Greek name

In the modern world, personal names among people of Greek language and culture generally consist of a given name, a patronymic, and a family name. 
History.
Ancient Greeks generally had a single name, often qualified with a patronymic, a clan or tribe, or a place of origin. Married women were identified by the name of their husbands, not their fathers.
Hereditary family names or surnames began to be used by elites in the Byzantine period. Well into the 9th century, they were rare. But by the 11th and 12th centuries, elite families often used family names. Family names came from placenames, nicknames, or occupations.
During the Ottoman period, surnames with Turkish suffixes such as "Hatzi-", "Kara-", "-(i)lis", "-tzis", and "-oglou" became common, especially among Anatolian Greeks. It is not clear when stable family surnames became widely used. Though elite families often had stable family names, many of the "last names" used by Greeks into the 19th century were either patronymics or nicknames. It is also possible that family names were simply not recorded because Ottoman administrative practice preferred patronymics, and did not require surnames.
In the 19th century, patronymic surnames became common.
For personal names, from the first century CE until the nineteenth century CE, pagan names from antiquity were mostly replaced by names from Christian scriptures and tradition. With the Modern Greek Enlightenment and the development of Greek nationalism, names from antiquity became popular again.
Family names may be patronymic in origin or else based on occupation, location, or personal characteristic. These origins are often indicated by prefixes or suffixes. Traditionally a woman used a feminine version of her father's family name, replacing it with a feminine version of her husband's family name on marriage. In modern Greece, a woman keeps her father's family name for life but may use a husband's name. 
In official documents in modern Greece, people are given three names: a given name, a patronymic and a family name.
Given names.
Until the late 18th century, almost all Christian Greeks were named for [[Saint#Eastern Orthodoxy|Orthodox saints]] from the [[Old Testament|Old]] and [[New Testament|New]] Testaments and early [[Christianity|Christian]] tradition. Since then, names of both deities and mortals from antiquity have been popular as well.
Male names usually end in -ας, -ης, and -ος, but sometimes ancient forms are also used. Female names almost always end in -α and -η, though a few end in -ώ with -ου being possible.
Since antiquity, there has been a strong tradition of naming the first and second sons after the paternal and maternal grandfathers and the first and second daughters after the paternal and maternal grandmothers. 
This results in a continuation of names in the family line, but cousins with the same official name are almost always called by different shortened forms or diminutives. The [[:fr:Liste de pr%C3%A9noms grecs#Variantes et diminutifs|French]] and [[:de:Liste griechischer Vornamen#Kurz- und Kosenamen|German]] Wikipedias have detailed lists of Greek given names showing the widespread use of shortened forms and diminutives and shortened forms of diminutives in addition to the rarely used [[Katharevousa|formal]] forms of the sometimes official [[Demotic Greek]] forms. These lists are understandable even if one doesn't understand German or French. These variants make it possible to differentiate between cousins despite these traditionally having the same official names because they are traditionally named after their grandparents.
There is a strong clustering of first names by locality according to patron saints, famous churches, or monasteries. Examples include:
When Greek names are used in other languages, they are sometimes rendered phonetically, such as "Eleni" for Ἑλένη, and sometimes by their equivalents, like "Helen" in English or "Hélène" in French. In the United States, there are also [[Anglicization of names#Greek given names|conventional anglicizations]] based on phonetic similarity rather than etymology, for example James or Jimmy for Δημήτρης/Dimitris (nickname Ντίμης/Dimi, hence Jimmy), despite the English name [[James (name)|James]] and its diminutive [[Jimmy (given name)|Jimmy]] actually coming from Greek Ἰάκωβος Iakobos, English Jacob (through Vulgar Latin Iacomus from Latin Iacobus, which is the Latinized form of Ἰάκωβος Iakobos in the Vulgar Latin and originally Greek New Testament).
Family names.
Greek family names are most commonly patronymics but may also be based on occupation, personal characteristics or location. The [[feminine gender|feminine]] version is usually the [[genitive case|genitive]] of the family name of the woman's father or husband; so, for example, Mr. Yannatos and Mrs. [[Savina Yannatou|Yannatou]].
As a result of their codification in the Modern Greek state, surnames have [[Katharevousa]] forms even though Katharevousa is no longer the official standard. Thus, the Ancient Greek name Eleutherios forms the Modern Greek proper name Lefteris. In the past, people in speaking used the family name followed by the given name, so John Eleutherios was called Leftero-giannis. In modern practice he is called Giannis Eleftheriou, where Giannis is the popular form of the formal Ioannis but Eleftheriou is an archaic genitive. For women the surname is usually a Katharevousa genitive of a male name, whereas back in Byzantine times there were separate feminine forms of male surnames, such as "Palaiologína" for "Palaiológos" which nowadays would be "Palaiológou".
In the past, women would change their surname on first marrying to that of their husband in the genitive case, so marking the change of dependence to husband from father. In early Modern Greek society, women were named with "-aina" as a feminine suffix on the husband's given name, for example "Giorgaina" signifying "wife of George". Nowadays, a woman's surname does not change upon marriage but she can use the husband's surname socially. Children usually receive the paternal surname, though some children receive the maternal surname in addition or exclusively.
In official documents, the father's name in the genitive will be inserted between a person's first and last names. For example, if John Papadopoulos has a daughter named Mary and a son named Andrew, they will be referred to as "María Ioánnou Papadopoúlou" and "Andréas Ioánnou Papadópoulos". If Mary then marries George Demetriádes, she may retain her original name or choose to be called "María Geōrgíou Demetriádou". If she is widowed, she will revert to her father's patronymic but retain her husband's surname to become "María Ioánnou Demetriádou".
Further reading.
[[Category:Names by culture]]
[[Category:Greek given names|Given names]]
[[Category:Greek-language surnames| Surnames]]
[[Category:Greek culture|Name]]
[[Category:Greek-language given names]]