Latvian name
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Latvian names, like in most
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
an cultures, consist of two main elements: the
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 f ...
(''vārds'') followed by
family name In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...
(''uzvārds''). During the
Soviet occupation During World War II, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed several countries effectively handed over by Nazi Germany in the secret Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. These included the eastern regions of Poland (incorporated into three differe ...
(1940–1941; 1944–1991) the practice of giving a
middle name In various cultures, a middle name is a portion of a personal name that is written between a person's given name and surname. A middle name is often abbreviated and is then called middle initial or just initial. A person may be given a middle ...
(''otrais vārds'') was discouraged, but since the restoration of independence, Latvian legislation again allows the giving of up to two given names and it has become more common to give a middle name to children. Latvian male names end in 1st or 2nd declension masculine endings, either ''-s/-š'' or ''-is'' (with a handful of mostly foreign exceptions ending in indeclinable ''-o'', such as '' Ivo'', ''Raivo'', ''Gvido'', ''Bruno'', ''Oto'' and only a few belonging to the 3rd declension ending in ''-us'', such as ''Ingus'', ''Mikus'', ''Edžus'', ''Zemgus''). Latvian female names have the feminine 4th or 5th declension endings ''-a'' or ''-e'' respectively. For centuries, one of the most popular Latvian names has been '' Jānis'', whose written use dates back to 1290. The vocative case is used when addressing someone directly, for example, ''Jāni'' for ''Jānis.'' The diminutive form is often used to express endearment or when addressing children, for example, addressing ''Jānis'' as ''Jānīt'' (vocative diminutive).


Spelling

Writing of Latvian names always conform to the highly phonetic
Latvian orthography The modern Latvian language, Latvian orthography is based on Latin script adapted to phonetic principles, following the Latvian phonology, pronunciation of the language. The standard alphabet consists of 33 letters – 22 unmodified Latin letters ...
and highly fusional Latvian grammar, and, in the case of foreign-born Latvian nationals or marriages between Latvian women and foreigners (whence they assume the family name of their husband), the foreign names are modified to conform to the phonetic spelling and to acquire the respective case ending. For example, Gerard Depardieu is ''Žerārs Depardjē'',
Joaquin Phoenix Joaquin Rafael Phoenix ( ; ; born October 28, 1974) is an American actor. Widely described as one of the most preeminent actors of his generation and known for Joaquin Phoenix filmography, his roles as dark, unconventional and eccentric charact ...
is ''Hoakins Fīnikss'' and
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
is ''Donalds Tramps''. This has given rise to at least half a dozen lawsuits over the last couple decades, mostly ethnic Russian Latvian nationals not content with addition of case endings. Other examples include: * a Latvian woman contesting her foreign husband's name being transcribed phonetically in her documents (''Mentzen ''alias'' Mencena v. Latvia'' case) where the plaintiffs were turned down * legal proceedings by a Latvian couple to allow them to register their child as ''Otto'' (instead of ''Oto'') * a claim filed with UN HRC by a Latvian national of Russian-Jewish Leonid Raihman whose claims were upheld.


History

Before the Christianization of Latvia in 13th century Latvians commonly gave their children names of objects from natural surroundings, such as '' Irbe'' (
partridge A partridge is a medium-sized Galliformes, galliform bird in any of several genera, with a wide Indigenous (ecology), native distribution throughout parts of Europe, Asia and Africa. Several species have been introduced to the Americas. They ar ...
), ''
Lācis Lācis (Latvian orthography#Old orthography, Old orthography: ''Lahz(i)(s)''; feminine: Lāce) is a Latvian people, Latvian Latvian surname, surname, derived from the Latvian language, Latvian word for "bear". Individuals with the surname include ...
'' (
bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family (biology), family Ursidae (). They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats ...
), '' Ieva'' ( bird cherry) and '' Ābele'' (
apple tree An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are cultivated worldwide. The tree originated in Central A ...
), many of whom later became last names. Names of the following 13th and 14th-century
fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...
-owning Baltic vassals have been recorded – ''Manegints, Radiķis, Tontegode, Tots, Aulis,'' ''Mažeiki'' brothers, ''Grimeķis, Sirkants, Gaiža, Duvkants, Dumpjāts, Treinis, Gribonis, Mēlvaldis, Kantebute, Stegebute, Taites, Angutis, Poja, Krūms, Pitkejānis, Tautenis, Sentots, Cielava, Karīds'' etc. After the Christianized Latvians began giving their children Christian first names, such as Marija, Anna, and Pēteris. Lutheran priest Christoph Harder also coined a number of new names from Latvian words for different
virtue A virtue () is a trait of excellence, including traits that may be morality, moral, social, or intellectual. The cultivation and refinement of virtue is held to be the "good of humanity" and thus is Value (ethics), valued as an Telos, end purpos ...
s like ''Dievmīlis'' (God-lover), ''Strādulis'' (hard-worker), ''Žēlīte'' (sorrowful one), and ''Skaidrīte'' (clear one). Before the emancipation from serfdom (1817 in
Courland Courland is one of the Historical Latvian Lands in western Latvia. Courland's largest city is Liepāja, which is the third largest city in Latvia. The regions of Semigallia and Selonia are sometimes considered as part of Courland as they were ...
, 1819 in
Vidzeme Vidzeme (; Old Latvian orthography: ''Widda-semme'', ) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands. The capital of Latvia, Riga, is situated in the southwestern part of the region. Literally meaning "the Middle Land", it is situated in north-centra ...
, 1861 in
Latgale Latgale (; ; ; ; ; ; Belarusian Latin alphabet, Belarusian Latin: ''Łathalija''; ), also known as Latgalia or Latgallia, is one of the Historical Latvian Lands. It is the easternmost region of the country and lies north of the Daugava River. Wh ...
) only noblemen, free craftsmen or people living in towns had surnames. Therefore, the oldest Latvian surnames usually originate from German or Low German, reflecting the dominance of German as an official language in Latvia till the 19th century. Examples: ''Meijers/Meijere'' (German: ''Meier'', farm administrator; akin to Mayor), ''Millers/Millere'' (German: ''Müller'', miller), ''Šmits/Šmite'' (German: ''Schmidt'', smith), ''Šulcs/Šulca'' (German: ''Schulze'', constable), '' Ulmanis'' (German: ''Ullmann'', a person from
Ulm Ulm () is the sixth-largest city of the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with around 129,000 inhabitants, it is Germany's 60th-largest city. Ulm is located on the eastern edges of the Swabian Jura mountain range, on the up ...
), ''Godmanis'' (a God-man), ''Pētersons'' (son of Peter). Some Latvian surnames, mainly from Latgale are of Polish or Belarusian origin by changing the final ''-ski/-cki'' to ''-skis/-ckis'', ''-czyk'' to ''-čiks'' or ''-vich/-wicz'' to ''-vičs'', such as ''Sokolovskis/Sokolovska'', ''Baldunčiks/Baldunčika'' or ''Ratkevičs/Ratkeviča''. However, some surnames of Latvian origin (like '' Mucenieks'', '' Kalns'' and '' Putns'') have also been recorded as early as the 16th and 17th century, for example, among the transport workers. The official records of Latvian names were often variously forcibly assimilated into the foreign culture dominant at times in Latvian lands. For example, local
pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...
s, who were often of
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
descent, used to issue marriage and birth certificates with Germanized names: e.g., ''Kalns'' was written as ''Berg'' (both meaning "
mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...
" in Latvian and German respectively). Sometimes "de-Germanization" produced a slightly different name, e.g., ''Daugmants'' was Germanized as ''Daugmann'' and then de-Germanized into ''Daugmanis.''"Latvia as an Independent State", by Alfred Bilmanis, 2008,
p. 151
/ref> Demographer
Ilmārs Mežs Ilmārs is a Latvian language, Latvian masculine given name and may refer to: *Ilmārs Bricis (born 1970), biathlete *Ilmārs Liepiņš (1947–2007), footballer *Ilmārs Rimšēvičs (born 1965), economist *Ilmārs Poikāns (born 1978), artifici ...
has estimated that nowadays around a third of all the Latvian surnames are of German origin. In rural regions it historically was common to identify individual by the name of the farmstead they lived in, rather than by a surname. Using surnames became mandatory after
serfdom Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed du ...
was abolished. Head of the family, usually the oldest living male, was required to choose the surname for his entire family. To document the newly adopted surnames in 1826 a special soul revision was conducted in the
governorate of Livonia The Governorate of Livonia, also known as the Livonia Governorate, was a province (''guberniya'') and one of the Baltic governorates of the Russian Empire, Baltic Governorate-General until 1876. Governorate of Livonia bordered Governorate of E ...
(in
Vidzeme Vidzeme (; Old Latvian orthography: ''Widda-semme'', ) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands. The capital of Latvia, Riga, is situated in the southwestern part of the region. Literally meaning "the Middle Land", it is situated in north-centra ...
), in
Courland Courland is one of the Historical Latvian Lands in western Latvia. Courland's largest city is Liepāja, which is the third largest city in Latvia. The regions of Semigallia and Selonia are sometimes considered as part of Courland as they were ...
the surnames were documented in 8th soul revision in 1835, while in Latgale serfdom was fully abolished only in 1866. Diminutives were the most common form of family names. Examples: ''Kalniņš/Kalniņa'' (small hill), ''Bērziņš/Bērziņa'' (small birch). During the times when
Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...
was part of the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
and
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
, in official usage Latvian names were commonly Russified. In particular, it followed the three-part pattern of Russian names: given name,
patronymic A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (more specifically an avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. It is the male equivalent of a matronymic. Patronymics are used, b ...
, family name. Also, the masculine endings of first names were often truncated. For example, poet Imants Ziedonis was officially called Imant Yanovich Ziedonis (Имант Янович Зиедонис) In the 20th century, in particular, in the
interbellum In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...
period of the Latvian national movement and during the Ulmanis authoritarian regime in the late 1930s, when
Baltic Germans Baltic Germans ( or , later ) are ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their resettlement in 1945 after the end of World War II, Baltic Germans have drastically decli ...
left Latvia, there was a tendency to change the Germanic names back to their Latvian origins or to adopt Latvian versions. In one such example Minister of Interior Kornēlijs Veitmanis became Kornēlijs Veidnieks.


Name day

Latvia is among the European countries that celebrate
name day In Christianity, a name day is a tradition in many countries of Europe and the Americas, as well as Christian communities elsewhere. It consists of celebrating a day of the year that is associated with one's baptismal name, which is normatively t ...
s (''vārda dienas''), a celebration almost comparable in importance to that of a birthday. Most of them are related to the Saints' days in the Church calendar, but in recent decades new names have been added to the calendar by a special commission. Some names and their name days bear a connection with important holidays, for example, arguably one of the most important holidays, summer solstice, referred to as ''
Jāņi Jāņi () is an annual Latvians, Latvian festival celebrating the summer solstice. Although, astronomically the solstice falls on the 21st or 22nd of June, the public holidays—Līgo Day and Jāņi Day—are on the 23rd and 24th of June. The d ...
'' starts on June 23 with ''Līgo diena'' (name day for females named ''Līga'') and continues through June 24 or
Jāņi Jāņi () is an annual Latvians, Latvian festival celebrating the summer solstice. Although, astronomically the solstice falls on the 21st or 22nd of June, the public holidays—Līgo Day and Jāņi Day—are on the 23rd and 24th of June. The d ...
– name day for males named ''Jānis''. Similarly ''
Mārtiņi Mārtiņi () or Mārtiņdiena is an ancient Latvians, Latvian winter welcoming holiday, when the time of pieguļa and shepherding came to an end. According to a solar calendar, Mārtiņdiena marks the midpoint between the autumnal equinox (Miķe� ...
'' on November 10 coincides with the name day for males named ''Mārtiņš'', ''Mārcis'' and ''Markuss''.


Most common Latvian names

Below are the most common ethnic Latvian names in 2006. However taking into account the large Eastern Slavic diaspora (
Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...
,
Ukrainians Ukrainians (, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. Their native tongue is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, and the majority adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, forming the List of contemporary eth ...
,
Belarusians Belarusians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Belarus. They natively speak Belarusian language, Belarusian, an East Slavic language. More than 9 million people proclaim Belarusian ethnicity worldwide. Nearly 7.99&n ...
) that make up around one third of Latvia's population, names popular among the Slavic population make it high on this list, for example, the most popular male name in Russia '' Aleksandr'' (or ''
Aleksandrs Aleksandrs is a Latvian masculine given name. It is a cognate of the name Alexander and may refer to: * Aleksandrs Ābrams (1904-????), Latvian football forward * Aleksandrs Beļavskis (born 1964) Latvian ice hockey player and team captain * Ale ...
'' in its Latvian rendition) makes it as the second most common name in Latvia if all ethnicities are counted.


References


External links


Top 100 Latvian Names of Past 100 Years
Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia {{Names_in_world cultures Names by country