[in progress] Family Names Although not all Romaniote Jews had family names, the practice was well established by the 15th century. There were several types of family names: Patronymics. These were originally the bearer’s father’s real name, but by the time the names entered the records in the 15th and…
Avna’im: Hebrew Afnaim, “truly agreeable.” [link] Possibly Sephardic. Başçı: Transliterated in Hebrew as Bashaytzi or Bashaychi. Turkish, “teacher, scribe.” Beni: Possibly a nickname for Benjamin. Benveneste: Spanish “Benveniste,” indicating marriage into a Sephardic family. Finzi: An Italian Jewish family name dating to at least the 12th century. From the Italian pinchas via the Latin finca.…
Where names have both a Hebrew and a Turkish form, the name is listed as Hebrew form [Turkish form]. Many Biblical names had Arabic forms in general use, but I did not list the Arabic form unless it was given in the sources as an alternative to a Romaniot name.…
Romaniote Jews were notable for giving Greek names to their children. Due to the shortcomings of my sources, this list overstates the number of Greek names in the Romaniote name pool. In practice, roughly 14% of all Romaniote women bore Greek names. Afedra: Greek female form of the Turkish word…
Freeborn Women’s Names Asiye Hâtun bt. Ali Asiye bt. Üveys Aynî bt. Ali Aynî bt. Mehmed Aynî Aynî bt. Nasuh Ayşe Hâtun bt. Pir Ahmed Ayşe Hâtun bt. Cafer Ayşe Hâtun bt. Ferhad Ağa Ayşe bt. Mahmud Ayşe bt. Mahmud Ayşe bt. Mehmed Ayşe Hâtun bt. Pir Mehmed Bey Ayşe…
Freeborn Women’s Names Alemşah bt. Yusuf Amine Hâtun bt. Mehmed Aynî Hâtun bt. Ahmed Aynî Hâtun bt. Mehmed Aynî Hâtun bt. Salih Aynî Hâtun bt. Veli Aynî Hâtun bt. Veli Âişe bt. Ahmed Aişe bt. Behram Aişe bt. Behram Aişe Hâtun bt. Hasan Aişe Hâtun bt. Hasan Aişe Hâtun bt.…
Freeborn Women’s Names Âdile bt. Mehmed Alemşah Hâtun bt. Hayreddin Aynî Hâtun bt. Ebri Ayşe Hâtun bt. Ahmed Ayşe bt. Ali Bey Ayşe bt. Ali Ayşe Hâtun bt. Bali Bey Ayşe bt. Hacı Ebubekir Ayşe bt. İsa Ayşe bt. Hacı Mehmed Ayşe bt. Mehmed Çelebi Ayşe Hâtun bt. Mustafa Ayşe…
Freeborn Women’s Names Âbide Hâtun bt. Abdürrahim Abide Hâtun bt. Şah Ali Celebi Abide bt. Molla Muslihiddin Alemşah bt. Bayram Atike Hâtun bt. Şah Ali Celebi Aynî Hâtun bt. Ali Bey Aynî Hâtun bt. Hasan Ayşe bt. Abdulbari Ayşe bt. Pir Ahmed Ayşe bt. Ahmed Bey Ayşe bt. Ali Ayşe…
Freeborn Women’s Names Âmine bt. Hacı Hüseyin Aynî bt. Şaban Ayşe bt. Aydın Bey Cennet bt. Hasan Cennet bt. Yusuf Fatma bt. Ali Fatma bt. Cafer Fatma bt. Davud Fatma bt. Mehmed Fatma bt. Turhan Güllü bt. Süleyman Gülpaşa bt. Süleyman Hânî bt. Muslihiddin Hanife bt. Halil Hasnâ bt. Musa…
The names are organized by source, earliest to latest. Within each source, the names are divided into lists of freeborn women, slaves, and ambiguous converts whose status could not be determined. Each instance of a name represents a unique individual. In a naming pool as conservative as this, with frequencies…