Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Hello everyone!!

I recently received a family photo of my ancestors from Uscie Gorlickie (my 2nd great grandparents Joachim Chowansky & Julia Krynicki and their family).

I want to record their names on back of photo, but do not have Rusyn versions of first names. I know there may be many variations, but am asking for the most common Rusyn forms of the following Anglicized names:

• Julia (or Juliana? Would Juliana be spelled with one or two n’s?)
• Joseph
• Michael
• John
• William
• Simon 
• Peter (Petrus?)
• Mildred or “Millie” (I am thinking this was maybe Emilia or Emiliana; Julia’s father was Emilianus. I found a christening record listing her name as “Semiliam, ” but this does not sound like a female name and I am thinking this must have been an error made while transcribing/trying to read old records.)

* I think the names Joachim, Anna, Maria & Gerasimus are already Rusyn forms? Please correct me if I am wrong here.

Thank you in advance for your help!

Sincerely,
Stephanie Chowansky Laughlin 

Thank you so much, Petro! I have actually seen Joachim written as “Akym” on a few records. Does this make sense?

Thanks again,

Stephanie

:)

Hi Stephanie,

Let me try to answer your question:

Julia - would be the same or Jula (pron. Yula); Juliana could be with both single/double n’s. It was not common in villages but rather among town population

Joseph - Josip/Josif (pron. Yosip), in old birth records could be Latin Josephus

Michael - Michal/Michail/Michailo

John - Ivan/Janko, in old birth records could be Latin Johanes

William - Viliam. Sorry, this name doesn't sound any close to Rusyn. Rather like Hungarian Vilmos.

Simon - Semen, in old birth records could be like Greek Simeon

Peter - would be the same or Petro, in old birth records could be latin Petrus

Mildred or “Millie” - could be Milia/Emilia. Mildred rather German, Millie is English for sure

Emilianus - Emil, would not say a common name, in old birth records Latin Emilianus

Joachim - rather German, but could be some strict priest baptized the child according to that name day

Anna and Maria - total bingo! Real Rusyn names

Gerasimus - Gerasim, would not say a common name, in old birth records Latin Gerasimus

Cheers,

Petro Z

Many, many moons ago Greg  Kolojeski published an article from "The Orthodox Herald",   http://www.rusyn.com/crgiven.htm about Carpatho-Rusyn Given (first) Names.

In summary it says:

Sons are named, in birth order as:

1. Father

2. Father's Father

3. Mother's Father

4. Other sons named after other relatives

Daughters are named, in birth order as:

1. Maria

2. Hanna

3. Olena

4. Other daughters named after other relatives

This tradition was followed in my village of Zboj, Slovakia, from the 1700's until about 1914.

In a related matter, in 1868, the Hungarian Nationalities Law dictated that minority languages were essentially banished from use in administrative and legal applications.   This explains by and large why place names are documented in Magyar ("Hungarian").

 Most of the "Magyarization" of personal names occurred only in the middle of Hungary, around Budapest.   In 1867, attempts were made to Magyarize Carpatho-Rusyn names and they pressed the churches to add western rite practices to the Greek Catholic liturgy and replace Church Slavonic with Magyar.   As you can see by the records they kept, our regions were slow to change, if ever, due to the remoteness of the region.

I thought the order of female children was Maria, Anna, Olena.  What do others think?