Comments on: Greek Surnames

By: Giannis

Giannis — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:41:07 +0000

Hi Shatona,
Skopolopakis looks like a Greek last name. It could be slightly different though, for example “Skolopakis”, which sounds more right than “Skopolopakis”.
In the island of Crete, “skolopa” is the bird owl.

Yannis

By: Shatona

Shatona — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:11:54 +0000

Ok, hello my name is Shatona, I am trying to find my husbands birth father for him, he has not seen him since he was born.
I hope i can spell this right, but all we know is the following: His name was Constantine Skopolopakis or something to that fact.
My husbands mom said his fathers parents owned a greek restauraunt in Providence Rhode island.

I really want my husband to know his father and tell his father he has 3 grand kids. I wish I knew more, but i don’t, and I’m afraid if my son does a family history report he wont know what to put for his fathers side.

Please get back to me and let me know if i spelled the last name right, I’m open to options.

By: Sam Matsoukis

Sam Matsoukis — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 10:05:37 +0000

hi Vassili,

The Vandoros family is prominent in Kefalonia – one of the noble Venetian families mentioned in the “libre d’ or’ published in 1926 by Eugene Rizo Rangabe.
Kefalonian birth/marriage/death records are available back to at least 1840.

The precise name in Rangabe’s book is “Vandoro”, but beyond mentioning that the Vandoro family was a ruling venetian family when Venetians ceded Kefalonia to the French in early 1800s.

The consequence of the Vandoro/s family being a noble ruling family is that there are records of the Vandoros family sprinkled throughout the island, including the Fiskardo area where my research is centered.

If you need a copy of the book, or wish to exchange genealogy records, contact me at matsoukis@yahoo.com.

take care,
Sam

By: Vassilis Vandoros

Vassilis Vandoros — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 19:57:56 +0000

My last name is Vandoros. i searched about my name and roots and this name seems to be a sefardic – jewish name of family, who came from Spain to Cefalonia five centuries ago.
They had changed their religion to survive. If somebody has further details please let me know.

thanks,
Vassilis

By: Sam Matsoukis

Sam Matsoukis — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 01:22:22 +0000

Yes, Akis is a diminutive of many greek male names.
For example someone called Christos, may get called as Christakis while a kid, and the “akis” sticks as a short form of his name. Ditto Theodoros –> Theothorakis –> Akis.

By: Sam Matsoukis

Sam Matsoukis — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 01:13:15 +0000

I’m researching my family history. We come from the island of Kefalonia, specifically what is today known as Eriso around the port of Fiskardo.
So far over 2000 people in our tree, including family names: Antipas, Barzoukas, Germenis, Matsoukis, Prokopis, Tselentis, Vandoros.
If you are interested in helping out let me know – thanks!

By: Maria

Maria — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 18:58:07 +0000

my last name is Stavrou!

By: Audrey

Audrey — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 10:09:31 +0000

Are you able to assist please, looking for my friend Stamati Savastano from Lefkada. Last saw him 1989 in Johannesburg South Africa.

By: stelios kolovos

stelios kolovos — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 07:23:01 +0000

any one help with my ancestry? I like to know more about grand and great grandparents. both sides coming from village like bithayakya??

By: Tracy Douglas

Tracy Douglas — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 04:12:29 +0000

Dear Rachael,
My boyfriend is named Demetrius Dekas and supposedly, there is only one Demetrius Dekas. It is possible that he could be your grandfather.
Please write me and we can figure this out. And if he turns out not to be your grandfather, I will pray to God that you are able to find him soon. Because every girl deserves to know her grandfather.
My email is atrosst@yahoo.com

By: Diane

Diane — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 16:36:18 +0000

I think you need to research into your family history because there are various derivatives of a Greek name beginning with “Lam.” I know people who have the last names Lampros and Lambropoulos.

The word lampros means ‘brilliant’, ‘radiant’, ‘luminous’. This name is given to commemorate Easter, which is known colloquially as Lambri ‘the bright (day)’. There is a bread made at Easter called “Lambropsomo.

By: tonino

tonino — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 09:30:27 +0000

-POULOS doesn’t mean a bird. Used as a suffix means “the son of..”.
So Papadopoulos means “son of papa(priest”
Nikolopoulos means “son of Nikos”
Georgopoulos means “son of George”
etc

By: tonino

tonino — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 09:26:14 +0000

Bairaktaris comes out from the turkish word “Bairak” that means “flag”. So bairaktaris in Greek means “the flag keeper”

By: Sabrina

Sabrina — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 02:18:40 +0000

Hi,
My pappou and yiayia immigrated to Canada from Greece around 50 years ago.
My yiayia was from Kallithea and grew up in Athens, her maiden name was Marie Mariantou.
My pappou was from Palaio Faliro in Piraeus, his last name was Sarafopoulos and his first name Nikolaos, he changed it when he came to Canada of course.
Just wondering if anyone knew anything about the meanings of their last names or if you recognize the names.

thx

By: Davis

Davis — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 01:17:22 +0000

I was wondering if my last name Cristalinas has any greek origin.

By: Monica Macas

Monica Macas — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 01:34:10 +0000

Hiiii, My name is Mónica Macas and Im writing from Equador.
Maybe u can respond to to me about people from Kastoria with the last name some “Plaumistaki” or “Ploumistaki”.
I would like to know how is the correct form, because I am searching for a good friend from there…

Thanx your help

By: Kim

Kim — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 21:34:17 +0000

Hope this tidbit can help someone else.

“Sari” is a prefix used in Greek names, but it comes from Turkey. During some period or other of Turkish influence, it got introduced to the process of developing more surnames aside from direct patronymics. “Sari” means “fair haired.”

So, in the case of our Greek last name, “Sariyannis” = “fair haired John’s son.” Took FOREVER to find this one tidbit of information…

Also, if it’s any help to fellow family members that may float in – our branch of the family came to the US in the early 1910′s.
They came from a village in the Peloponnese, near Tripolis.

By: Betty Lamp

Betty Lamp — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 16:16:24 +0000

Hi, my ex husband’s grandfather was from Greese and lived in Chicago. When his grandfater was killed his “non” greek mother and the kids (his father and aunt) last name was changed to “Lamp” and they were asked to leave the area. He thinks their family last name used to be “Lamp-er-deed-ous” or something like that. I would like to find out for my daughter. I know my family from generations back but know nothing of my ex-husbands family.
Does anyone know????

By: Maria

Maria — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 18:55:45 +0000

Hi
I would just like to know where the Greek last names Kyriazis and Pantazis originate from and what they mean??:)

By: RoseMarie

RoseMarie — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 04:22:57 +0000

My grandfather came to the U.S. from Sparta before the turn of the last century.
I see from my aunts obituary the family name is listed as Nouchalis.
Would anyone care to comment if this sounds correct to them? Τhe family name was changed to Nichols.

By: Ioannis Alexakis

Ioannis Alexakis — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 13:58:05 +0000

Hi there. I also belong to the Sykea branch of the Alexakis family. Have you found more about our history? I have heard a version of the Crete->Laconia migration story where two Alexakis brothers from the Region of Agios Nikolaos on Crete went fugitive after killing one or more Turks (honour killings ?) and settled in Laconia in rthe early 19th century. According to this story, all Laconian Alexakis are descended from these two.
Another unconfirmed rumour is of an Alexakis cousin that did (or let do) some ancestry research and got information trailing back to a rather renowned trader family “Alexiou” in Constantinople before the Ottoman invasion.

By: Andreas

Andreas — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 20:11:18 +0000

Hi averyone, my name is Andreas Tassakis and I would love to have some info about my last name. I tried to find out about it online but there isn’t much.
I believe tasaki means ashtray (which I’m really hoping isn’t the origin of my name!!!).
Does anyone have any info or idea about the origins of this last name? would it be possible to come from a similar last name and got messed up due to migration from Greece to America?
any infor would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
Andreas

By: nikos

nikos — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 18:07:03 +0000

poulos(πουλος) means ”little child and not bird……….

By: Penny

Penny — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 14:00:29 +0000

I am researching the last name Bakogianni for a persona for the group that I am involved with. I am an active member in the SCA and we recreate the middle ages. I am trying to establish a Greek persona and found the last name Bakogianni and fell in love with the name. I am trying to find out if the name was around during the time of 600ad to 1600ad.

Could you be of some assistance to me in my research or do you know of someone who might be of assistance to me?

Any help or information that you can give me is greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Penny v

By: Katia

Katia — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 19:28:17 +0000

Is it maybe Bairaktaris? Ιt is hard to say for sure where he comes from, but name Bairaktaris is found in Agrinio (mainland Greece) and the areas of Messinia in the Peloponnese Peninsula of Greece.

By: Michel

Michel — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 19:11:02 +0000

Hi !

My grandfather came to Canada in the early 1920.
Is name is Bariaktaris.
Please tell me from witch par of Greece does he come from.

By: Nathan

Nathan — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 12:43:54 +0000

Hi (Yassou)

I am trying to find the origin of my grandfather’s surname – Zampetides. He was born in Constantinople and I believe he migrated to Piraeus in the Great Exchange with Turkey. He then married and migrated to Australia. This appears to be a very unusual/unique surname. Am I right in saying that?

My grandmother’s surname was Stavrou and her family comes from Chios.

Any information would be great.

Thanks (efharisto)

By: Katia

Katia — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 15:17:04 +0000

Indeed, although you can also find the suffix akis in names from the Dodecanese islands

By: Ted

Ted — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 01:05:35 +0000

-akis suffix means from Crete generally.

By: giorgos

giorgos — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 16:54:16 +0000

hi many questions from greeks in other countriesso i can’t answer all of them .

what i can tell you since im greek i live in greece and i fond of history.

stelios -karachalios is from the words kara(black in Turkish) and xalios (halia =mess) so your name is black mess .

Duana. lavida means pliers in greek.

christina both names are mostly used in pelloponisos. poulos means bird and it was usually uses on people that left and the first name(i.e.papadopous =papas (priest) that left.)

melissa try voulocheris or voylokeris (sealing wax)

ksenia your name means ΞΕΝΙΑ (xenos means “someone i dont know” or some times o man from elsewhere)lukis is maybe derived from lakis or lykios i dont atuly know.

any question my mail is vonkain@gmail.com although i am not an expert