Greek culture is one of the most influential in Western societies, but curiously, this influence has not been so present in the case of the formation of surnames.
And it is that At first, the use of surnames in Greece was not common ; It was not until approximately the 11th century when it began to be used more commonly.
In this article We will review the most common Greek surnames and their meanings.
In the same way as happens with surnames from other regions, Greek surnames also sometimes present constant or repetitive formation patterns that make it easier to know and understand the meaning.
The use of the ending or suffix -ou is common, which translates as “of.” added to the end of the father’s name or the well-known suffixes -opoulos which means “descendant of” or -iadis which translates as “son of”.
Thus, in the same way that there are Spanish surnames that are more common and that are made up of the father’s own name and suffixes that indicate that he is “son of”, a similar thing happens with Greek surnames.
Thus, It is common for the most common Greek surnames to be made up of the father’s own name and the suffixes “-ou” which translates as “of”, the well-known “-opoulos” which translates as “descendant of” or “-idis” which, similar to the previous one, would refer to “son of”.
In the specific case of women, at first they used a feminine version of their father’s name, and later changed their surname to the feminine version of their party’s name. It was not until the end of the 20th century that the law appeared that allows women to choose whether they want to change their surname when they marry or prefer to keep theirs.
Thus, knowing this way of forming Greek surnames and if you know the meaning of the words from which the proper names that constitute them come, we will be able to know how each surname is translated.
Now that we know the most common ways of creating surnames, let’s move on to mention some of the most common Greek surnames.
1. Papadopoulos
This is the most used and common surname in Greece. It means “son of the priest” as we have seen previously “-opoulos” is one of the most used suffixes to form surnames in Greece which translates as “descendant of”
The female version, which is also very common, is Papadopoulo.
2. Papageorgiou
In this case we would again find the prefix papa- which we will translate as “priest” and the proper name Georgios, which is the Greek form of George. Therefore, this surname means “from the priest Georgios”.
3. Oikonomou
Coming from the Greek word oikonomos, which means “economy” ; It is broken down into “oikos” which translates as “home” and “nemein” which means “administration”. In this way we could say that it translates as “the person who manages the home.”
4. Papadimitriou
In this surname we again find “papa” which, as we have said, translates as “priest”, the suffix “-ou” which we know means “of” and the proper name Dimitrios which comes from Demeter which means “Goddess of the earth”. . Therefore Papadimitriou would be translated as “son of the priest Dimitrios”.
5. Georgiou
This surname complies with the rule presented at first of using the name of the father, which would be Georgios, translated as we have seen Jorge, plus the suffix “-ou” which, as we have said, means “of”. Therefore in this case the surname tells us that it is “Georgio’s”
6. Papaioannou
We again find the prefix “papa-” and the suffix “-ou”. In this way it will be translated as “son of the priest Ioannis.” Ioannis in Spanish would be translated as Juan.
7. Pappas
In this case we see that only the suffix “papa” is used, and it can act as a diminutive. “Pappas” translates as “priest.”
8. Vasileiou
We find again “-ou” and the proper name Vasileios which would be translated as “of Vasileios”. In Spanish he is known as Basilio which means “king.”
9. Nikolaou
Knowing the rule it is easy to deduce that it translates as “from Nikolaos”. The word nikolaos refers to “the victory of the people”, in Spanish the proper name would be Nicolás.
10. Karagiannis
In this case, on the one hand we have “Kara” which would be translated as “black” and on the other “giannis” which is a proper name that means “God forgives”. Thus, would be translated as “black Giannis”
11. Vlachos
It makes references to the word used to name the people who lived south of the Danube River in Europe.
12. Antoniou
We again find “-ou” and the proper name Antonios which means “he who faces his adversaries”, “de Antonios”.
Since we already know how each morpheme is translated, we can easily deduce that means “son of the priest Nikolaos”
15. Dimitriou
Once again the common suffix “-ou” appears in this case it will be translated as “from Dimitrios”.
16. Ioannidis
The suffix “-iadis” which we know means “son of” and the proper name Ioannis which in Spanish translates as Juan, thus Ioannidis would be translated as son of Juan
17. Georgiadis
Knowing the suffix -iadis we can know that it means “son of Georgios”. As we have mentioned, Georgios would be translated as Jorge.
18. Triantafyllou
The term “triantafyllo” translates as “pink”, thus knowing the ending -ou we can say that it means “pink”.
19. Papadakis
We again find the prefix “papa-” which we know translates as priest and the suffix “akis” which indicates small, is a diminutive. In this way, we deduce that translates as “priest’s child” which could refer to the altar boy.
20. Athanasiou
Also referring to the name of Father Athanasios which means “immortal”. It would be translated as “of Athanasios.”
21. Konstantinidis
Suffix “-idis” translated to “son of”, plus proper name Konstantios which means constant.
22. Ioannou
It means “of Ioannis” or in Spanish “of Juan”.
23. Alexiou
Formed by the suffix “-ou” which means “of” and by the proper name Alexios which means “the protector” or “the one who defends”
24. Christodoulou
Translated as “of Christodoulos” the proper name means “servant of Christ.”
25. Theodorou
Composed of “Theos” which means God and “doron” which translates as gift, it would refer to “of Theodoros”.
26. Giannopoulos
The Greek word Giannis means “God forgives or a man faithful to God”, in this case the surname formed by the suffix “-opoulos” and the given name Giannis. translates as “descendant of Giannis”
27. Nikolaidis
From the suffix “-idis” translated as “son of” together with the proper name Nikolaos which means “victory of the people”, it will refer to “son of Nikolaos”.
28. Konstantinou
We find the suffix “-ou” again, pointing out that it translates as “from Konstantinou”. As we have seen before, the proper name means constant.
29. Michailidis
Formed by the suffix “-idis” which translates as son and the proper name Michail which in Spanish would be Miguel. It would be translated in Spanish as “son of Miguel.”
30. Panagiotopoulos
This surname is made up of the male given name Panagiotis, which comes from the term Panagia in reference to the Virgin Mary and translated as “all holy” and the suffix “-opoulos” which we know translates as “descendant of”, in this case “descendant of Panagiotis”
Knowing how each term is translated, we can know that it means “son of the priest Konstantinos”.
32. Antonopoulos
From the proper name Antonios and the suffix “-opoulos” it would be translated into Spanish as “son of Antonio”
33. Dimopoulos
Formed by the proper name Dimos, which comes from the word Demo, which translates as “people” and the suffix “-opoulos,” the surname would indicate that he is the “son of Dimos.”
34. Anastasiou
We again find the reference to the father, Anastasios, which means “resurrection.” It would be translated as “of Anastasios.”
35. Dimitriadis
Consisting of the suffix “-iadis” which means “son of” and the proper name Dimitrios, it comes from the Greek word Demeter which means Goddess of the earth.
36. Vasileiadis
Formed by the proper name Vasileios which would be translated as “king” and the suffix “-iadis” which means “son of”, thus Vasileiadis refers to “son of Vasileios”
37. Giannakopoulos
This surname is made up of the proper name Giannis, which we have seen translates as Juan in Spanish, the suffix “-akis” which indicates small and the suffix “-opoulos” which means “descendant of”.
38. Angelopoulos
Own name Angelos which would be translated as Angel and the ending “-opoulos” which means “son of”.
39. Dimou
Coming from the masculine proper name Dimos, which, as we have noted previously, derives from the word demos which means people. Together with the suffix “-ou” it would indicate “from Dimos”
40. Ioannou
It would be translated as “of Ioannis”
41. Nikolopoulos
Formed by the proper name Nikolaos, which means “victory of the people” and the well-known suffix “-opoulos”, the surname would be translated as “son of Nikolaos “.
Related article: “The 8 types of families (and their characteristics)”
42. Mylonas
The Spanish translation would be “miller.”
43. Apostolou
This surname is made up of the name Apostolos which would be translated as apostle meaning “sent” and suffix “-ou”, “of Apostolos”.
44. Petropoulos
Formed by the Greek proper name Petros, which means “stone” and the ending “-opoulos”, it refers to “descendant of Petros”.
45. Lamprou
This Greek surname is formed by the proper name Lampros, which translates as “bright” and the suffix “-ou.” Thus, tells us that the meaning of the surname is “de Lampros”
46. Christou
Formed from the Greek name Christos which means “anointed one” and the suffix “-ou”, it would be translated as “of Christos”.
47. Anagnostou
This Greek surname is made up of the proper name Anagnostes which means “reader” and the well-known suffix “-ou” which translates as “of”. From Anagnostes.
48. Raptis
This surname refers to a trade, specifically that of a tailor.
49. Athanasopoulos
In the same way as we have seen previously, it is formed by the proper name Athanasios, a Greek term that means “immortal” and the already known suffix “-opoulos”. Thus It will be translated as “descendant of Athanasios”
50. Stavropoulos
Greek surname formed by the male given name Stavros, which translates as “cross” and the ending “-opoulos,” which means “descendant of.” Therefore this surname would refer to “descendant of Stavros”.
