How Lithuanian first and last names are declined. Origin of the Lithuanian surname

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 Church Slavonic language was established in Lithuania, but the use 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, 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 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 used - “-sky”. By the way, this prefix to the surname was also used East Slavs, but the difference was that the Poles relied specifically 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’s not easy to understand what this or that surname means. special labor. 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, Petkevicius. They arose from following diagram: During the big census, the surname was given to children based on 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.

Surnames 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 education female version surnames, valid 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 case declension system. 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. Female surnames, like 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 an example popular surnames, how they will sound in two versions: male and female, thus, the same generic 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.

Since in XIV-XV centuries, in 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 the surnames of Lithuanian origin that make up most similar Baltic borrowings. Especially strong influence residents of Pskov and Novgorod felt 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, wrote that in XVI-XVII 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 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 - Vasiliev, 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 kings. They became the founders of such ancient noble families, like Pronsky, Belsky, Glinsky, Khovansky, Mstislavsky, Khotetovsky.

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.

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.

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

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 at the baptism of infants 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 represent 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 of female surnames proceeds 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 the 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.

Where did it all start?

How did surnames come about?

Since the 16th century, Lithuania has established itself, but the use of the 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, 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 by the Eastern Slavs, but the difference was that the Poles relied specifically 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 some qualities of a person or words that carried a 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)

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, Petkevicius. 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).

In such endings as -auskas, -evichyus, -inskis, which translated into Russian will sound like -ovich, -evich, -ovski, -evski, -ski, the influence of Slavic culture can be traced, and they are no longer originally 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, the male version of the surname Butkus in a woman 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 case declension system. 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.