Albanian names

Albanian names are names used in, or originating in, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia and the Albanian diaspora. In Albania a complete name usually consists of a given name (Albanian: emri); the given name of the individual's father (Albanian: atësia), which is seldom included except in official documents; and a (most commonly patrilineal) family name or surname (Albanian: mbiemri). They are invariably given in the Western name order, or given name followed by family name.

Albanian given names are traditionally religious, either Christian or Islamic. During the Communist regime, based on the theory of the Illyrian origin of Albanians, supposedly Illyrian names were construed as appropriate names instead of religious ones. The government issued a decree ordering people to change their religious names to "pure Albanian names", while newborns had to receive non-religious names.

Albanian names have changed dramatically with more opting for foreign, English or Romance names in recent times than traditional Balkan names. In addition Albanians from Albania tend to focus on names that are Greek, Italian, Western European as opposed to those in Kosovo, Macedonia and elsewhere that are either religious, local, geographic or related to traditionalism.

Arvanite and pre- modern Albanian surnames are also common. Many Arvanite surnames are found in Albania, in the modern Albanian form. For example, the word in Arvanitika for "brave" or "pallikari" (in Greek) being "çanavar" (Turkish canavar meaning "monster") or its shortened form "çavar" was pronounced "tzanavar" or "tzavar" giving birth to Arvanitic family names like "Tzanavaras" and/or "Tzavaras".This is a link between Albanian and Greek names.

Traditionally, given names in Albania did not have Albanian origins because they were religious names, either Christian or Islamic. In Communist Albania, an Illyrian origin of the Albanians (without denying Pelasgian roots, a theory which has been revitalized today) continued to play a significant role in Albanian nationalism, resulting in a revival of given names supposedly of Illyrian origin, at the expense of given names associated with Christianity or Islam. This trend had originated with the 19th century Rilindja, but it became more common after 1944, when it became the communist regime's declared doctrine to oust Christian or Islamic given names. Ideologically acceptable names were listed in the Fjalor me emra njerëzish (1982). These could be native Albanian words like Flutur ("butterfly"), ideologically communist ones like Proletare, or Illyrian ones compiled from epigraphy, e.g. from the necropolis at Dyrrhachion excavated in 1958-60.

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