What are the most prevalent Arvanite surnames in Greece?

By: | Post date: 2017-02-18 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Linguistics, Modern Greek

I mean, I know of some Arvanite surnames, but rather than rack my brains, I’m going to go to this blog posts ΕΛΛΗΝΟ-ΑΡΒΑΝΙΤΙΚΑ ΕΠΩΝΥΜΑ and ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ ΕΠΩΝΥΜΑ ΑΡΒΑΝΙΤΙΚΗΣ ΠΡΟΕΛΕΥΣΗΣ, both drawn from the book Arvanites by Kostas Biris, and cite the surnames I’ve heard of. Not as scientific a method as you’d like, and probably not actually the most frequent ones; but it’s what you’re going to get from me.

  • Ginis (Gjinj “John”)
  • Gumas (James)
  • Kalesis < kalesh “sheep or dog with black and white marks”
  • Kanakis
  • Katsanis < kacan “greedy”
  • Kontos
  • Kriekoukis < kryekuq “redhead”
  • Vilaras “cloth seller”
  • Mexas
  • Buras < burrë “man, brave”
  • Priftis “priest”
  • Sklepas “lame”
  • Latsis < llaci “apprentice builder”
  • Liotsis < loçi “friend; fool”
  • Lykourezos < lëkurenxirë “dark-skinned”
  • Manesis < manesë “slow”
  • Bithikotsis < bythë “bottom, arse” + Kotsis “Constantine”
  • Dragas < dragë “avalanche”

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