In Estonia, a person must have a surname and one or more given names. One or two given names are common, whereas the legally permitted maximum number (three) given names is nowadays very rarely used. Surname is inherited from one of the parents, and given names must be chosen by the parents at birth. The calling name, by which the person is normally identified in conversation, is one of the given names, typically the first. For example, the former president Lennart Georg Meri was usually called Lennart, and became widely known as Lennart Meri.
There is no patronymic part in modern Estonian names. [1] [2]
All official names in Estonia must be written according to the orthography of the Estonian language which is based on the Latin alphabet. Estonian orthography allows the use of letters c, q, w, x and y in writing, however these letters typically do not appear in the spelling of traditional Estonian names. [3]
Prior to 1819 few Estonian commoners had surnames.[ citation needed ] For more exact reference, the given name was prepended with a byname, some kind of identifier in possessive case, such as the name of the father, farmstead, birthplace, trade, or profession. [a] [5]
In records written in Latin and Germanic languages typical name patterns include: "placename" + "given name" (rarely "given name"+"placename"), "given name"+"patronymic"+"placename", "occupational byname" + "given name", or "given name" + "occupational byname". Often the conjunctions "de", 'van", "i" were used before the placenames. A number of variations of recording the patronymics was used, some included the byname of the father. Married women could be recorded with the given name of the father, e.g., in the pattern "«Given name» «Husband's name» wife". [6]
Very little number of native Estonian given names are recorded from pre-Christian times and most of them disappeared from written records after the 13th-century Northern Crusades. Nevertheless, Christian names became dominant in Estonia only by the end of the 15th century.[ citation needed ] There was also a tradition to give two names: one Christian and one pagan, after a grandparent. [3] In 19th century, with national awakening a limited number of old names were reintroduced, such as Kairo, Himot, Lembit, Meelis, Sulev. The female given names were not preserved, and historian suggested some reconstructions, such as Virve, Aita, Maimu, Leida, Salme, Väike/Vaike etc. [1]
Germanic names were usually adapted to Estonian phonology, e.g., Dietrich could be changed to Tiidrik or Tiidrek.
In modern times there is a great variety of Estonian given names, mixing Finnic, Germanic, and other traditions and the Registry Office of the Ministry of Interior reports that "parents keep being inventive" with the given names.[ citation needed ] In 1995, of 52,000 recorded given names only about 5,500 ones are used six or more times, i.e., the vast majority of them are unique. [3]
Often it is difficult to recognize whether an Estonian given name is male or female, since there is no grammatic distinction, although this distinction does exist in borrowed names, e.g., "Johannes" vs. "Johanna". [3] [1]
In 2004, a law about the names limited the number of name components. Specifically, a given name may consist either at most three separate names or a single double-barrelled name. The law also forbids to use numeric or other characters. [1] The law also restricts (i.e., disallows without sufficient reason): [1]
After Tsar Alexander I of Russia abolished serfdom in Estonia, all Estonian commoners were systematically assigned surnames, especially for the purposes of census. Until the early 1800s, only about 5% of the population of about 700,000 of Estonians had surnames. When a person moved to another place, his farmstead-related reference usually changed. It is argued that pastor J.F. von Roth of Kanepi Parish started giving surnames to peasants in 1809. During the reform of 1826-1835 all Estonians were assigned the hereditary family name, written after the given name. [7] Often a byname was re-used as a surname. Commonly a German surname was used, with little influence of Danish, Swedish, or Russian. [5] Russian surnames were taken by peasants who hoped to get land. Peasants who moved to a town tended to get German surnames, which sounded more respectable. For example, if a Jaan Rätsep entered the Tartu University, he graduated it as Johannes Schneider. [7]
After Estonia gained independence in 1918, the government carried out a campaign of Estonianization of surnames. [5] For example, Estonian writer Friedebert Mihkelson changed his name to Friedebert Tuglas. Until mid-1930s the Estonianization was voluntary and recommended, with the assistance of the Mother Tongue Society by Tartu University. Since mid-1930s, it became more politicized and enforced. In 1934, the Estonian Names Association and the Central Bureau of Estonianization of Names were established, both funded by the government. Estonian linguists issued instructions for Estonianization and published a recommended list of surnames. It was a period of growth in the economy and prosperity, and as the government had popular support in its efforts of fostering the Estonian national identity, the campaign was successful. [8]
During 1935–1940 the Estonian Ministry of Interior maintained the Family Name Protection Register . The protected surnames could be given only to the relatives of the surname owner with his consent. As of 1940, there were 407 protected surnames in the Register. The name protection law was not enforced and the register not used during the Soviet occupation of Estonia after World War II. [9]
During the 1944–1991 Soviet occupation of Estonia, personal identification documents were usually bilingual and all names had an "equally official" alternative spelling in the Russian Cyrillic alphabet. In official Soviet-era documents the Estonian names also had to follow the Russian-style naming customs of triple names: "given name"+"patronymic"+"surname" (for example, Estonian writer Oskar Luts was officially written in Russian "Оскар Хиндрикович Лутс", Oskar Khindrikhovich Luts, i.e., Oskar, son of Hindrik, Luts). The parallel use of Cyrillic alphabet and Russian-style patronymics in official documents was abandoned after Estonia restored independence in 1991.
The Onomastic Treasure of the CIA mentions several issues with transliteration in cases when Estonian names were taken from Russian and from the times when diacritics were used rarely in English print. In Russian, the Estonian double consonants could be rendered both as double and a single, i.e., Jansson could be written in Russian both as Янссон and Янсон, resulting in English Jansson/Janson or Yansson/Yanson. Estonian 'TS' could be rendered in Russian both as 'ТС' or 'Ц', which could create a confusion if 'Ц' transliterates as 'TZ' as in German or Yiddish Katz. Estonian letters with diacritics may be confusingly transliterated as German digraphs, e.g., original Teeäär, transliterated as Teeaeaer. If diacritics are not available, it is recommended to simply omit them: 'Teeaar'. [5]