"ian" vs "yan"

[Mos]

Of course "ian" and "yan" are Armenian prefixes in the end of last names, but what is the significance of them. Whats the difference if a name is spelled Aramian or Aramyan. That is the last name of my cousins and one of them spells it with the "ian" the other with the "yan" Is there any grammatical reason for which one to put? Is it because of location? I have noticed that "yan" is more common in Yerevan than "ian"

[Tatavla]

Re: "ian" vs "yan"

If an Armenian individuals last name ends with a yan it usually means that they are from Armenia. But if the individuals last name ends with an ian it usually means that they are Beirut or areound that area.

sorry but thats wrong, if an armenian is from TURKEY their last names are YAN because when you say IAN in turkish it is pronounced wrong, it sounds like ee an...so therefore people with last names that end with YAN are from western armenia...alot of armenians from armenia have yan because their ancestors were refugees from the genocide and eventually made it over to armenia for safety...

[Tatavla]

Re: "ian" vs "yan"

well thats a reall technical question, it obviously has to go back to your dads dad dad etc. alot of it is because when families move here to the united states they change their last names to fit the grammar. also, the armenians in beirut and syria dont use the latin alphabet only armenian and arabic...so once they come here they translate it accordingly...

[Tatavla]

Re: "ian" vs "yan"

i know turkish and my family is from western armenia...so once you see the difference between english and turkish youll soon understand pronunciation differences...

[Tatavla]

Re: "ian" vs "yan"

ummmm as far as i know armenians usto live under the ottoman TURKISH empire so i think we should take that under consideration...

[Tatavla]

Re: "ian" vs "yan"

im not im just saying in order to read our last names back in the ottoman empire you needed to spell it with a "yan" instead of ian...

[Tatavla]

Re: "ian" vs "yan"

thats why some last names are written in yan and some are written in ian...

[Tatavla]

Re: "ian" vs "yan"

the letters of arabic and russian are veryyyyyy different...russian characters resemble that of english in many ways

[SaroukhSako]

Re: "ian" vs "yan"

armenians from armenia write there name withe YAN and armenians from the diaspora write it with IAN. for all that i am concerned the difference is when writing in english and that is not my mother language . in armenian there is no difference and in reality there is one kind of armenians they are the armenian themselves....
the hell with them all because
"HAY LEZOUN DOUNE HAYOUN...ASHKHARI TCHORS DSAKEROUN..""

[Tatavla]

Re: "ian" vs "yan"

personally these terms like beirutsy, hayastanci, rusahye are sooo pointless...esspecially in the diaspora where we live. i agree with most of what you guys are saying though