A modern Belarusian name of a person consists of three parts: given name

Given name

A given name, in Western contexts often referred to as a first name, is a personal name that specifies and differentiates between members of a group of individuals, especially in a family, all of whose members usually share the same family name...

, patronymic

Patronymic

A patronym, or patronymic, is a component of a personal name based on the name of one's father, grandfather or an even earlier male ancestor. A component of a name based on the name of one's mother or a female ancestor is a matronymic. Each is a means of conveying lineage.In many areas patronyms...

, and family name

Family name

A family name is a type of surname and part of a person's name indicating the family to which the person belongs. The use of family names is widespread in cultures around the world...

, similarly to names in other East Slavic

East Slavs

The East Slavs are Slavic peoples speaking East Slavic languages. Formerly the main population of the medieval state of Kievan Rus, by the seventeenth century they evolved into the Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian peoples.-Sources:...

 cultures: Russian names and Ukrainian name

Ukrainian name

A modern Ukrainian name of a person consists of three parts: given name, patronymic, and family name, similarly to names in other East Slavic cultures: Russian names and Belarusian names.-Ukrainian given names:...

s.

Belarusian given names

As with most cultures, a person has a given name

Given name

A given name, in Western contexts often referred to as a first name, is a personal name that specifies and differentiates between members of a group of individuals, especially in a family, all of whose members usually share the same family name...

 chosen by the parents. First names in East-Slavic languages

Slavic languages

The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...

 mostly originate from two sources: Orthodox

Eastern Orthodox Church

The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...

 church tradition (which is itself of Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 origin), Catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

 church tradition (which is itself of Latin origin) and native pre-Christian Slavic origin lexicons. Most names have several diminutive forms.
Some popular Belarusian names:

• Уладзіслаў (Uladzislaŭ
  Vladislav
  Vladislav is a Slavic male given name, sometimes confused with/treated as the same as Ladislav...
  
  , equivalent to Vladislav)
• Арцём (Artyom (name)
  Artyom (name)
  Artyom is a Russian male first name, also common in other Slavic-speaking countries, and is also the most common name in Belarus...
  
  )
• Ян, Іван (Jan or Ivan
  Ivan
  -Meteorology:* Tropical Storm Ivan - a number of tropical storms - Places:* Ivan Mountain in Bosnia and Herzegovina* Iván, a village in Hungary* Ivaň, name common to two villages in Czech Republic...
  
  , equivalent to John, of Hebrew origin)
• Мікалай (Mikalaj, equivalent to Nicholas, of Greek origin)
• Уладзімір (Uladzimir
  Vladimir
  Vladimir is a city and the administrative center of Vladimir Oblast, Russia, located on the Klyazma River, to the east of Moscow along the M7 motorway. Population:...
  
  , a pre-Christian name of Slavic origin)
• Яраслаў (Jaraslaŭ, a pre-Christian name of Slavic origin)
• Пятро (Piatro, equivalent to Peter, of Greek origin)
• Андрэй (Andrej, equivalent to Andrew, of Greek origin)
• Аляксандр (Aliaksandr, equivalent to Alexander, of Greek origin)
• Дзмітры, Зміцер (Dzmitry or Zmicier of Greek origin)
• Сяргей (Siarhiej
  Serge (first name)
  Serge is a male given name, particularly common in France, Belgium; as Sérgio in Portugal and Brazil; and as Sergio in Italy, Spain and Spanish-speaking Latin America. The less common female version is Sergine...
  
  , of Latin origin)
• Леанід, Лявон (Leanid or Liavon from Leonidas, of Greek origin)
• Аляксей (Aliaksiej, of Greek origin)
• Юры (Jury, equivalent to George, of Greek origin)
• Павел (Paviel, equivalent to Paul, of Latin origin)
• Кірыла (Kiryla, of Greek origin)
• Васіль, Базыль (Vasil (orthodox) or Bazyl (catholic) of Greek origin)
• Францішак (Francišak, of Latin origins)
• Станіслаў (Stanislaŭ
  Stanislav (given name)
  Stanislav or Stanislaus is a very old Slavic origin given name, meaning someone who achieves glory or fame. It is most often given in the Slavic countries of Central and South Eastern Europe. The name has spread to many non-Slavic languages as well, such as French , German and others...
  
  , of Slavic origin)
• Міхаіл (Michail, equivalent to Michael, of Hebrew origin)

• Дар'я (Darja)
• Ганна (Hanna, equivalent to Ann, of Hebrew origin)
• Алена (Alena, equivalent to Helen, of Greek origin)
• Наталля (Natallia, equivalent to Natalie, of Latin origin)
• Марыя (Maryja, equivalent to Mary, of Hebrew origin)
• Вольга (Volha, a pre-Christian name derived from Varangian Helga)
• Аляксандра (Aliaksandra, equivalent to Alexandra, of Greek origin)
• Аксана (Aksana; most common Ukrainian
  Ukrainians
  Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
  
  female name; of Greek origin from Xenia)
• Кацярына (Katsiaryna, equivalent to Catherine, of Greek origin)
• Тацяна (Tatsiana, of Latin origin)
• Настасся (Nastassia, equivalent to Anastasia, of Greek origin)
• Юлія (Yulia, equivalent to Julia or Julie, of Latin origin)

Belarusian family names (surnames)

In Belarus and most of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, surnames first appeared during the late Middle Ages. They initially denoted the differences between various people living in the same town or village and bearing the same name. The conventions were similar to those of English surnames, using occupations, patronymic descent, geographic origins, or personal characteristics.

Belarusian surnames, like those in most of Europe, are hereditary and generally patrilineal, i.e., passed from the father on to his children.

Depending on the region, Belarusian surnames could have a different form and different ending.

One very large group of surnames end with the common Slavonic suffixes -vich and -ich (Shushkevich, Vaytsiushkevich, Matskevich) or -ski (feminine form -skaya: Navitski, Kalinouski).

One common suffix in surnames is -chuk (Ramanchuk) or its simplified versions -yuk and -uk.

Other group includes surnames with the suffix -ka (Lukashenka, Yakavenka), -onak, -ionak (Malashonak, Manionak).

A different suffix is -enia (Maysenia, Astapenia)

External links

• http://old.knihi.com/jurevic_u/prozviscy.html
• http://dzietki.org/article/cms_view_article.php?aid=4
• http://kryuja.org/artykuly/bielaruskaja_atliantyda/jak_i_czamu_bielarusy_vybirali_imjony.html
• http://old.knihi.com/mova/imiony.html