Jul 12, 2011

My married surname...ski, ska, or neither?


If it isn't difficult enough to get married in Macedonia, this process just made it worse.  Okay, let's face it my husbands last name has 15 letters in it, I have yet to meet an American capable of pronouncing it correctly, including all of my family members, no matter how many times I say it, or how slow I pronounce it.  Not to mention, if I take his last name, people will think I'm a man in this country, literally.  Why is that?  Because in this country, women take their husbands' last name and change the last letter to "a".

I won't go into too many details regarding the Macedonian language, but the ending of a noun, determines the gender, and female names are no exception.  Married females, in alignment with the Macedonian language, place an "a" at the end of their name. For example, if my father's last name was Domanovski, my name would be, Domanovska.  And if I married a man I would do the same with his last name and place an "a" at the end.

I understand that keeping my maiden name isn't that big of a deal these days, but I kind of always wanted to share a name with the man I love. There's something very "connecting" about it.  But, if I take a different name, altogether, what fun is that? You see, I don't have a problem with changing my last name, I just don't know what to change it to.

Here are my options:
  1. Keep my last name for convenience
  2. Take my husband's last name, & deal with the gender issues
  3. Take my husband's last name and change the last letter to "a"
  4. Keep my last name and add his last name, thus creating the longest name in history
  5. Keep my last name, add his last name and change the last letter to "a"


Fun Facts:

In 1944, the Yugoslav Communist Party introduced a plan to give all Macedonian surnames the suffix -ski (feminine -ska), allegedly to weaken their sense of identity. If someone refused to change their name, they were not entitled to any benefits from Socialist Macedonia. Many accepted this in order to conform to the new ideology but others, in particular the communists, were willing to risk imprisonment and even execution in order to retain their own ethnic identity. Some Macedonian surnames did originally end in -ski (feminine -ska) but only those derived from an adjective, trade or place of origin. Most had the endings -ov/-ova or -ev/-eva. Surnames in the Serbian area were given the suffix -ich, first names and surnames in Aegean Macedonia were usually given the -is or -os suffixes.
Source: http://www.gaminggeeks.org/Resources/KateMonk/Europe-Eastern/Former-Yugoslavia/Macedonia/Surnames.htm

Macedonian Surname History:
In Macedonia, the ending of the name tells a story of the family's historical roots.  If the last name ends in "ski", Macedonian roots, if it ends in"ov" Serbian roots.  In addition, surnames are derived from the name of the family progenitor. For example, Stojanovski, Jovanovski, Todorovski, Stefanovski = the son of a Stojan, Jovan, Todor, Stefan, respectively.


21 comments:

  1. Your "fun fact" is untrue. Macedonians had been under foreign rule for many centuries until gaining partial autonomy in Yugoslavia. Prior to this, people's names were registered at the local church. This might have been a Bulgarian, Serbian or Greek church. Each church 'imposed' a name from their respective language: the Bulgarians had regularized the use of "-ov" in imitation of the Russians; the Serbs had systematized the use of "-ich" a little earlier; the Greeks already had a tradition of surnames as well.

    Immediately after WWII, Macedonians had to reregister their names. People were free to choose whatever surname they wanted (i.e. without the local priest butting in). In the North and East, this was usually -ov. In the South and West, this was usually -ovski. In the deep South (inside Greek borders), the Macedonians had their surnames forcibly Greekified.

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  2. Hey Jennifer, accidentally stumbled upon your blog and I really enjoy reading it.:) But, yes, I have to agree that you've been badly misinformed on the fun fact. The -ov and -ich suffixes have been added to Macedonian surnames for decades in the late 19th and 20th century, because these two neighboring countries have governed over the territory one after another for quite a while. Without going into too much detail of a history you know is complex, every newborn had to be registered at a local government office or church, which was never ruled by Macedonians at the time, therefore all babies had the names that office or church gave them. After WWII, Macedonia was established as a republic within the federation with recognized ethnic identity and separate language, therefore people were free to take on Macedonian lastnames. Those with the -ski(-ska) suffux were dominantly considered traditional Macedonian, although several regions decided to hold on to the -ov suffix too (those two are considered "normal" Macedonian now). Btw, all these suffixes are normal within Slavic-speaking countries, it's just that each country has a suffix that is dominant and more identifying.
    Source: Family experience. Both my grandfathers were listed with Serbian last names by officials when they were born in the 1920s (Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Serbian King, no recognition of Macedonians). After reaching adulthood and getting the possibility after WWII, they both voluntarily demanded their documents be changed so that they can use their Macedonian lastnames with the suffix -ski.
    Take care!

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  3. Hi Jennifer,
    What did you end up choosing? ski or ska?
    I'm just about to give a surname to my newborn daughter - I live in Australia, and have the same dilemna...
    Thanks,
    Karol

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