Latvian names, like in most European cultures, consist of two main elements: the given name (vÃÂrds) followed by family name (uzvÃÂrds). During the Soviet occupation (1940âÂÂ1941; 1944âÂÂ1991) the practice of giving a middle name (otrais vÃÂrds) was discouraged, but since the restoration of independence, Latvian legislation again allows the giving of up to two given names and it has become more common to give a middle name to children.
Latvian male names end in 1st or 2nd declension masculine endings, either -s/-à ¡ or -is (with a handful of mostly foreign exceptions ending in indeclinable -o, such as ', Raivo, Gvido, Bruno, Oto and only a few belonging to the 3rd declension ending in -us, such as Ingus, Mikus, Edà ¾us, Zemgus). Latvian female names have the feminine 4th or 5th declension endings -a or -e respectively.
For centuries, one of the most popular Latvian names has been JÃÂnis, whose written use dates back to 1290. The vocative case is used when addressing someone directly, for example, JÃÂni for JÃÂnis. The diminutive form is often used to express endearment or when addressing children, for example, addressing JÃÂnis as JÃÂnët (vocative diminutive).
Writing of Latvian names always conform to the highly phonetic Latvian orthography and highly fusional Latvian grammar, and, in the case of foreign-born Latvian nationals or marriages between Latvian women and foreigners (whence they assume the family name of their husband), the foreign names are modified to conform to the phonetic spelling and to acquire the respective case ending. For example, Gerard Depardieu is à ½erÃÂrs DepardjÃÂ, Joaquin Phoenix is Hoakins Fënikss and Donald Trump is Donalds Tramps.
This has given rise to at least half a dozen lawsuits over the last couple decades, mostly ethnic Russian Latvian nationals not content with addition of case endings. Other examples include:
Before the Christianization of Latvia in 13th century Latvians commonly gave their children names of objects from natural surroundings, such as Irbe (partridge), LÃÂcis (bear), Ieva (bird cherry) and ÃÂbele (apple tree), many of whom later became last names. Names of the following 13th and 14th-century fief-owning Baltic vassals have been recorded â Manegints, Radi÷is, Tontegode, Tots, Aulis, Maà ¾eiki brothers, Grime÷is, Sirkants, Gaià ¾a, Duvkants, DumpjÃÂts, Treinis, Gribonis, MÃÂlvaldis, Kantebute, Stegebute, Taites, Angutis, Poja, Krà «ms, PitkejÃÂnis, Tautenis, Sentots, Cielava, Karëds etc. After the Christianized Latvians began giving their children Christian first names, such as Marija, Anna, and PÃÂteris. Lutheran priest Christoph Harder also coined a number of new names from Latvian words for different virtues like Dievmëlis (God-lover), StrÃÂdulis (hard-worker), à ½ÃÂlëte (sorrowful one), and Skaidrëte (clear one).
Before the emancipation from serfdom (1817 in Courland, 1819 in Vidzeme, 1861 in Latgale) only noblemen, free craftsmen or people living in towns had surnames. Therefore, the oldest Latvian surnames usually originate from German or Low German, reflecting the dominance of German as an official language in Latvia till the 19th century. Examples: Meijers/Meijere (German: Meier, farm administrator; akin to Mayor), Millers/Millere (German: Müller, miller), à  mits/à  mite (German: Schmidt, smith), à  ulcs/à  ulca (German: Schulze, constable), Ulmanis (German: Ullmann, a person from Ulm), Godmanis (a God-man), PÃÂtersons (son of Peter). Some Latvian surnames, mainly from Latgale are of Polish or Belarusian origin by changing the final -ski/-cki to -skis/-ckis, -czyk to -ÃÂiks or -vich/-wicz to -viÃÂs, such as Sokolovskis/Sokolovska, BaldunÃÂiks/BaldunÃÂika or RatkeviÃÂs/RatkeviÃÂa. However, some surnames of Latvian origin (like Mucenieks, Kalns and Putns) have also been recorded as early as the 16th and 17th century, for example, among the transport workers.
The official records of Latvian names were often variously forcibly assimilated into the foreign culture dominant at times in Latvian lands. For example, local pastors, who were often of German descent, used to issue marriage and birth certificates with Germanized names: e.g., Kalns was written as Berg (both meaning "mountain" in Latvian and German respectively). Sometimes "de-Germanization" produced a slightly different name, e.g., Daugmants was Germanized as Daugmann and then de-Germanized into Daugmanis. Demographer IlmÃÂrs Meà ¾s has estimated that nowadays around a third of all the Latvian surnames are of German origin.
In rural regions it historically was common to identify individual by the name of the farmstead they lived in, rather than by a surname. Using surnames became mandatory after serfdom was abolished. Head of the family, usually the oldest living male, was required to choose the surname for his entire family. To document the newly adopted surnames in 1826 a special soul revision was conducted in the governorate of Livonia (in Vidzeme), in Courland the surnames were documented in 8th soul revision in 1835, while in Latgale serfdom was fully abolished only in 1866. Diminutives were the most common form of family names. Examples: Kalnià Âà ¡/Kalnià Âa (small hill), BÃÂrzià Âà ¡/BÃÂrzià Âa (small birch).
During the times when Latvia was part of the Russian Empire and Soviet Union, in official usage Latvian names were commonly Russified. In particular, it followed the three-part pattern of Russian names: given name, patronymic, family name. Also, the masculine endings of first names were often truncated. For example, poet Imants Ziedonis was officially called Imant Yanovich Ziedonis (ÃÂüðýàïýþòøàÃÂøõôþýøÃÂ)
In the 20th century, in particular, in the interbellum period of the Latvian national movement and during the Ulmanis authoritarian regime in the late 1930s, when Baltic Germans left Latvia, there was a tendency to change the Germanic names back to their Latvian origins or to adopt Latvian versions. In one such example Minister of Interior KornÃÂlijs Veitmanis became KornÃÂlijs Veidnieks.
Latvia is among the European countries that celebrate name days (vÃÂrda dienas), a celebration almost comparable in importance to that of a birthday. Most of them are related to the Saints' days in the Church calendar, but in recent decades new names have been added to the calendar by a special commission. Some names and their name days bear a connection with important holidays, for example, arguably one of the most important holidays, summer solstice, referred to as JÃÂà Âi starts on June 23 with Lëgo diena (name day for females named Lëga) and continues through June 24 or JÃÂà Âi â name day for males named JÃÂnis. Similarly MÃÂrtià Âi on November 10 coincides with the name day for males named MÃÂrtià Âà ¡, MÃÂrcis and Markuss.
Below are the most common ethnic Latvian names in 2006. However taking into account the large Eastern Slavic diaspora (Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians) that make up around one third of Latvia's population, names popular among the Slavic population make it high on this list, for example, the most popular male name in Russia Aleksandr (or Aleksandrs in its Latvian rendition) makes it as the second most common name in Latvia if all ethnicities are counted.