Lithuanian name
A Lithuanian personal name, as in most European cultures, consists of two main elements: the given name followed by the family name. The usage of personal names in Lithuania is generally governed by three major factors: civil law, canon law, and tradition. Lithuanian names always follow the rules of the Lithuanian language. Lithuanian male names have preserved the Indo-European masculine endings. These gendered endings are preserved even for foreign names.
''Vardas'' (given name)
A child in Lithuania is usually given one or two given names. Nowadays the second given name is rarely used in everyday situations. As well as modern names, parents can choose a name or names for their child from a long list of traditional names; these include:- Lithuanian names of pre-Christian origin.
- Christian names, i.e. Biblical names or saint's names.
- Lithuanian common nouns or hydronyms used as names.
- invented names from literature.
- names of Lithuanian pagan deities and mythological figures.
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, Grėtė, Vilius'' among Prussian Lithuanians. Some of them are still in use among Lithuanians.
The choice of a given name is influenced by fashion. Many parents may name their child after a national hero or heroine, some otherwise famous person, or a character from a book, film, or TV show. However, many names used in today's Lithuania have been in use since the ancient times.
Sex differentiation
Lithuanian male and female names are distinguished grammatically. Almost all Lithuanian female names end in the vowels -a or -ė, while male names almost always end in -s, and rarely in a vowel -a or -ė, e.g. Mozė. If a masculine name ending in -a has a feminine counterpart, it ends in -ė, e.g. Jogaila and Jogailė. Female double-stemmed Lithuanian names always end in -ė.Diminutives
s are very popular in everyday usage, and are by no means reserved for children. The Lithuanian language allows for a great deal of creativity in this field. Most diminutives are formed by adding a suffix. For female names this may be -elė, -utė, -ytė, or -užė; certain suffixes are more common to specific names over the rest.Also, as in many other cultures, a person may informally use a nickname in addition to or instead of a given name.
''Pavardė'' (surname)
Lithuanian surnames, like those in most of Europe, are hereditary and generally patrilineal, i.e., passed from the father to his children. Formally, Lithuanian surnames are divided into two groups—Lithuanian and non-Lithuanian ones. Non-Lithuanian surnames are typically of Slavic origin that currently possess the partially Lithuanized endings -auskas, -iauskas, -inskas, -ickas, -eckis, -avičius, -evičius, or -iškis for males and their corresponding forms for married and unmarried females. This is mainly due to historical reasons such as Grand Duchy of Lithuania using Ruthenian as its official written language instead of Lithuanian since the first written records of the Baltic language date back only to the 16th century. This led to Lithuanian personal and family names to be written by applying Slavic phonetics and morphology. The influence of Slavic naming only grew when Lithuania formed a bi-federation with the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland later on. However, in the 1930s, politicians considered passing legal acts, which would allow Lithuanians to adopt alternative family names of Lithuanian origin, but this suggestion faced many legal barriers and was criticized by some linguists who believed such family names to be of historical importance. Although some did manage to change their last names during the interwar period, unlike countries such as Finland where Fennomans urged their compatriots to change their family names of Swedish origin into Finnish ones, or Estonia, where 17% of the population Estonianized their surnames in 1935–40, Lithuanians never underwent such a process on a mass scale. In 2009, the question of Lithuanians being allowed to fully Lithuanize their family names was raised again, but it received little support.A married woman usually adopts her husband's name. However, other combinations are legally possible. The wife may keep her maiden name or add her husband's surname to hers, thus creating a double-barrelled name. It is also possible, though rare, for the husband to adopt his wife's surname or to add his wife's surname to his family name.
History
Family names first appeared in Lithuania around 1500, but were reserved for the Lithuanian nobility. They usually derived from patronymics.The use of family names gradually spread to other social groups: the townsfolk by the end of the 17th century, then the peasantry. People from the villages did not have last names until the end of the 18th century. In such cases their village of origin was usually noted in documents. The process ended only in the mid-19th century, and due to the partial Polonization of society at the time many names were influenced by Polish form of the name.
Classification
Based on origin, several groups of Lithuanian family names may be recognized.Ancient given names
A number of surnames evolved from the ancient Lithuanian personal names, such as Budrys, Girdenis, Tylenis, Vilkas, Amantas, Bukantas, Rimgaila, Vizgirda, Tarvydas. A number of them were identified from historical names of villages, farmsteads, etc., often in plural, named after the founding families, e.g., .Cognominal
A cognominal surname derives from a person's nickname, usually based on a physical or character trait.Examples:
- Naujokas, Naujokaitis – from naujas
- Kairys, Kairelis, – "leftie", from kairė
Occupational
Examples of occupational surnames:- Kalvis, Kalvelis, Kalvaitis – from kalvis
Toponymic
A toponymic surname usually derives from the name of a village or town, or the name of a topographic feature.Examples:
- Užugiris – from across the forest ;
- Kalnietis – from the mountains.
Patronymic
A patronymic surname derives from a given name of a person and usually ends in a suffix suggesting a family relation.Native Lithuanian patronymic suffixes are -aitis, -utis, -ytis, -ėlis. Patronymic suffixes -vičius/-vičiūtė/-vičienė are borrowed from Ruthenian suffix -vich.
Examples:
- Jonaitis, Janavičius, Januitis – derived from Jonas ;
- Adomaitis, Adamonis – derived from Adomas ;
- Lukošius, Lukoševičius – derived from Lukas.
Diminutives
A number of surnames are diminutives of popular first names.There also is a rare archaic usage of a diminutive suffix, -iukas, appended to surnames, e.g., Dankša -> Dankšiukas, Kaplanas -> Kaplaniukas, Sederevičius -> Sederevičiukas.
For toponymic and patronymic names the use of suffixes that cognate to the Slavic equivalent, such as -avičius, -auskas is common: Jankauskas, Adamkevičius, Lukoševičius.
Feminine forms
Lithuanian surnames have specific masculine and feminine forms. While a masculine surname usually ends in -as, -ys or -is, its feminine equivalent ends in -ienė or rarely -uvienė for married women and -aitė, -utė, -iūtė or -ytė for unmarried ones.Examples:
| Father / husband | Married woman or widow | Unmarried woman |
| Paulauskas | Paulauskienė | Paulauskaitė |
| Bimbirys | Bimbirienė | Bimbirytė |
| Adamkus | Adamkienė | Adamkutė |
| Mielkus | Mielkienė/Mielkuvienė | Mielkutė |
| Kulėšius | Kulėšienė | Kulėšiūtė |
There also is a rare archaic suffix for the unmarried feminine surname, -iukė, e.g., Martinaitis -> Martinaičiukė, which is a diminutive suffix.
In 2003, Lithuanian laws allowed women to use a short form, without disclosing the marital status. These names are used, although traditional forms are still predominant.
According to the State Data Agency, in 2008 the most popular feminine family names were:
- Kazlauskienė
- Jankauskienė
- Petrauskienė
- Stankevičienė
- Paulauskienė
Formal and informal use
Lithuanians pay great attention to the correct way of referring to or addressing other people depending on the level of social distance, familiarity and politeness. The differences between formal and informal language include:- using surnames vs. given names;
- using vs. not using honorific titles such as Ponas / Ponia;
- using the third person singular forms vs. second person singular;
- using second-person singular personal pronoun vs. second-person plural personal pronoun to address a single person.