ervaha Posted May 24, 2008 Report Share Posted May 24, 2008 (edited) I was wondering.. Here in USA there are Armenian last names that end with ian and yan. What is a difference? How do we get our last names spelled differently and why? It is pronounced the same, I think, yet my last name is Sarkisyan and there is a family in my building who's last name is spelled Sarkisian. There are also names that end with yanc/ianc. Like Volodya Babayanc. Any information on that? What do you think? PS: Here is also something else I want to share. This article talks about the Armenian last names. I found it interesting. Edited May 24, 2008 by ervaha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harut Posted May 25, 2008 Report Share Posted May 25, 2008 topics to read... http://hyeforum.com/index.php?showtopic=7109&hl= http://hyeforum.com/index.php?showtopic=14870&hl= http://hyeforum.com/index.php?showtopic=12344&hl= http://hyeforum.com/index.php?showtopic=4242&hl= Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arpa Posted May 25, 2008 Report Share Posted May 25, 2008 (edited) Reluctantly, and as Harut points above, this subject has been discussed on many occasions. A word about the quote above by Gary Lindt Sinanian. We have spoken about that too. Gary is the director of ALMA (Armenian Library and Museum of America) in Watertown Mass. He is of German heritage married to an Armenian, and, with admiration and dedication to Armenian Culture has added/adopted his wives' surname of Sinanian. He speaks the Armenian language, he is more knowledgeable of our culture than many of us. Except. When he says that "uni" is of Persian origin, it seems that he may have his ABCs confused. "UNI" is of Urartuan origin, while "ani" is Persian/Arabic like in Tehr-ani, Sistani, Isfahan-i, Syrian-i.... etc, which in the Armenian language is better known as "TSI/from". And, as to "UNTS/ANTS" ending, it is a PLURAL, like saying a person is from the family of the BAKUN-(TS)-NER, or Baban-ian-(ts)- ner. Edited May 25, 2008 by Arpa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hetanos Posted May 26, 2008 Report Share Posted May 26, 2008 I was wondering.. Here in USA there are Armenian last names that end with ian and yan. What is a difference? How do we get our last names spelled differently and why? It is pronounced the same, I think, yet my last name is Sarkisyan and there is a family in my building who's last name is spelled Sarkisian. There are also names that end with yanc/ianc. Like Volodya Babayanc. Any information on that? What do you think? PS: Here is also something else I want to share. This article talks about the Armenian last names. I found it interesting. In my case, it had to do with the spelling of local bureaucrat at passport station in Moscow. Hakobyan became Akopian. Russians don't have a letter H and they spell ian instead of yan. Most Armenians who came from Russia have ian spelling and sometimes s at the end. Yerevan Armenians or from Armenia in general, on the other hand, have yan spelling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armenak Posted May 27, 2008 Report Share Posted May 27, 2008 In my case, it had to do with the spelling of local bureaucrat at passport station in Moscow. Hakobyan became Akopian. Russians don't have a letter H and they spell ian instead of yan. Most Armenians who came from Russia have ian spelling and sometimes s at the end. Yerevan Armenians or from Armenia in general, on the other hand, have yan spelling. Why do they replace h with g? I've seen Ohanyan/Ohanesyan spelled Oganyan/Oganesyan (or Oganov/Oganesov). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johannes Posted May 27, 2008 Report Share Posted May 27, 2008 There is no H letter in russian cyrillic alphabet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hetanos Posted May 27, 2008 Report Share Posted May 27, 2008 Why do they replace h with g? I've seen Ohanyan/Ohanesyan spelled Oganyan/Oganesyan (or Oganov/Oganesov). Because of luck of letter H, Russians spell it with G or sometimes with X(KH). Highway-xighway, Hi-Xi, Hrach-Grach, Holland -Gollandia and so on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hetanos Posted May 27, 2008 Report Share Posted May 27, 2008 Why do they replace h with g? I've seen Ohanyan/Ohanesyan spelled Oganyan/Oganesyan (or Oganov/Oganesov). Also, last names that end with ov, ev, in are Russian in nature. Russians don't change the ending of Armenian names, Armenians do...anything yan can become ov... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eva Posted May 27, 2008 Report Share Posted May 27, 2008 what if you have a middle name that ends in -ova ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hetanos Posted May 27, 2008 Report Share Posted May 27, 2008 (edited) what if you have a middle name that ends in -ova ? Like what? The middle name is a western phenomena. How many Armenians do you know that have middle name? Ova normally means ending of a female last name in Russian. Osipov-osipova, gavrilov-gavrilova, etc. Edited May 27, 2008 by hetanos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alyona Posted May 27, 2008 Report Share Posted May 27, 2008 I think the faster a consesus is reach about this the better for us. It's a great way of staying together, at least on the surface, for Armenians. Have the exact same ending in the last name is quite rare for any nation. That would be our unique trademark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ervaha Posted May 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 28, 2008 Also, last names that end with ov, ev, in are Russian in nature. Russians don't change the ending of Armenian names, Armenians do...anything yan can become ov... One little mistake. Lots of Armenians with their last name end with ov did take because they want it. I MIGHT be wrong, but weren't they forcing Armenians to change yan/ian to ov in Azerbaijan? At least, I know that all Armenians from Azerbaijan have it. It is impossible that they all changed to it with their own will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hetanos Posted May 28, 2008 Report Share Posted May 28, 2008 One little mistake. Lots of Armenians with their last name end with ov did take because they want it. I MIGHT be wrong, but weren't they forcing Armenians to change yan/ian to ov in Azerbaijan? At least, I know that all Armenians from Azerbaijan have it. It is impossible that they all changed to it with their own will. Azeries and Georgians did force Armenians to change their names. Not all, but some did. On the other hand, Russia did not have a such policy for the most part. Armenians in Russia did it at the turn of century for various reasons, including social and economic status. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arpa Posted August 27, 2010 Report Share Posted August 27, 2010 At the risk of being redundant, and opening old wounds let me revive a long lost topic. And in so doing maybe we can suck in some of the participant. You may hav noticzed that HyeForum is in a deep coma/մահաքուն. Yes, there is no H in the Cyrillic , it is either dropped as in Akopian or it becomes G, as Hamlet becomes Gamlet and Harry /Harut becomes Garry as in Kasparov. There is/was a prominent Armenian professional in our community whose name is Agopovich (I am not sure if he is from Russia or Bulgaria, his Armenian clients called him Hagopovich or Hagopian.).Just as in the Greek there is no H, it is often pronounced as KH. Greeks who also speak Arabic have many jokes about it, as when the Arabic word “hara”/ street turns to “khara” / human animal waste.The proper transliteration of the traditional “ եան” ending would be “EAN”, but for whatever reason it has to become “IAN”. We have spoken about this, that “EAN” in the English would sound like “EEN” as in dean/mean etc..As to “YAN”, it is once again an effect of Germano/Slavic where J is pronounced as Y. They write “karaJan” as in Herbert Von ** and pronounce it as “karaYan”, they write “Jugoslavia” and pronounce it as Yugoslavia. I have a German made map of the Near East-Naher Osten(Middle East), where Yerevan is labeled “Jerewan”. In Germanic J=Y and W=V. Is that why in the Russo-Slavo-Germano “IAN” becomes ”YAN/JAN”?If we write “ParaJanov” will that be read as “ParaYanov” by russo-Slavo-Germano readers? How about Arno BabaJanian?Remember a one time short lived FM of furkey Ali Babacan/BabaJan ? BabaYan?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Babacan ** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_von_KarajanNote that in the above site his alleged heritage is listed as “aromanian” to mean “Armenian”. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MosJan Posted August 27, 2010 Report Share Posted August 27, 2010 JAn = YAn siram BAba Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anoushik Posted August 27, 2010 Report Share Posted August 27, 2010 Ok, once and for all, what's the verdict then? Should it be "yan" or "ian"? Is there a consensus? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harut Posted August 28, 2010 Report Share Posted August 28, 2010 Ok, once and for all, what's the verdict then? Should it be "yan" or "ian"? Is there a consensus? who cares... mard@s mard lini... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anoushik Posted August 31, 2010 Report Share Posted August 31, 2010 lol, so true ... except, my husband and I happen to have the same last name! (I was disappointed at first because I always looked forward to changing my last name to my future husband's like other women looked forward to their weddings). So, my last name has a different spelling than his and mine ends with "ian" and his ends with "yan". We always joke that we'll have to fight about how to spell our future children's last name but one day it will be a reality Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yervant1 Posted August 31, 2010 Report Share Posted August 31, 2010 No need to fight over this! Just make it "yian". Problem solved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arpa Posted August 31, 2010 Report Share Posted August 31, 2010 No need to fight over this! Just make it "yian". Problem solved. Yervant, in fact you are right.It is perhaps an unwriiten rule, that at least in the Western, it is usually "ian" except when between two vowels, where the I turns to Y, like in Papayan it becomes պապա Յան even if at times some may still insist to write it as "papa-Y-ian baba-Y-ian/բաբա-Յ-եան/ պապա-Յ-եան" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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