Formation of Lithuanian surnames. Lithuanian names

I couldn’t sleep one night... So I decided to google a list of the most common Lithuanian surnames.
Funny? Nothing funny.

The reason for this was a dispute that arose the day before with a friend and relative, my son’s godfather, Andrei Andrijauskas. Lithuanian, as the surname suggests.
So here it is. What are we hooked on? Lithuanian, Lithuania is still nearby, we go sometimes... Andrei said that despite his origin, “well, he just can’t learn this damn language.” But I, on the contrary, noticed that “..how can it be, the languages are related, of course nothing is clear at first, but it’s very easy to learn, the roots of the words are mostly the same Slavic, it’s easy to remember..” To which Andrei, his eyes bulging, stated that this is a Scandinavian (!!!) group of languages, which has nothing in common with continental European (especially Slavic) languages, the language is ancient and incomprehensibly mysterious.
Neither my admonitions nor Google convinced him or my brother’s wife (also Lithuanian) otherwise. They stand their ground and that’s it!
Well, you've probably heard how stubborn Lithuanians can be...

Therefore, I declared in my hearts “.. Andrijauskas is Andriyavsky with the typical Belarusian “long-u” and the replacement of the unstressed vowel ending with the signature Lithuanian “-as, -is.” And this surname cannot be Lithuanian (yes), but and Polish, because the Poles replace the “r” before the vowel with “-zh-, -sh-”, and there is a typical Belarusian one, because there was once the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which was the only original Russia before the beginning of its polonization. And in general - look at the Lithuanian words and then at the Lithuanian surnames and you will suddenly find yourself dumbfounded by your language and origin...." !!!

Let's get back to last names. The fact remains - no matter how much you change the ending, the origin of the surname is obvious. So “Mamedov” does not automatically become Russian.

Does this mean that there are no Lithuanian surnames? Against. The country is rich in original surnames and names. Lithuanians have about 3 thousand proper names alone. That's a lot. But these prevail. It is a fact.
And why?

History, guys, look at history.

PS: I would like to say separately about the Lithuanian language. I like this language. And I like it precisely because of that archaic antiquity, from which it emanates Sanskrit and ancient Slavic. This language is a monument. And no Latvian, also included in the subgroup, stands nearby. This language must be protected. And I am in favor with both hands - let the young country, essentially re-creating the nation today, choose this unique ancient language for your future. But there is no need to rewrite the past. Just go to the museum and see in what language all the documents and laws of ancient Lithuania were written. We can be proud of this past.
After all, without a past, we have no roots. And without roots, the contents will sooner or later become dry.

Last name is one of the most basic identifiers of a person, which indicates his belonging to a certain family, clan, people, culture, social class. IN different cultures In both languages, surnames are formed and declined in completely different ways. Let's listen to Lithuanian surnames.

Origin

Conventionally, all Lithuanian surnames can be divided into 2 large groups:

Actually Lithuanian.
Borrowed.

It is interesting that until the 15th century, all Lithuanians used to call themselves exclusively by their name, which was pagan, that is, of local origin.

Christianity penetrated the territory of Lithuania from about the 14th century. The policies pursued in the Middle Ages made this religion dominant. Christian names began to be used more and more widely. However, the Lithuanians did not want to give up their original names so easily, and gradually they transformed into surnames. In the 15-16 centuries, only rich and noble families with some weight in society could have surnames. But the widespread distribution of surnames began only in the 18th century.

Basic meanings of surnames

The Lithuanian language has hardly changed over the past centuries. However, despite this, it is still difficult to understand some Lithuanian surnames.

If a surname has the suffixes –enas or –aytis, then it obviously came from the name of a distant ancestor, because the meaning of such a suffix is the son of someone. That is, Baltrushaitis is literally the son of Baltrus, and Vytenas is the son of Vitas.

Of course, in Lithuanian surnames, like in all others, the occupation of the ancestor is often encrypted. For example, the surname Leitis indicates that the ancestor was in the “Leith service”, that is, he was the caretaker of the military horses of the Grand Duke himself and his closest subjects. Such a caretaker was subordinate only directly to the prince and to no one else.

Some Lithuanian surnames are derived from the names of animals. For example, Ozhialis comes from “ozhka”, which means “goat”, and Vilkas from “vilkas”, that is, “wolf”. In Russian it would sound like Kozlov or Volkov.

In interpreting Lithuanian surnames, a certain amount of caution must be observed, because etymology is a delicate matter, and sometimes the origin of a surname can have several versions.

Men's surnames

Let's name the 10 most common surnames in today's Lithuania. This:

Kazlauskas.
Petrauskas.
Jankauskas.
Stankevičius.
Vasiliauskas.
Žukauskas.
Butkevicius.
Paulauskas.
Urbonas.
Kavaliauskas.

All male surnames end in –s. This is their main feature.

Women's surnames

If the surname ends in -e, then this indicates that it belongs to a woman. Women's surnames may also differ from men's surnames by a suffix, which will directly depend on whether the woman bears the surname of her father or husband.

From paternal surnames, female surnames are formed using suffixes:

-it.

The ending -e is added to the suffix.

For example, Orbakas - Orbakaite, Katilyus - Katilyute, Butkus - Butkute.

The following suffixes are added to the root of the husband's surname:

- less often;
-uven;
-juven.

The ending is still the same. Examples: Grinius - Grinyuvene, Varnas - Varnene.

In 2003, the formation of female surnames was somewhat simplified at the legislative level and women were allowed not to form a surname using these suffixes.

A woman's surname can now be formed like this: Raudis - Raude.

Declension

All Lithuanian surnames are declined according to case (like all nouns). The cases are almost similar to Russian: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental and locative (analogue of prepositional).

Let's look at the case declension of the surnames Kyaulakine and Kyaulakis.

Kaulakienė (female)

Them. P. – Kaulakienė

R.P. – Kaulakienės

D.P. – Kaulakienei

V. P. – Kaulakienę

T.P. – Kaulakiene

M.P. – Kaulakienę

Kaulakys (male)

Them. P. – Kaulakys

R.P. – Kaulakio

D.P. – Kaulakiui

V.P. – Kaulakį

T.P. – Kaulakiu

M.P. – Kaulakį

Declension, as in Russian, is carried out by changing endings. When translated into Russian, female Lithuanian surnames are not declined, but male surnames are declined according to the rules of the Russian language.

Until recently, in official documents of Lithuanians, the given name, surname and given name of the father were written in the genitive case. Today there is no middle name in the passport. All Russians moving to Lithuania also lose their middle name.

Most Lithuanian surnames, as we see, have ancient roots, so studying surnames can provide extensive information about the history and culture of the Lithuanian people.

Since in the XIV-XV centuries, during its heyday, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania actually owned half of the Russian lands, close administrative and cultural ties led to the spread in our country of names, words and expressions characteristic of the neighboring state. It is surnames of Lithuanian origin that make up the majority of such Baltic borrowings. Residents of Pskov and Novgorod felt a particularly strong influence from their neighbors.

For example, in the north-west of Russia the surname Paskalov is found, derived from the nickname Pascal. The word paskala is translated from Lithuanian as “whip”. That is, this could be called a person with a sharp tongue, whose critical remarks are quite painful. And his descendants later received a surname derived from this nickname.

There is virtually no doubt that the ancestors of the Litvinovs, Litvins, Litvintsevs, Litovkins and Litvyakovs have corresponding roots.
The famous linguist Zigmas Zinkevicius, author of numerous scientific works on this topic, he wrote that in the 16th-17th centuries, representatives of the Lithuanian nobility often changed their surnames, adding the ending -sky to them. To be called in imitation of the gentry (the privileged Polish class) was considered prestigious. Thus, the old Oginski family once owned the Uogintai estate, located on the territory of the Kaisiadorsky district. This is where the surname came from.

After Lithuania joined Russian Empire The process of forced Russification of this Baltic country began. In the 19th century, printing in the Latin alphabet was banned, and the Lithuanian language was transferred to the Cyrillic alphabet. Last names also changed. For example, Jonas Basanavičius was already listed in official documents as Ivan Basanovich. And after moving to Russia, the suffix -ich could well have disappeared from the surname of his descendants - here you have the Basanovs.

Many Lithuanians, after moving to St. Petersburg, Moscow or other cities in our country, did not want to differ from the bulk of the population, so they often changed their surnames. So, Kazlauskas became Kozlov, Petrauskas - Petrov, Yankauskas - Yankovsky, Vasiliauskas - Vasilyev, Zhukauskas - Zhukov, Pavlauskas - Pavlov, Kovaliauskas - Kovalev, Simonaitas - Simonov, Vytautas - Vitovsky, Shchegolevas - Shchegolev, Vilkas - Volkov or Vilkin, etc. P.

As a rule, surnames formed from similar names and nicknames were simply Russified. It was enough to replace the characteristic suffix -as with the traditional Russian ending-s. If the Lithuanian surname ended in -is, then during the “translation” they added -in to it. For example, the Lithuanian word “laukas” means a kind of “star” that appears on the forehead of various livestock: cows, oxen, horses. From this word the surname Lokis was formed (the diphthong “au” was transformed into one sound “o”), and on Russian soil the descendants of its bearer turned into the Lokins.

Representatives of the Lithuanian nobility, fleeing civil strife or in search of profit, often moved to Russia and entered the service of the Moscow tsars. They became the founders of such ancient noble families as the Pronsky, Belsky, Glinsky, Khovansky, Mstislavsky, Khotetovsky.

There is virtually no doubt that the ancestors of the Litvinovs, Litvins, Litvintsevs, Litovkins and Litvyakovs have corresponding roots.
The famous linguist Zigmas Zinkevičius, the author of numerous scientific works on this topic, wrote that in the 16th-17th centuries, representatives of the Lithuanian nobility often changed their surnames, adding the ending -skiy to them. To be called in imitation of the gentry (the privileged Polish class) was considered prestigious. Thus, the old Oginski family once owned the Uogintai estate, located on the territory of the Kaisiadorsky district. This is where the surname came from.

After the annexation of Lithuania to the Russian Empire, the process of forced Russification of this Baltic country began. In the 19th century, printing in the Latin alphabet was banned, and the Lithuanian language was transferred to the Cyrillic alphabet. Last names also changed. For example, Jonas Basanavičius was already listed in official documents as Ivan Basanovich. And after moving to Russia, the suffix -ich could well have disappeared from the surname of his descendants - here you have the Basanovs.

As a rule, surnames formed from similar names and nicknames were simply Russified. It was enough to replace the characteristic suffix -as with the traditional Russian ending -ov. If the Lithuanian surname ended in -is, then during the “translation” they added -in to it. For example, the Lithuanian word “laukas” means a kind of “star” that appears on the forehead of various livestock: cows, oxen, horses. From this word the surname Lokis was formed (the diphthong “au” was transformed into one sound “o”), and on Russian soil the descendants of its bearer turned into the Lokins.

Lithuanian names, as well as the names of the representatives of the majority European peoples, consist of two main elements: personal name (lit.vardas) and surname (lit.pavardė). When women get married, they change the ending of their last name to indicate that they are married.

Female surnames: rules of formation

Lithuanian women's surnames have this peculiarity - in Russian they are not declined even during transcription. This rule does not apply to male Lithuanian surnames. On this moment women have the right not to use these suffixes to form a surname. It is not uncommon for Lithuanian surnames to have a zero ending. In Russian, only male surnames are declined, while female surnames, as a rule, remain unchanged. Many Lithuanian surnames can be translated literally into Russian, but it would be correct to translate them using transcription.

If a Lithuanian surname has the suffix –sky, which is familiar to the Russian ear, then it indicates the place of origin of the family. The famous Piłsudski family, for example, came from the Samogit region of Piłsudy. But the Oginsky family most likely received their surname in honor of the Uogintai estate given to him in 1486 for his high services to the fatherland. Some Lithuanian surnames are derived from the names of animals. In interpreting Lithuanian surnames, a certain amount of caution must be observed, because etymology is a delicate matter, and sometimes the origin of a surname can have several versions.

Many Latvians attach this letter to Russian surnames, for example, “Lenin” in their language sounds like Lenins, as the rules of grammar require it. But if they are used in Russian translation, then another rule applies: for women they do not bow, but for men it’s the other way around.

In Russia, for example, the suffix “-ich” was given only to those who were close to the tsar and royal family, but in Lithuania they assigned it to everyone. The Lithuanian nobility did not like the sound of surnames like this: they saw the influence of Russia in this, so over time they began to actively change this suffix to the one that the Poles also used - “-sky”.

The end of the 20th century showed that about 30 percent of Lithuanian surnames are surnames of Lithuanian origin, and 70 percent are not. Most of the surnames have Slavic origin. The third type included single-base personal names. They were formed from common nouns. These words could be nicknames. Some personal names also began to turn into surnames, as well as suffixed patronymics and epithets. Nicknames were common in the 16th century. but over time they turned into surnames. Interestingly, the Lithuanian anthroponymic system contains about 3000 personal names. Therefore, it is very difficult to understand the names and surnames of the inhabitants of this country.

Employees of the registry office of the Pushkinsky district of the Moscow region flatly refuse to register a newborn under a Lithuanian surname. As officials explain, in the Moscow region the peculiarities of Lithuanian spelling are invalid. After some time, Tatyana filed an application to change her first and last name, and only after this procedure she became Karnauskiene. At the Lithuanian Embassy, for $50, Karnauskas was given a certificate on the spelling of national surnames. I found. Brought it to the registry office. But there they told me again that in the Moscow region there is no law on the formation of surnames with other rules,” my interlocutor continues.

Diversity and features of Lithuanian surnames

Surnames of Lithuanian origin. Lithuanian surnames are either nouns or adjectives in origin. Latvian surnames come from nouns, less often from adjectives. Like Lithuanian surnames, they always end in -s (cf. Lit. -as), -§, -is, -us, -a and -e. As in Lithuanian, these endings of the nominative case do not occur in other cases.

A surname is one of the most basic identifiers of a person, which indicates his belonging to a certain family, clan, people, culture, and social class. In different cultures and languages, surnames are formed and declined in completely different ways.

On the Internet you can find lists and the 20 most common names of newborns in Lithuania for the period starting from 1999. The source of this data is still indicated by the same Resident Registration Service. It is known and very common among Kazakh women female name Saule, which etymologists trace to the Kazakh saule “ray of light.” Ugnė – from Lithuanian ugnis (“fire”). 3. Also derived from the Lithuanian words urtas (“great desire; self-confidence”), from the Danish urt “plants, herbs” and even from the Albanian urti “wise”. 4. Also considered as a variant of the Hebrew name Ruth (possibly “friend”) and Dorothea – Greek (“gift” + “god”). Viltė – from Lithuanian viltis (“hope”).

We present a list of popular Lithuanian male and female surnames. Here you can find true Lithuanian surnames. Lithuanian surnames origin, list of popular surnames.

That’s right - most Lithuanian surnames have Slavic suffixes, many Slavic roots. On the other hand, the forms of many Christian names in surnames bear a trace of their common people's reinterpretation among the Slavs. I really remember the article by Academician Zinkevicius about the surname Syanis. It seems like it couldn’t be more searching, “old man” in Lithuanian. There are probably no purely Lithuanian surnames in the top ten. Urbonas is not Samogitia at all, but pure Latin.

The Litovsky surname belongs to the old type of Russian surnames, formed from a personal nickname. The nickname Lithuanian belongs to a number of similar nicknames. It is obvious that the Litovsky surname has an interesting centuries-old history, testifying to the variety of ways in which Russian surnames appeared.

Lithuanian names, being among the most poetic and imaginative, reflect the entire rich heritage of the Lithuanian people and diversity cultural traditions. A two-term method of naming arose: personal names received special definitions (for example, Mindaugas, brother of Vangstis; Sugintas, son of Neivaitas). After baptism, the courtiers of Grand Duke Vytautas were called by two personal names - Christian and Old Lithuanian (for example, “Mikolas, otherwise Minigaila”; “Albertas, otherwise Manividas”). After the introduction of the Polish language in the chancellery in 1697, Lithuanian suffixes, and with them sometimes the surnames themselves, began to be translated into Polish language(e.g. Ozhelis, Ozjunas > Kozlowski). TO XVIII century a heterogeneous system of Lithuanian surnames of different origins was formed.

In the same way, it is possible to achieve the preservation of the Lithuanian version female surname married. Another question is - who needs it, butting heads with Russian bureaucrats?! There is such a difficulty here: the bearer of the surname is often not ready to agree that his surname is declining. And no reference to the rules of the Russian language can help: they are broken by the “iron” argument - the surname is not Russian. I write a document in Russian, all my surnames are Russian.”

But it should be noted that Lithuanians used such surnames only in colloquial speech. Officially, they were recorded in documents according to Slavic metrics. The purely Lithuanian endings of surnames, therefore, are the following: -aitis (Adomaitis), -is (alis), -as (Eidintas), and there may also be an ending -a (Radvila).