Reminder - Importance of Greek Naming Customs When Doing Your Genealogy Research
I have been working to translate the City of Leonidiou and found a great example of the importance of being cautious when doing your Hellenic genealogy research.
Below you will see three (3) different people named Alexandros Alexandrou in the same city. This means you can't just choose information you find on any Alexandros Alexandrou and assume it is your relative. The key is to understand who the father was.
Apparently there was a grandfather named Alexandros Alexandrou, who had three sons named Nikolaos, Panagiotis, and Andreas. They each had a son that was named after the grandfather Alexandros.
Line # - Given Name, Surname - Name of Father - Age
10 -Alexandros Alexandrou - Nikolaos - 30
11 - Alexandros Alexandrou - Panagiotis - 23
12 - Alexandros Alexandrou - Andreas - 24
Excellent example and very wise counsel!
ReplyDeleteThe problem with many Hellenic surnames is that when one has too many sons, they must by tradition name their first my born makes after the natal Grandfather. Now in a Town, small town or village setting you could have two to eight boys clustering in a 10 year span, with the identical name. It gets fuzzy because they come up with descriptive nick-names to tell each one apart. In many instances the secondary or nickname becomes permanent. .then one loses the trail.
ReplyDelete