What's in a Name? The Etymology of Armenian Surnames
Reading Lecture (On line)
What’s in a Name?
The Etymology of Armenian Surnames
By C.K. Garabed
Slide #1 – (title of presentation)
Dear friends:
I wish to emphasize, first and foremost, that I am not a linguist or philologist, and certainly not an expert on
names or languages. I am simply an ordinary fellow who has taken an interest in Armenian surnames. Forty years ago,
I started collecting names from church telephone directories and donor lists as a hobby; at first manually, then
with the aid of a personal computer. I have collected well over 10,000 names to date, though not all of them are
defined yet. The task of collecting names has been made easier by the publication of the UNIARTS Armenian White
Pages telephone directory in California.
Also, what greatly facilitated my work were the dictionaries that were provided me by my daughter, Lucine, and good
friend, Cesar Chekijian. Of course, there were many other friends who helped me in my work, one way or another.
Their names are listed at the end of this lecture online.
Curiosity was my first motivation for exploring the subject of Armenian family names. However, I then came to
appreciate the diverse nature of Armenian surnames, which appear to cover the gamut of our ancestors’ life
activities in the Old Country. I found that many interesting and unusual names cannot be deciphered merely by
looking them up in books, but also require knowledge of the circumstances leading to the formation of such names. In
many cases, direct contact with their owners is needed in order to get the insiders’ views.
With names like Bajaksouzian, which means legless, for a short man; Soghanyemezian, which means one who does not eat
onions; and Srmakeshkhanlian, which means owner/worker of a factory where gold/silver thread is drawn, I sometimes
think we Armenians, more than any other ethnic group, possess the most fascinating surnames. Incidentally, Armenian
writer Yervant Srmakeshkhanlian chose the name Yeroukhan as his pen name, a truncation and blending of his first and
last names.
Now for my lecture –
What's in a Name?
(The Etymology of Armenian Surnames)
Slide #2 – (Sources)
The following are segments of an illustration by David S. Merrill for an article titled “The Mother Tongue”
published in U.S. News & World Report magazine on November 5, 1990.
Slide #3 –(Mother Tongue)
Let’s start with the Indo-European language branch of the human language tree. An original Mother Tongue, the
provenance of which has never been determined, is the source of the Indo-European branch, seen in the highlighted
area, which includes Armenian.
Slide #4 –(Indo-European Branch)
Recent scholarship suggests that, contrary to what was believed to be true of the order of languages in the branch,
Armenian has now been given a more prominent place.
Starting from the base of the ProtoIndo-European branch, we see the European languages off to the left; and then to
the right are the Anatolian languages, which are extinct; and then, in between, is the Aryano-Greco-Armenio branch.
Slide #5 – The follo
wing is a segment of the same illustration, enlarged and colorized.
Slide #6 – (The Aryano-Greco-Armenio branch)
From that orange point to the left are the Greek languages; and to the right, the Armeno-Aryan languages, seen in
red. Then we come immediately to Armenian which is a continuation of the red, followed by the yellow group that
includes Persian; and subsequently to Sanskrit, that includes the Indian tongues: Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, etc.
Thus, we see that Armenian is closer to the Mother Tongue source than Persian and that Armenian and Persian are no
longer believed to be derived from Sanskrit.
Slide #7 –(Anatolia) – This slide shows the movement of the language.
It is now believed that the Indo-European model originated in Anatolia, and spread west to Europe, and east to India. Also, it is now believed that the language spread, not by horseback, as previously assumed, but by farming.
Slide #8 – (A suitable international language?)
There has been a great deal of interest in the formal adoption of an international language. Esperanto has been considered, but rejected as an artificial one that is deemed undesirable. English, which has become important in international relations, has also been rejected on grounds that it is too difficult to learn.
Slide #9 – (Ough – bough, cough, dough, rough, through)
Just take a look at these five English words that all end with the letters ough. They are all pronounced differently: bough cough dough rough through
Slide #10 – (Ghoti = fish: Shaw)
That eminent playwright and music critic, George Bernard Shaw, called English a ridiculous language. He said that he could take a word with the letters ghoti and make it spell fish. He would take the gh from the English word rough for f, the o from women for i, and the ti from nation for sh. Result-- Fish.
Slide #11 – (Margaret Mead, Sol Tax, anthropologists)
Anthropologists Margaret Mead and Sol Tax have recommended that Armenian be adopted formally as the international language for two reasons: One is that adoption of the language of a larger or prominent country such as England, France or Germany would give that country significant political power. The other is that the proposed language should be relatively easy to learn. Armenia fills the bill in both cases. It is a small country with a small population, and its language is easy to learn. With some minor exceptions, the written alphabet provides a single sound for every letter and a single letter for every sound.
Interaction among languages is quite common in history, and all languages borrow from others. Latin borrows from Greek; while French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese borrow from Latin; and English borrows from everybody.
Certainly Armenian borrows from the languages of other cultures with which contact has been made, notably Persian, Greek, Arabic and Turkish. A language that borrows from others is thereby enriched. Very often, to make a point, a good speaker will have recourse to a borrowed word in preference to a native one.
Slide # 12 – (O.K.)
Can it be denied that the most successful English word (if you can call it that) to pervade practically all other world languages is “O.K.?”
English has been influenced by the same languages that have influenced Armenian, notably Persian and Arabic.
Slide # 13 – (Persian influence on English) Persian influence on English can be seen in the following:
· cummerbund: kamarband (waistband)
· orange: naranj (The letter n shifted from a naranj to an orange)
· checkmate: shahmat (The king is dead).
(Persian/ Arabic)
Slide # 14 = (Arabic influence on English)
Arabic influence on English can be seen in the following:
· algebra: al jabra ( reduction of parts to a whole).
· cipher: sifr (zero), which has come to mean a code. Arabic numerals provide a flexibility that Roman numerals cannot. One wonders how the Romans, with their cumbersome numerical system, were able to divide their enemies, and multiply their conquests.
· admiral: amir al bahr (lord of the sea). There’s nothing admirable about an admiral.
The Turkish influence on English is negligible. All we come away with is Turkish bath, Turkish coffee, Turkish tobacco, Turkish towel, and Turkish delight, none of which are truly Turkish in origin.
Slide # 15 - (Persian influence on Armenian)
Armenian has likewise been influenced by interaction with Persian, Arabic, and Turkish. Armenian use of Persian vocabulary includes, for example:
· bakht to pakht (luck)
· dushvar to tuzhvar (difficult)
· pil to pigh (elephant)
Mardo Soghomian, a former staff member of the Armenian Prelacy of NY, told me that the father of the last Shah of Iran commissioned his scholars to study the Armenian language because he knew there were 200 loan words that Armenians borrowed from Persian which were no longer in use by the Persian people. The Shah wanted to restore those words to the Persian language.
The late Krikor Pidedjian, esteemed Armenian educator and Ethnomusicologist, had this to say about Aryan languages: "There is some question as to which language influenced which when it comes to Persian and Armenian. Many people assumed Armenians derived words from the Persians. However, there are just as many words that the Persians derived from the Armenians."
One that comes to mind is the word vard for the rose flower. The primary word for rose in Persian is gul, and secondarily vard, which suggests that it came from vart, the Armenian word for rose.
Slide #16 (Arabic influence on Armenian)
Armenians, especially in their dialects, make use of Arabic vocabulary –Examples are:
· aman (woe, my God!)
· Haji (pilgrim)
· mashallah (how amazing!)
Slide #17 – (Turkish words used by Armenians)
Having lived for centuries with the Turks, who occupied the Armenian homeland, it would be remarkable if the Armenians had not adopted many Turkish terms in their everyday speech. Some Turkish words regularly used by Armenians, especially in the towns and cities with mixed populations, are:
· chojouk (child)
· chuplak (naked)
· lahana (cabbage)
Slide #18 – (terms used by Armenians that are not Turkish, as thought)
However, we tend to give the Turks too much credit for some common terms that most people are familiar with and use in their daily conversation. Examples are:
· finjan (coffee cup) · jan (term of endearment) · zourna (wind instrument)
The original source of these words is Persian.
We also have:
· geuzel (graceful) · kahve (coffee) · tanjara (pot)
The original source of these words is Arabic.
Lieutenant Colonel Harry Sachaklian, a career U.S. Air Force officer stationed in Turkey, told me that the only truly Turkish vocabulary consists of military terms. The rest is all borrowed. Now, that may be an overstatement, but there is a germ of truth in it.
Turkish, after all, is a carrier language, the Turks having borrowed from all the cultures in their midst.
My father, Hagop Der Kasbarian, advised me that it was the Armenians who beautified the Turkish language.
Slide #19 = (Martayan)
This brings to mind the name Martayan, which is Turkish for mistress, and the family name of Hagop Martayan, commissioned by Mustafa Kemal to modernize the Turkish alphabet, and was given the title of Dilachar, tongue-opener.
What is true of the general vocabulary is also true of surnames.
Slide #20 - Examples of Armenian names that contain Persian roots are:
· Goulkhasian (best variety of rose) · Shahbazian (royal falcon) · Zargarian (jeweler)
In 1969, when I attended a military comptrollership course at Ft. Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis, Indiana, there were two foreign service officers in our class, one Korean, and the other Iranian, whose name was Rezvanian. I introduced myself to him, and then began conversing in Armenian. I saw immediately that he did not understand me, so I apologized, and told him that I assumed he was Armenian because his last name ended in “IAN,” which in Armenian means “son of, family of, or issued from.” He then told me that many ethnic Persians have names that end with IAN.
Slide #21 - Examples of names that contain Arabic roots are:
· Habeshian (native of Abyssinia or Ethiopia) · Jelalian (majesty, glory) · Maksoudian (design, intention)
Slide #22 - Examples of names that contain Turkish roots:
Examples of names that contain Turkish roots are:
· Boyajian (painter, dyer, or artist) · Deirmenjian (miller) · Kazanjian (kettle, boiler or cauldron maker)
Slide #23 – (Names that are not Turkish in origin)
As with the general vocabulary, we tend to assume that many Armenian surnames reflect Turkish roots, when in fact a closer examination reveals that many of them are borrowed from Persian and Arabic, which were a significant part of the Ottoman Turkish language. Examples are:
· Najjarian (carpenter) from Arabic · Nalbandian (blacksmith specializing in the shoeing of horses) from Persian · Nakashian (engraver) from Arabic
Slide #24 – (Modified Armenian names India)
Because of the length of some Armenian surnames and the difficulty in their pronunciation, some Armenians have changed their family names. In some cases, it was done by removing the "ian" ending, and in others, by adapting to the customs of a new country. This practice, especially among the Armenian merchants who settled in India, has produced some surnames, which are very hard to recognize as being Armenian. Examples are:
· Asdvadzadourian (God-given) evolved to Chater · Haroutiunian (resurrection) to Arathoon · Mardirosian (martyr) to Martyrose · Mgrdichian (baptist) to Mackertich · Sarkisian (rainbow) to Serkies
Slide # 25 – (The Armenians and the Jews)
There was a time when people were known by one name, and if necessary to distinguish one from others, would be referred to by trade, location, or parent affiliation. For example, Resartus the tailor, Isaac of York, Abou ben Adhem. Then, some time later, not too long ago, people adopted family or surnames, so we got Herman Miller, Hovsep Shamlian, Jack Johnson.
An interesting parallel can be drawn between the Jews of Germany and the Armenians of Turkey. In both cases, sometime about the eighteenth century, the rulers of those countries mandated the adoption of family names in the language of the host or occupying countries.
The difference is that whereas the German Jews were often permitted to select their names, the Turkish Armenians were often assigned names by local officials. Thus came about the adoption by Jews of beautiful names, such as:
Slide #26 – Jews in Germany
· Morgenthau (morning dew) · Schoenberg (beautiful mountain) · Blumenthal (blooming dale) · Mandelbaum (almond tree) · Saperstein (sapphire stone)
The Armenians, on the other hand, were as often as not given uncomplimentary names, in derision. For example:
Slide #27 – Armenians in occupied homeland
· Chirkinian (ugly) · Jambazian (swindler) · Tekirian (marked with spots) · Topalian (lame, crippled) · Zouloumian (cruel, oppressive)
Armenian names may possess endings such as ian, iantz, oghlu and ov, but their stems determine their basic meaning, Armenian surnames can be classed generally in seven categories, such as:
Slide # 28 – Name origins: Aristocracy, Patronymic, Occupation, Geographic origin, Physical trait, General descriptive, Special circumstances
Slide #29: Aristocracy
Aristocracy Armenians who are direct descendants of dynastic nobility still carry their ancestral family names. These names usually have the ending "ouni". Examples: · Arshagouni · Ardzrouni · Rshdouni
Slide #30 - Patronymic
Patronymic Many Armenian surnames originate from the first name of an ancestor. This practice is very common among all nations of the world. Examples:
· Avedisian (Good news!) · Garabedian (Forerunner) · Hagopian (Jacob)
Slide #31 – Occupation
Occupation Some Armenian surnames are derived from a person’s profession or trade, or that of an ancestor. These names (most have Arabic, Persian or Turkish origins) were assigned by the taxation officers to help them identify individuals in their own language. Examples:
· Chilingirian (locksmith) · Demirjian (blacksmith) · Tashjian (stonemason) Slide #32 – Geographic origin
Geographic origin An Armenian who has migrated from a certain geographic region (city, town or village) in Armenia was typically given a surname which was based on his/her geographic origin. Examples:
· Izmirlian (native of Izmir) · Marashian (native of Marash) · Vanetsian (native of Van)
Slide #33 - Physical trait
Physical trait A significant number of names are derived from obvious physical characteristic features. The names often are not flattering, but the category is too extensive to be ignored. Examples:
· Kalsahakian (bald Isaac) · Cholakian (crippled) · Shashoyan (squint-eyed)
Slide #34 – General descriptive
General descriptive This is a catch-all category that contains names that do not fit the other categories, Examples:
· Mampreyan (fertile, fruitful) · Yotnakhparian (seven brothers) · Servantsdiantz (contemporary, up-to-date)
Slide #35 - Special circumstances
Special circumstances An interesting category of names is that where some unusual occurrence or circumstance gave rise to the name. Examples:
· Choukhasouzian (without a winter overcoat) · Haviters (contrary nap) · Kherdian (break and run)
I will explain the origin of these names later in the lecture.
Editor Kathryn Manuelian has suggested the inclusion of yet another category, which is Biblical.
Slide #36 - Biblical
This concept has merit as many Armenian surnames are derived from Biblical sources.
Examples are:
Aprahamian (Father of peoples)
Hampartsoumian (Ascension of Jesus Christ)
Mgrdichian (St. John the Baptist)
There is, of course, plenty of room for overlap. Many names can be classified as both Biblical and patronymic. I came to realize that like the O prefix to Irish names, and the Mac prefix to Scottish names, practically all Armenian names with the suffix ian can be considered patronymic even though they may not be derived from first names of ancestors.
Slide #37 – Obscure names
Some obscure names can be deciphered fairly easily, such as:
· Bohajian for Boyajian (painter) · Kahaumjian for Kouyoumjian (jeweler) · Kerbeykian for Kurbuyukian (which means grey moustache), and · Akim Tamiroff, the name of the noted actor, where Akim is the diminutive for Hovakim (the father of St. Mary), and Tamiroff is the Russian form of Demirjian (blacksmith)
Slide #38 = (Detective work)
There are other names that require extensive detective work in order to get at their meaning.
Shareshian is a case in point.
According to Nicholas Shareshian, the father of a prominent Dikranagerdtsi family that resided in Union City, New Jersey, the name means black silk. Now, how do you get black silk from Shareshian?
The Turkish word for silk is ipek.
The Arabic and Persian words for silk are abrishoom, abrishim, and ibrishim.
The Armenian word for silk is medaks, which, however, is borrowed from the Greek word for silk, metaxi.
Well, where do we go from here?
In the course of my perusing an English-Armenian Dictionary published by Mesrob Kouyoumjian, I came across the word for silk sieve, which was sharmagh. Further investigation revealed that the Armenian word for silkworm is sheram, and that sericulture is sherama-pou-dzou-tioun.
Here, then, was an important clue. The shar portion of the name was validated as meaning silk.
Now, what about esh?
Esh is Armenian for donkey or ass. Nothing pertinent there.
Esh in Turkish can mean one of a pair; a husband, wife, or mate. Nothing there.
Eshek is Turkish for donkey or ass. Nothing there, either.
Eshik in Turkish is a doorway threshold, or a violin bridge. In other words, that which is weight-bearing. No connection here, also.
I, then, proceeded to check on the various words that were likely to yield the color black.
The Armenian word for black is sev.
The Turkish word for black is kara. However, there is a secondary word for black used in Turkish, borrowed by Ottoman Turkish from Persian, and that word is siyah.
Voila! siyah is Persian for black. It is also used in Turkish for black or dark.
It is possible that share (of silk in Armenian), plus siyah (black in Persian) = Sharesiyah plus ian = Sharesiyahian, which was contracted to Sharesian, subsequently became Shareshian.
The father, Nigoghos, or an ancestor was undoubtedly engaged in the silk industry which flourished in Dikranagerd, and was perpetuated in America by Armenian immigrants.
Slide # 39 – (Spelling and Country)
The spelling of a name can vary depending on the country to which the owner of the name has immigrated.
· Keshishian (English) vs. Kechichian (French) which means priest · Haroutiounian (English) vs. Arutunyan (Russian) which means resurrection · Ohanesian (English) vs. Oganesyan (Russian) which means John · Vapurdjian (French) vs. Vapurciyan (Turkish) which means steamship owner or operator
Slide # 40 - Other Strange, Humorous and Unusual Names
Slide #41 – (Ajelejian)
Ajelejian: (T) Someone always in a hurry
Slide # 42 – (Altimarmakian)
Altiparmakian (T) One with six fingers. This can be taken literally, or figuratively. Literally: I, myself, in my youth, knew of a dishwasher who worked at the Bergenline Restaurant in Union City, N.J. who had six fingers on each hand. The sixth was a tiny finger adjoining the pinkie finger.
Figuratively: The name would be applied to someone who was possessed of great dexterity, such as a musician who played a string instrument with great skill so as to make one believe that he had six fingers.
Slide # 43 – (Arkun)
Arkun (T/A) According to Aram Arkun, currently the assistant editor of the Armenian Mirror-Spectator, this is his reply to my question about the derivation and meaning of his surname:
“My Sepastatsi grandfather’s name was originally Yesai Karageuzian (which by the way means black or dark eyes). He is said to have traced his genealogy back 400 years to Van, with clergy in the family tree.
Unfortunately, the information is lost to us. My grandfather was a physician in the Turkish army during WW I. For obvious reasons he changed his name to Ismail Shevket. His last name was probably formally changed during the name law in the 1930s to Arkun. My grandfather was an amateur philologist, and I perceive a correlation between Shevket and Arkun, which latter can be construed as both Armenian and Turkish. Shevket, in Turkish, means majesty, pomp. Arkun, in Armenian, is a form of arka, a term used to describe a king or royalty. Thus, Arkun (or Arkuni) would mean, of the royal court, or, belonging to the king. In Turkish, as far as I know, Arkun has two meanings: soft, gentle; the name of a Mongol Ilkhanid ruler Arghun (the gh sound changed to k in modern Turkish.) For the foregoing reasons, there is only one family group with the name Arkun. As an interesting aside, I would mention that during the 1930s name change law, those who had changed their names earlier now had to register their names. Others were forced to take on new names. For example, a couple on my mother’s side went together to the same registry official. One was given the name Karaboulout, black cloud, and the other Siyahboulout, also black cloud, siyah having been borrowed from Persian. The official was apparently playing a cruel joke on the couple by assigning different last names with the same meaning. They had a great deal of difficulty in trying to get the same last name for both husband and wife.”
Slide # 44 – (Arnavoudian)
Arnavoudian (Al) Eddie Arnavoudian, who is a regular contributor to The Groong Armenian News Network, has the following to say about his family name as it was handed down to him:
"My dad’s side of the family were from an area around Istanbul called Arnavoudkoy or something like that. The area was named after it was settled by emigrants from European Albania called Arnavouds. The Arnavouds were divided in their religion, one part Christian, the other Muslim. How they became Armenianised or why our family adopted this name if they were not actually Arnavouds will remain an eternal mystery."
Slide # 45 – (Boujicanian)
Boujicanian (T) Buchuk: half; an: man; half a man for a short man.
Slide # 46 – (Boynoubouroukian)
Boynoubouroukian (T) One with a twisted neck.
Slide # 47 – (Choukhasouzian)
Choukhasouzian: (T) Without a winter overcoat. Now, chukha in Turkish is a kind of broadcloth used in the manufacture of heavy coats, and by extension synonymous with winter overcoat. The suffix souz means without. Thus: without an overcoat. I wasn’t sure if it meant that the bearer of the name could not afford an overcoat, or that he didn’t need one.
It wasn’t until I was introduced by my brother-in-law Ardashes Hamparian to a family relative, Levon Chookaszian that I was able to settle the matter. Levon is Professor Emeritus of Art History at Yerevan State University. When he was visiting the U.S., Levon advised that the name began with an ancestor, in Sepastia, when he bravely went out in winter without an overcoat. Levon also stated that all the persons with that surname and variations thereof are related, including Lily Chookasian, the famous opera singer.
Slide # 48– (Dadekian)
Dadekian: (A) According to Zaven Dadekian of New Jersey, this surname was originally Dadekhian. Research confirms this, and furthermore reveals that Dadekh is a variant of Dadegh, in turn a variant of Dadagh, which is a conflation of Dada and agha, Dada being the diminutive for David, and agha a term of respect for a gentleman, sir; therefore, David the gentleman.
Slide # 49 – (Deoshoghlanian)
Deoshoghlanian (T) Deosh: breast; oghlan: boy; literally breast boy; figuratively, a young man who proudly thrusts his chest forward. This comes compliments of Rosine Deoshoghlanian-Hovsepian of New Jersey, whose ancestor was assigned the name for the latter reason.
Slide #50 – (Hajakian)
Hajakian: (Ab/H) This is a true story told to me by a bearer of the name Hajakian. Once there lived a man named Hagop who was a supervisor at the stable of the Padishah of the land. His jovial disposition and assiduous attitude for his work had earned him an unswerving trust of his employer, his master, his king. The people around him, the Turks, could not pronounce his Armenian name, Hagop. Instead they called him AKUH. One bright day the Padishah received a gift from some prince. It was a most ravishing, gorgeous looking, rare breed of an Arabian white horse. Akuh, the horse keeper, fell in love with this horse and decided to steal it and ride all the way to Jerusalem. He disappeared for seven years never to be heard from.
The Padishah, realizing that Akuh was more valuable to him than just a horse, issued a Firman (an edict) declaring that he had forgiven Akuh for his misdemeanor and that wherever this Akuh was he should return to the court and resume his work at the stable.
Lo and behold, Akuh returned home with a big welcome to spend the rest of his life as a contrite employee and determined to make up for his mistake. The horse had passed away but in Jerusalem Akuh became emblazoned with a cross tattooed on his wrist thus becoming a Hadji. The Turks, thereafter, call him HADJI AKUH.
This story was told to me by the late Yeghishe Hajakian of New Jersey. Hadji Akuh was Yeghishe’s great, great, great, great grandfather.
Yeghishe was born in Lebanon as Hadjiakuhian (son of Hadji Akuh). It was too long, so he shortened it to Hajakian.
Slide # 51 – (Haviters)
Haviters: (T) In the city of Sepastia in Historic Armenia, there lived and worked two master rug weavers. A wealthy resident of the city wished to have a rug woven and commissioned one of the weavers to do the job. The weaver commenced the work, but halfway through, he died of consumption. The wealthy man who had commissioned the work then approached the other weaver to complete the job. This other master weaver accepted the offer, but being a proud artisan, decided to complete the job his own way. So, instead of picking up where the other had left off, he commenced from the other end and when he had gone far enough, joined the two parts. In doing so he ended up creating a rug with the nap going in opposite directions. This became a source for his being named haviters, hav (khav in old Turkish) meaning nap, and ters meaning contrary. Previously, the family name had been Manougian (which, by the way, means youth).
(This comes compliments of grandson Mircan Haviters of Farmingdale, NY, whose ancestors moved from Van to Sepastia 1030 years ago.)
Slide # 52 – (Jingabedoghlu)
Jingabedoghlu: (T/A) A certain family migrated to the U.S.A. from Istanbul, Turkey with this unique name. The original name of the family was Mgrdichian. However, the grandfather, who had a given name of Garabed, earned the name of Jin-Garabed because he was shrewdly intelligent; jin in Turkish from Arabic being a genie or intelligent man. Jin-Garabed was, in time, abbreviated to Jin-Gabed, and thus the family name became Jingabedoghlu, or son of Jingabed.
This information comes compliments of Shakeh Torigian, a former secretary of this very church, whose maiden name was Jingabedoghlu.
Slide # 53 – (Kanayan)
Kanayan: (T) Kan is Turkish for blood or bloody. From Khudaverdi in the Lake Urmia region there came 5 brothers to Igdir. They were a rough crowd, and became land barons; then became respectable.
(This comes compliments of Mardig Kanayan, son of General Dro, whose full name was Drastamat Kanayan.)
Slide # 54 – (Kardashian)
Perhaps the best known Armenians in the United States are the Kardashian sisters. The name Kardash means “brother” in Turkish and “stone mason” in Armenian. Courtney Kardashian, sister of Kim, named her son Mason, which leads us to believe that there may have been masons somewhere in the Kardashian family tree.
Slide # 55 – (Kavazanjian)
Kavazanjian: (A/T) Staff/cane maker or seller. [Minas Arakelian, a former employee at St. Leon’s Armenian Church, suggests that kavazan is derived from the Persian words gav for cow, and asa for rod or stick. Thus, a cow prod.]
This reminds me of a Nasreddin Khoja tale. Someone who was skeptical of Khoja’s reputation as a great teacher, decided to put him to the test by asking, “What do you call a baby cow?” to which Khoja replied, “We don’t call it anything. We wait for it to grow up and then call it a cow.”
(Slide # 56) - Kherdian
Kherdian: (T) Truncation of kherd-kach: break and run. The Kherdian sub-clan traces back to a common ancestor. The name of the entire clan was Bakaian. One part of the clan became Kherdian as a result of the following event:
Garabed Kherdian, was a carpenter by trade. One day a Turk from a neighboring village came to Khulakugh (a village near Kharpert City) and asked Grandfather Garabed to make and hang a door for him. When the job was completed, Grandfather Garabed went to see the Turk to get paid. The Turk told him that he did not have the money that day and that Grandfather should come back another day. Each time Grandfather went to see the Turk to get paid, he got the same answer. Finally, he was convinced that the Turk had no intention of paying him. So Garabed came up with a plan. Late one night, he along with his brothers and cousins went to this Turkish village. While everyone was sound asleep, they chopped down the door and fled. As they were fleeing, the Turks woke startled and started screaming “kherduh khashduh” which in Turkish dialect means “destroyed and fled.”
This comes compliments of Charles (Garabed) Hardy of Racine, Wisconsin, whose family name was Kherdian. Immigration officials gave his father a hard time and, in desperation, he chose the name of the fellow who had passed through ahead of him.
Slide # 57 – (Kherlopian)
Kherlopian: (T) Kher: good; Lop: bolt (as in food). One who swallows food by the mouthful; a gourmand.
Slide # 58 – (Koulaksouzian)
Koulaksouzian: (T) Literally, without an ear; figuratively, having no ear for music.
Slide # 59 – (Mghtsavanchian)
Mghtsavanchian: (A) One who dreams nightmares. According to Angele Manougian of the Armenian Relief Society, there is a family in Florida by that name.
Slide # 60 – (Shilgevorkian)
Shilgevorkian: (A/Gr) Shil is cross-eyed; Gevork is George; thus cross-eyed George.
Slide # 61 – (Sebiljian)
Sebiljian (Ab/T): Sebil in Arabic is a fountain where one can wash one’s hands and feet before prayer; and a sebilji is Turkish for someone who distributes water in the expectation of receiving charity.
Slide # 62 – (Sabiha Gokcen (Khatun Sebiljian)
Khatoun Sebiljian (Hatun Sebilciyan) was the name of the orphan girl who was adopted by Mustafa Kemal, and given the name Sabiha Gokçen (Sabiha Gokchen). In Turkish, both Sabiha and Gokchen mean beautiful, and was obviously a made-up name. According to interviews with Sabiha, she was the daughter of Mustafa Izzet Bey and Hayriye Hanim. However, in February 2004, journalist Hrant Dink published an article in Agos daily newspaper titled “The Secret of Sabiha Hatun,” describing how the so-called first Turkish female fighter pilot and Mustafa Kemal’s adopted child Sabiha Gokchen, was actually Armenian.
In the article, Hripsime Sebilciyan Gazalyan said that her grandfather Nerses Sebilciyan was killed during the Armenian Genocide and that, in her words, “his two daughters were Hatun and Diruhi, my mother. Hatun is Sabiha Gokchen, my aunt.” Hripsime continued by saying that “Ataturk visited the orphanage in the Cibin village of Sanliurfa’s Halfeti township. He liked my aunt Hatun and adopted her. She was 5-6 years old then. My mother cried a lot when her niece was taken away.”
However according to Turkish official registers, Gokchen, who died in 2001, was born of Bosnian extraction in Bursa, and lost her father, an exiled Ottoman official, when she was in primary school. She was adopted by Kemal in 1925, who later trained her to become a pilot. Later on, she became the first so-called “female combat pilot” of Turkey. An International Airport serving Istanbul is named after Sabiha Gökçen. Lest we harbor feelings of pride as Armenians, let us bear in mind that Sabiha Gokchen took part in the bombing of Dersim in 1937-1938 in which 10,000 Turkified Armenians, Alevis and Kurds were massacred by the Turkish government in response to a so-called rebellion, and thousands were left homeless.
Out of respect for proper language usage and historical accuracy, we should take issue with calling Sabiha Gokchen a “combat pilot,” which by definition means that she was fighting another regular armed force. Dropping bombs on civilians is not combat but genocide. Young Turk policies stripped Hatun of her Armenian identity. Mustafa Kemal then trained her to kill her own people in addition to other innocent populations.
We must add that Hrant Dink’s exposé of Gokchen’s true identity is considered one of the several reasons why the Turkish “Deep State” arranged for Dink’s assassination in 2007.
Slide # 63 – (Tahtabourounian)
Tahtabourounian (T): Wooden nose or beak. Figuratively, it can be construed to mean someone who has no sense of smell, or even one with low self-esteem, as a nose was considered a symbol of pride.
Slide #64 – (Tycho Brahe)
In the event that anyone is skeptical of such a thing as an artificial nose, he is reminded of Tycho Brahe, the 16th century Danish astronomer who lost part of his nose in a duel, and was fitted with a golden one.
Slide # 65 – (Tazian)
Tazian (T/P): From tazuh for greyhound. Retriever for Turkish hunters. (This comes compliments of ARF leader Zohrab Tazian, whose forebear earned the name.).
Slide # 66 – (Terlemezian)
Terlemezian (T): One who does not sweat. (I can imagine Armenian patriot Dajad Terlemezian, when given orders to dispose of Davo the Traitor, saying, “No sweat!”) Legend has it that an invading shah of Persia taxed the citizens of Van so severely that when they met every fresh demand of his he was prompted to say, “Don’t these people sweat?” According to Dajad, Terlemezian is a Turkification of Talamazi.
His ancestors from Van were advisors to royalty, and the symbol of their sagacity was the long hair that they displayed. Thus they were referred to as talamazi, which, it is conjectured, was a truncation of talarmazi, where talar, in Armenian, is deemed as verdant, and maz as hair. In many cultures long hair was a sign of nobility. The Parthians and Persians of high rank wore long flowing hair.
(This comes compliments of Arpi Haroutunian, Dajad Terlemezian’s grand-daughter.)
Slide # 67 – (Teoleolian)
Teoleolian- (A) Corruption of Tel Volor (thread spinner), a name bestowed on the great, great grandmother of Khachig Teoleolian, professor of history and literature at Wesleyan U., and the son of Minas Teoleolian, former editor of the Hairenik Daily newspaper. Before that, the family name was Sarkisyan. Teoleolian is a name unique to that family and Khachig is the last of the line.
Now, you might ask why people perpetuate strange, unusual or even uncomplimentary names. After all, it’s easy to just change them by adaptation.
Well, people often are attached to their names because it gives them a sense of continuity and tradition. There’s also the desire to honor their martyrs by perpetuating the memory of their identity as Armenian Christians. We should be grateful to our fellow Armenians for having retained their names as eloquent historical testimony to the oppression suffered by the Armenians at the hands of the Turks. It’s fortunate for me that Armenians have hung on to their names; otherwise I wouldn’t be here talking to you today.
I’m reminded of a story in this regard:
An American citizen of Armenian extraction wished to legally change his name, and in applying to the court of jurisdiction, appeared for a hearing before a judge. The judge addressed the applicant, “I understand you wish to change your name. What is it?” The applicant replied, “Jack Beshigtashlian.” The judge replied, “I don't blame you. What do you wish to change it to?” The applicant replied, “Joe Beshigtashlian.” Incidentally, Beshigtash means stone cradle. It is also the name of a district in Istanbul. Thus, Beshigtashli would mean a native of that district.
Slide # 68 - (Website of Dictionary URL)
This concludes my presentation. I wish to thank the Committee, and all those who have been helpful in sharing their knowledge with me. You can find a long list of personal acknowledgments in the Dictionary online. I also encourage all to discover what their own names mean by consulting this Dictionary. If you cannot find your name, email me and I will try to assist you if I can.
Slide # 69 - (C.K. Garabed photo w/email)
Slide #70 – (Sketch. Last slide. The end.)
Slide #71 – Image Credits
If anyone asks, the sources are: · Hrachia Adjarian’s Root Dictionary and Etymological Dictionary of the Armenian Language; · Tigran Avetisyan’s Dictionary of Armenian Surnames; · Stepan Malkhasian’s Explanatory Dictionary; · Dictionaries in Arabic, Armenian, Assyrian, Azerbaijani, Georgian, Greek, Kurdish, Persian, Turkish.
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