Istanbul was one of the great crossroads of the world, and Üsküdar was home to a mixture of Muslims, Jews, and Greek and Armenian Christians. The court records occasionally note that a petitioner is Jewish (yahudiye) or Christian (nasraniyye), but more often they simply note that the person is a zimmi, a catchall term for non-Muslim citizens of the Empire. Most often, the records say nothing at all, and leave the reader to deduce the petitioner’s religion from their names.
The translations are generally to modern versions of Greek names, since I lacked a resource for contemporary Greek names.
The Name List
Confusingly, some of the women’s names are in male form.
Arondasina
Erine, Erini, İreni, İrini, İrina (Eireni)
Harsi
Hesna (possibly the Arabic name Hasnaa, the feminine of Hasan)
Kofana? (the translator was unclear about the transliteration of the name)
Komonini, Komini (Komnene?)
Mariya, Marya (Maria)
Marula (Maroula, a nickname for Maria)
Ödege
Ödeki
Panayot (Panagiotis, a male name; or Panayot, an Eastern European variant)
Sofyani, Sofi
Terani
Todora (Theodora)
Trandafiloz (Triantafyllos, a male name meaning “rose”)
Trani, Drani (possibly a nickname for Trandafiloz)
Vasilini (Vasilini)
Zoyi (Zoe)
Raw Data
Arondasina
Drani bt. İstrati, also called Drani bt. İstirati
Erine bt. Dimitri
Erine bt. Kosta
Erini
Erini bt. Yorgi
Harsi bt. Nikefor
Hesna bt. Kosta
İreni bt. Saru
İrina bt. Todoroz, zimmi
İrini bt. Yorgi
Kofana? bt. Yusuf
Komonini bt. Todora, also called Komini bt. Todora
Mariya bt. Kosta
Marula bt. Manol
Marula bt. Sari, zimmi
Marya bt. Mavridi
Marya bt. Mihal
Ödege bt. Nikola
Ödeki bt. Todora
Panayot bt. Yani
Sofyani bt. Manol, also called Sofi bt. Manol
Terani bt. Dimitri
Todora
Todora bt. Dimitri
Todora bt. İstafanoz, zimmi
Todora bt. Yani
Trandafiloz bt. Kiregoz
Trani bt. Dimitri
Trani bt. Solak
Vasilini bt. Manol
Zoyi bt. Mikedil
Male Names
The Turkish transliterations frequently leave off the Greek endings, possibly because speakers substituted Turkish case endings for Greek case endings.
Dimitri (Dimitri)
İstafanoz (Istefanos)
İstrati, İstirati (Istratis)
Kiregoz (possibly a variant of Karagöz, “dark eyes,” a Turkish name used by non-Muslims as well as Muslims)
Kosta (Kostas)
Manol (Manolis)
Mavridi (Mavridis)
Mihal (Mihalis)
Mikedil
Nikefor (Nikephoros)
Nikola (Nikolaos)
Sari (a Turkish nickname meaning “yellow” or “fair-haired,” also used as a name element in Greek)
Saru
Solak (a Turkic name meaning “left-handed”)
Todora, Todoroz (Theodoros)
Yani (Yannis)
Yorgi (Georgios)
Yusuf (the Arabic form of Joseph, popular among Muslims, Jews, and Christians alike)