Albanian name

Albanian names are names that are used by

Albanian given names are traditionally originally-Albanian names or religious names (Islamic or Christian).

Albanian names have changed dramatically, with more opting for foreign, English or Romance names in recent times than the traditional Balkan names. In addition, Albanians from Albania tend to focus on names that are Greek,^[1] Italian or Western European, as opposed to those in Kosovo, North Macedonia and elsewhere that are religious, local, geographic or traditional. According to recent statistics some of the most common baby names in Albania are Amelia, Leandra and Ambra for girls, and Noel, Aron and Roan are the most common names for boys.

Given names

While in Kosovo, Montenegro and North Macedonia, Albanian ("Illyrian") and religious names are quite common, in Albania proper, Albanian or Muslim names are rarely given. That is the result of the high net emigration rate of Albania and the desire of most Albanian emigrants to assimilate internationally. Another factor is the secularisation that took place during the communist rule, which discouraged explicitly Christian or Muslim given names. In 2014, among the 20 most commonly used given names for newborn children in Albania was not a single Albanian name. Instead, "international" (Christian or English) names were most popular.^[2]

Traditionally, given names in Albania did not have Albanian origins because they were religious names, either Christian or Islamic. During

Many surnames in Albania have Islamic and Christian roots.[6]

Common last name endings include -aj, as well as common definite Albanian nominative singular endings: hence -i for originally masculine last names except for those previously ending in k, g, h or i, which add -u; that is replaced by -a/-ja for feminine names.

Many last names were originally surnames, many of them being either Muslim (Ahmeti, Rexhepi, etc.), Bektashi (Bektashi itself as a surname, Dervishi, Shehu, etc.) or Christian (Kristo(ja), Evangjeli, etc.), but a large number are neither simply come from old Albanian secular names (Zogolli, Dushku, Shkoza etc.). Albanians frequently have surnames that do not match their actual religious identity, often because of recent secularization, religious intermarriage, relatively recent conversion in late Ottoman times (many Muslims have Christian names for that reason, and after the fall of communism, some Albanians with Muslim ancestry have become practicing Christians and vice versa) or the practice of Ottoman Christians taking Muslim names because of Muslim dominance of society during those times. Names starting with Papa- usually indicate Christian origin, but there are cases of them being followed by a Muslim element (i.e. Papazisi, a name held by Albanians of both Christian and Muslim heritage).

Another major source of Albanian last names are place names- Albanians sometimes took their hometowns as surnames,^[7] and especially when a family moved to another place, they often took their former residence as a surname, leading to somewhat well known last names such as Frashëri, Përmeti, Shkodra, Kelmendi, Shkreli, Delvina, Prishtina, etc.). In the North and in Kosovo, clan names are also very prominent, most notably the names of widespread clans such as Krasniqi, Berisha and Gashi. The surnames Gega, Gegprifti, Gegaj etc. probably indicate Northern (Gheg) origins, as Toska and Toskaj do for Southerners. In addition, many names, even if not explicitly, are strongly identified with certain regions and Albanians can often tell another Albanian's regional origin from their last name. Surnames based on occupation are less common than in other countries but nevertheless the surnames Hoxha (mullah, either Bektashi or Sunni) and Prifti (priest, used by both Catholics and Orthodox) remain very common.

Arvanite and pre- modern Albanian surnames are also common. Many Arvanite surnames are found in Albania, in the modern Albanian form. For example, the word in Arvanitika (Arbërisht) for "brave" or "pallikari" (in Greek) being "çanavar" (Turkish canavar meaning "monster") or its shortened form "çavar" was pronounced "tzanavar" or "tzavar" giving birth to Arvanitic family names like "Tzanavaras" and/or "Tzavaras". This is a link between Albanian and Greek names. The

Albanians form the largest migrant group in Greece and the second-largest migrant group in Italy.[11] Many modern names are thus Greek or Italian.^{[11][need quotation to verify]} In Greece and likewise in Italy, many Albanian newcomers change their Albanian names to Greek or Italian ones and their religion, if Islam, to Christianity.^[11]

References