by: Georgia Stryker Keilman and Carol Kostakos Petranek

With the recent launch of the new Hellenic Genealogy Geek Research Links website, Georgia noticed an interesting trend–a majority of searches were in the category of Greek Names. We know that researching Greek surnames can be challenging, and the information here will inform and help you.  

It’s happened to all of us. We are sure that our ancestor lived in a specific town in a specific country, but a name search yields no results. We try alternative search parameters, such as using special “wildcard” characters (e.g., * or ?) or eliminating the surname and searching by given name and date / place. Whether you search in an English language website or one of the new searchable Greek websites (GreekAncestry and the Greek record collections on MyHeritage), the tips below are applicable universally.

We have identified four primary reasons for difficulties in finding Greek surnames:

1. Spelling Variations
2. Use of Double Surnames and/or Nicknames
3. Human Error
4. Transliteration Methodology and Use of Digraphs

1.  Spelling Variations
“Based on their origin, Greek surnames can be divided into four categories: 1) patronymic/matronymic, 2) toponymic, 3) occupational, and 4) nickname-derived surnames,”[1] writes Gregory Kontos in the Greek Genealogy Guide.

Analyze your surname. Identifying its root and examining its suffix will provide clues to the meaning of the name and its region of origin.

EXAMPLE–surname of Manousos:

Manousos is a male given name, found predominantly in Crete; therefore, we know that its use as a surname originated from a patronymic naming pattern.

Georgia’s great-grandmother, Kondylo Manousos, daughter of Ioannis, was born about 1884 in Agrianoi, Therapnon, Lakonia. She was married twice and divorced. The marital papers record her surname as:

March 18, 1893 – 1st marriage – surname MANOUSOS

March 29, 1893 – 1st marriage – surname MANOUSAKOU

November 17, 1923 – Divorce – surname MANOUSAKIS

December 4, 1923 – 2nd marriage – surname MANOUSOPOULOS

December 3, 1923 – 2nd marriage – surname MANOUSOPOULOS

The red lines in the following marriage documents underscore the various spellings of Manousos as written by the priests (translations by GreekAncestry and used with permission):

The Greek Genealogy Guide, published by Greek Ancestry, has a section on Greek Names with a Suffix Chart that pinpoints the locality of various name endings. This helpful resource illustrates that all the Manousos name variations, as written by the priests, are technically correct for a family residing in the southern Peloponnese.

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Suffixes, males	Suffixes, females	Locality	Example using “Manousos”
-akos (-άκος)	-akou (-άκου)	Mani	Manousakos = Manous + akos
-eas (-έας)	-ea (-έα)	Mani	Manouseas = Manous + eas
-akis (-άκης)	-aki (-άκη)	Early Mani or Crete	Manousakis = Manous + akis*
-poulos (-πουλος)	-poulou (-πουλου)	Peloponnese	Manousopoulos = Manouso + poulos

2. Use of Double Surnames and/or Nicknames

The common practice of families using more than one surname and/or a nickname (i.e., paratsoukli) makes Greek research especially challenging, as described in a previous post. How can you determine which is the “original” and which is the nickname? Again, examining the root of the name and its suffix can reveal clues.

Returning to Kondylo’s marriage documents:  her first husband was Anastasios Ioannis Kritikos or Fouskidakis. In this case, it is easy to recognize that Kritikos is the nickname: a literal translation is “the man from Crete,” denoting that the first Fouskidakis person who arrived in the village had originated in Crete. Villagers bestowed the migrant with the nickname Kritikos, but he retained his original name. Thus the family was known by–and used–both appellations interchangeably, in Greece and in the U.S.

For families that used two names, you  must research both!

3. Human Error

Humans are fallible and errors are inevitable. When name indexes are created, the indexers are instructed to “key what they see”–meaning, they must type names exactly as written on the document. If they suspect a spelling discrepancy or perceive an error, they are not to make any changes or corrections. The way a priest or clerk writes a name is the way it must be indexed.

To further complicate research of the Fouskidakis-Manousos family, the groom’s name is misspelled in the marriage documents! The correct spelling is Fousketakis as found in the Mitroon Arrenon (Male Registers) of Crete. Having the accurate spelling of Fousketakis in her records, Georgia was stumped when she could not find that name in MyHeritage’s collection of Sparta Marriages.  When she searched using the bride’s name (Kondylo Manousos), a match appeared. The original documents revealed the misspellings by the priests. As instructed, the indexer typed the name as it appeared on the document. The case of the “missing” name was solved.

4. Transliteration Methodology and Use of Digraphs

Have you spoken the surname aloud? What sounds do you hear? And how are those sounds converted from Greek into English?

As this article explains, transliteration is not the same as translation. “A translation tells you the meaning of words in another language. Transliteration changes the letters from one alphabet or language into the corresponding, similar-sounding characters of another alphabet… Our ancestors often would transliterate their names so Americans could spell and pronounce them, producing many variant spellings.”

There are many transliteration tables found on the internet. This one is used by Greek Ancestry and MyHeritage:

Variant name spellings are also generated by digraphs[2]—two adjacent consonants which make a single sound. There are seven digraphs in the Greek language. A name written in Greek using any of these digraphs will surely sound differently from how it is spelled. Note the three digraphs which can be transliterated into two totally different spellings:

Greek	English Transliteration	Sounds like/written as
γγ	g	English
γκ	g or ng	garment or English
γχ	nh	enhance
μπ	mb or b	bravo or embassy
vτ	nd or d	door or Andy
τζ	ds	rods
τσ	ts	oats

Therefore, if you are researching the name Μπιρμπατάκος, it could be properly transliterated as either Birbatakos or Birmbatakos or Mbirmbatakos. You must search using all possible variants!    

Abbreviations of names and contractions of letters are often written by clerks and priests. The name Konstantinos is shown below. The upper image shows how the letters στ-st (underlined in red) are written as one character. The lower images are examples of abbreviations; the most commonly used is  Kon/tinos (Κων/τινος).

We can assume that a Greek indexer easily recognizes abbreviations and contractions. But in many documents—especially those of the 1800’s–the handwriting is scrawled and almost illegible. Combining that with abbreviations makes proper indexing an almost impossible task.

Summary

It’s a great time to be researching our Greek families! Genealogy websites, both in English and Greek, are uploading new records daily. Their algorithms are designed to do “fuzzy searches,” which broaden search parameters to find similar naming patterns. However, computers only work from the information that we input.

Our recommendations:

• Be open to spelling variations. Don’t reject a record because the name is spelled differently. Examine the entire document before deciding if it is or is not the correct family.
• Don’t rely on indexes alone. Always read the original image! Even if it is in Greek script, you can learn how to read your names. You may spot an error in the index or transliteration.
• Omit the suffix and type the root of the name followed by a wildcard (usually an *). Or, type only the first 2-3 letters followed by a wildcard. This will bring up variations of the name which may have been transliterated incorrectly.
• Remember that female surnames are written in the genitive (possessive) format which usually end in -ou. Thus, Alexandropoulos and Alexandropoulou are the same name; the first is masculine, the second is feminine.
• Male names are also written in the genitive, primarily when the father’s name is placed in the middle of a child’s name:  Apostolos Georgiou Pantazos is Apostolos Pantazos, the son of Georgios.  
• Browse the record of the entire village.  Although this takes more time, it is worth the effort when you find your family with a misspelled or incorrectly transliterated name.

Do you have any tips, successes or frustrations to share? Please let us know so we can learn from each other. Good luck with your Greek name searches!

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[1] From Greek Ancestry’s Greek Genealogy Guide section titled Greek Surnames. Used with permission.

[2]For more information about digraphs, see these two Wikipedia articles here and here.