In Lithuania, it is customary to be proud of one's surnames. Sometimes the explanation of their origin acquires completely fantastic versions. It is much easier, for example, with Koshkinaite: her mother is Koshkinene, her father is Koshkinas, but in general they are Koshkins. Or my favorite singer Show off: mom - Shchegolevene, dad - Shchegolevas "- from the word" dandy.
There are many similar examples, but they will not be discussed, since these surnames are newly formed. It is much more interesting to trace the origin of the names of people who have lived here for centuries.
Our interlocutor is Zigmas ZINKEVICIUS, the most famous Lithuanian philologist, who worked as the director of the Lithuanian Language Institute, was the Minister of Education of Lithuania, the author of more than 60 books. Recently, by the way, his next book, “The Surnames of the Polish-Speakers of Vilnijos” (“Vilnijos lenkakalbių pavardės“), saw the light of day.
The origin of the surnames of Lithuanian citizens is inseparable from the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL), so we will constantly return to it. Let's start with the next one.
In the Middle Ages, not only in Lithuania, but also in all European countries, and even beyond its borders, the language of the state chancellery was not colloquial one or another people who created the state, but inherited from the languages of the ancient eras of those regions. For example, in Western European countries this was Latin language, it was also the state written language of Poland until the end of the 14th century, that is, before Jogaila came to power there, and even, one might say, until the middle of the 16th century.
In Eastern Europe, this function was performed by the so-called Old Slavonic language, and since it was first used in church affairs, we call it the Church Slavonic language. Then, in Kievan Rus, with the addition of local Slavic elements, it also became a written state language.
Before the arrival of Peter I in Rus', it was said that "one must speak Russian, and write in Slavonic." Due to the fact that in the Middle Ages the Grand Duchy of Lithuania expanded its borders up to the Black Sea and the Moscow region, two written languages were used in it: Latin was used to communicate with the West, Old Slavonic - with the East. At the time of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas, there were many elements from Ukraine, from the Lutsk region, since the princely scribes most likely came from there. Later, more and more elements of the Belarusian language began to appear in it, but it did not become either Ukrainian or Belarusian language, retaining the entire grammatical structure of Church Slavonic.
An excursion into history is curious, but how is it connected with the origin of surnames?
About everything in order. Lithuanian nobles began to acquire surnames with the advent of Christianity in Lithuania at the turn of the 14th-15th centuries, but only a small part acquired them, and mostly surnames spread among the nobility at the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th century.
What does "surname" mean? Heritage! Heritage, that is, belonging to one particular family. The people, the inhabitants of the villages in Lithuania, did not have surnames until the end of the 18th century, when they were finally approved by the general census of the GDL and the issuance of passports. For example, someone's name was Peter - his son became Petrovich, and his children received the same surname. And this is no coincidence: since the 16th century, Church Slavonic has become established in Lithuania as the state clerical language, and the use of Latin has declined.
Let me give you an example: during the time of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Zhygimantas Augustas, four and a half times more documents were written in Slavic than in Latin. That is why, during the census, they did not pay attention either to the nationality of a person, or to what language he speaks: simply, the suffixes “-ovich”, “-evich” were attached to the names of the fathers. It should be especially noted that the Poles did not have such a suffix in Poland, they had the suffixes “-ovits”, “-evits”, which were preserved in the names of cities, for example, Katowice.
Surnames with the suffixes "-ovich", "-evich" came to Poland in connection with the annexation of the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to Poland. Important point, which interested me very much: the fact is that these suffixes “-ovich”, “-evich” are compound, consisting of “-ov”, “-ev” and “-ich”. In Muscovy, that is, before the emergence of the Russian Empire, “-ich” meant belonging to the royal family or the nobility closest to the king: Petrovich, Orlovich, Yuryevich, etc.
In the GDL, the opposite happened during the census: the suffix "-ich" was given to everyone, regardless of origin.
Then the following happened: the Lithuanian nobility eventually began, let's call the process so, “Polish”, she began to look at surnames with the endings “-ovich”, “-evich”, believing, however, by right, that they came to Lithuania from Russia. In addition, for the Poles, these suffixes were alien, and the Lithuanian nobility began to massively change the suffixes "-ovich", "-evich" to the suffix "-sky". There was, for example, Petrovich, - became Petrovsky, and Orlovich - Orlovsky, and so on.
However, I want to note: the suffix "-sky" existed among both the Eastern Slavs and the Poles, but the difference is that the suffix "-sky" has long been used in Poland to create surnames from local names. To make it clearer: some Volsky definitely comes from the Polish settlement Volya, and the surname Petrovsky definitely came from the name Peter - this surname does not particularly “smell” Polish, but was “peeped” from the then-existing fashion in the ON.
And how would you explain the origin of the names of very rich, famous Lithuanian nobles: Radvil, Sapieha, Oginsky?
- “Radvila” is a typical Baltic Lithuanian proper name, consisting of two stems-roots. Everything is clear here. According to the research of our historians, the Sapieha descended from a certain Semyon, who was the clerk of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Kazimiras, - this is the middle of the 15th century, he came to Lithuania from the Smolensk lands. Slavic philologists do not have a unanimous opinion about the origin of the Sapega surname: someone sees a Turkish origin, since in those days the Mongol-Tatars had a huge influence in those parts.
The Oginsky family is ancient (I won’t fill the readers’ heads with unnecessary information about their historical merits to Lithuania, all this belongs to history, but I just want to mention the well-known and famous “Oginsky Polonaise”). The ancestor of the family is the grandson of the Smolensk specific prince Vasily Glushina - Dmitry Glushonok. In 1486, the Grand Duke of Lithuania gave him the Uogintai estate, which is located on the territory of the modern Kaišiadory region, and, of course, if you wish, you can hear the correspondence between the name of the courtyard and the newly formed surname.
All over the world, Lithuanians are called "labas", well, this is understandable: from the word "labas" - "hello". However, their belonging to the Lithuanian nation is also determined by the ending of their surnames with “-s”: Deimantas, Budrys, Petkevicius - there are millions of them. When did they appear?
No one knows. In the old days, the suffixes "-aitis", "-enas", etc. determined whose son: for example, Baraitis is the son of Baras, Vitenas is the son of Vitas. Lithuanian surnames have been found in the lists of manor households since the 16th century. However, I want to emphasize: Lithuanians used Lithuanian surnames only in oral speech, in official documents the same surnames were written in the Slavic way until the beginning of the 20th century. For example, the Lithuanian patriarch, the most famous Lithuanian Jonas Basanavičius, was recorded in the metrics as Ivan Basanovich, since in tsarist times it could not be otherwise, since all the metrics were in Russian! In general, it should be noted that the totality of Christian proper names is mainly international.
The oldest layer is the biblical names of the Hebrew language, then comes the Greek layer, Latin, Germanic, etc. - Adams, Solomons, Alexandras, Anatolia, Germans, Georges and so on. That is why these names do not and cannot show nationality. For example, if the name Victor is recorded in the written documents of the time of the GDL, then its carrier could be both a Pole, and a Lithuanian, or a representative of another people. The nationality of the conditional Victor can be established only if some suffix has been added to it.
For example, if the diminutive form “-el” was added to the name Victor, then they received the typically Lithuanian name Victorelis.
Around Vilnius live entirely Poles, that is, people who bear Polish surnames and speak Polish. More than once I heard that they have been living here since ancient times, or at least for a very, very long time. Say, the Polish lords brought their serfs here and thus populated the Vilnius region.
No, no and NO! This is absolutely not how it happened. Scientists have long established that in large areas in the forest part of Central Europe - from Moscow to the Vistula River and even further - the oldest hydronyms, that is, the names of rivers and lakes, are of Baltic origin. Therefore, there is no doubt that a certain Baltic language was spoken in this vast territory.
The Slavs appeared there relatively recently, somewhere around
6th century AD. The Lithuanians lived here for more than two thousand years, one might say, separately, and they were the only ones from the Baltic massif who created the state.
The roads of the Poles and Lithuanians did not intersect - they were separated by the Baltic tribe of the Yotvingians. And only after the crusaders destroyed them, the Poles and Lithuanians began to look for each other. Only then!
The Polish language began to penetrate into Lithuania at the end of the 14th century under the Grand Duke of Lithuania Jogail, who became the Polish king. At that time, the Lithuanian nobles "recaptured" the law, which they wrote down in the Statute: people from the Kingdom of Poland do not have the right to buy land in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania! The only way to acquire land is to marry a Lithuanian, and this position was strictly adhered to until the end of the 18th century, until the disappearance of the united state of the Commonwealth! And we are talking, of course, not about the common people, but only about noble Polish families - commoners then were serfs. So this is a myth - they say, the Poles settled in the Vilnius region: there was a "Polishization" of the local people through schools and - especially - churches, in which teaching and services went to Polish.
In the Vilnius region, the common people began to speak Polish only at the end of the last quarter of the 19th century - all the villages around Vilnius were Lithuanian! Many Poles from Poland came to Vilnius and the Vilnius region at a time when the city and the region belonged to Poland - in 1921-1939.
We now move on to the most fundamental things. When scientists “removed” from the names of people who speak Polish in the Vilnius region, the Polish and - in general - the Slavic layer, that is, phonetics and suffixes acquired from the clerical Old Slavonic language, remained 100% very beautiful personal Lithuanian names. That is, the modern surnames of Vilnius Poles are created from former Lithuanian names. And here's what's interesting: these personal names, by their meaning, point to the former past greatness of the ancient Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Mr. Zinkevičius, Poles living in Lithuania will not particularly like your statements!
I have devoted more than sixty years to science and I am responsible for my words, because I operate only with facts. Let's say the names of officials ON. In those days there were no telephones, radio, television and extremely important role couriers, messengers, heralds played. They were called differently, personal names were used, from which surnames later originated. For example, Shavkalo, Shavkolovsky, look: if we discard the suffixes, we will see the word "shaukalas", and in the old Lithuanian language it defined a person who "shaukola" - announced the will of the Grand Duke. Or Begunovich, from the word "begunas" - a person who runs fast. Let's take the names Leitovich, Leitovsky, Leith, Leitis.
Yeah, from the word "Lithuanian"!
But no: in the clerical state Lithuanian language we find the word "leit", it meant a certain social stratum of the people of the ON, who were engaged in the so-called "leith service". They obeyed only the Grand Duke, looked after the military princely horses. And the names of the settlements Laichiai, Laiteliai also send us back to ancient times. So the given Polish surnames reflect the social stratum that once existed, let's call them privileged grooms. And there are a lot of such examples, I mentioned only a few. Or here's another: surnames created from names given at birth. They came to Lithuania in two ways - from Byzantium through Kievan Rus and from the West through the German lands: the Germans christened the Czechs, the Czechs - the Poles, and the Poles - us, the Lithuanians. They retained elements of "intermediaries". For example, the name Basil came to us from Byzantium, since it is of Greek origin, meaning "royal." However, the same name, which has come down to us from the West, is pronounced "Basilius", since the letter "s", according to German phonetics, has turned into "z". The most interesting thing is that the surnames of the Poles of the Vilnius region, originating from the names given at birth, for the most part have roots from Byzantium, rather than from Poland, which means a special influence of Kievan Rus on this region.
Vasilevsky, Vasilkovsky, Vasilevichi, etc. came from the same Vasily. And from Basilius - one or two surnames that came from Poland, for example, Bazilevich.
The parents of the current President of Poland Komorowski are from Lithuania...
The etymology of this surname is not clear, since it is not clear when and where they came to Lithuania from. Perhaps their ancestors in tsarist times could move to Lithuania from the Polish hinterland and buy land here, since in those days Polish nobles were allowed to acquire it in Lithuania. I will give you an example of more interesting fact origin of a very famous family name. We are talking about the poet, Nobel Prize winner Czeslaw Miloš. He comes from a village located in the Panevėžys district. I myself went there several times with the poet, because I knew him well. It is curious: the neighbors did not call him Milos, but Milashus, that is, they used the older form of the surname, and then it became “Polish”.
I will bring curious fact: a statement written by him in 1941 addressed to the rector of Vilnius University, Professor Koncius, has been preserved. Then the Vilnius region was annexed to Lithuania, and part of the Kaunas University was “transferred” to Vilnius. So, in that statement, Milosz asks the rector to issue a certificate listing the subjects he studied at the university, since, apparently, he did not finish it, and signed: “Czeslav Milashius”, and below, in brackets, he added: “Milos”. You see, he, like Marshal Yu. Pilsudski, dreamed of the revival of the disappeared state of the Commonwealth within the old borders and considered himself a citizen of it.
Why, Pilsudski is also from Lithuania! Where did this surname come from?
Let me tell you an almost anecdotal story. After the war, a discussion broke out in Polish newspapers about the origin of the Pilsudski surname, there were many versions, even fantastic ones. Wojciech Smoczyński, my student, came to study at Vilnius University from Poland. Apparently, this controversy "got" him, and he wrote an article on this topic. After all, everything is very simple: the surname Pilsudski came from the word “Pilsudy”, which denoted a place in Samogitia, once there was a manor there, but now three small villages have survived. The Piłsudskis are from there: "Pilsudy" plus the suffix "-ski", which indicates the place of residence. Moreover: the surname of his grandfather is originally Lithuanian - Ginetas! But due to the fact that the whole family comes from Pilsud, the surname Pilsudski was fixed, then they moved near Vilnius, where the future marshal was born.
A quick question: where does the very common surname among the Poles of the Vilnius region, Lovkis, come from, as well as the surname of the brilliant Lithuanian artist - Čiurlionis and the great Lithuanian basketball player - Sabonis?
It's easy to answer: the surname Lovkis is undoubtedly of Lithuanian origin. The fact is that the Slavs did not have the diphthong "ay", and therefore it was transformed into "ov". The surname Lovkis comes from the ancient Lithuanian word "laukas" - the so-called white star on the forehead of a cow, a bull. And Čiurlionis is the son of Čiurlis, Sabonis came from the name of Sebastianas, Sabas for short, that is, Sabonis is the son of Sabas (from Sebastian).
Interviewed by Romuald SILEVICH,
From the editor. The published material may cause ambiguous assessments. And it's wonderful! But in this situation, Obzor would like to emphasize that we will publish only those responses and comments that do not offend the opponent, but help to clarify the truth, encourage us all to be more attentive to our roots.
The study of the history of the emergence of the Lithuanian family name opens up forgotten pages of the life and culture of our ancestors and can tell a lot of interesting things about the distant past.
The surname Lithuanian belongs to the old type of Russian surnames, formed from a personal nickname.
The tradition of giving a person, in addition to the name received at birth, an individual nickname, as a rule, reflecting some of his features, existed in Rus' since ancient times and persisted until the 17th century. Sometimes the nickname became an indication of the nationality or the native area of \u200b\u200bthe person. So, ancient documents mention Kiev voivode Kozarin (1106), Bishop of Rostov Nikola Grechin (1185), landowner Ivashko Turchenin (1500), Filka Nemchin (1623), a resident of the Pyskor settlement on the Kama River, Vilna yard owner Yakov French (1643) and many others. Most often, such naming appeared when immigrants from different places and representatives of different nations. In addition, such nicknames could also be a family tradition, for example, in the family of Rostovite Cheremisin (1471), children were habitually given ethnic names, he called his children Rusin and Meshcherin (1508), and Meshcherin's son was nicknamed Mordvin (1550).
The nickname Lithuanian also belongs to a number of similar nicknames. It must be said that in the old days, the ethnonyms “Lithuanian”, “Litvin” were not called the inhabitants of modern Lithuania (in the old days called the principalities of Samogitian and Aukshtaitsky), but the population of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which existed from the middle of the XIII century to 1795 on the territory of modern Belarus and Lithuania, and also partly in Ukraine, the western regions of Russia, Latvia, Poland and Estonia. At the same time, as a rule, representatives of the Belarusian people were called Lithuanians and Litvins. Such nicknames in the old days were not uncommon. Ancient letters mention, for example, the princely boyar in Lithuania Roman Litvin (1466), the Novgorod peasant Ivashko Litvinko (1495), the Polotsk villager Andrey Litvin (1601), the resident of Novgorod Agafya Litovka (XIV century) and many others.
By the 17th century, the most common model for the formation of Russian surnames was the addition of the suffixes -ov / -ev and -in to the stem. By their origin, such surnames are possessive adjectives, formed from the name or nickname of the father, moreover, from the form that people around him used to call him. And in the Russian North and in some regions of the Chernozem region at the end of the 17th century, a peculiar territorial variety of surnames developed with the endings -ih/-s, and sometimes -s. Similar surnames in which the adjective is fixed in the genitive case plural, have the meaning “from the family of such and such”: the head of the family is a Lithuanian, family members are Lithuanian, each of them is from the Lithuanian family. In the central regions at the beginning of the 18th century, by the decree of Peter I, the surnames were “unified” - the elements -ih / -s were excluded from them, which were preserved only in the northern and northeastern family names.
It is obvious that the Lithuanian surname has an interesting centuries-old history, which testifies to the variety of ways in which Russian surnames appeared.
Sources: Nikonov V.A. Family geography. Tupikov N.M. Dictionary of Old Russian personal names. Unbegaun B.-O. Russian surnames. Veselovsky S.B. Onomasticon. Superanskaya A.V., Suslova A.V. Modern Russian surnames. Brockhaus and Efron. Encyclopedic Dictionary.
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 a neighboring state. It is the surnames of Lithuanian origin that make up most similar Baltic borrowings. The inhabitants of Pskov and Novgorod felt a particularly strong influence of their neighbors.
For example, in the north-west of Russia, the surname Pascalov is found, formed from the nickname Pascal. The word paskala is translated from Lithuanian as "lash". That is, they could call a person with a sharp tongue, whose critical remarks are quite painful. And his descendants later received a surname formed from this nickname.
There is practically no doubt that the ancestors of the Litvinovs, Litvins, Litvintsevs, Litovkins and Litvyakovs have corresponding roots.
The famous linguist Zigmas Zinkevičius, 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 ancient Oginsky family once owned the Uogintai estate, located on the territory of the Kaishyadorsky district. That's 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 Latin was banned, and the Lithuanian language was transferred to Cyrillic. The 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 of 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, Vasilyauskas - Vasiliev, Zhukauskas - Zhukov, Pavlauskas - Pavlov, Kovalyauskas - Kovalev, Simonaytas - 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 -ov. If the Lithuanian surname ended in -is, then -in was added to it during the “translation”. For example, the Lithuanian word "laukas" means a kind of "asterisk", which is found on the forehead of various livestock: cows, oxen, horses. From this word, the surname Lovkis was formed (the diphthong "au" was transformed into one sound "o"), and on Russian soil the descendants of its bearer turned into the Lovkins.
Representatives of the Lithuanian nobility, fleeing civil strife or in search of profit, often moved to Russia, entered the service of the Moscow tsars. They became the founders of such ancient noble families as Pronsky, Belsky, Glinsky, Khovansky, Mstislavsky, Khotetovsky.
select a country and click on it - a page with lists of popular names will open
Lithuania, 2015
State in Northeastern Europe. It borders with Latvia, Poland, Belarus, Russia. The capital is Vilnius. Population - 2,898,062 (2015 est. 3,053,800 according to the 2011 census). The ethnic composition of the country according to the 2011 census: Lithuanians (84.16%), Poles (6.58%), Russians (5.81%), Belarusians (1.19%). Religious affiliation of the population: Catholics (77.3%), Orthodox (4.1%), non-believers (6.1%). The official language is Lithuanian.
The Resident Registration Service under the Ministry of the Interior of Lithuania (Gyventojų registro tarnybos) is responsible for identifying the official statistics of names in the country. On her website at this moment(as of June 22, 2016) published lists of the ten most popular names of newborns registered in the period 01/01/2015–06/30/2015 and in the period 07/01/2015–12/31/2015. Previously, statistics were given both for the whole of Lithuania and for individual cities: Vilnius, Klaipeda, Kaunas, Siauliai, Panevezys and Alytus, but now such data are not published. The website of the Department of Statistics of Lithuania also publishes lists of the ten most popular names - separately for newborns and for residents of the country of all ages (at the moment there are statistics for the 1st and 2nd half of 2015, for 2014, 2013 and 2005. In addition, information about the ten most common surnames - both for the entire population and for newborns (currently for 2014, 2013 and 2005).
On the Internet, you can find lists and the 20 most common names of newborns in Lithuania for the period starting from 1999. At the same time, the source of these data is indicated by the same Resident Registration Service. There is no such information on her website. Perhaps they can be found in the reports published by the Department of Statistics for the general population. Including the names.
For those who wish to learn more about Lithuanian names, I additionally offer information on the etymology of some of the names. In general, Lithuanian names have a rather large specificity compared to other peoples of the Baltic states. If famous Christian names are easily recognized in the list of common names of Latvians and Estonians, then the phonetics of the Lithuanian language adapts the names from the common European fund more radically and they are not always recognizable to an outside observer. In addition, among the popular names of Lithuanians there are several original personal names, i.e., formed from the words of the Lithuanian language.
Boys names
Girls names
Some differences by city in 2015
Boys names
Girls names
(1, 2, 3 - place in the frequency list)Etymologies of male names (selection)
Adomas - "relative" of the name Adam, Hebrew ("man"). Lithuanians also know variants of this name. Adam, Adamas, Adanas, Adem, Adomis.
Arnas - derivation of fully qualified names with component Arn-. This is first of all Arnoldas. Arn- goes back to ancient german arn"eagle".
Dovydas - "relative" of the name David, Hebrew ("beloved").
Gustas - 1. From Lithuanian gustas("taste, desire, mood") or from gusti("learn"). 2. Short form of the Latin name Augustas("sacred, majestic"). 3. Derivative of a Scandinavian name Gustavas("battle" + "wand").
Kajus - 1. Compliance with the Latin name Gaius("rejoice"). 2. Possibly Greek ("earthly").
Mantas - Lithuanian, possibly from mantus("smart") or from mantas(“property, treasure”).
Matas - "relative" of the name Matvey, Hebrew (“gift of [god] Yahweh”).
Nojus - "relative" of the biblical name Noah, Hebrew (“rest, rest”).
Rokas - "relative" of the name Rochus (Latinized from the German Rohwald, "battle cry" + "rule, rule")Etymologies of female names (selection)
Austėja – In Lithuanian mythology Austeja is a female deity of bees (there was also a male deity – Bubilas). Etymologically related to words austi("weave"), audeja("weaver"), Audimas("weaving"). The short form of the name is Auste
Gabija - In Lithuanian mythology, Gabija is the goddess of fire. Fire is also called by the same name. hearth considered sacred. Etymologically related to the word gaubti("cover, protect").
Goda - from Lithuanian goda(“thought, dream”, also “honor, glory, respect”).
Ieva - "relative" of the biblical name Eve, Hebrew ("life, life").
Miglė - from Lithuanian migla"fog".
Rugilė - from Lithuanian rugys("rye").
Saulė - in Lithuanian and Latvian mythology, this is the name of the daughter of the supreme god. Lithuanian saulē and Latvian saũle mean "sun" and are related to Russian Sun. Name Saule in Lithuania in 2009 it rose to 12th place. In some cities it was in the top ten (in Alytus in 2010, in Vilnius and Kaunas in 2006). I would not focus on this name, if not for one interesting coincidence. The Kazakhs know and very often female name Saule, which etymologists trace to Kazakh saule"a ray of light".
Ugnė - from Lithuanian ugnis("fire"). Having a male name Ugnius from the same word suggests that the male name arose first, and from it - the female Ugne.
Urtė - 1. Old German ("sword"). 2. A connection with the name of the source Urd in Scandinavian mythology is likely - it was located under the roots of the world tree and is supposedly translated as "fate". 3. Also derived from Lithuanian words urtas("great desire; self-confidence"), from Danish urt"plants, herbs" and even from Albanian urti"wise". 4. Also considered a variant of a Hebrew name Ruth(possibly "girlfriend") and Dorothea- Greek (“gift” + “god”).
Viltė - from Lithuanian viltis("hope").
The name at all times was the 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 of the human soul or appearance.
For example, Juodgalvis - black-headed (juodas - black + galva - head), Mazhulis (maћas - small), Kuprius (kupra - hump), Vilkas (vilkas - wolf), Jaunutis (jaunas - young)
Ancient Lithuanians most often designated themselves by a single personal name. But with the advent of Christianity and the formation of Christian culture, personal Lithuanian names formed the basis of Lithuanian surnames, and the names at the baptism of babies were already given in accordance with Christian names. For example, in the contracts of that time there were already such names - “Pyatras Mantigirdas”, “Mikalojus Byliminas”.
According to their word formation, Lithuanian names are divided into 3 groups:
1. Monobasic - those that are formed from one component of two-basic personal names, with or without the addition of suffixes. For example, KYAST-IS, KYASTU-TIS, KYAST-GAILA.
2. Two-base names - consist of two bases or a combination of two names. As an example - MIN - DAUGAS, GEDI - MINAS.
3. Monobasic, which were formed as nicknames or were formed from common nouns. For example, Lokis (lokis - bear) Odra (Audra - storm)
Lithuanian female names
Ancient Lithuanian names are very sonorous and poetic. They can denote 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 being the names of rivers and localities, such as Ula - Ula, Neringa - Neringa.
Lithuanian male names
Ancient Lithuanian male names had several bases.
Taut - people (Vytautas), kant - patient (Kantrus), min - thought (Gediminas), pitchfork - hope, gail - regret (Yagaila)
By education, male names are mostly traditional Baltic names (Algirdas, Kestutis; Birute, Aldona) or Christian names adapted to the Lithuanian language and culture - Antanas - Anthony, Jurgis - George, Jonas - John, Povilas - Pavel.
Lithuanian Surnames
Very interesting formation of surnames in the Lithuanian language.
If earlier women's surnames differed from men's only by the ending. For example, Raude - Raudis, Dyarkint - Dyarkintas.
Now there is a suffix difference. Moreover, the formation of female surnames goes in two directions:
1 - Formation from the surname of the father. The suffixes -ayt-, -ut-, -yut- are used here, with the addition of the ending -e-.
The well-known surname of Christina Orbakaite is based on the surname of her father, Orbakas. Butkus - Butkut, 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-.
Examples are Varnas-Varnene, Grinyus-Grinuvene.
