When did Greeks as a people adopt surnames?

By: | Post date: 2017-02-06 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Culture, Mediaeval Greek

Corroborating Anestis Samourkasidis’ answer: Vote #1 Anestis Samourkasidis’ answer to When did Greeks as a people adopt surnames?.

If you peruse Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire part I, you will see sporadic surnames in the 7th and 8th century; e.g. I PBE: Ioannes 9 : Ἰωάννῃ σπαθαρίῳ, τὸ ἐπίκλην Στρούθῳ “John the spatharios [military office], nickname/surname Strouthos”. Surnames were still rare, and you’ll notice that PBE I doesn’t even use surnames in its index (hence 607 Johns in its database). Certainly by the 12th century, surnames were universal.

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