TOWARDS AN ANALYSIS OF SOME UNCLEAR AND DISPUTED SURNAMES

Abstract

We analyzed the etymology of 68 surnames. 14 of them are found in Ilchev’s work (1969): 9 without any attempt to analyze and 5 unsuccessfully explained. The remaining 54 surnames have not been subject to such analysis. We consider them “vague” because perhaps their bearers do not “understand” them, their origin being “debatable” and because our analyses may also be inconclusive. Of the studied 68 surnames we find 25 stems: 5 first names (3 Catholic, 1 Armenian and 1 Turkish), 1 Bulgarian place name, and 19 common nouns: 4 Bulgarian, 2 Romanian and 13 Turkish ones. The investigated 68 family names are connected to 4 languages: Turkish (14 stems), Bulgarian (8 stems), Romanian (2 stems) and Armenian (1 stem). Further, the diversity of the surnames is due chiefly to the different types of sound changes.