Lithuanian name
These ancient Lithuanian names are constructed from two interconnected stems, the combination of which has been used to denote certain beneficial personal qualities, for example Jo-gaila means "a strong rider".
Although virtually extinct following the Christianization of Lithuania, they continued to exist as surnames, such as Goštautas, Kęsgaila, Radvila or in their Slavicised versions, as well as in toponyms.
[note 1] The existing surnames and written sources have allowed linguists such as Kazimieras Būga to reconstruct these names.
Since there are few pre-Christian female names attested in written sources, they are often reconstructed from male variants, in addition to the historical Birutė, Aldona, Rimgailė etc.
The earliest stratum of such names originates from Old Church Slavonic; they were borrowed by Eastern Orthodoxy in their Byzantine versions.
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).
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 (Grete), Vilius (Wilhelm) among Prussian Lithuanians.
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.
Female double-stemmed Lithuanian names always end in -ė. Diminutives are very popular in everyday usage, and are by no means reserved for children.
[2] 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.
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.
[3] Although some did manage to change their last names during the interwar period,[3] 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 1935-1940,[4] Lithuanians never underwent such a process on a mass scale.
A number of surnames evolved from the ancient Lithuanian personal names, such as Budrys, Girdenis, Tylenis, Vilkas, Amantas, Bukantas, Rimgaila, Vizgirda, Tarvydas.
Examples: A patronymic surname derives from a given name of a person and usually ends in a suffix suggesting a family relation.
[11] There also is a rare archaic usage of a diminutive suffix, -iukas, appended to surnames, e.g., Dankša -> Dankšiukas, Kaplanas -> Kaplaniukas, Sederevičius -> Sederevičiukas.
[15] According to the State Data Agency, in 2008 the most popular feminine family names were:[15] 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.
In the past, these styles were reserved to members of the szlachta and played more or less the same roles as "Lord" or "Sir" and "Lady" or "Madam" in English.
