The Armenians are a very ancient people, whose fate has befallen a lot of troubles. Numerous ups and downs that accompanied them led to a significant scattering of the ethnic group. As a result, almost all countries have Armenian diasporas. In this article we will touch upon a topic such as Armenian surnames. We discuss their origin, features, and provide a short list of examples.
Ancient Armenian Onomastics
In Armenian onomastics, the surname means the name of the genus. It is called "Azganun." Such names appeared relatively recently. Until the late Middle Ages, clan names did not exist. In order to distinguish people of the same name between themselves, Armenian surnames were not required. As in the entire eastern world, they resorted to the designation of something like the Russian patronymic, however, they mentioned not his father, but his grandfather. That is, in fact, the full names of the Armenians sounded like “Garnik, the grandson of Aram,” for example. But this was an official appeal, but in everyday life they often cost a nickname. For example, "Garnik Amayak", which means "Garnik Lame." Obviously, the nickname came most often from some recognizable trait or characteristics of a person.
Origin of surnames
For the first time, Armenian surnames were required when the demographic situation sharply improved, and then emigrants also strengthened with it. The movement of people from place to place necessitated the creation of sustainable nicknames that would apply not only to a person, but also to his entire family and descendants. So gradually from the nicknames the Armenian surnames developed.
Features of ancient surnames
In addition to the first surnames, the Armenians had a custom to add to them an indication of the place from which the person came. For example, Anania Tatevatsi or Grigor Shirakatsi are vivid examples of such names to which a geographical indication is attached to the person’s homeland. Sometimes, however, a different approach was applied. Namely, a person was determined by the nature of his professional activity. For example, Mkrtych Magistros.
Parallels in the world
It is worth saying that the process was not unique among the Armenians. A similar pattern of surname formation was in almost all peoples. Well, for example, the Russian surnames “Novgorodtsev” and “Kazantsev” vividly testify to the historical homeland of the carriers. And the professional affiliation of the founder of a surname is given out by such surnames as “Kuznetsov” or “Warriors”.
Varieties of Armenian surnames
In the late Middle Ages, noble aristocratic families began to appear in their respective circles. Such are, for example, beautiful Armenian surnames Mamikonyan and Amatuni. When they were used in speech, they were preceded by the particle "azg", which means "gender". The second option is the “tun” particle. Therefore, such a surname as “Azg Mamikonyan” or “Tun Amatuni” sounded. Over time, the same family names began to appear among artisans, and even among peasants. In addition to the already mentioned professions, personal characteristics and geography of settlement, indications of character traits also appeared in surnames. For example, a sly person could be awarded the surname “Chakhatyan”, which means “fox”.
But still, the most common Armenian surnames come from the personal names of the founders of the clan. And in order to make a surname from a name, the Armenians simply added one or another traditional suffix to the word. Most often these were “yang”, “yants”, “oz”, “uni”, “onts”, “nts”. Of these, “yang” is a particle that most often contains Armenian surnames. Male and female surnames did not differ. By itself, this suffix is the result of the reduction of the suffix "yanz", which simply means belonging to the genus. That is, the surname "Abazyan" said that its carrier comes from a human race named Abaz.
Nakharar Armenian names and surnames stood out especially against the general background. For example, the suffix “uni” was attached to the latter. As for the suffixes "nts", "onts" and "nts", they are most often found in Zangezur.
Further evolution
For us, it is most important to note the Russification of a number of Armenian surnames. This process was launched when systematic censuses began, and then total certification. During this, many Armenian surnames, female and male, discarded their traditional endings. Sometimes this happened by mistake of an ignorant scribe. Sometimes they did it consciously.
If you study the Armenian surnames more deeply, you can make sure that they did not arise from scratch. Each of them has a unique and interesting story in which certain stages of development, factors of influence, guidelines and so on can be distinguished. This is what professional onomastics does.
About the list of Armenian surnames
The Armenian surnames, the list of which will be given below, are not even the tip of the iceberg, but just a drop in the ocean. There are actually many surnames, because in the process of resettlement, the Armenian diasporas created more and more variants of their surnames. Therefore, one should not be surprised that a good half of them, if not the bulk, are Armenianized roots from other languages - Turkish, Greek and many others.
Armenian last names: list
- Avazyan. Means "replacement".
- Aghanjanyan. This surname consists of two Turkic roots, meaning "soul" and "master."
- Agayan. Just a "master."
- Adilyan. It has an Arab origin. The Arabs serves as the epithet of a ruler who is distinguished by justice.
- Arazian. It comes from the Azerbaijani word, which can be translated as "bliss, happiness."
- Aramyan. It means “peace” and “comfort”.
- Arzuyan. Persian by origin surname with the meaning "dream", "hope".
- Asadyan. "The happiest."
- Asgaryan. "Younger".
- Afsaryan. It comes from a word that means something like a crown or crown, which served in the East as the headdress of a ruler.
- Arshadyan. This surname is translated as "senior".
- Arshakyan. It comes from the ancient Iranian word meaning “courage”.
- Akhverdiyan. The same as the Russian surname Bogdanov, that is, "given by God."
- Azaryan. This surname is translated by the word "fire".
- Akhadyan. A surname of Arabic origin with the meaning "single".
- Ashrafyan. Another Arabian surname. But this time it means "noblest."
- Ayazyan. This surname comes from a word that designates a cool light breeze.
- Arslanyan. Translated as "lion".
- Altunyan. This surname came to the Armenian language from ancient Turkic. It means "gold."
- Azizyan. From the word "Aziz", which translates as "great."
- Azadyan. An ancient surname that literally translates as “free,” hinting at the social position in a feudal society.
- Atayan. It comes from the Turkic word "Ata". It means either a father, or a saint, a righteous mentor, or simply an older person.
- Abdalbekyan. A complex compound name whose general meaning is conveyed by the phrase "possessing power."
- Garakhanyan. This surname is noble houses. It means "great ruler."
- Kahramanyan. In Persian, this surname could be translated as “overlord” or “hero”.
- Kalantaryan. A surname with religious significance associated with the Islamization of part of the Armenians. It means a hermit, a dervish, who spends his life in wanderings around the world.
- Kocharyan. It means “nomad”.
- Khosrovyan. The meaning of this surname can be roughly expressed by the words “good fame” or “good news”, or even “good reputation”.
- Khudaverdiyan. Another variation of the family name with the meaning "given by God."
- Shirinyan. Literally means sweet.
- Yuzbashnyan. Surname probably originating from the military environment. It consists of two roots - “hundred” and “chapter”. Literally translated as "hundred-headed." Apparently, hints at the rank of centurion.
- Babayan. “Baba” is a respectful appeal to the father.
- Bagiryan. From the Azerbaijani language, this surname should be translated as “studying” or “learning the doctrine”.
- Baghramyan. Translated into Russian as "victorious."
- Bashkhiyan. This surname comes from the word “teach”, and, accordingly, means “teacher”.