There are many nationalities in the world, and each of them has its own characteristics: in appearance, mentality and lifestyle. This applies to all aspects, including the hereditary family name. Having heard a certain surname, one can already tell what nationality this or that person belongs to and what culture he is a representative of. In this article we will talk in more detail about Lithuanian surnames and consider their origin.
Where did it all start?
Modern Lithuanian surnames are divided into two groups: those that were formed directly on the territory of Lithuania, as well as others that arose outside the country, but over time penetrated into the Lithuanian language. Until the 15th century, this people did not have a surname as such; everyone called each other only by name. The situation changed when Christianity came to the territory of the Baltic country at that time.
In the Middle Ages, church politics began to be actively pursued, and this also affected ancient Lithuania. In this regard, the imposition of Christian names begins, because Lithuanian, in fact, were pagan. As a result, in order not to lose their identity, the Lithuanians came up with surnames, which their ancient ancestral names turned into over time. At first they appeared only among representatives of wealthy families, but they came to the peasantry much later.
How did surnames come about?
Since the 16th century, the Church Slavonic language established itself in Lithuania, but the use of the Latin language began to decline. In the 18th century, after the general census, village residents also began to have surnames, which began to be given to children by the name of their father, and, accordingly, this family name continued to pass from generation to generation. The suffix “-ovich”, “-evich” was added to the name.
In Russia, for example, the suffix “-ich” was given only to those who were close to the tsar and royal family, but in Lithuania they assigned it to everyone. The Lithuanian nobility did not like the sound of surnames like this: they saw the influence of Russia in this, so over time they began to actively change this suffix to the one that the Poles used - “-sky”. By the way, this prefix to the surname was also used Eastern Slavs, but the difference was that the Poles relied specifically on local names. Let’s say a Pole lived in the village of Volya, and for this reason his surname became Volsky. However, it has been noticed that many Lithuanian surnames have Slavic suffixes and roots.
Meaning
The Lithuanian language has survived to this day almost unchanged, so it won’t be difficult to understand what this or that surname means. However, this is not always possible, and in some cases certain difficulties arise. What do Lithuanian surnames mean? For example, Leitis means that the ancestor who gave his family the name was once in the Leith service, that is, he served under the Grand Duke, Vilkas in translation sounds like “wolf”, with the surname Pilsudski - they once lived in the area of Pilsudy. Gintautas means “protecting the people.”
Ancient Lithuanian personal names used to have two bases, and, as a rule, in translation they denoted some qualities of a person or words that carried a deep meaning. The most popular of them were such as taut - people, min - thought, kant - patient, gail - regret, vil - hope.
The most popular Lithuanian surnames (male)
The English Wikipedia provides a list of the most popular Lithuanian surnames. Here is the original version and its translation into Russian. Kazlauskas - Kozlovsky, Petrauskas - Petrovsky, Jankauskas - Yankovsky, Stankevičius - Stankevich, Vasiliauskas - Vasilevsky, Žukauskas - Zhukovsky, Butkevičus - Butkevich, Paulauskas - Pavlovsky, Kavaliauskas - Kovalevsky.
You can also note such beautiful Lithuanian surnames as Astrauskas, Bluejus, Rudzitis, Simonaityte, Vaitonis, Mazeika, Kindziulis. As you can see, surnames often end in -s.
Original Lithuanian surnames
What do surnames with endings in “-aytis” and “-enas” mean? For example, such as Deimantas, Budrys, Petkevičius. They arose according to the following scheme: during the large census, the surname was given to children based on their father’s name. For example, the son of Vytas became Vytenas. But it should be noted that Lithuanians used such surnames only in colloquial speech. Officially, they were recorded in documents according to Slavic metrics.
The purely Lithuanian endings of surnames, therefore, are the following: -aitis (Adomaitis), -is (alis), -as (Eidintas), and there may also be an ending -a (Radvila).
The influence of Slavic culture, and they are no longer natively Lithuanian.
Female surnames: rules of formation
If we consider modern female Lithuanian surnames, they have received a significant difference from male ones. They have the suffixes -ut-, -ayt-, and -yut-, the father's surname is displayed in the root, and the ending e- is often present. For example, the male version of the surname Butkus in a woman will already sound like Butkute, Orbakas turns into Orbakaite.
Surnames married women already have slightly different differences from the one that the husband has. The husband will have the last name Varnas, and the wife will have Vernene. Thus, we see that the suffix -en is added, or, in some cases, -uven, -yuven, as well as the ending -e. It should be noted that the rules regarding the formation of a female version of a surname apply only in Lithuania. If the family lives in Russia, it will sound the same for both spouses. But if the girl is free, then on the territory of our country her surname will sound as if she lived in Lithuania. As you can see, there are many nuances here that you simply need to delve into.
Do surnames decline?
Lithuanian language has developed system case declension. Lithuanian surnames often end with the letter -s, but there are two options: either this letter is an integral part of it, or it simply indicates nominative. That is, in other cases, when declension, this very letter -s disappears. For example, the surname Landsbergis, in the genitive, already sounds like Landsberg. Many Latvians attach this letter to Russian surnames, for example, “Lenin” in their language sounds like Lenins, as the rules of grammar require it. Women's surnames are the same as men's. In the Latvian language everyone declines. But if they are used in Russian translation, then a different rule applies: for women they do not bow, but for men it’s the other way around.
Nuances in the difference
Let's look at an example popular surnames, how they will sound in two versions: male and female, thus, the same generic name among spouses sounds differently.
Kazlauskas - Kazlauskienė, Petrauskas - Petrauskienė, Jankauskas - Yankauskienė, Stankevičius - Stankevičienė, Vasiliauskas - Vasiliauskienė, Žukauskas - Žukauskienė, Butkus - Butkienė, Palauskas - Palauskienė, Urbonas - Urbonieniė, Kavaliauskas - Kavaliauskienė.
In the course of this article, we found out what surnames mean, and also figured out the history of their origin and how Lithuanian surnames are declined. They contain the richness of one of the Baltic languages, which is famous for the fact that it has survived to this day unchanged.
The name has always been key to the image and character of a person. Each name had some designation or meaning. Sometimes the names given at birth did not correspond to the character or behavior of a person, and then some nickname was assigned to him, more clearly reflecting the essence human soul or appearance.
For example, Juodgalvis - black-headed (juodas - black + galva - head), Majulis (maћas - small), Kupryus (kupra - hump), Vilkas (vilkas - wolf), Jaunutis (jaunas - young)
Ancient Lithuanians most often identified themselves with a single personal name. But with the advent of Christianity and the formation Christian culture personal Lithuanian names formed the basis of Lithuanian surnames, and names for infant baptism were already given in accordance with Christian names. For example, in the contracts of that time such names were already found - “Pyatras Mantigirdas”, “Mikalojus Byliminas”.
According to their word formation, Lithuanian names are divided into 3 groups:
1. Single-base ones - those that are formed from one component of two-base personal names, with or without the addition of suffixes. For example, KAST –IS, KASTU –TIS, KAST-GAYLA.
2. Two-base names - consist of two bases or a combination of two names. As an example - MIN - DAUGAS, GEDI - MINas.
3. Monobasic ones, which were formed as nicknames or were formed from common nouns. For example, Lokis (lokis – bear) Audra (Audra – storm)
Lithuanian female names
Ancient Lithuanian names are very sonorous and poetic. They can mean celestial bodies, natural phenomena, or human qualities. Saule – sun, Jurate – sea maiden, Skaiste – pure, Danguole – heavenly; Gintaras - amber, Rasa - dew, Audra - storm, Aidas - echo, Linas - flax, or which are the names of rivers and places, such as Ula - Ula, Neringa - Neringa.
Lithuanian male names
Old Lithuanian male names had several bases.
Taut - people (Vytautas), kant - patient (Kantrus), min - thought (Gediminas), vil - hope, gail - regret (Yagaila)
By education, male names are mainly traditional Baltic names (Algirdas, Kestutis; Birute, Aldona) or Christian names adapted to the Lithuanian language and culture - Antanas - Anthony, Jurgis - George, Jonas - John, Povilas - Paul.
Lithuanian Surnames
Very interesting formation of surnames in the Lithuanian language.
Previously, women's surnames differed from men's only in the ending. For example, Raude - Raudis, Dyarkinte - Dyarkintas.
Now there is a suffix difference. Moreover, the formation female surnames goes in two directions:
1 – Formation from the father’s surname. The suffixes used here are –ayt-, -ut-, -yut-, with the addition of the ending –e-.
Everyone famous surname Kristina Orbakaite, based on her father’s surname - Orbakas. Butkus - Butkute, Katilyus - Katilute.
2.- Formation from the husband’s surname for married women occurs with the help of completely different suffixes - en-, -uven-, -yuven- and plus the ending -e-.
An example is Varnas - Varniene, Grinius - Grinyuvienė.
The surname Litovsky in most cases is of Polish origin and is formed either from Poland itself or from neighboring states (Belarus, Ukraine). The overwhelming majority of representatives of the Litovsky family belonged to the Polish gentry. In 10% percent, the bearer of the surname is possibly a descendant of an ancient Russian princely or boyar family. But in both cases, the surname mainly indicates the area where the person’s distant ancestors lived or the settlement where, according to legend, this family comes from, however, the surname can also come from the name or nickname of a person’s distant ancestor. Also, in 29% of cases this surname was given by an ancestor clergyman when he graduated from the seminary. In such cases, the surname was given at the will of the school leadership and could be formed from the name of the locality, church holiday, or the name of a saint.
The surname Litovsky is not very common in regions of Russia and neighboring countries. In the very old texts that refer to noteworthy ones, people with this surname were famous figures from the Slavic Kyiv boyars in the 15-16th century, having at their disposal significant sovereign privilege. The first mention of the surname can be seen in the census book of All Rus' during the time of Ivan the Terrible. The sovereign had a special list of princely and distinguished surnames, which were given to loved ones only in case of special merits or awards. Thus, the specified surname has retained its original meaning and is rare.
Spelling the surname in Latin: LITOVSKIIY
Copying site materials is possible ONLY with a direct link to this page
| Origin of the Lithuanian surname | Information about the surname Litovchak |
| History of the surname Litovchenko | The secret of the Litovchik surname |
| Research the Litomin surname | The meaning of the surname Litonov |
| Where did the surname Litorin come from? | Family line Litotic |
| Research the Litochevsky surname | History of the origin of the surname Litoshenko |
| Origin of the surname Litošik | Information about the name Litoshin |
| History of the surname Litre | The secret of the Litt surname |
| Research the Littlewoods surname | The meaning of the surname Lituev |
| Where did the surname Litunov come from? |
Studying the history of the origin of the Litovsky surname reveals forgotten pages of the life and culture of our ancestors and can tell a lot of interesting things about the distant past.
The Litovsky surname belongs to the old type of Russian surnames, formed from a personal nickname.
The tradition of giving a person, in addition to the name received at birth, an individual nickname, usually reflecting some of his characteristics, has existed since ancient times in Rus' and persisted until the 17th century. Sometimes a nickname became an indication of a person’s nationality or native area. Thus, ancient documents mention the Kiev governor Kozarin (1106), the Rostov bishop Nikola Grechin (1185), the landowner Ivashko Turchenin (1500), the resident of the Pyskor settlement on the Kama River Filka Nemchin (1623), the Vilna courtyard owner Yakov French (1643) and many others. Most often, such names appeared when settlers from different places and representatives of different nations. In addition, such nicknames could also be family tradition, for example, in the family of Rostovite Cheremisin (1471), children were usually given ethnic names; he named his children Rusin and Meshcherin (1508), and Meshcherin’s son was nicknamed Mordvin (1550).
The nickname Lithuanian belongs to a number of similar nicknames. It must be said that in the old days the ethnonyms “Lithuanian” and “Litvin” were used not to refer to the inhabitants of modern Lithuania (in the old days called the principalities of Samogit and Aukstaitsky), but to the population of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which existed since mid-XIII centuries to 1795 on the territory of modern Belarus and Lithuania, as well as part of Ukraine, the western regions of Russia, Latvia, Poland and Estonia. At the same time, as a rule, representatives of the Belarusian people were called Lithuanians and Litvins. Such nicknames were not uncommon in the old days. Ancient letters mention, for example, the princely boyar in Lithuania Roman Litvin (1466), the Novgorod peasant Ivashko Litvinko (1495), the Polotsk villager Andrei Litvin (1601), the resident of Novgorod Agafya Litovka (14th century) and many others.
TO XVII century The most common model for the formation of Russian surnames was the addition of the suffixes -ov/-ev and -in to the stem. By their origin, such surnames are possessive adjectives, formed from the name or nickname of the father, and from the form that others habitually called him. And in the Russian North and in some regions of the Black Earth Region at the end of the 17th century, a peculiar territorial variety of surnames with endings -i/-yh, and sometimes -skih, developed. Similar surnames in which the adjective is fixed in genitive case plural, have the meaning “from the family of such and such”: the head of the family is Lithuanian, family members are Lithuanian, each of them is from the Lithuanian family. In the central regions at the beginning of the 18th century, by decree of Peter I, surnames were “unified” - elements of theirs were excluded from them, which were preserved only in the northern and northeastern family names.
It is obvious that the Litovsky surname has an interesting centuries-old history, testifying to the variety of ways in which Russian surnames appeared.
Sources: Nikonov V.A. Geography of surnames. Tupikov N.M. Dictionary of Old Russian personal names. Unbegaun B.-O. Russian surnames. Veselovsky S.B. Onomasticon. Superanskaya A.V., Suslova A.V. Modern Russian surnames. Brockhaus and Efron. Encyclopedic Dictionary.
Since in the XIV-XV centuries, during its heyday, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania actually owned half of the Russian lands, close administrative and cultural ties led to the spread in our country of names, words and expressions characteristic of the neighboring state. It is surnames of Lithuanian origin that make up the majority of such Baltic borrowings. Residents of Pskov and Novgorod felt a particularly strong influence from their neighbors.
For example, in the north-west of Russia the surname Paskalov is found, derived from the nickname Pascal. The word paskala is translated from Lithuanian as “whip”. That is, this could be called a person with a sharp tongue, whose critical remarks are quite painful. And his descendants later received a surname derived from this nickname.
There is virtually no doubt that the ancestors of the Litvinovs, Litvins, Litvintsevs, Litovkins and Litvyakovs have corresponding roots.
The famous linguist Zigmas Zinkevicius, author of numerous scientific works on this topic, wrote that in XVI-XVII centuries representatives of the Lithuanian nobility often changed their surnames, adding the ending -skiy to them. To be called in imitation of the gentry (the privileged Polish class) was considered prestigious. Thus, the old Oginski family once owned the Uogintai estate, located on the territory of the Kaisiadorsky district. This is where the surname came from.
After Lithuania joined Russian Empire The process of forced Russification of this Baltic country began. In the 19th century, printing in the Latin alphabet was banned, and the Lithuanian language was transferred to the Cyrillic alphabet. Last names also changed. For example, Jonas Basanavičius was already listed in official documents as Ivan Basanovich. And after moving to Russia, the suffix -ich could well have disappeared from the surname of his descendants - here you have the Basanovs.
Many Lithuanians, after moving to St. Petersburg, Moscow or other cities in our country, did not want to differ from the bulk of the population, so they often changed their surnames. So, Kazlauskas became Kozlov, Petrauskas - Petrov, Yankauskas - Yankovsky, Vasiliauskas - Vasilyev, Zhukauskas - Zhukov, Pavlauskas - Pavlov, Kovaliauskas - Kovalev, Simonaitas - Simonov, Vytautas - Vitovsky, Shchegolevas - Shchegolev, Vilkas - Volkov or Vilkin, etc. p.
As a rule, surnames formed from similar names and nicknames were simply Russified. It was enough to replace the characteristic suffix -as with the traditional Russian ending-s. If the Lithuanian surname ended in -is, then during the “translation” they added -in to it. For example, the Lithuanian word “laukas” means a kind of “star” that appears on the forehead of various livestock: cows, oxen, horses. From this word the surname Lokis was formed (the diphthong “au” was transformed into one sound “o”), and on Russian soil the descendants of its bearer turned into the Lokins.
Representatives of the Lithuanian nobility, fleeing civil strife or in search of profit, often moved to Russia and entered the service of the Moscow kings. They became the founders of such ancient noble families, like Pronsky, Belsky, Glinsky, Khovansky, Mstislavsky, Khotetovsky.