Naming traditions

A naming system belongs to a language and a history, not to a border. These are the 148 traditions our survey describes: how a full name is built, which given names and surnames are in circulation, how to address someone, and what each one does that software gets wrong.

Afardescribed on 2 country pagesThe Afar (self-designation Qafár) are a Cushitic people of the Horn of Africa, speaking Afar (ISO 639 aa), an East Cushitic language of the Afroasiatic family that forms the Saho-Afar dialect cluster.
Afrikaansdescribed on 2 country pagesAfrikaans is a West Germanic language descended from 17th–18th century Dutch as spoken by Cape settlers (Boers / Afrikaners) and Cape communities; it standardised as a separate language in the early 20th century (official recognition 1925).
Afro-Caribbeandescribed on 25 country pagesAfro-Caribbean naming covers the Anglophone Caribbean (Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Dominica, Bermuda, etc.), the Francophone Caribbean (colonial Saint-Domingue, post-emancipation Martinique, Guadeloupe), the Saramaka Maroons of Suriname, and, by close parallel
Akandescribed on 2 country pagesAkan is spoken by the Akan people of Ghana (the study's data were collected in Asuom, Ghana).
Albaniandescribed on 4 country pagesAlbanian (shqip) is an independent branch of Indo-European, written in the Latin script.
Amazigh Berberdescribed on 5 country pagesThe Amazigh (endonym Amazigh, fem.
Americandescribed on 5 country pagesNames in the United States are broadly similar to those in all English-speaking countries but show variations tied to the country's unique history.
Arabicdescribed on 27 country pagesLanguage / family: Arabic (ar), a Central Semitic language; written in the Arabic abjad (right-to-left), with extensive Latin transliteration in international records.
Armeniandescribed on 1 country pageArmenian (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.
Azerbaijanidescribed on 2 country pagesAzerbaijani (azərbaycan dili; ISO az) is a Turkic language of the Oghuz branch, closely related to Turkish and influenced lexically by Persian and Arabic.
Balinesedescribed on 1 country pageBalinese (basa Bali, ISO ban) is an Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) language spoken by roughly 3–3.3 million people on the island of Bali (and parts of Lombok and east Java), Indonesia.
Balochidescribed on 1 country pageBalochi (ISO 639-3 bal) is a Northwestern Iranian language of the Indo-Iranian branch of Indo-European, spoken by roughly 8.8 million people.
Balticdescribed on 2 country pagesLithuanian (lietuvių, ~3 million speakers) and Latvian (latviešu, ~1.5 million) are the two surviving Baltic languages of the Indo-European family, both written in the Latin script with diacritics.
Bambara and Mandinkadescribed on 5 country pagesManding is a dialect continuum within the Mande family (often, but only tentatively, placed inside Niger-Congo: Mande is frequently treated as a divergent primary branch).
Basquedescribed on 1 country pageEuskara (Basque) is a language isolate, not Indo-European, written in the Latin alphabet, spoken in the Basque Country straddling northern Spain (Hegoalde) and southwestern France (Iparralde), with roughly 750,000 speakers.
Belarusiandescribed on 1 country pageBelarusian (be) is an East Slavic language written in Cyrillic (and historically in the Latin Łacinka alphabet), spoken by roughly 5–7 million people, chiefly in Belarus.
Bembadescribed on 1 country pageThe Bemba (autonym Babemba; language Ichibemba, ISO 639 bem) are a Bantu people of northern Zambia (Northern, Luapula and Muchinga provinces), with sizeable populations in the DR Congo and smaller numbers in Zimbabwe and Tanzania, roughly 6 million speakers in total.
Bengalidescribed on 2 country pagesBengali (বাংলা, bāṅlā) is an Indo-Aryan language written in the Bengali–Assamese script (Eastern Nagari).
Biblical and Jewishdescribed on 1 country pageHebrew is one branch of the ancient Semitic onomasticon, documented alongside Akkadian, South Arabic, Ugaritic, Canaanite, and Aramaic.
Bislama and Ni-Vanuatudescribed on 1 country pageVanuatu is a Melanesian archipelago with three official languages: Bislama (an English-lexified pidgin/creole, ~95% English-derived vocabulary on a Melanesian grammar), English, and French, plus roughly 110 indigenous Austronesian (Oceanic) languages, among the highest language-p
Britishdescribed on 59 country pagesThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland comprises four countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.
Bulgariandescribed on 1 country pageBulgarian (български, bg) is a South Slavic Indo-European language, written in Cyrillic, spoken by roughly 8 million people.
Burmesedescribed on 1 country pageBurmese (Myanmar, ISO 639 my) is a Sino-Tibetan (Tibeto-Burman) language written in the rounded Burmese/Mon abugida script (e.g.
Cantonese and Hong Kongdescribed on 6 country pagesCantonese is a Sinitic (Chinese) language written in Chinese characters (traditional in Hong Kong and Macau).
Catalandescribed on 2 country pagesCatalan (català, ISO 639 ca) is a Romance language written in the Latin script, spoken in Catalonia, Valencia (where the variety is called valencià) and the Balearic Islands, plus Andorra, the Roussillon area of France and the city of l'Alguer (Alghero) in Sardinia, roughly 9 mil
Chamorrodescribed on 2 country pagesCHamorus are the indigenous people of the Mariana Islands, chiefly Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), in the northwestern Pacific (Micronesia).
Chechen and Caucasiandescribed on 12 country pagesThe Chechens and Ingush are the Vainakh (or Nakh) peoples of the North Caucasus, together with the small Bats/Tsova-Tush group.
Chewa and Nyanjadescribed on 2 country pagesThe Chewa (Chichewa; ISO 639 ny) and the closely related Nyanja are Bantu-speaking peoples of Malawi, eastern Zambia and parts of Mozambique.
Chinesedescribed on 6 country pagesChinese personal names are written with Chinese characters, the product of a roughly logosyllabic ideographic-phonetic writing system in which a character generally represents one syllable that may be a word or morpheme.
Circassiandescribed on 12 country pagesCircassians self-designate as Adyghe (Адыгэ); "Circassian" is an exonym from Russian Cherkess.
Copticdescribed on 1 country pageCopts are the indigenous Christian community of Egypt, overwhelmingly members of the Coptic Orthodox Church (with smaller Coptic Catholic and Protestant minorities), plus a substantial diaspora (notably the US, Canada, Australia, and Europe).
Croatiandescribed on 1 country pageCroatian belongs to the South Slavic dialect continuum it shares with Bosnian, Montenegrin and Serbian, and the four standard varieties use one naming system: a single given name followed by a single hereditary surname, written in that order.
Czech and Slovakdescribed on 2 country pagesCzech (cs) and Slovak (sk) are closely related West Slavic languages, written in the Latin script with diacritics (háček ˇ, čárka ´, kroužek ˚).
Dinka and Nuerdescribed on 1 country pageBoth speak Western Nilotic languages of the Nilotic branch (Nilo-Saharan phylum), written in Latin-based orthographies that mark vowel quality and tone.
Dutchdescribed on 7 country pagesThe Dutch personal name system is used in the Low Countries, the Netherlands and Flanders (Belgium).
Dzongkha and Bhutanesedescribed on 1 country pageDzongkha (རྫོང་ཁ་, rdzong-kha) is the national language of Bhutan, a Tibetic (Sino-Tibetan > Bodish) language written in the Tibetan (Uchen) script and closely related to but distinct from Standard Tibetan.
Estoniandescribed on 1 country pageEstonian (eesti keel) is a Finnic (Uralic) language closely related to Finnish, written in the Latin script, spoken by roughly 1.1 million people, mainly in Estonia.
Ethiopian and Amharicdescribed on 2 country pagesThe naming convention described here is the Habesha system used across Ethiopia and Eritrea, centred on speakers of Amharic (አማርኛ, ISO am) and Tigrinya (ትግርኛ, ti), both Ethio-Semitic languages written in the Geʿez / Ethiopic (Fidäl) script (ISO gez).
Ewe and Gadescribed on 2 country pagesThis note covers two related but distinct cultures, both neighbours of the Akan but not Akan: Ewe (autonym Eʋe; language Eʋegbe, ISO ee).
Faroesedescribed on 3 country pagesFaroese (føroyskt, ISO fo) is a North Germanic (West Scandinavian) language of the Faroe Islands, descended from Old West Norse, closely related to Icelandic and Norwegian.
Fijiandescribed on 1 country pageFiji's two main populations have distinct naming traditions and should never be parsed by a single rule set.
Filipinodescribed on 1 country pageThe Philippines is an Austronesian-speaking archipelago in Southeast Asia.
Finnishdescribed on 2 country pagesFinnish (suomi) is a Uralic (Finnic) language, unrelated to its Indo-European neighbours, written in the Latin script.
Fondescribed on 1 country pageThe Fon (Fon nu) of southern Benin, with communities in Togo and south-western Nigeria, speak Fongbe, one of the Gbe languages (Niger-Congo > Atlantic-Congo > Volta-Niger / Kwa).
Frenchdescribed on 43 country pagesFrench is the language of France and the culture surveyed here is metropolitan France, with regional traditions noted for Basque, Breton, Corsican, Alsatian, and Flemish areas.
Frisiandescribed on 1 country pageFrisian is a West Germanic language group, West Frisian (Frysk, fy) in the Dutch province of Friesland (~450,000 speakers), plus the much smaller North Frisian (frr) and Saterland/East Frisian (stq) communities in northwestern Germany.
Fulanidescribed on 2 country pagesThe Fulani (self-name Fulɓe, sing.
Galiciandescribed on 1 country pageGalician (galego) is a Western Ibero-Romance language closely related to Portuguese (the two descend from medieval Galician-Portuguese) and in close contact with Castilian Spanish.
Georgiandescribed on 1 country pageGeorgian (ქართული, kartuli; ISO ka) is the principal Kartvelian (South Caucasian) language, spoken by ~3.7 million people, almost all in Georgia.
Germandescribed on 8 country pagesGerman names belong to the West Germanic branch and are used across Germany, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland (Liechtenstein, eastern Belgium and South Tyrol share the system).
Greekdescribed on 2 country pagesGreek personal names are written in the Greek script and drawn from a rich linguistic, cultural, and religious heritage.
Greenlandicdescribed on 1 country pageGreenlandic / Kalaallisut (kl) is an Eskimo–Aleut (Inuit) language, written in the Latin alphabet, spoken by roughly 50,000 people in Greenland, where ~88–90% of the population is of Inuit background.
Guaranidescribed on 1 country pageGuaraní (Avañe'ẽ, ISO 639-1 gn) is a Tupí–Guaraní language written in the Latin script.
Haitian Creoledescribed on 1 country pageHaitian Creole (Kreyòl ayisyen, ISO 639-1 ht) is a French-lexified creole written in the Latin script, with ~10–12 million speakers, the national language of Haiti alongside French.
Hausadescribed on 4 country pagesHausa is a Chadic language (Afro-Asiatic family), the most widely spoken first language of West Africa, with on the order of 50–80 million speakers across northern Nigeria and southern Niger and as a lingua franca through the Sahel.
Hawaiian and Samoandescribed on 2 country pagesHawaiian (ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, ISO haw) and Samoan (gagana Sāmoa, ISO sm) are Polynesian languages within the Austronesian family, written in the Latin script with the ʻokina (glottal stop, ʻ) and the kahakō macron (long vowel) as meaning-bearing diacritics.
Hindi and North Indiandescribed on 3 country pagesThis note covers Hindu naming in the Hindi Belt of north and central India: the Indo-Aryan–speaking region (Hindi, plus Bhojpuri, Rajasthani, Awadhi, Punjabi, Marwari and related varieties), written chiefly in Devanagari (देवनागरी), with Romanization for official/Latin-script use
Hokkien and Mindescribed on 5 country pagesSouthern Min (Min Nan, ISO nan) includes Hokkien (Fujian/Amoy) and the closely related Teochew (Chaozhou), spoken in southern Fujian and eastern Guangdong and, heavily, across the Chinese diaspora of Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.
Hungariandescribed on 4 country pagesHungarian is a Uralic (Uralian) agglutinative language.
Igbodescribed on 1 country pageIgbo (Ìgbò; ISO 639 ig) is a Volta–Niger language of the Niger–Congo family, spoken by roughly 30–45 million people, mainly in southeastern Nigeria (the former "Igboland").
Indian Ocean Creole and Comoriandescribed on 5 country pagesThis note covers three distinct populations of the western Indian Ocean, grouped only by region: Seychellois Creole (crs / Kreol seselwa): a French-based creole (Bourbonnais branch), Latin script, ~127,000 speakers (>99% of the Seychelles population); official since 1978 alongsid
Indonesian and Malaydescribed on 5 country pagesIndonesian (id, Bahasa Indonesia) and Malay (ms, Bahasa Melayu/Malaysia) are mutually intelligible standardised registers of the same Malayic branch of the Austronesian family, written in the Latin (Rumi) script (the older Jawi Arabic-derived script survives liturgically and cere
Irishdescribed on 1 country pageIrish (Gaeilge, ISO 639 ga) is a Goidelic (Q-Celtic) language of the Insular Celtic branch, written in the Latin script.
Israeli Hebrewdescribed on 1 country pageModern Hebrew (ivrit, ISO he) is the revived form of the ancient Semitic language, re-established as a spoken vernacular from the late 19th century and now the everyday and official language of the State of Israel (~9 million people, the majority Hebrew-speaking).
Italiandescribed on 5 country pagesItalian (ISO 639 it) is a Romance language written in the Latin script, with ~65 million native speakers, mainly in Italy, San Marino, Vatican City, and Swiss Ticino, plus large diaspora communities (Italian-American, Italian-Argentine, etc.).
Japanesedescribed on 1 country pageJapanese (nihongo 日本語; ISO 639 ja) is the national language of Japan (~125 million speakers).
Javanesedescribed on 5 country pagesJavanese is the language of the Javanese people of Central and East Java, Indonesia.
Kanuridescribed on 1 country pageThe Kanuri are the people of the historic Kanem and Bornu (Kanem–Bornu) empires of the Lake Chad basin, predominantly Sunni Muslim since the 11th century, when Kanem became a centre of Muslim learning.
Karakalpakdescribed on 3 country pagesThe Karakalpaks (qaraqalpaq "black hat") are a Turkic people of the autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan in northwestern Uzbekistan (Amu Darya delta / Aral region).
Karendescribed on 1 country pageThe Karen (Kayin) are a cluster of Sino-Tibetan peoples, chiefly S'gaw (ksw) and Pwo (pwo) Karen, numbering several million in southeastern Myanmar (Kayin/Karen State) and along the Thai border, with large refugee-resettlement communities abroad.
Kazakh and Kyrgyzdescribed on 2 country pagesKazakh (kk, Қазақ тілі) and Kyrgyz (ky, Кыргыз тили) belong to the Kipchak (Northwestern) branch of the Turkic family.
Khmerdescribed on 1 country pageKhmer is the Austroasiatic (Mon-Khmer) national language of Cambodia, written in the Khmer abugida script (ISO 639 km), with roughly 17 million speakers.
Kikuyudescribed on 1 country pageThe Kikuyu (Gĩkũyũ, self-name Agĩkũyũ) are the largest ethnic group in Kenya (~8.15 million, ~17% of the population at the 2019 census).
Kimbundu and Umbundudescribed on 1 country pageKimbundu (ISO kmb), also called North Mbundu, is a Bantu language (Niger-Congo, Guthrie Zone H) of north-western Angola (Luanda, Bengo, Cuanza Norte/Sul and Malanje provinces) with ~3.7M speakers (the Ambundu / Mbundu people); it is Angola's second-most-spoken Bantu language.
Kinyarwandadescribed on 2 country pagesKinyarwanda (Rwanda, rw/kin) and Kirundi / Rundi (Burundi, rn/run) are the two flagship, mutually intelligible varieties of the Rwanda-Rundi group (Niger-Congo > Bantu > Great Lakes).
Kongo and Lingaladescribed on 2 country pagesThis note covers several related but distinct Bantu cultures and languages, not one.
Koreandescribed on 2 country pagesLanguage / family: Korean (Koreanic), ISO 639-1 ko.
Kurdishdescribed on 4 country pagesKurdish is an Indo-European (Iranian) language, spoken by an estimated 30+ million people across a stateless region spanning south-eastern Turkey (Bakur), northern Iraq (Başûr), north-western Iran (Rojhilat) and northern Syria (Rojava).
Laodescribed on 1 country pageLao (ລາວ) is a Tai (Kra-Dai) language written in the Lao abugida, the national language of Laos with ~30 million speakers (including Isan Lao in northeast Thailand).
Latin and Vaticandescribed on 1 country pageLatin (ISO la) is the de jure official language of Vatican City (alongside working Italian) and the official language of the Holy See and the Roman Catholic Church.
Lugandadescribed on 1 country pageLuganda / Oluganda (English/scholarly: Ganda) is a Niger-Congo > Bantu (Great Lakes, Guthrie JE.15) language of the Baganda (sing.
Luodescribed on 1 country pageThe Luo (Joluo; their language is Dholuo) are a Western Nilotic people, part of the Nilotic branch of the Nilo-Saharan family, and therefore linguistically distinct from their Bantu neighbours (Luhya, Kikuyu, Kisii).
Luxembourgishdescribed on 8 country pagesLuxembourgish (Lëtzebuergesch, lb) is a Moselle Franconian (West Germanic) variety, the national language of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, used alongside official French (fr) and German (de).
Macedoniandescribed on 1 country pageMacedonian (македонски, mk) is a South Slavic Indo-European language written in Cyrillic, with ~1.4–2 million speakers, chiefly in North Macedonia.
Malagasydescribed on 1 country pageMalagasy (malagasy, ISO mg) is an Austronesian language, despite Madagascar's location off East Africa, belonging to the Malayo-Polynesian branch, specifically the Greater Barito East / East Barito group.
Maldiviandescribed on 1 country pageDhivehi (also Divehi / Maldivian; ISO 639-1 dv, ISO 639-3 div) is an Indo-Aryan language of the Indo-European family; its closest relative is Sinhala, with which it forms Sonja Fritz's "Insular" Indo-Aryan group (see Sinhalese Names).
Maltesedescribed on 6 country pagesMaltese onomastics is polystratal and polyglot: names reached the island over many centuries under complex historical and linguistic conditions, and Malta has always hosted the coexistence of various ethnic groups and their languages.
Manx and Cornishdescribed on 2 country pagesManx (gv, Goidelic/Gaelic, Isle of Man) and Cornish (kw, Brythonic/Brittonic, Cornwall) are revived Celtic languages written in the Latin alphabet, each with a few thousand speakers/learners after periods of near-extinction.
Maoridescribed on 1 country pageMāori are the indigenous inhabitants of New Zealand.
Marathidescribed on 1 country pageMarathi is an Indo-Aryan (Indo-European) language, the official language of the Indian state of Maharashtra, written in the Devanagari script (मराठी) and historically also in the Modi script.
Micronesiandescribed on 4 country pagesThree distinct Austronesian (Oceanic / Micronesian) peoples treated here: Marshallese (Kajin Majeļ, ISO mh): Republic of the Marshall Islands.
Mongoliandescribed on 1 country pageMongolian (Khalkha Mongolian, ISO 639 mn) is a Mongolic language spoken by roughly 5–6 million people, ~3.4 million of them in the state of Mongolia (the rest in Inner Mongolia, China, and diaspora).
Nauruandescribed on 1 country pageNauruan (dorerin Naoero) is the indigenous language of Nauru, an isolated Micronesian island republic of roughly 11,000–12,000 people.
Nepalidescribed on 1 country pageNepali (नेपाली) is an Indo-Aryan language written in the Devanagari script, the official language of Nepal and a major language of the surrounding Himalayan region, with on the order of ~16 million native speakers (and many more second-language users).
Oromodescribed on 1 country pageThe Oromo (Afaan Oromoo / Oromiffa, ISO om) are the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia (~35%+ of the population) with substantial communities in northern and eastern Kenya, together more than 40 million first-language speakers.
Ossetiandescribed on 12 country pagesOssetian (Ирон ӕвзаг, ISO 639 os) is an Eastern Iranian language of the Indo-European family, the sole modern survivor of the Scythian/Sarmatian/Alanic branch.
Papiamentodescribed on 3 country pagesPapiamento / Papiamentu (ISO 639 pap) is a Portuguese-based creole: ~80% of vocabulary from Iberian (Portuguese + Spanish), ~20% Dutch, with African and Indigenous (Arawak/Caquetío) contributions, written in the Latin script, ~350,000 native speakers.
Papua New Guinean and Melanesiandescribed on 3 country pagesPapua New Guinea (and Melanesia broadly: Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, parts of Fiji and West Papua) is the most linguistically diverse region on Earth; PNG alone has 800+ languages split between Austronesian and many unrelated Papuan (non-Austronesian) families.
Pashtun and Afghandescribed on 3 country pagesPashto (پښتو; ISO ps) is the Eastern Iranian language of the Pashtuns, the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan and a major group in northwestern Pakistan (~40–50+ million speakers across both states).
Persiandescribed on 2 country pagesPersian (Farsi, فارسی; ISO fa) is the Western Iranian language of Iran and a literary/administrative language across the historic Persianate world (also Dari in Afghanistan, Tajik in Tajikistan).
Polishdescribed on 1 country pagePolish is a West Slavic language.
Portuguesedescribed on 10 country pagesPortuguese is a Romance language of Southern Europe, written in the Latin script.
Punjabi and Sikhdescribed on 2 country pagesPunjabi (ਪੰਜਾਬੀ / پنجابی, panjābī) is an Indo-Aryan language with ~125+ million speakers across the Punjab region split between India and Pakistan.
Quechua and Aymaradescribed on 3 country pagesQuechua (Runa Simi, ISO 639 macrolanguage qu) and Aymara (ay) are the two largest Indigenous language groups of the central Andes, both written in the Latin script.
Romaniandescribed on 2 country pagesRomanian (limba română) is the only major Eastern Romance language, a "Latin island in a Slavic sea," written in the Latin alphabet (with diacritics ă, â, î, ș, ț).
Romanshdescribed on 11 country pagesRomansh (Rumantsch, ISO rm) is a Rhaeto-Romance language descended from spoken Latin, classified within Western/Gallo-Romance (its exact branch is debated).
Russiandescribed on 12 country pagesRussian is an East Slavic language written in Cyrillic, spoken by ~150 million native speakers (and many more as a second language) across Russia and the post-Soviet space.
Samidescribed on 1 country pageNorthern Sami (se) is a Uralic (Finno-Ugric) language written in the Latin alphabet, with roughly 20,000–25,000 speakers; it is the largest of the Sami languages of Sápmi, spanning northern Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Kola Peninsula.
Sango and Central Africandescribed on 1 country pageSango (ISO 639 sg) is an Ubangian language, usually classified as a Ngbandi-based creole that absorbed many French loanwords while keeping a wholly African (tonal, isolating, SVO) structure.
Sardinian and Corsicandescribed on 7 country pagesBoth islands speak Romance languages distinct from standard Italian and French.
Scandinaviandescribed on 9 country pagesThe mainland Scandinavian languages, Swedish (sv), Norwegian (no), Danish (da), plus Icelandic (is) form the North-Germanic branch of Indo-European, written in the Latin script (with å ä ö in Swedish, æ ø å in Danish/Norwegian, and á é í ó ú ý þ ð æ ö in Icelandic).
Serbo-Croatiandescribed on 4 country pagesSerbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin (collectively BCMS / "Serbo-Croatian") are mutually intelligible standard varieties of one South Slavic language continuum spoken by roughly 18–20 million people in Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro.
Shandescribed on 1 country pageThe Shan (Tai Yai; ISO shn) are a Tai people of roughly 5–6 million in the Shan State of eastern Myanmar and neighbouring border areas, predominantly Theravada Buddhist.
Shonadescribed on 1 country pageShona (autonym chiShona) is a Bantu language of the Niger–Congo family, written in the Latin script.
Sindhidescribed on 1 country pageSindhi is an Indo-Aryan language (the name from Sanskrit síndhu, "river," i.e.
Sinhalesedescribed on 1 country pageSinhala (සිංහල) is an Indo-Aryan language, the most widely spoken language of Sri Lanka, with roughly 17–20 million speakers (the Sinhalese are about three-quarters of Sri Lanka's population).
Sloveniandescribed on 1 country pageSlovenian is a South Slavic language (Indo-European), written in the Latin alphabet (Gaj's adaptation with č, š, ž).
Somalidescribed on 3 country pagesSomali (Af-Soomaali) is a Cushitic language of the Afroasiatic family, spoken by roughly 20+ million people across Somalia, Somaliland, Djibouti, the Somali Region of Ethiopia, north-eastern Kenya, and a large global diaspora.
Sotho and Tswanadescribed on 4 country pagesThe Sotho-Tswana cluster (Niger-Congo > Bantu, Guthrie Zone S.30) comprises three closely related languages sharing one naming logic: Southern Sotho / Sesotho (st, Lesotho + South Africa's Free State/Gauteng), Tswana / Setswana (tn, Botswana + SA North West Province), and Norther
Spanishdescribed on 22 country pagesSpanish (Castilian, ISO 639 es) is a Romance language written in the Latin script.
Swahilidescribed on 6 country pagesSwahili (Kiswahili, ISO sw) is a Bantu language of the Niger–Congo family, the northernmost member of the closely related Sabaki cluster.
Swati and Ndebeledescribed on 3 country pagesAll three are Bantu languages of the Nguni branch, written in Latin script and largely mutually intelligible with isiZulu and isiXhosa: siSwati (ss): national language of Eswatini and an official language of South Africa (Mpumalanga); roughly 2–4 million speakers.
Tahitiandescribed on 1 country pageTahitian (reo Tahiti, also reo Māʻohi) is an Eastern Polynesian language of the Austronesian family, spoken mainly on the Society Islands of French Polynesia.
Tajikdescribed on 3 country pagesTajik is an eastern variety of Persian (Farsi family), so Tajik names share their core stock and morphology with Persian Names.
Tamil and South Indiandescribed on 4 country pagesTamil is a Dravidian language written in the Tamil script (தமிழ்), spoken by roughly 80+ million people in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry (India), the north and east of Sri Lanka, and a large diaspora (Malaysia, Singapore, the Gulf, the West).
Telugudescribed on 1 country pageTelugu (తెలుగు) is a Dravidian language, the most widely spoken member of that family, written in the Telugu script (an abugida derived from Brahmi, ~56 characters: 16 vowels + 40 consonants).
Tetumdescribed on 9 country pagesTetum (Tetun, ISO tet) is an Austronesian language and, with Portuguese (pt), a co-official language of Timor-Leste (East Timor).
Thaidescribed on 1 country pageThai is spoken in Thailand and written in the Thai script.
Tigrinyadescribed on 2 country pagesTigrinya (ትግርኛ) is an Ethio-Semitic language of the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic family, written in the Geʿez / Ethiopic script (an abugida, called fidäl).
Tongandescribed on 1 country pageTongan (lea faka-Tonga; ISO 639 to) is a Polynesian language of the Austronesian family, the national language of the Kingdom of Tonga and spoken by roughly 100,000–190,000 people (in Tonga and the diaspora).
Tsonga and Vendadescribed on 2 country pagesBoth are Southern Bantu languages written in Latin script and both are official languages of South Africa, concentrated in Limpopo: Xitsonga (ts): spoken by the Vatsonga (incl.
Turkishdescribed on 2 country pagesTurkish (Türkçe) is a Turkic language (Oghuz branch), written since 1928 in a Latin-based alphabet with diacritics (ç, ğ, ı/İ, ö, ş, ü).
Turkmendescribed on 1 country pageTurkmen (türkmen dili) is an Oghuz Turkic language (close to Turkish and Azerbaijani), today written in a Latin alphabet (Cyrillic in the recent past).
Ukrainiandescribed on 1 country pageUkrainian (uk) is an East Slavic language written in Cyrillic, the official and majority language of Ukraine (~30–40 million speakers, plus a large diaspora).
Urdu and Pakistanidescribed on 1 country pageLanguage / family: Urdu (ur), an Indo-Aryan (Indo-European) language and the national language of Pakistan, also widely used by Muslims in North India.
Uyghurdescribed on 1 country pageUyghur (ئۇيغۇر تىلى) is a Turkic language written chiefly in a Perso-Arabic script (with Latin and Cyrillic variants in use historically and in the diaspora).
Uzbek and Russiandescribed on 13 country pagesThis note covers two distinct anthroponymic systems studied comparatively by Koziyeva (2022): Uzbek: a Turkic language of Central Asia (Uzbekistan).
Vietnamesedescribed on 1 country pageVietnamese personal names (VPNs) here refer primarily to those of the Kinh, Viet Nam's majority ethnic group, whose practices are taken as broadly representative of Vietnamese naming.
Welshdescribed on 1 country pageWelsh (Cymraeg, ISO cy) is a Brythonic Celtic language, written in the Latin script, spoken in Wales (a nation of the United Kingdom).
Western Polynesian Outlierdescribed on 5 country pagesFour small, closely related Polynesian-speaking populations, all heavily shaped by 19th-century Protestant mission Christianity (largely the London Missionary Society) and by 20th-century ties to New Zealand.
Wolofdescribed on 2 country pagesWolof is a West Atlantic / Senegambian language of the Niger–Congo family, spoken by roughly 5–7 million first-language speakers and used as a lingua franca by a majority of Senegal's population.
Wu and Shanghainesedescribed on 4 country pagesWu (吴语, ISO wuu) is a major Sinitic branch spoken by roughly 80 million people across Shanghai, southern Jiangsu and Zhejiang; Shanghainese is its best-known variety.
Xhosadescribed on 2 country pagesisiXhosa is a Nguni language of the Bantu family, closely related and largely mutually intelligible with isiZulu, spoken by roughly 8 million first-language speakers, chiefly in South Africa's Eastern Cape (and also Western Cape, Gauteng, Northern Cape).
Yemeni and Gulf Tribaldescribed on 7 country pagesLanguage family / script: Arabic (Central Semitic), written in the Arabic abjad.
Yorubadescribed on 2 country pagesYoruba (èdè Yorùbá; ISO 639 yo) is a Niger-Congo (Volta–Niger) language spoken by roughly 45–50 million people, primarily in southwestern Nigeria and parts of Benin and Togo, with large diaspora communities (and a deep imprint on Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Brazilian naming).
Zarma and Songhaidescribed on 1 country pageThe Zarma (Djerma) and broader Songhai/Songhay peoples live mainly in Niger (where Zarma-Songhai are ~21% of the population and Zarma/Songhay is the second language after Hausa, ~2M+ speakers) and in Mali, with smaller communities in Benin, Burkina Faso, Nigeria and Ghana; histor
Zhuangdescribed on 4 country pagesThe Zhuang (壮族; ISO za) are China's largest officially recognized ethnic minority (~18 million), a Tai-Kadai (Tai-speaking) people concentrated in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southern China near the Vietnamese border.
Zuludescribed on 1 country pageZulu (isiZulu) is a Nguni language of the Bantu family, spoken by the largest language community in South Africa, estimated at around 10 million speakers, chiefly in KwaZulu-Natal, written in Latin script.