The name has always been key to the image and character of a person. Each name had some designation or meaning. Sometimes the names given at birth did not correspond to the character or behavior of a person, and then some nickname was assigned to him, more clearly reflecting the essence human soul or appearance.

For example, Juodgalvis - black-headed (juodas - black + galva - head), Majulis (maћas - small), Kupryus (kupra - hump), Vilkas (vilkas - wolf), Jaunutis (jaunas - young)

Ancient Lithuanians most often identified themselves with a single personal name. But with the advent of Christianity and the formation Christian culture personal Lithuanian names formed the basis of Lithuanian surnames, and names for infant baptism were already given in accordance with Christian names. For example, in the contracts of that time such names were already found - “Pyatras Mantigirdas”, “Mikalojus Byliminas”.

According to their word formation, Lithuanian names are divided into 3 groups:

1. Single-base ones - those that are formed from one component of two-base personal names, with or without the addition of suffixes. For example, KAST –IS, KASTU –TIS, KAST-GAYLA.
2. Two-base names - consist of two bases or a combination of two names. As an example - MIN - DAUGAS, GEDI - MINas.
3. Monobasic ones, which were formed as nicknames or were formed from common nouns. For example, Lokis (lokis – bear) Audra (Audra – storm)

Lithuanian female names

Ancient Lithuanian names are very sonorous and poetic. They can mean celestial bodies, natural phenomena, or human qualities. Saule – sun, Jurate – sea maiden, Skaiste – pure, Danguole – heavenly; Gintaras - amber, Rasa - dew, Audra - storm, Aidas - echo, Linas - flax, or which are the names of rivers and places, such as Ula - Ula, Neringa - Neringa.

Lithuanian male names

Old Lithuanian male names had several bases.
Taut - people (Vytautas), kant - patient (Kantrus), min - thought (Gediminas), vil - hope, gail - regret (Yagaila)
By education, male names are mainly traditional Baltic names (Algirdas, Kestutis; Birute, Aldona) or Christian names adapted to the Lithuanian language and culture - Antanas - Anthony, Jurgis - George, Jonas - John, Povilas - Paul.

Lithuanian Surnames

Very interesting formation of surnames in the Lithuanian language.

Previously, women's surnames differed from men's only in the ending. For example, Raude - Raudis, Dyarkinte - Dyarkintas.

Now there is a suffix difference. Moreover, the formation female surnames goes in two directions:
1 – Formation from the father’s surname. The suffixes used here are –ayt-, -ut-, -yut-, with the addition of the ending –e-.
Everyone famous surname Kristina Orbakaite, based on her father's surname - Orbakas. Butkus - Butkute, Katilyus - Katilute.
2.- Formation from husband's surname for married women occurs with the help of completely different suffixes - en-, -uven-, -yuven- and plus the ending -e-.
An example is Varnas - Varniene, Grinius - Grinyuvienė.

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. For some reason we got hooked on the Lithuanian language, Lithuania is still nearby, we travel 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 with both hands in favor - let the young country, essentially re-creating the nation today, choose this unique ancient language for its 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.

Lithuanian names, like the names of 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 null 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 a different 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 Lithuanian origin, but 70 percent do 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 In both 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 popular surnames.

That’s right - most Lithuanian surnames have Slavic suffixes, and many have 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, you can achieve the preservation of the Lithuanian version of the female surname in marriage. 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).

There are many nationalities in the world, and each of them has its own characteristics: in appearance, mentality and lifestyle. This applies to all aspects, including the hereditary family name. Having heard a certain surname, one can already tell what nationality this or that person belongs to and what culture he is a representative of. In this article we will talk in more detail about Lithuanian surnames and consider their origin.

Where did it all start?

Modern Lithuanian surnames are divided into two groups: those that were formed directly on the territory of Lithuania, as well as others that arose outside the country, but over time penetrated into the Lithuanian language. Until the 15th century, this people did not have a surname as such; everyone called each other only by name. The situation changed when Christianity came to the territory of the Baltic country at that time.

In the Middle Ages, church politics began to be actively pursued, and this also affected ancient Lithuania. In this regard, the imposition of Christian names begins, because Lithuanian, in fact, were pagan. As a result, in order not to lose their identity, the Lithuanians came up with surnames, which their ancient ancestral names turned into over time. At first they appeared only among representatives of wealthy families, but they came to the peasantry much later.

How did surnames come about?

Since the 16th century, the use of Latin language began to decline. In the 18th century, after the general census, village residents also began to have surnames, which began to be given to children by the name of their father, and, accordingly, further this family name continued to pass from generation to generation. The suffix “-ovich”, “-evich” was added to the name.

In Russia, for example, the suffix “-ich” was given only to those who were close to the tsar and the royal family, but in Lithuania it was assigned 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 used - “-sky”. By the way, this prefix to the surname was also used East Slavs, but the difference was that the Poles relied precisely on local names. Let’s say a Pole lived in the village of Volya, and for this reason his surname became Volsky. However, it has been noticed that many Lithuanian surnames have Slavic suffixes and roots.

Meaning

The Lithuanian language has survived to this day almost unchanged, so it won’t be difficult to understand what this or that surname means. However, this is not always possible, and in some cases certain difficulties arise. What do Lithuanian surnames mean? For example, Leitis means that the ancestor who gave his family the name was once in the Leith service, that is, he served under the Grand Duke, Vilkas in translation sounds like “wolf”, with the surname Pilsudski - they once lived in the area of ​​​​Pilsudy. Gintautas means “protecting the people.”

Ancient Lithuanian personal names used to have two bases, and, as a rule, in translation they denoted any qualities of a person or words that carried deep meaning. The most popular of them were such as taut - people, min - thought, kant - patient, gail - regret, vil - hope.

The most popular Lithuanian surnames (male)

The English Wikipedia provides a list of the most popular Lithuanian surnames. Here is the original version and its translation into Russian. Kazlauskas - Kozlovsky, Petrauskas - Petrovsky, Jankauskas - Yankovsky, Stankevičius - Stankevich, Vasiliauskas - Vasilevsky, Žukauskas - Zhukovsky, Butkevičus - Butkevich, Paulauskas - Pavlovsky, Kavaliauskas - Kovalevsky.

You can also note such beautiful Lithuanian surnames as Astrauskas, Bluejus, Rudzitis, Simonaityte, Vaitonis, Mazeika, Kindziulis. As you can see, surnames often end in -s.

Original Lithuanian surnames

What do surnames with endings in “-aytis” and “-enas” mean? For example, such as Deimantas, Budrys, Petkevičius. They arose according to the following scheme: during the large census, the surname was given to the children by their father’s name. For example, the son of Vytas became Vytenas. 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).

The influence of Slavic culture, and they are no longer natively Lithuanian.

Female surnames: rules of formation

If we consider modern female Lithuanian surnames, they have received a significant difference from male ones. They have the suffixes -ut-, -ayt-, and -yut-, the father's surname is displayed in the root, and the ending e- is often present. For example, male version A woman’s surname Butkus will already sound like Butkute, Orbakas turns into Orbakaite.

The surnames of married women already have slightly different differences from the one that the husband has. The husband will have the last name Varnas, and the wife will have Vernene. Thus, we see that the suffix -en is added, or, in some cases, -uven, -yuven, as well as the ending -e. It should be noted that the rules regarding the formation of a female version of a surname apply only in Lithuania. If the family lives in Russia, it will sound the same for both spouses. But if the girl is free, then on the territory of our country her surname will sound as if she lived in Lithuania. As you can see, there are many nuances here that you simply need to delve into.

Do surnames decline?

The Lithuanian language has a developed system case declension. Lithuanian surnames often end with the letter -s, but there are two options: either this letter is an integral part of it, or it simply indicates the nominative case. That is, in other cases, when declension, this very letter -s disappears. For example, the surname Landsbergis, in the genitive, already sounds like Landsberg. Many Latvians attach this letter to Russian surnames, for example, “Lenin” in their language sounds like Lenins, as the rules of grammar require it. Women's surnames are the same as men's. In the Latvian language everyone declines. But if they are used in Russian translation, then a different rule applies: for women they do not bow, but for men it’s the other way around.

Nuances in the difference

Let's look at the example of popular surnames, how they will sound in two versions: male and female, thus, the same family name among spouses sounds differently.

Kazlauskas - Kazlauskienė, Petrauskas - Petrauskienė, Jankauskas - Yankauskienė, Stankevičius - Stankevičienė, Vasiliauskas - Vasiliauskienė, Žukauskas - Žukauskienė, Butkus - Butkienė, Palauskas - Palauskienė, Urbonas - Urbonieniė, Kavaliauskas - Kavaliauskienė.

In the course of this article, we found out what surnames mean, and also figured out the history of their origin and how Lithuanian surnames are declined. They contain the richness of one of the Baltic languages, which is famous for the fact that it has survived to this day unchanged.

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. 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.

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.

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.
• Zhukauskas.
• 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 the Russian language, 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 name, surname and name of the father were written in 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.