Armenian Names
This essay also appears on the page for Armenia, where its registers and rankings are.
Armenian (հայերեն, hayeren) is an independent branch of the Indo-European family, written in its own 38-letter alphabet devised by Mesrop Mashtots in 405 AD. It has two standardized modern forms, Eastern Armenian (the official language of the Republic of Armenia and the Iranian-Armenian community) and Western Armenian (historically Anatolia, now mostly the post-genocide diaspora in the Middle East, Europe and the Americas). Total speakers number roughly 5–7 million. The two literary standards are mutually intelligible but diverge in phonology, orthography and, importantly for names, romanization.
Տիգրան Պետրոսյան (Tigran Petrosyan)
- Tigran
- Part — Tigran
- given
- Role — given (native, after King Tigran)
A worked example from the naming-practices survey; hover or tap a part to see its role.
Structure & order
[GIVEN] [SURNAME] in everyday and Western use, e.g. Տիգրան Պետրոսյան (Tigran Petrosyan).
- Everyday order is given name first, surname last, like most European systems.
- Official Armenian documents insert a patronymic (the father's given name in the genitive/possessive case) between the given name and surname:
[GIVEN] [FATHER'S-NAME-genitive] [SURNAME]: e.g. Armen Kareni Petrosyan = "Armen, son of Karen, Petrosyan." This middle patronymic is rarely used outside forms and official records. - Note this is a grammatical patronymic used alongside an inherited surname; distinct from the fixed surname suffix below (which is also patronymic in origin but no longer regenerates each generation).
Given names
Two main layers feed the stock of given names:
- Christian / Biblical names, Armenia having adopted Christianity as a state religion in 301 AD: Հակոբ Hakob (Jacob), Հովհաննես Hovhannes (John), Պետրոս Petros (Peter), Պողոս Poghos (Paul), Մարիամ Mariam (Mary), Աննա Anna, Եղիսաբեթ Yeghisabet (Elizabeth), Թամար Tamar.
- Native Armenian names, often drawn from myth, the pre-Christian pantheon, nature, or national heroes: Հայկ Hayk (legendary founder of the nation, "giant"), Արամ Aram, Տիգրան Tigran, Վարդան Vartan/Vardan (after the 5th-c. hero Vardan Mamikonian), Անահիտ Anahit (ancient goddess of fertility), Անի Ani (the medieval capital), Նարեկ Narek, Արմեն Armen.
Names are clearly gendered, though there is no obligatory feminine surname suffix (unlike Russian or Greek). Per the Statistical Committee of Armenia (2012), popular newborn names were boys: Davit, Narek, Gor, Hayk, Arman, Samvel, Tigran, Aram; girls: Nare, Mane, Ani, Anna, Anahit, Mariam, Elen.
Family names & patronymics
Most Armenian surnames are patronymic in origin (formed from an ancestor's given name, occupation, trait, or place) fossilized as a fixed inherited family name.
How to address someone
- Պարոն paron: "Mr.", standard respectful address for men, in both dialects.
- Տիկին tikin: "Mrs./Ms.", formal honorific for women, used regardless of marital status.
- Օրիորդ oriord: "Miss", for unmarried/young women.
- These precede the given name or full name. Clergy carry religious titles (e.g. Ter Hayr, "Father") rather than paron.
Pitfalls for software
- Eastern vs Western spelling of the same surname. Western Armenian flips the voicing of the classical stop series: classical/Eastern voiceless p, t, k, ts surface as voiced b, d, g, dz in Western pronunciation. So one ancestor's name yields Petros/Petrosyan (Eastern) vs Bedros/Bedrosian (Western); Vardan vs Vartan; Grigor vs Krikor. Name-matching software must treat these as variants, not different people.
- -yan vs -ian is purely orthographic (reformed Eastern -yan vs classical diaspora -ian), both transliterate the same suffix -եան/-յան. Treat as equivalent.
- Diaspora respelling. Surnames were further adapted to host-country phonics, dropped (Aznavourian → Aznavour, Sarkissian → Serkis), or even translated (taş "stone" → "Stone"), producing wide one-to-many spelling spread for a single lineage.
- Two patronymic layers. The inherited surname is patronymic in origin but fixed; the official middle patronymic (father's name in genitive) is generated each generation and appears only on documents; don't conflate the genitive father's-name token with a second surname.
- -uni ≠ ordinary -ian. A -uni ending signals classical noble/dynastic lineage, not the generic "son of."
All worked examples
| Full name | Part | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Տիգրան Պետրոսյան (Tigran Petrosyan) | Tigran | given (native, after King Tigran) |
| Petros-yan | surname = "of Petros" (Eastern -yan spelling) | |
| Charles Aznavour (b. Aznavourian) | Charles / Շահնուր | given |
| Aznavour(-ian) | surname; -ian dropped on emigration to France | |
| Der-Bedrosian | Der- | priestly prefix ("descendant of a priest") |
| Bedros-ian | surname = "of Bedros" (Western voicing of Petros) | |
| Hovhannes Shirakatsi | Hovhannes | given (Christian, = John) |
| Shirak-atsi | locative surname = "from Shirak" |
The dominant suffix: -yan / -ian
- -յան romanizes as -yan in the reformed (Soviet/Eastern) orthography and -ian from the classical orthography -եան used by the Western diaspora. Both mean roughly "issued from / descendant of / of the family of," parallel to English -son.
- Petrosyan / Petrosian = "of Petros," Hakobyan = "of Hakob," Davtyan = "of Davit."
- Occupational or descriptive bases are common: Vardapetian ("of the teacher/celibate priest"), Keshishian ("of the priest," from Turkish keşiş), Bjishkian ("of the doctor").
Regional / classical variants
| Suffix | Native | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| -uni | -ունի | classical noble/aristocratic lineage marker, reserved for ancient lordly houses | Bagratuni, Arshakuni, Pahlavuni, Amatuni |
| -ents / -eants / -iants | -ենց / -եանց | "belonging to the house of"; rural clan/extended-family marker | (village clan names) |
| -nts / -ntz / -nc | -նց | older plural-genitive lineage suffix (esp. 19th–20th c.) | Bakunts, Adontz |
| -tsi / -atsi | -ցի | "from (a place)" — toponymic, by hometown or region | Khorenatsi (from Khoren), Shirakatsi (from Shirak) |
| -li | -լի | Turkish-origin "from (a city)" | Vanlian (from Van), Sivaslian (from Sivas) |
| -ji / -chi | -ճի | Turkish-origin occupational marker ("-er/merchant") | Kebabjian, Kahvejian (coffee merchant) |
The Ter / Der prefix
Տեր (Ter- in Eastern, Der- in Western) is a priestly honorific prefixed to a surname, indicating an ancestor who was an ordained married priest, e.g. Ter-Petrosyan, Der-Bedrosian. It may be written with a hyphen or a space.
See also
- Surname Formation
- Patronymics and Lineage
- Georgian Names
Where these names are used
The commonest given names and surnames of each, from its official register where one exists.
Cite this page: Mondonomo, “Armenian Names”, https://mondonomo.ai/names/tradition/armenian.