Albanian names are names used in, or originating in,
Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
,
Kosovo
Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...
,
North Macedonia
North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Yugoslavia. It ...
and the Albanian diaspora. In Albania a complete name usually consists of a
given name
A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a ...
( sq, emri); the given name of the individual's father ( sq, atësia), which is seldom included except in official documents; and a (most commonly
patrilineal
Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritan ...
) family name or surname ( sq, mbiemri). They are invariably given in the
Western name order
A personal name, or full name, in onomastic terminology also known as prosoponym (from Ancient Greek πρόσωπον / ''prósōpon'' - person, and ὄνομα / ''onoma'' - name), is the set of names by which an individual person is known ...
, or given name followed by family name.
Albanian given names are traditionally original Albanian-meaning names, or religious names ( Islamic or Christian). During the Communist regime, based on the theory of the Illyrian origin of Albanians, supposedly Illyrian names were constructed as appropriate names instead of religious ones. The government issued a decree ordering people to change their religious names to "pure Albanian names", while newborns had to receive non-religious names.
Albanian names have changed dramatically with more opting for foreign, English or Romance names in recent times than traditional Balkan names. In addition Albanians from Albania tend to focus on names that are
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
,
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
or
Western Europe
Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context.
The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...
an as opposed to those in Kosovo, North Macedonia and elsewhere that are either religious, local, geographic or related to traditionalism. According to recent statistics some of the most common baby names in Albania are Amelia, Leandra and Ambra for girls, while Noel, Aron and Roan are the most common boy names.
Given names
While in Kosovo, Montenegro and North Macedonia, Albanian (" Illyrian") and
religious
Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatur ...
names are quite common, in Albania proper, Albanian or Muslim names are rarely given. This is partly a result of the high net emigration rate of Albania and the desire of most Albanian emigrants to assimilate internationally. Another factor is the secularisation that took place during Socialist rule, which discouraged explicitly Christian or Muslim given names. In 2014, among the 20 most commonly used given names for newborn children in Albania, there was not a single Albanian name. Instead, "international" (Christian or English) names were most popular.
Traditionally, given names in Albania did not have Albanian origins because they were religious names, either Christian or Islamic. In
Communist Albania
The People's Socialist Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika Popullore Socialiste e Shqipërisë, links=no) was the Marxist–Leninist one party state that existed in Albania from 1946 to 1992 (the official name of the country was the People's R ...
, an Illyrian origin of the Albanians (without denying "''Pelasgian'' roots",Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers, Bernd Jürgen Fischer, Albanian Identities: Myth and History, Indiana University Press, 2002, , page 96, "but when Enver Hoxha declared that their origin was Illyrian (without denying their Pelasgian roots), no one dared participate in further discussion of the question". a theory which has been revitalized todayAnthropological Journal of European Cultures, 2009, Gilles de Rapper.) continued to play a significant role in Albanian nationalism, resulting in a revival of given names supposedly of Illyrian origin, at the expense of given names associated with Christianity or Islam. This trend originated with the 19th century ''
Rilindja
The Albanian National Awakening ( sq, Rilindja or ), commonly known as the Albanian Renaissance or Albanian Revival, is a period throughout the 19th and 20th century of a cultural, political and social movement in the Albanian history where the ...
'', but became more common after 1944, when it became the Socialist government's policy to heavily discourage religious given names. Ideologically acceptable names were listed in the ''Fjalor me emra njerëzish'' (1982). These could be native Albanian words like ''Flutur'' ("butterfly"), ideologically communist ones like ''Marenglen'' (
Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...
), or "Illyrian" ones compiled from epigraphy, e.g. from the necropolis at Dyrrhachion excavated in 1958–60. Miranda Vickers, The Albanians Chapter 9. "Albania Isolates itself" page 196, "From time to time the state gave out lists with pagan, supposed Illyrian or newly constructed names that would be proper for the new generation of revolutionaries."
Surnames
Many surnames in Albania have Islamic and Christian roots.
Common last name endings include -aj, as well as common definite Albanian nominative singular endings: hence -i for originally masculine last names except for those previously ending in k, g, h or i, which have -u added; or -a/-ja for feminine names.
Many last names were originally surnames, many of these being either Muslim (Ahmeti, Rexhepi, etc.), Bektashi (Bektashi itself as a surname, Dervishi, Shehu, etc.) or Christian (Kristo(ja), Evangjeli, etc.), but a large number are neither and are simply from old Albanian secular names (Zogolli, Dushku, Shkoza etc.). Albanians frequently have surnames that don't match their actual religious identity, often because of recent secularization, religious intermarriage, relatively recent conversion in late Ottoman times (many Muslims have Christian names for this reason, while after the fall of communism some with Muslim ancestry have become practicing Christians and vice versa) or the practice of Ottoman Christians taking Muslim names due to Muslim dominance of society during those times. Names starting with Papa- usually indicate Christian origin but there are cases where it is followed by a Muslim element (i.e. Papazisi, a name held by Albanians of both Christian and Muslim heritage).
Another major source of Albanian last names are place names- Albanians sometimes took their hometowns as surnames, "the custom of taking their native village names as surnames was and is still common among Albanians..." and especially when a family moved to another place, they often took their former residence as a surname, leading to somewhat well known last names such as Frashëri, Përmeti, Shkodra, Kelmendi, Shkreli, Delvina, Prishtina, etc.).
In the North and in Kosovo, clan names are also very prominent, most notably the names of widespread clans such as Krasniqi, Berisha and Gashi. The surnames Gega, Gegprifti, Gegaj etc. probably indicate Northern (Gheg) origins, as Toska and Toskaj do for Southerners. In addition, many names, even if not explicitly, are strongly identified with certain regions and Albanians can often tell another Albanian's regional origin from their last name. Surnames based on occupation are less common than in other countries but nevertheless the surnames Hoxha (mullah, either Bektashi or Sunni) and Prifti (priest, used by both Catholics and Orthodox) remain very common.
Arvanite and pre- modern Albanian surnames are also common. Many Arvanite surnames are found in Albania, in the modern Albanian form. For example, the word in Arvanitika (Arbërisht) for "brave" or "pallikari" (in Greek) being "çanavar" (Turkish canavar meaning "monster") or its shortened form "çavar" was pronounced "tzanavar" or "tzavar" giving birth to Arvanitic family names like "Tzanavaras" and/or "Tzavaras". This is a link between Albanian and Greek names.
The
Arvanite
Arvanites (; Arvanitika: , or , ; Greek: , ) are a bilingual population group in Greece of Albanian origin. They traditionally speak Arvanitika, an Albanian language variety, along with Greek. Their ancestors were first recorded as settler ...
Kriezis
Kriezis ( gr, Κριεζής) is a Greek surname.
It may refer to:
* Antonios Kriezis (1796-1865), Greek military figure and politician
* Andreas Kriezis (c.1813-c.1880), Greek painter
* Dimitrios Kriezis, Greek naval officer
{{surname
Greek-la ...
Kryezi
Kryezi ("Blackhead") is a village in the former municipality of Petrelë in Tirana County, Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became part of the municipality Tirana
Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of A ...
" means "Blackhead" in Albanian (hence same meaning in Arbërisht/
Arvanitika
Arvanitika (; Arvanitika: , ; Greek: , ), also known as Arvanitic, is the variety of Albanian traditionally spoken by the Arvanites, a population group in Greece. Arvanitika is today endangered, as its speakers have been shifting to the u ...
).
Orthodox Christian names tend to be heavily Greek, including last names which have counterparts in the Greek language.
History
Communist-era Albania
According to a decree issued in 1966, Muslims in Albania had to change their names to Albanian names while newborn Albanians had to receive non-religious names. In a decree of November 1975, all the citizens of Albania whose names were considered objectionable by the
Albanian Communist Party
The Party of Labour of Albania ( sq, Partia e Punës e Shqipërisë, PPSh), sometimes referred to as the Albanian Workers' Party (AWP), was the ruling and sole legal party of Albania during the communist period (1945–1991). It was founded o ...
were ordered to change their names to "pure Albanian names" by the end of the year.
Diaspora
Albanians form the largest migrant group in Greece and second largest migrant group in Italy. Many modern names are thus Greek or Italian. In Greece, and likewise in Italy, many Albanian newcomers change their Albanian names to Greek or Italian ones and their religion, if they are not Christian, from Islam to
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...