Some examples of funny surnames (family names) in Kosovo: Gjashtgishti “Six-finger”, Xhahnemi “Hell”, Pula “Chicken”, Gjeli “Cock”, Kënduesi “Cock”, Korbi “Raven”, Peshku “Fish”, Qorri “Blind”, Topalli “Lame”, Shurdhani “Deaf”.

Kjo është një temë shumë interesante. Por unë mendoj se askush nuk duhet të jetë e detyruar të ndryshojë emrin e tij.

Marc,

Pajtohem me ju se bartësit e këtyre mbiemrave nuk kanë pse ta ndryshojnë mbiemrin e vet, përderisa atyre nuk u pengon.

Kosovar Albanian Surnames

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/255687271_Mbiemrat_e_sotm_t_shqiptarve_t_kosovs_%28Kosovar_Albanian_Surnames%29?ev=prf_pub

Article Mbiemrat e sotëm të shqiptarëve të Kosovës (Kosovar Albanian Surnames)

Profesor Nebi:

Përveç këtyre mbiemrave qesharak që keni cekur, kam degjuar edhe disa mbiemra që janë edhe qesharak, por hyjnë edhe në mesin e fjalëve të 'pista'.

Vehbi,

Të lutem m'i dërgo, që t'i verfifikoj dhe t'i përfshij në Listën e mbiemrave

Dear Caka

As far as I know there are no insulting surnames in my nation. However, there are some people I know who have changed their surnames because they thought to be rediculous for example., "khoshgiafe" (=nice face), "dehati"(=peasant), "goorkan"(=burrier) and many others. They relate to faminine traits or indicating low class in our society. The reason they have changed is that they believe that those names are not their own names but their families'.

Mahnaz,

In Wikipedia states that “Many Azerbaijanis in Iran acquired family names from the cities in which they were living (Tehrani, Tabrizi, Isfahani, Shirazi, Meshadi). Some took on the names of their occupations (Kaffash-shoemaker, Ipakchi-silk trader, Faturachi-rope maker, Damirchi-blacksmith, Chorakchi-bread maker, Attar-spice seller). Others defined abstract terms (Omid-hope, Roshan-enlightenment, Azad-freedom, etc.).”

Are there Azerbaijanis surnames that came from nicknames or physical appearances, like English surnames:

Black, Blackman, Blake, Blue, Blythe "happy, joyous", Brown, Bullock "young bull", Butts "short, stumpy", Cock/Cocks/Cox “rooster”, Fox, Green, Gully “golias, giant", Haggard "wild, untamed, worn", Hart "male deer", Hawk; Hext "tallest", Hopper, Keen "bold, brave", Kemp "champion, warrior", Kidd "young goat, kid", King, Little, Long, Longstaff, Newman "new man, newcomer", Outlaw, Penny "penny (the coin)", Pope, Power "poor" (from Old French word ‘povre’), Proudfoot, Queen, Read "red", Readdie/Ready "prepared, prompt", Redhead, "Rey female roe deer", Rose, Rounds "son of the fat person", Savage/Savege/Savidge "wild or uncouth person", Scot, Shakesheave "shake shaft", Shine "beautiful, attractive", Smalls "small, thin", Spurling "little sparrow", Stack/Stacks "big", Stark "strong, brave", Starr "star", Stern "stern, harsh, severe", Strange "foreign", Summers "summer", Sweet "sweet, pleasant", Teel "teal, duck", Tod/Todd "fox", Trueman/Truman "trusty man", Turnbull, Verity "truth", Wallace "foreigner, stranger", Wallsh "Celtic, foreigner", White, Wilbur "wild boar", Wolf/Wolfe "wolf", Woodcock "woodcock bird", Wright "upright person", Wyght "agile, strong", Yap "devious, deceitful, bent, shrewd", Yong/Young/Younge "young".

Dear Caka,

There are lots of surnames in Azerbaijan-Iran that relates to the physichal appearance, mostly bearing positive connotation. About the meanings you have listed I will check them for you.

Regards.

Thank you very much.

Dear Caka,

The words in the list above were in two forms. They were either the exact root of the surnames or the meanings which you had provided inside qoutations. The surnames I have provided in paranteses are the meanings' equivalents existing in my town. They are not mostly Azeri and they are not exhaustive, of course.

I've not given the meanings of every surname, any way, I hope they will be helpful for your research.

Black (garabaglu, garaja, garamaleki, garaaj,garanlu, garadaglu, garachorlu,...), Blackman (ahangar), Blake, Blue (abi), Blythe "happy, joyous (sarkhosh, khoshdel, khoshgadam, khoshkar, khoshkalam, khoshgiafe, kheirandish, kheirgadam)", Brown (brani), Bullock "young bull (gavmishchian)", Butts "short (kutahi), stumpy", Cock/Cocks/Cox “rooster”, Fox, Green, Gully “golias (?barguli, vaguli), giant", Haggard "wild, untamed, worn (pareduz, nikpare)", Hart "male deer", Hawk(ogabi); Hext "tallest", Hopper, Keen "bold, brave (shoja, shojaian, shojaan, shojaipour, shojairad, javanmard)", Kemp "champion, warrior(jangju,jangi, tizjang, jangara, jangazmay, jangkhah, jangdust, ruzjang)", Kidd "young goat (bozchi), kid", King (shahi), Little (kutahi), Long (deraz, derazdast, derazi rishderaz, karderaz), Longstaff, Newman "new man (javan, deljavan, goljavan, nojavan, tazejavan, pourjavanjavanbakht, javanpour, javanshour, javanshir, javansheikh, javani, javanan), newcomer", Outlaw, Penny "penny (the coin)", Pope, Power (godrat, godrati, godratlu, gadratnoma, gavidel) "poor(tohidast, fagir, fagirollahi, fagirehag, fagiri)" (from Old French word ‘povre’), Proudfoot (gorur, goruri), Queen, Read "red (sorkhmard, sorkhe, sorkheie, sorkhi, germez, germezi, golgermez) )", Readdie/Ready (hazer, hazeri) "prepared, prompt (sokhandan)", Redhead, "Rey female roe deer", Rose (roz, rozara), Rounds (gerdi, gerdian, garduni) "son of the fat person", Savage/Savege/Savidge "wild or uncouth person (farbeh)", Scot, Shakesheave "shake shaft", Shine (derakhshi, derakhshan, derakhshande, derakhshidan) "beautiful, attractive (ziba, zibaie, zibasaz, goleziba)", Smalls "small, thin", Spurling "little sparrow", Stack/Stacks "big (bozorg, bozorgi, bozorgan, rokhbozorg)", Stark "strong (zouravar, tizgadam), brave", Starr "star (setare), ", Stern "stern, harsh, severe (sakhtiani, sakht, sakhtdel)", Strange "foreign (garibe)", Summers "summer(tabestan, tabestani)", Sweet "sweet (shirin, bagshirin), pleasant (rahat)", Teel (til, tila, tilat, tili, tilinezhad)"teal, duck", Tod/Todd "fox", Trueman/Truman "trusty man (motamed, motamedi)", Turnbull, Verity "truth (hagigat, hagigatkhah, hagigat manesh, hagigatnia)", Wallace "foreigner, stranger", Wallsh "Celtic, foreigner", White (nezhadvaitani, pourvaitan), Wilbur "wild boar", Wolf/Wolfe "wolf ( gorgin)", Woodcock "woodcock bird", Wright "upright person (gaem, pourgaemi, gamati, bolandgamat)", Wyght "agile (jaldi), strong (gavi, gavibazu, gavipanje, gavitan, gavidast, gavidel, gavimand, gavifekr)", Yap "devious (tudar), deceitful, bent, shrewd (agel)", Yong/Young/Younge "young (javan)".

Dear Mahnaz,

Thanks a lot again for your time and effort in providing me with these useful examples.

The tombstone carver Ali Rraci from Klina, a town in the Republic of Kosovo, is better known as Ali Vorri (‘vorri’ or ‘varri’ in Albanian means ‘the tomb’, ‘the grave’), and by this name he has also registered his individual business. (Source: Norë Shabani, "Emërtimet e çuditshme të bizneseve" ["Strange Names of businesses"], Koha Ditore, nr. 6214, p. 26-27, 12 October 2014)