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Lithuania

Naming Customs

Understanding customs used in surnames and given names can help you identify your ancestors in records. Learn to recognize name variations and see clues in names.

Online Tools

• Lietuviu Pavardes: Online Surname Dictionary
• Forms of Lithuanian Surnames: convert between masculine and feminine married and single surname forms
• Behind the Name: Lithuanian Surnames
• Behind the Name: Lithuanian Given Names
• FamilySearch's surname experience - enter your last name to find its meaning and origin

Surnames

Male and Female Lithuanian Surnames

In Lithuania, males and females have slightly different surnames - they consist of the same surname stem or root, but end with various suffixes depending upon gender, and upon marital status for females.

All members of a family have the same surname root, but with different endings. Male surnames typically end in the suffixes: -as, -is, -ys, -us -ė, -a. Sons inherit their father's surname, with no changes. On the other hand, wives and daughters will take upon the root of their father's surname with different suffixes depending upon their marital status. Surnames of unmarried women end in the suffix -tė while surnames of married women end in the suffix -ienė. For example, if a man's surname was Degutis, his wife would have been known as Degutienė, and their unmarried daughter would have the surname of Degutytė. If the daughter married a man with the surname of Rudzevičius, her married name would become Rudzevičienė. Any male children born to the couple would take on the name Rudzevičiūtė if female, and Rudzevičius if male.

To form married female names:

• The suffix -ienė is added to the root after the masculine suffixes -as, -is, -ys, -us, -ė, or -a is removed from the male name. In some cases, -uvienė is used instead.

To form unmarried female names:

• The suffix -aitė is added to the root if the masculine suffix is -as or -a.
• The suffixes -utė or -iūtėare are added to the root if the masculine suffix is -us or -ius.
• The suffix -ytė is added to the root if the masculine suffix is -is, -ys, or -ė.

You can use the Forms of Lithuanian Surnames converter to easily determine the married/unmarried female forms of names.

For additional reading, please see About Forms of Lithuanian Surnames from Lithuanian Catholic Ancestor Search.

Latinization and Polonization of Lithuanian Names

Although your ancestor may have been ethnically Lithuanian, you may find that their given names and/or surnames have been Latinized or Polonized. Latinization and Polonization refer to the process of converting Lithuanian versions of the name into their Latin or Polish equivalents. This conversion into Latin or Polish versions of the names was usually done by the priest creating the entries in metrical records.

• In Latin language records, only given names of the individuals mentioned in the records were generally Latinized while surnames were Polonized.
• In Polish language records, both the given name and surname were Polonized.
• In Russian language records, names were replaced with the Polish language equivalents, but then transliterated into the Cyrillic alphabet. These names are simply transliterated Polonized Lithuanian names.

For example, if your Lithuanian ancestors name was Jan Jankauskas, you may find his name recorded as:

• Latin Language record: Joannes Janowski
• Polish Language record: Jan Janowski
• Russian Language record: Ян(ъ) Яновский

When entering the names of your Lithuanian ancestors into your family tree, it's common practice to convert the Latinized/Polonized versions of the name back to the Lithuanian forms. In many ways, it is a reversal of the Polonization process.

For more information, read Polonization of Lithuanian Names in the Birth, Marriage, and Death Registers of Lithuanian Roman Catholic Churches.

Surnames Historical Development

• Before record keeping began, most people had only one name, such as Jonas.
• As the population increased, it became necessary to distinguish between individuals with the same name. The problem was usually solved by adding descriptive information. Jonas became Jonas the blacksmith (Kalvis), Jonas the son of Vasil (Vasiliauskas) Jonas the tall (Aukščionis), or Jonas from Vilnius (Vilniškis).
• At first surnames applied only to one person, not to the whole family. After a few generations, these names became hereditary and were passed on from generation to generation.
• Surnames developed from several sources. For example:
  • Occupational (based on a person’s trade, such as Kalvis (blacksmith))
  • Geographical (based on a person’s residence, such as Kaunaitis)
  • Patronymic (based on a person’s father’s name, such as the son of Simon (Šimonis))
  • Descriptive or nickname (such as Džiaugys (Joy))
• The nobility and wealthy land owners were the first to begin using surnames.
• Merchants and townspeople then adopted the custom, as did the rural population. This process took two or three centuries.

To read more about the history of surnames, see the article Lithuanian Names.

Surname Changes of Immigrants in the United States

As immigrants moved into English-speaking countries, their surnames were impacted in a variety of ways. Immigrants often changed their surnames to sound more American. Contrary to popular belief, this change was not made at Ellis Island.

• Most of the time the surname spelling changed to accommodate the different phonetic spelling in the English language. In other words, the recorder tried to write the name the way he heard it. Diacritical marks were often dropped and replaced by the unmarked English counterparts or substituted with equivalent sounding letters.
  • ė became e
  • ū became u
  • č became c or ch or cz
  • š became s or sh or sz
  • ž became z or zh
• If the surname was short, easy to pronounce and/or uncomplicated, it may have stayed the same. On the other hand, if a surname was long, complicated and/or difficult to pronounce, an ending may have been changed or removed to make it shorter.
• If the surname was a patronymic surname (typically ending it -aitis; -avičius; -evičius and meaning "son of") the immigrant may continue that tradition. For example, the surname Adomaitis (means son of Adam) may drop the Lithuaianin -aitis ending and replace it with that of -son, becoming an Adamson in the United States.
• Surnames may also have been translated outright into English, sometimes with a slight twist. For example, the Lithuanian surname "Balkus" means "white." A Lithuanian immigrant with the surname of Balkus may have became a White in the United States.
• Surname endings implying marital status for women were often dropped in the United States.
  • In the United States, unmarried Lithuanian women dropped the traditional -tė ending (which implied a woman was single) and took the same surnames as their fathers. For example, the daughter of a man with the surname of Aleksaitis would have been known as Aleksaitytė in Lithuania. In the United States, it was common for women to go by the surnames of their fathers without the -tė ending.
  • In the United States, married Lithuanian women dropped the traditional -ienė ending (which implied a woman was single) and took the same surnames as their husbands. For example, the wife of a man with the surname of Aleksaitis would have been known as Aleksaitienė. In the United States, it was common for women to go by the surnames of their husbands without the -ienė ending.
• Within a Lithuanian community, such as the local parish, immigrants may continue to use the original name, while at the same time using English-language equivalents when dealing with local government, census takers, and other English speakers.
• Different branches of the same family may adopt various surname spellings.
• Prior to 1900, formal surname changes documented in local court records are relatively rare. Most surname changes occurred naturally over time.
• During the early 20th Century, especially the World War I era, surname changes are recorded more frequently, as immigrants or, more often, their children, tried to adopt more neutral surnames.

Given Names

• A child in Lithuania is usually given one or two given names.
• As well as modern names, parents can choose a name or names for their child from a long list of traditional names; these include:

• Christian names, i.e. Biblical names or saint's names.
• Lithuanian common nouns or hydronyms used as names.

• There are popular names constructed from the words for celestial bodies (Saulė for the Sun, Aušrinė for Venus), events of nature (Audra for storm, Aušra for dawn, Rasa for dew, Vėjas for wind, Aidas for echo), plants (Linas/Lina for flax, Eglė for spruce), and river names (Ūla, Vilija for River Neris).

• invented names from literature.
• names of Lithuanian pagan deities and mythological figures.

There are some popular names of gods and goddesses from Lithuanian mythology that are used as personal names, such as Laima, goddess of luck, Žemyna, goddess of earth, Gabija, goddess of fire; Žilvinas, a serpent prince from the fairy tale Eglė the Queen of Serpents, Jūratė, goddess of the sea, and Kastytis, from the legend about Jūratė and Kastytis.

• A distinctive practice dominated in the ethnic region of Lithuania Minor, then part of East Prussia, where Lithuanized German personal names were common, such as Ansas (Hans), Grėtė (Gretchen), Vilius (Wilhelm) among Prussian Lithuanians. Some of them are still in use among Lithuanians.
• Lithuanian male and female names are distinguished grammatically.

• Almost all Lithuanian female names end in the vowels -a or -ė.

• Male names almost always end in -s, and rarely in a vowel -a. If a masculine name ending in -a has a feminine counterpart, it ends in -ė, e.g. Jogaila and Jogailė.

You can read more about given names here.

For Further Reading

• A GUIDE TO NAMES AND NAMING PRACTICES, UK Names Guide
• Lithuania Personal Names (CIA)

FamilySearch Library

Additional sources are listed in the FamilySearch Catalog:

• Lithuania - Names, Personal
• Lithuania - Names, Personal - Dictionaries