Among others, recognizing Georgian surnames is quite easy. They are distinguished by characteristic structuring and, of course, famous endings. Surnames are formed by the method of merging two parts: the root and the ending (suffix). For example, a person who is well versed in this topic will be able to easily determine in which area certain Georgian names are common.
Origin
The history of the country has several millennia. In ancient times, it had no name, and Georgia was divided into 2 regions: Colchis (western) and Iberia (eastern). The latter interacted more with neighbors - Iran and Syria - and practically did not contact Greece. If Georgia adopted Christianity in the V century, then by the XIII they started talking about it as a powerful country with reliable ties with the European continent and the East.
The history of the country is saturated with the struggle for sovereignty, but, despite the difficulties, the people were able to create their own culture and customs.
It is generally accepted that real Georgian surnames should end in "-ze", and they come from the parental case. But a person with a surname ending in "-shvili" (translated from Georgian as "son") was attributed to the list of those who did not have Kartvelian roots.
If the interlocutor’s generic name ended in “-ani, ” people knew that they were in front of a representative of a noble family. By the way, Armenians have surnames with a similar suffix, it only sounds like "-uni".
Georgian surnames (masculine) ending in "-ua" and "-ia" have Mingrelian roots. There are many such suffixes, but now they are rarely used.
List of popular surnames by region
Say what you like, but nevertheless, in Georgia the surnames ending in "-shvili" and "-ze" are considered the most common. Moreover, the last suffix is the most common. Often people with a surname ending in "-ze" can be found in Imereti, Guria and Adjara. But in the eastern region there are practically none.
At the moment, the surnames on "-ze" are attributed to the old pedigrees, respectively, "-shvili" - to modern or young. The latter (the suffix also translates as “born”) is widespread in Kakheti and Kartli (eastern regions of the country).
The meaning of some surnames
A special group of generic names are those that have the following endings:
- -eti;
- ati;
- -iti;
- ate.
For example, Rustaveli, Tsereteli. Also on the list of the most common surnames in Georgia are Hvarbeti, Chinati and Jimiti.
Another group consists of surnames ending in "-ani": Dadiani, Chikovani, Akhvelidiani. It is believed that their roots belong to famous Miguel rulers.
Less common are surnames ending in:
- -uli;
- -uri;
- -and I;
- -ava;
- -and I;
- uah.
By the way, many of them are famous, stellar: Okudzhava, Danelia, etc.
A rare instance is the suffix "-nti" with a Chan or Svan origin. For example, Glonti. These include family names containing the participial prefix "me-" and the name of the profession.
Translated from Persian, nodivan is “advice, ” and Mdivani means “clerk, ” Mebuke means “bugler, ” and Menabde means “making burkas.” The surname Amilahvari is of most interest. Having a Persian origin, it is a non-fixed formation.
Building
Georgian surnames are built according to certain rules. During the baptism of a newborn child, he is usually given a name. Most of the names begin with it, and the desired suffix is subsequently added to it. For example, Nikoladze, Tamaridze, Matiashvili or Davitashvili. A large number of such examples can be given.
But there are also surnames derived from Muslim (often Persian) words. For example, we study the roots of the surname Dzhaparidze. She came from the common Muslim name Jafar. Translated from Persian dzapar - "postman".
Quite often, Georgian surnames are tied to a specific locality. Indeed, often their first carriers became at the source of the princely family. It is these that include Tsereteli. This surname comes from the name of the village and the castle of the same name Tsereti, located in the northern region of Zemo.
Russification of some Georgian surnames
Despite the length and unusual combination of letters and sounds, Georgian surnames that penetrated Russian linguistics (in particular, onomastics) did not distort. But, as practice shows, sometimes, albeit very rarely, there are cases when Russification occurred: Muskhelishvili turned into Muskheli.
Some surnames have suffixes uncharacteristic for Georgia: -ev, -ov and -v. For example, Panulidzev or Sulakadzev.
Also, during the Russification of some surnames in "shvili", a reduction often occurs. Thus, Avalishvili turns into Avalov, Baratov - Baratashvili, Sumbatashvili - Sumbatov, etc. There are many other options that we used to take for Russian.
Declination of Georgian surnames
Inclination or non-inclination depends on in what form it is borrowed. For example, a surname ending in -iya is declined, but in -ia is not.
But today there is no strict framework regarding the declension of surnames. Although there are 3 rules that make declination impossible:
- The male form is similar to the female.
- The last name ends in unstressed vowels (s, s).
- Has suffixes -ia, -i.
Only in these three cases, neither the male nor female surname is subject to declension. Examples: Garcia, Heredia.
It should also be noted that it is undesirable to incline surnames with the ending -i. Suppose there is a person Georgy Gurtsky who received a document that says: "issued to citizen Georgy Gurtsky." Thus, it turns out that the person’s surname is Gurtskaya, which is not quite typical for Georgia, and the name loses its color.
Thus, linguists do not advise declining Georgian surnames and recommend spelling endings correctly. There are frequent cases when when filling out documents there was a change of letters in the end. For example, Gulia wrote instead of Gulia, and this surname has nothing to do with Georgia.
Popularity of last names in numbers
The table below shows the most common endings of Georgian surnames. Consider them in more detail and find out in which regions they are most often found.
| The ending | Number of people with similar surnames (statistics for 1997) | Area of prevalence |
| Jo | 1649222 | Adjara, Imereti, Guria, Kartli, Racha-Lechkhumi |
| -shvili | 1303723 | Kakheti, Kartli |
| -and I | 494224 | East Georgia |
| -ava | 200642 | East Georgia |
| -iani | 129204 | Western Georgia (Lehumi, Rachi, Imereti) |
| -uri | 76044 | Areas: Tsagersky, Mestia, Chkhetiani |
| -ua | 74817 | Occurs in the Eastern Highlanders |
| ate | 55017 | Imereti, Guria |
| -oo | 23763 | It is found in eastern highlanders (Khevsurs, Khevins, Mtiuls, carcasses and Pshavs) |
| -shi | 7263 | Adjara, Guria |
| -skiri | 2375 | East Georgia |
| Chkori | 1831 | East Georgia |
| qua | 1023 | East Georgia |
