The 50 most common Greek surnames

A review of the most common Greek surnames and their meaning.

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 the fact is that at the beginning, the use of surnames in Greece was not common.It was not until around the 11th century when they began to be used more habitually.

In this article we will review the most common Greek surnames and their meanings. and their meanings.

Formation and evolution of Greek surnames.

In the same way that 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.

It is common to use the ending or suffix -ou which translates as "of"added to the end of the father's name or the well-known suffixes -opoulos which means "descending from" or -iadis which translates as "son of".

Thus, in the same way that there are more common Spanish surnames that are formed by the father's proper name and suffixes that indicate that it is "son of", it is similar with Greek surnames.

In this way, it is common for the most common Greek surnames to consist of the father's proper name and the suffix "-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, to later change their surname to the feminine version of the name of their party. 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 get married or prefer to keep theirs.

Thus, knowing this way of formation of Greek surnames and if you know the meaning of the words from which the proper names that constitute them come from, you will be able to know how each surname is translated.

The most common Greek surnames and their meaning

Now that we know the most common ways of creating surnames, let's mention some of the most common Greek surnames.

1. Papadopoulos

This is the most used and most common surname in Greece. It means "son of the priest".As we have seen before "-opoulos" is one of the most used suffixes to form surnames in Greece which translates as "descending from".

The feminine 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 Jorge. Therefore, this surname means "of the priest Georgios".

3. Oikonomou

Coming from the Greek word oikonomos, which means "economy"; it is decomposed into "oikonomos" and "oikonomou".It is broken down into "oikos" which is translated as "home" and "nemein" which means "administration". Thus we could say that it is translated as "of the person who manages the household".

4. Papadimitriou

In this surname we find again "papa" which as we have said is translated 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 fulfills the rule presented at the beginning of using the name of the father which would be Georgios, translated as we have seen to Jorge, plus the suffix "-ou" which as we have said means "of". Therefore in this case the surname indicates that it is "de Georgio".

6. Papaioannou

Again we find the prefix "papa-" and the suffix "-ou". Thus it will be translated as "son of the priest Ioannis".. Ioannis in English would be translated as John.

7. Pappas

In this case we see that only the suffix "papa" is used, being able to act as a diminutive. "Pappas" is translated as "priest".

8. Vasileiou

We find again "-ou" and the proper name Vasileios which would be translated as "of Vasileios". In English it is known as Basilio which means "king".

9. Nikolaou

Knowing the rule it is easy to deduce that it is translated as "of 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 hand "giannis" which is a proper name that means "God forgives". Thus, it would be translated as "black Giannis"..

11. Vlachos

It refers to the word used to name the people who lived south of the Danube River in Europe.

12. Antoniou

We find again "-ou" and the proper name Antonios which means "he who confronts his adversaries", "of Antonios".

13. Makris

This Greek surname means "long" or "tall".

14. Papanikolaou

Since we already know how each morpheme is translated, we can easily deduce that it means "son of the priest Nikolaos". means "son of the priest Nikolaos"..

• You might be interested in: "The 80 most common French surnames".

15. Dimitriou

Again the common suffix "-ou" appears, in this case it will be translated as "de Dimitrios".

16. Ioannidis

The suffix "-iadis" which we know means "son of" and the proper name Ioannis which in English is translated as John, thus Ioannidis would be translated as son of John.

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 "rose", thus knowing the ending -ou we can say that it means "of rose".

19. Papadakis

We find again the prefix "papa-" which we know is translated as priest and the suffix "akis" which indicates small, it is a diminutive. Thus, we deduce that translates as "priest's child", which could refer to the altar boy. which could refer to the altar boy.

20. Athanasiou

Referring also to the name of the father Athanasios which means "immortal". It would be translated as "of Athanasios".

21. Konstantinidis

Suffix "-idis" translated to "son of", plus proper name Konstantios meaning constant.

22. Ioannou

It means "of Ioannis" or in English "of John".

23. Alexiou

Formed by the suffix "-ou" which means "of" and by the proper name Alexios which means "the protector" or "the protector". means "the protector" or "the one who defends"..

Christodoulou

Translated as "of Christodoulos" the proper name means "servant of Christ".

25. Theodorou

Composed by "Theos" which means God and "doron" which is translated as gift, it would refer to "of Theodoros".

26. Giannopoulos

The Greek word Giannis means "God forgives or man faithful to God", in this case the surname formed by the suffix "-opoulos" and the proper name Giannis is translated as "descendant of Giannis"..

27. Nikolaidis

From the suffix "-idis" translated as "son of" together with the proper name Nikolaos meaning "victory of the people", will refer to "son of Nikolaos".

28. Konstantinou

We find again the suffix "-ou" signaling us that it is translated as "of 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 English would be Michael. It would be translated in English as "son of Michael".

30. Panagiotopoulos

This surname is constituted by the masculine proper 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 is translated as "descendant of", in this case "descendant of Panagiotis"..

31. Papakonstantinou

Knowing already how each term is translated, we can know what "son of the priest Konstantinos" means.

32. Antonopoulos

From the proper name Antonios and the suffix "-opoulos" would translate into English as "son of Antonio".

33. Dimopoulos

Formed by the proper name Dimos that comes from the word Demo that is translated as "village" and the suffix "-opoulos", the surname would indicate that it is the "son of Dimos".

34. Anastasiou

We find again the reference to the father, Anastasios that means "resurrection". It would be translated as "of Anastasios".

35. Dimitriadis

Constituted by 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" meaning "son of", thus Vasileiadis refers to "son of Vasileios"..

37. Giannakopoulos

This surname is formed by the proper name Giannis that we have seen that is translated as John in English, the suffix "-akis" that indicates small and also the suffix "-opoulos" that means "descendant of".

38. Angelopoulos

Proper name Angelos which would translate as Angel and the ending "-opoulos" which means "son of".

39. Dimou

It comes from the masculine proper name Dimos that as we have pointed out before derives from the word demos that means village. Together with the suffix "-ou" it would indicate us "of Dimos"..

Ioannou

It would be translated as "of Ioannis".

41. Nikolopoulos

Formed by the proper name Nikolaos which means "victory of the people" and the already known suffix "-opoulos", the surname would be translated as "son of Nikolaos". would be translated as "son of Nikolaos".

42. mylonas

The translation in Spanish would be "molinero".

43. Apostolou

This surname is constituted by the name Apostolos that would be translated as apostle that means "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, indicates that the meaning of the surname is "of Lampros"..

46. Christou

Formed by the Greek name Christos which means "anointed" and the suffix "-ou", it would be translated as "of Christos".

47. Anagnostou

This Greek surname is formed by the proper name Anagnostes which means "reader" and the already known suffix "-ou" which translates as "of". From Anagnostes.

48. Raptis

This surname refers to a trade, specifically that of tailor.

49. Athanasopoulos

As we have seen above, it is formed by the proper name Athanasios, a Greek term meaning "immortal" and the already known suffix "-opoulos". Thus will be translated as "descendant of Athanasios"..

50. Stavropoulos

Greek surname formed by the masculine proper name Stavros which is translated as "cross" and the ending "-opoulos" which means "descendant of". Therefore this surname would refer to "descendant of Stavros".