Kinship anthroponym in the namings of the 16th century noblemen of Kaunas region

Abstract

The documents of 1528 and 1567 illustrate that the namings of the nobility of Kaunas region have a patronymic suffix which is not always a patronym (i. e. paternal name). The document (written in 1528) includes 34 namings, 14 of which are, beyond doubt, kinship anthroponyms. The document dating back to 1567 features 6 similar cases, 2 of them being genitive patronyms, which, when used in the third anthroponymic position, present a kinship anthroponym rather than a person’s grandfather’s name. There is a single instance where a kinship anthroponym in the third anthroponymic position is recorded without a patronymic suffix. Kinship anthroponyms used in the second position in the 1528 document can be treated as the first instance of surname recordings. Three out of nine kinship anthroponyms in the names of the nobility (in the document of 1567) can be treated as surnames. There should be more surnames in this document but the standards of naming nobility representatives in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania at that time did not allow that (the recording consisted of a personal name + patronymic (i. e. father’s name)), and once a kinship name (kinship anthroponym + kinship toponym) was given at the beginning of the noblemen list, the kinship anthroponym could only be included in exceptional cases. 20 kinship anthroponym counterparts could be found in the namings of the noblemen of Kaunas region (the documents of 1528 and 1567). 17 of them have counterparts in the 1690 document – they had become surnames. (We may presume that they turned into surnames in the 16th century.) It is kinship anthroponyms that are constituents of personal namings, which first turned into surnames in the index of kinship proper names of the noblemen of Kaunas region. Kinship toponyms are not used to form noblemen anthroponyms in the documents of Kaunas region dating back to 1528 and 1567.