Estonianization or Estonianisation is the changing of one's personal names from other languages into Estonian, or the development of

Estonian language Estonian ( ) is a Finnic language, written in the Latin script. It is the official language of Estonia and one of the official languages of the European Union, spoken natively by about 1.1 million people; 922,000 people in Estonia and 160, ...

, culture and identity within educational and other state institutions through various programs.

Family names

Before 1920, some fifty percent of Estonian surnames were of foreign origin.George Kurman, ''The Development Of Written Estonian'', Routledge 1997, , page 85 At the beginning of the 1930s,

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Konstantin Päts Konstantin Päts (; – 18 January 1956) was an Estonian statesman and the country's president in 1938–1940. Päts was one of the most influential politicians of the independent democratic Republic of Estonia, and during the two decades prior ...

introduced a nationwide Estonianization program for family names. During this campaign thousands of Estonian citizens living in

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

voluntarily changed their original family names.

Notable Estonianized names

*Karl August Einbund →

Kaarel Eenpalu Kaarel Eenpalu (until 1935 Karl August Einbund) (, in Paju talu, Vesneri Parish (now Tartu Parish), Kreis Dorpat, Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire – 27 January 1942, in Kirov Oblast, Russian SFSR, USSR) was an Estonian journalist, ...

*Gerhardt Esperk →

Ants Eskola Ants Eskola (until 1935 Erhard-Voldemar Esperk;Eskola 1986: 7 17 February 1908 in Tallinn – 14 December 1989 in Tallinn) was a Soviet Union, Soviet and Estonian actor, singer and artist. He appeared in 25 films from 1930 to 1979. People's Artist ...

*Harald Rudolf Klein →

Ruut Tarmo Ruut Tarmo (26 April 1896 – 28 January 1967) was an Estonian stage and film actor and stage director whose career spanned more than five decades. Early life Ruut Tarmo was born Harald Rudolf Klein in Tartu in 1896 to Julius Klein and Sohvi Kle ...

*Hans Laipman →

Ants Laikmaa Ants Laikmaa (5 May 1866 – 19 November 1942) was an Estonian painter.lla Rosenfeld, Norton T. Dodge, Jane Voorhees, ''Art of the Baltics: The Struggle for Freedom of Artistic Expression Under the Soviets, 1945-1991'', Rutgers University Press, ...

*Kristjan Trossmann →

Kristjan Palusalu Kristjan Palusalu (until 1935 Kristjan Trossmann, – 17 July 1987) was an Estonian heavyweight wrestler and Olympic winner. Palusalu became the first and only wrestler in Olympic history ever to win both the Greco-Roman and freestyle heavy wei ...

Integration

The integration policy is aimed at strengthening of Estonian identity among the nation's populace, to develop shared values, identity, and pride in being a citizen of Estonia; with respect and acceptance of cultural differences among Estonian residents.

Education

On 14 March 2000 the

Government of Estonia The Government of the Republic of Estonia ('' Estonian: Vabariigi Valitsus'') is the cabinet of Estonia. Under the Constitution, it exercises executive power pursuant to the Constitution and laws of Estonia. The cabinet carries out the country' ...

adopted “State Programme “Integration in Estonian society 2000-2007". Main areas and aims of the integration established by the program are linguistic-communicative, legal-political and socio-economical. The Program has four sub programs: education, the education and culture of national minorities, the teaching of Estonian to adults and social competence. The aim of the sub-programs is to be achieved via the learning of the Estonian language by children and adults.

External links

Estonian Ministry of Population

Integration Foundation

References

{{Cultural assimilation, sp=ize Social history of Estonia Estonian language Cultural assimilation