching family histories!

And in Scotland, we have Robertson etc., which no doubt comes from the Scandinavian (the Viking influence).

It's a bit like the "ian" - belonging to. Now there's an interesting use of the suffix "ian" in English e.g. Anglian windows, etc. You could joke that they are Armenian.

For Western Armenians, it would seem that when a surname was a trade, "dji", it was of Turkish origin. Are there exceptions?

One other point, for research etc. It would be a good thing if the woman did not take the man's name when she married. I have had great difficulty tracing my schoolfriends because I did not know their married names. This may sound trivial.....
I don't know much about Spanish names, but I believe the mother's name is included. They have a long string of names.

[Sako]

Re: Origin of Armenian Surnames

Yeah, must be!

What do you think Sasun jan? I think Hrai made some excellent points.

[hrai]

Re: Origin of Armenian Surnames

There was a time when Armenians had one name but probably only in villages and small towns. I doubt the majority was that way. I will go deeper into the subject matter. It is interesting for me.

I think you're right that 2 names goes back a long way, way before the little French emperor.
The first name, we've all got one and the last name, well they're to seperate and identify the various Saco/Sakos etc.

Normally stemming from the easy one - father's name.

Physical description

Village/town/district

Profession or trade

In later years these would become more and more diverse.

Do Western Armenians have patrynomics? Mine's Alexandre and I was told these were forced upon Armenians by the Russians (ie: Alexandrovich)

In Iceland, children take their family name from their father's first name, and therre's a big difference between sexes.

For example : Father - Olaf Jacobsen

Son - Sven Olafsen

Daughter - Ingrid Olafsdottir

I understand this system was used all over Scandinavia but only Iceland, maybe Greenland, still use it. The "dottir" or daughter suffix having disappeared in Norway & Sweden.
Must be a hell of a job researching family histories!

[Sasun]

Re: Origin of Armenian Surnames

I wonder if Kassian is a descendant of one of the Georgetown Boys. Those young men carried out a rebelion against their teachers because they didn't want to change their Armenian Names. It was all they had in a new land.
If Kassian is a descendant, that would make quite a story. But, he went to Buffulo.

[Sasun]

Re: Origin of Armenian Surnames

ya, hes a right wing while Bogosian is defense. the nhl draft is tomorrow and they say he's top 15.
hoping the kings get him

I'll be following the draft today, Kassian, eh? If he is good, he should go to a real NHL city! Kings indeed! I think we should be promoting these guys. Let's start a Zach & Zack fan club. With local chapters in each NHL city.

[Sako]

Re: Origin of Armenian Surnames

Regarding Kassian ... it's an Armenian name. One of my dad's friends was here last year ... he was a Kassian and the Kassian street here in Armenia was named after his father.