Lithuanian name
Encyclopedia
A personal name, like in most Europe
an cultures, consists of two main elements: the given name
(vardas) followed by family name
(pavardė). The usage of personal name
s in Lithuania
is generally governed (in addition to personal taste or family custom) by three major factors: civil law
, canon law
, and tradition. Lithuanian names always follow the rules of the Lithuanian language
. Lithuanian male names, as well as the rest of words, have preserved the Indo-European
masculine endings (-as; -is).
being considered pretentious. In additions to modern names, parents normally choose a name or names for their child from a long list of traditional names which may be:
It is the most ancient layer of Lithuanian personal names; a majority of them are dual-stemmed
personal names, of Indo-European
origin. These ancient Lithuanian names are constructed from two interconnected stem
s, the combination of which has been used to denote certain beneficial personal qualities, for example Jo-gaila mean "a strong rider". Although virtually extinct following the Christianization of Lithuania
, they continued to exist as surnames, such as Goštautas, Kęsgaila, Radvila or in their Slavicised versions, as well as in toponyms. The existing surnames and written sources have allowed the reconstruction of names by linguists, such as Kazimieras Būga
. During the Interbellum these names returned to popular use after a long period of neglect. Children are often named in honor of most revered historical Lithuanian rulers, making their names one of the most popular. They include Vytautas, Gediminas, Algirdas
, Žygimantas
. In line with the double-stemmed names, shorter variants containing only one stem were also used, such as Vytenis
and Kęstutis
. Since there are few pre-Christian female names attested in written sources, they are often reconstructed from male variants, in addition to the historical Birutė
, Aldona, Rimgailė etc.
The use of Christian names in the Lithuanian language long predates the adoption of Christianity by Lithuanians. The linguistic data attest that first Biblical names were started to be used in Aukštaitija
as early as in the 11th century. The earliest strata of such names originates from Old Church Slavonic
; they were borrowed by Eastern Orthodoxy in their Byzantine
versions. The examples of such names are Antanas (St. Anthony
), Povilas or Paulius (St. Paul), Andrius (St. Andrew) and Jurgis (St. George). The later influx of Christian names came after the adoption of Christianity in 1387. They are mostly borrowed in their Polish
versions: Jonas (St. John
), Vladislovas/Vladas (St. Ladislaus), Kazimieras/Kazys (St. Casimir), etc.
There are popular names constructed from the words for celestial bodies (Saulė for the Sun
, Aušrinė for Venus
), events of nature (Audra for the storm, Aušra for the dawn
, Rasa for the dew
, Vėjas for the wind, Aidas for the echo
), plants (Linas
/Lina for flax
, Eglė for spruce
), river names (Ūla, Vilija for River Neris).
Some names were created by the authors of literal works and spread in public use through them. Such names were invented following the rules of the Lithuanian language, therefore it is sometimes difficult to tell whether the name is fictitious and had never existed before. Notably, Gražina, Živilė by Adam Mickiewicz
, Daiva by Vydūnas
, Šarūnas by Vincas Krėvė and others.
There are some popular names of gods and goddesses from Lithuanian mythology
that are used as personal names, such as Laima
, goddess of luck, Žemyna
, goddess of earth, Gabija
, goddess of fire; Žilvinas, a serpent prince from the fairy tale Eglė the Queen of Serpents
, Jūratė, goddess of the sea, and Kastytis, from the legend about Jūratė and Kastytis
.
A distinctive practice dominated in the ethnic region
of Lithuania Minor
, then being a part of East Prussia
, where Lithuanized German personal names
were common, such as Ansas (Hans
), Grėtė (Gretchen
), Vilius (Wilhelm
) among Prussian Lithuanians
. Some of them are still in use among Lithuanians at present.
The choice of a given name is largely influenced by fashion. Many parents may name their child after a national hero
or heroine, some otherwise famous person, or a character from a book, film, or TV show. In spite of this, a great number of names used in today's Lithuania have been in use since the ancient times.
, while male names always end in -s, and rarely in a vowel -a. When the male name ending in -a has its female counterpart, it ends in -ė, such as Jogaila
and Jogailė. Female double-stemmed Lithuanian names always end in -ė.
s are very popular in everyday usage, and are by no means reserved for children. The Lithuanian language
allows for a great deal of creativity in this field. Most diminutives are formed by adding a suffix
. For female names it may be -elė, -utė, -ytė, -užė; certain suffixes are more common to specific names over the rest.
Also, as in many other cultures, a person may informally use a nickname
(pravardė) in addition to or instead of a given name.
, i.e., passed from the father on to his children.
A married woman usually adopts her husband's name. However, other combinations are legally possible. The wife may keep her maiden name (mergautinė pavardė) or add her husband's surname to hers, thus creating a double-barrelled name
. It is also possible, though rare, for the husband to adopt his wife's surname or to add his wife's surname to his family name.
s.
The most striking peculiarity of the historical Lithuanian heraldic system, which is adopted from the Polish one in the Union of Horodlo
in 1413, is that a coat of arms does not belong to a single family. A number of unrelated families (sometimes hundreds of them), usually with a number of different family names, may use a coat of arms, and each coat of arms has its own name.
The use of family names gradually spread to other social groups: the townsfolk by the end of the 17th century, then the peasantry. People from the villages did not have last names until the end of the 18th century. In cases like this their village of origin was usually noted in documents. The process ended only in the mid-19th century, and due partial Polonization
of society at the time many names were influenced by Polish form of the name..
Examples:
Examples:
surname derives from a given name of a person and usually ends in a suffix suggesting a family relation.
Examples:
For this group of names the use of Slavic suffixes -avičius (from "-owicz"), -auskas (from "-owski") is common: Jankauskas (from Slavic Jankowski
), Adamkevičius (Adamkowicz), Lukoševičius (Lukaszewicz).
s of popular first names.
forms. While a masculine surname usually ends in -as, -ys or -is, its feminine equivalent ends in -ienė or rarely -uvienė for married women and -aitė, -utė, -iūtė or -ytė for unmarried ones.
Examples:
Recently Lithuanian laws allowed women to use short form, without disclosing marital status (usually ending -ė instead of -ienė/-aitė/etc.: Adamkus –> Adamkė). These names are used, although traditional forms are still predominant.
According to the Department of Statistics of Lithuania of most popular femine family names are:
Pone, Ponia) are the basic honorific styles used in Lithuanian to refer to a man or woman, respectively. In the past, these styles were reserved to members of the szlachta
and played more or less the same roles as "Lord" or "Sir" and "Lady" or "Madame" in English. Since the 19th century, they have come to be used in all strata of society and may be considered equivalent to the English "Mr." and "Ms." There is a separate style, Panelė ("Miss"), applied to an unmarried woman.
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an cultures, consists of two main elements: the 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...
(vardas) followed by 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...
(pavardė). The usage of personal name
Personal name
A personal name is the proper name identifying an individual person, and today usually comprises a given name bestowed at birth or at a young age plus a surname. It is nearly universal for a human to have a name; except in rare cases, for example feral children growing up in isolation, or infants...
s in Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
is generally governed (in addition to personal taste or family custom) by three major factors: civil law
Civil law (legal system)
Civil law is a legal system inspired by Roman law and whose primary feature is that laws are codified into collections, as compared to common law systems that gives great precedential weight to common law on the principle that it is unfair to treat similar facts differently on different...
, canon law
Canon law
Canon law is the body of laws & regulations made or adopted by ecclesiastical authority, for the government of the Christian organization and its members. It is the internal ecclesiastical law governing the Catholic Church , the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches, and the Anglican Communion of...
, and tradition. Lithuanian names always follow the rules of the Lithuanian language
Lithuanian language
Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...
. Lithuanian male names, as well as the rest of words, have preserved the Indo-European
Indo-European
Indo-European may refer to:* Indo-European languages** Aryan race, a 19th century and early 20th century term for those peoples who are the native speakers of Indo-European languages...
masculine endings (-as; -is).
Vardas (given name)
A child in Lithuania is usually given one or two given names. Nowadays the second given name is rarely used in everyday situations, the use of a middle nameMiddle name
People's names in several cultures include one or more additional names placed between the first given name and the surname. In Canada and the United States all such names are specifically referred to as middle name; in most European countries they would simply be regarded as second, third, etc....
being considered pretentious. In additions to modern names, parents normally choose a name or names for their child from a long list of traditional names which may be:
- a LithuanianLithuanian languageLithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...
name of pre-Christian origin.
It is the most ancient layer of Lithuanian personal names; a majority of them are dual-stemmed
Word stem
In linguistics, a stem is a part of a word. The term is used with slightly different meanings.In one usage, a stem is a form to which affixes can be attached. Thus, in this usage, the English word friendships contains the stem friend, to which the derivational suffix -ship is attached to form a new...
personal names, of Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European language
The Proto-Indo-European language is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European languages, spoken by the Proto-Indo-Europeans...
origin. These ancient Lithuanian names are constructed from two interconnected stem
Word stem
In linguistics, a stem is a part of a word. The term is used with slightly different meanings.In one usage, a stem is a form to which affixes can be attached. Thus, in this usage, the English word friendships contains the stem friend, to which the derivational suffix -ship is attached to form a new...
s, the combination of which has been used to denote certain beneficial personal qualities, for example Jo-gaila mean "a strong rider". Although virtually extinct following the Christianization of Lithuania
Christianization of Lithuania
The Christianization of Lithuania – Christianization of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania that took place in 1387, initiated by the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Jogaila and his cousin Vytautas, that signified the official adoption of Christianity by Lithuanians, one of the last pagan...
, they continued to exist as surnames, such as Goštautas, Kęsgaila, Radvila or in their Slavicised versions, as well as in toponyms. The existing surnames and written sources have allowed the reconstruction of names by linguists, such as Kazimieras Būga
Kazimieras Buga
Kazimieras Būga was a Lithuanian linguist and philologist. He was a professor of linguistics, who mainly worked on the Lithuanian language.He was born at Pažiegė, near Dusetos, then part of the Russian Empire...
. During the Interbellum these names returned to popular use after a long period of neglect. Children are often named in honor of most revered historical Lithuanian rulers, making their names one of the most popular. They include Vytautas, Gediminas, Algirdas
Algirdas
Algirdas was a monarch of medieval Lithuania. Algirdas ruled the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1345 to 1377, which chiefly meant monarch of Lithuanians and Ruthenians...
, Žygimantas
Sigismund Kestutaitis
Sigismund Kęstutaitis was the Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1432 to 1440. Sigismund was his baptismal name; Sigismund's pagan Lithuanian birth name is unknown. He was son of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Kęstutis and his wife Birutė....
. In line with the double-stemmed names, shorter variants containing only one stem were also used, such as Vytenis
Vytenis
Vytenis was the Grand Duke of Lithuania from c. 1295 to c. 1316. He became the first of the Gediminid dynasty to rule for a considerable amount of time. In the early 14th century his reputation outshone that of Gediminas, who is regarded by modern historians as one of the greatest Lithuanian rulers...
and Kęstutis
Kestutis
Kęstutis was monarch of medieval Lithuania. He was the Duke of Trakai and governed the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, 1342–82, together with his brother Algirdas , and with his nephew Jogaila...
. Since there are few pre-Christian female names attested in written sources, they are often reconstructed from male variants, in addition to the historical Birutė
Birute
Birutė was the second wife of Kęstutis, Grand Duke of Lithuania, and mother of Vytautas the Great. There is very little known about Birutė's life but after her death a strong cult developed among Lithuanians, especially in Samogitia.-Marriage:...
, Aldona, Rimgailė etc.
- a Christian name, i.e., a Biblical name or a saint's nameSaint's nameA saint’s name is the name of a saint given to individuals at their baptism within the Catholic Church. The custom of giving the name of a saint originated in France and Germany during the Middle Ages...
.
The use of Christian names in the Lithuanian language long predates the adoption of Christianity by Lithuanians. The linguistic data attest that first Biblical names were started to be used in Aukštaitija
Aukštaitija
Aukštaitija is the name of one of five ethnographic regions of Lithuania. The name comes from the relatively high elevation of the region, particularly the eastern parts.-Geography:...
as early as in the 11th century. The earliest strata of such names originates from Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic or Old Church Slavic was the first literary Slavic language, first developed by the 9th century Byzantine Greek missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius who were credited with standardizing the language and using it for translating the Bible and other Ancient Greek...
; they were borrowed by Eastern Orthodoxy in their Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
versions. The examples of such names are Antanas (St. Anthony
Anthony the Great
Anthony the Great or Antony the Great , , also known as Saint Anthony, Anthony the Abbot, Anthony of Egypt, Anthony of the Desert, Anthony the Anchorite, Abba Antonius , and Father of All Monks, was a Christian saint from Egypt, a prominent leader among the Desert Fathers...
), Povilas or Paulius (St. Paul), Andrius (St. Andrew) and Jurgis (St. George). The later influx of Christian names came after the adoption of Christianity in 1387. They are mostly borrowed in their Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
versions: Jonas (St. John
John the Apostle
John the Apostle, John the Apostle, John the Apostle, (Aramaic Yoħanna, (c. 6 - c. 100) was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He was the son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother of James, another of the Twelve Apostles...
), Vladislovas/Vladas (St. Ladislaus), Kazimieras/Kazys (St. Casimir), etc.
- a LithuanianLithuanian languageLithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...
common noun or hydronymHydronymA hydronym is a proper name of a body of water. Hydronymy is the study of hydronyms and of how bodies of water receive their names and how they are transmitted through history...
used as a name.
There are popular names constructed from the words for celestial bodies (Saulė for the Sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
, Aušrinė for Venus
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows...
), events of nature (Audra for the storm, Aušra for the dawn
Dawn
Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of the twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the presence of weak sunlight, while the sun itself is still below the horizon...
, Rasa for the dew
Dew
[Image:Dew on a flower.jpg|right|220px|thumb|Some dew on an iris in Sequoia National Park]]Dew is water in the form of droplets that appears on thin, exposed objects in the morning or evening...
, Vėjas for the wind, Aidas for the echo
Echo (phenomenon)
In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound, arriving at the listener some time after the direct sound. Typical examples are the echo produced by the bottom of a well, by a building, or by the walls of an enclosed room and an empty room. A true echo is a single...
), plants (Linas
Linas
Linas is a common given name among people of Lithuanian descent. It is the Lithuanian form of the name Linus which is derived from the ancient Greek name Linos that meant flax...
/Lina for flax
Flax
Flax is a member of the genus Linum in the family Linaceae. It is native to the region extending from the eastern Mediterranean to India and was probably first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent...
, Eglė for spruce
Spruce
A spruce is a tree of the genus Picea , a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the Family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal regions of the earth. Spruces are large trees, from tall when mature, and can be distinguished by their whorled branches and conical...
), river names (Ūla, Vilija for River Neris).
- an invented name from literature.
Some names were created by the authors of literal works and spread in public use through them. Such names were invented following the rules of the Lithuanian language, therefore it is sometimes difficult to tell whether the name is fictitious and had never existed before. Notably, Gražina, Živilė by Adam Mickiewicz
Adam Mickiewicz
Adam Bernard Mickiewicz ) was a Polish poet, publisher and political writer of the Romantic period. One of the primary representatives of the Polish Romanticism era, a national poet of Poland, he is seen as one of Poland's Three Bards and the greatest poet in all of Polish literature...
, Daiva by Vydūnas
Vydunas
Wilhelm Storost, artistic name Vilius Storostas-Vydūnas , mostly known as Vydūnas, was a Prussian-Lithuania teacher, poet, humanist, philosopher and Lithuanian...
, Šarūnas by Vincas Krėvė and others.
- names of Lithuanian pagan deities and mythological figures.
There are some popular names of gods and goddesses from Lithuanian mythology
Lithuanian mythology
Lithuanian mythology is an example of Baltic mythology, developed by Lithuanians throughout the centuries.-History of scholarship:Surviving information about Baltic paganism in general is very sketchy and incomplete. As with most ancient Indo-European cultures Lithuanian mythology is an example of...
that are used as personal names, such as Laima
Laima
Laima was the personification of fate and luck in the Latvian and Lithuanian mythologies. She was associated with childbirth, marriage, and death; she was also the patron of pregnant women...
, goddess of luck, Žemyna
Žemyna
Žemyna is the goddess of the earth in Lithuanian mythology. She is usually regarded as mother goddess and one of the chief Lithuanian gods similar to Latvian Zemes māte. Žemyna personifies the fertile earth and nourishes all life on earth, human, plant, and animal. All that is born of earth will...
, goddess of earth, Gabija
Gabija
Gabija is the goddess of fire and hearth in the Lithuanian mythology. She is the protector of home and family, provider of happiness and fertility. Her name is derived from gaubti or from St. Agatha...
, goddess of fire; Žilvinas, a serpent prince from the fairy tale Eglė the Queen of Serpents
Egle the Queen of Serpents
Eglė the Queen of Serpents, alternatively Eglė the Queen of Grass Snakes , is a Lithuanian folk tale.-Details:Eglė the Queen of Serpents is considered one of the most archaic and best-known Lithuanian fairy tales and the richest in references of Baltic mythology. Over a hundred slightly diverging...
, Jūratė, goddess of the sea, and Kastytis, from the legend about Jūratė and Kastytis
Jurate and Kastytis
Jūratė and Kastytis is one of the most famous and popular Lithuanian legends and tales. For the first time it was recorded in 1842 in the writings of Liudvikas Adomas Jucevičius. Since then it has been adapted many times for modern poems, ballets, and even rock operas...
.
A distinctive practice dominated in the ethnic region
Regions of Lithuania
Lithuania can be divided into historical and cultural regions . The exact borders are not fully clear, as the regions are not official political or administrative units. They are delimited by culture, such as country traditions, traditional lifestyle, songs, tales, etc. To some extent regions...
of Lithuania Minor
Lithuania Minor
Lithuania Minor or Prussian Lithuania is a historical ethnographic region of Prussia, later East Prussia in Germany, where Prussian Lithuanians or Lietuvininkai lived. Lithuania Minor enclosed the northern part of this province and got its name due to the territory's substantial...
, then being a part of East Prussia
East Prussia
East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
, where Lithuanized German personal names
German name
German names consist of one or several Vornamen and a Nachname . The Vorname is usually gender-specific.-Forenames:...
were common, such as Ansas (Hans
Hans (name)
Hans is a masculine given name. In German, Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Icelandic and Swedish, originally it is short for Johannes but is also recognized in Sweden, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands as a name in its own right for official purposes....
), Grėtė (Gretchen
Gretchen
Maria Odete Brito de Miranda, known as Gretchen is a Brazilian singer. She became notorious as the Rainha do Bumbum in the late 1970s...
), Vilius (Wilhelm
Wilhelm
Wilhelm may refer to:* Wilhelm I, German Emperor , King of Prussia and German Emperor* Wilhelm II, German Emperor , grandson of the former, King of Prussia and German Emperor* Wilhelm , a character in Xenosaga...
) among Prussian Lithuanians
Prussian Lithuanians
The term Prussian Lithuanians or Lietuvininkai refers to a Western Lithuanian ethnic group, which did not form a nation and inhabited a territory in East Prussia called Prussian Lithuania or Lithuania Minor in contrast to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later the Republic of Lithuania .Unlike most...
. Some of them are still in use among Lithuanians at present.
The choice of a given name is largely influenced by fashion. Many parents may name their child after a national hero
Folk hero
A folk hero is a type of hero, real, fictional, or mythological. The single salient characteristic which makes a character a folk hero is the imprinting of the name, personality and deeds of the character in the popular consciousness. This presence in the popular consciousness is evidenced by...
or heroine, some otherwise famous person, or a character from a book, film, or TV show. In spite of this, a great number of names used in today's Lithuania have been in use since the ancient times.
Sex differentiation
Lithuanian male and female names are different grammatically. Almost all Lithuanian female names end in the vowels -a or -ėE
E is the fifth letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet. It is the most commonly used letter in the Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Latin, Norwegian, Spanish, and Swedish languages.-History:...
, while male names always end in -s, and rarely in a vowel -a. When the male name ending in -a has its female counterpart, it ends in -ė, such as Jogaila
Jogaila
Jogaila, later 'He is known under a number of names: ; ; . See also: Jogaila : names and titles. was Grand Duke of Lithuania , king consort of Kingdom of Poland , and sole King of Poland . He ruled in Lithuania from 1377, at first with his uncle Kęstutis...
and Jogailė. Female double-stemmed Lithuanian names always end in -ė.
Diminutives
DiminutiveDiminutive
In language structure, a diminutive, or diminutive form , is a formation of a word used to convey a slight degree of the root meaning, smallness of the object or quality named, encapsulation, intimacy, or endearment...
s are very popular in everyday usage, and are by no means reserved for children. The Lithuanian language
Lithuanian language
Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...
allows for a great deal of creativity in this field. Most diminutives are formed by adding a suffix
Suffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...
. For female names it may be -elė, -utė, -ytė, -užė; certain suffixes are more common to specific names over the rest.
Also, as in many other cultures, a person may informally use a nickname
Nickname
A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....
(pravardė) in addition to or instead of a given name.
Pavardė (surname)
Lithuanian surnames, like those in most of Europe, are hereditary and generally patrilinealPatrilineality
Patrilineality is a system in which one belongs to one's father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritance of property, names or titles through the male line as well....
, i.e., passed from the father on to his children.
A married woman usually adopts her husband's name. However, other combinations are legally possible. The wife may keep her maiden name (mergautinė pavardė) or add her husband's surname to hers, thus creating a double-barrelled name
Double-barrelled name
In English speaking and some other Western countries, a double-barrelled name is a family name with two parts, which may or may not be joined with a hyphen and is also known as a hyphenated name. An example of a hyphenated double-barrelled surname is Bowes-Lyon; an example of an unhyphenated...
. It is also possible, though rare, for the husband to adopt his wife's surname or to add his wife's surname to his family name.
History
Family names first appeared in Lithuania ca. end of 14th century beginning 15th century and were only reserved to the Lithuanian nobility. They usually derived from patronymicPatronymic
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...
s.
The most striking peculiarity of the historical Lithuanian heraldic system, which is adopted from the Polish one in the Union of Horodlo
Union of Horodlo
The Union of Horodło or Pact of Horodło was a set of three acts signed in the town of Horodło on October 2, 1413. The first act was written by Jogaila, King of Poland, and Vytautas, Grand Duke of Lithuania. The second and third acts were composed by the Lithuanian and Polish nobility respectively...
in 1413, is that a coat of arms does not belong to a single family. A number of unrelated families (sometimes hundreds of them), usually with a number of different family names, may use a coat of arms, and each coat of arms has its own name.
The use of family names gradually spread to other social groups: the townsfolk by the end of the 17th century, then the peasantry. People from the villages did not have last names until the end of the 18th century. In cases like this their village of origin was usually noted in documents. The process ended only in the mid-19th century, and due partial Polonization
Polonization
Polonization was the acquisition or imposition of elements of Polish culture, in particular, Polish language, as experienced in some historic periods by non-Polish populations of territories controlled or substantially influenced by Poland...
of society at the time many names were influenced by Polish form of the name..
Cognominal
A cognominal surname derives from a person's nickname, usually based on his occupation, or a physical or character trait.Examples:
- Kalvis, Kalvelis, Kalvaitis – from kalvis ("blacksmithBlacksmithA blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...
"); - Naujokas, Naujokaitis – from naujas ("new one");
- Kairys, Kairelis, – "leftie", from kairė ("left side").
Toponymic
A toponymic surname usually derives from the name of a village or town, or the name of a topographic feature.Examples:
- Užugiris – from across the forest (už girios);
- Kalnietis – from the mountains (kalnai).
Patronymic
A patronymicPatronymic
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...
surname derives from a given name of a person and usually ends in a suffix suggesting a family relation.
Examples:
- Jonaitis, Janavičius, Januitis – derived from Jonas (JohnJohn (name)John is a masculine given name in the English language. The name is derived from the Latin Ioannes, Iohannes, which is in turn a form of the Greek , Iōánnēs. This Greek name is a form of the Hebrew name , , which means "God is generous"...
); - Adomaitis, Adamonis, Adamkus – derived from Adomas (AdamAdam (name)-People with the given name Adam:* Adam of Ebrach , German abbot and historian* Adam , Spanish churchman* Adam , stage name of Mohd Aizam Mat Saman...
); - Lukauskis, Lukša, Lukošius, Lukoševičius – derived from Lukas (LukeLukeLuke is a male given name, and less commonly, a surname.The name Luke is derived from the Latin name , from an Ancient Greek , meaning "man from Lucania". The earliest known recording of the name is from the Bible, The Gospel of Luke, which was written around AD 70 to 90, and it is from here...
).
For this group of names the use of Slavic suffixes -avičius (from "-owicz"), -auskas (from "-owski") is common: Jankauskas (from Slavic Jankowski
Jankowski
Jankowski is the 13th most common surname in Poland . There are, in fact, 12 separate and unrelated families with this surname as the result of many village estates being named Jankowa or Jankowice in 13th and 14th century Poland...
), Adamkevičius (Adamkowicz), Lukoševičius (Lukaszewicz).
Diminutives
A number of surnames are diminutiveDiminutive
In language structure, a diminutive, or diminutive form , is a formation of a word used to convey a slight degree of the root meaning, smallness of the object or quality named, encapsulation, intimacy, or endearment...
s of popular first names.
- Butkus from Butkintas
- Minkus from Minkantas
- Norkus from Norkantas
- Rimkus from Rimkantas
Feminine forms
Lithuanian surnames, unlike in the most of Europe, have specific masculine and feminineGrammatical gender
Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
forms. While a masculine surname usually ends in -as, -ys or -is, its feminine equivalent ends in -ienė or rarely -uvienė for married women and -aitė, -utė, -iūtė or -ytė for unmarried ones.
Examples:
| Father / husband | Married woman or widow | Unmarried woman |
|---|---|---|
| Paulauskas | Paulauskienė | Paulauskaitė |
| Bimbirys | Bimbirienė | Bimbirytė |
| Adamkus | Adamkienė | Adamkutė |
| Mielkus | Mielkienė/Mielkuvienė | Mielkutė |
| Kulėšius | Kulėšienė | Kulėšiūtė |
Recently Lithuanian laws allowed women to use short form, without disclosing marital status (usually ending -ė instead of -ienė/-aitė/etc.: Adamkus –> Adamkė). These names are used, although traditional forms are still predominant.
According to the Department of Statistics of Lithuania of most popular femine family names are:
- Kazlauskienė
- Jankauskienė
- Petrauskienė
- Stankevičienė
- Paulauskienė
Formal and informal use
Lithuanians pay great attention to the correct way of referring to or addressing other people depending on the level of social distance, familiarity and politeness. The differences between formal and informal language include:- using surnames vs. given names;
- using vs. not using honorific titles such as Ponas / Ponia;
- using the third person singular forms vs. second person singular.
Ponas / Ponia
Ponas and Ponia (vocative caseVocative case
The vocative case is the case used for a noun identifying the person being addressed and/or occasionally the determiners of that noun. A vocative expression is an expression of direct address, wherein the identity of the party being spoken to is set forth expressly within a sentence...
Pone, Ponia) are the basic honorific styles used in Lithuanian to refer to a man or woman, respectively. In the past, these styles were reserved to members of the szlachta
Szlachta
The szlachta was a legally privileged noble class with origins in the Kingdom of Poland. It gained considerable institutional privileges during the 1333-1370 reign of Casimir the Great. In 1413, following a series of tentative personal unions between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of...
and played more or less the same roles as "Lord" or "Sir" and "Lady" or "Madame" in English. Since the 19th century, they have come to be used in all strata of society and may be considered equivalent to the English "Mr." and "Ms." There is a separate style, Panelė ("Miss"), applied to an unmarried woman.