KWHSS 2024 - Svan Names from the 13th to 17th Centuries

This is an expanded text version of the class I presented at KWHSS 2024 on Svan Names as found in the record of church gatherings in Svaneti. I apologize for the formatting; there will be a better formatted version in the published proceedings of the symposium and, if possible, as a name article.

Svan Names in the 13th to 17th centuries as found in church records

Davit Jamburiani / David Bonar

Svaneti is a region on the southern side of the Caucasus Mountains in the modern Republic of Georgia. It was a province in the unified Kingdom of Georgia from the beginning of the 11th century. After the Kingdom dissolved in the 15th century, it was an independent state until absorbed by the Russian Empire. The Svans themselves are an ethnic group distinguished by their own language in the Kartvelian language family. Until modern times it did not have a written form and Georgian, the most widely spoken Kartvelian language and the only one with a historical written form, was used instead for documents.

Surviving church records from the 13th through the 17th centuries were published in Georgian.1 The list of names included here is from a more recent monograph that refers to the earlier Georgian publication.2 The monograph makes specific comparisons between modern names, the names recorded in 19th century Russian ethnographic works, and the names from the medieval church records.
 

Georgian Names in General

Georgian names consist of a saxeli, a given or first name, and a gvari, a name to denote what family, clan or tribe a person comes from. The gvari has served as a surname since the 9th century in Georgia.3 Historically Georgian gvari often contained suffixes that are regional forms indicating patronymics. However these are family surnames that show lineage not a literal parent-child relationship. Additionally these historical names with regional patronymics are not strictly formed from a saxeli+suffix because of elided consonants. Later 19th and 20th century Russian enforced patronymics were formed without elidation and strictly from the father’s name. 

There are some surnames of the form "person of place" that follow the same patroymic format. However, an important caveat in using this form for SCA purposes is that the only certain version of this that I know of occurs with Giorgi Chqondideli. In English he is "of Chqondidi" but he was the Archbishop of Chqondidi and the format appears to be related to his religious office not a true last name.
 

List of Gvari

The list is given in alphabetical order with an indication of the centuries in which the name was found. In the original Georgian (see the note at the end) some of the names are given as a saxeli + gvari combination. However I am using the later monograph which focuses on family names and thus does not record the combinations. Names are recorded with the century in which they appeared in the records. In a few cases there is additional information on alternative spellings. Names listed without a century were identified in inscriptions and not in the church records. Given the context they are of similar age but can not be dated as exactly.

Note that -iani is the historical patronymic suffix used by the Svan. The other historical patronymic suffix found on this list is -dze. This is the suffix associated with the historic region of Kartli which is the lowland region south of Svaneti and the heartland of the unified Kingdom of Georgia in the 11th - 13th centuries.

The names Asianis, Gugava, Gulubianis, Kordzianis, and Shkublianis do not end with a suffix that corresponds to any common regional suffix. Three of them contain -iani- with a final -s. This could be a dative or genitive case of a Svan gvari but it is impossible to say with certainty as -s is also known as a suffix from the related and now extinct Laz language.4 Gugava does not fit any pattern.

Gvari (Family Name) with the century or centuries in which they are found in the records

Abdelani 13-14

Asatiani 14-15

Asianis 13-14

Chedeliani 15

Chikovani 13-14

Dadvani 15

Devdariani ?

Doghvani 16

Elediani 13-14

Gabeldani 13-14 also Gabeldiani

Gabliani 13-14

Gadrani 13

Gelovani 13-17 also Geloani, Geluvani, and Geliani

Ghibiani ?

Ghogheliani 13-14

Ghvachliani 14

Gigani 13-14

Gogani 13

Goshgoteliani 14 also Goshkoteliani

Guaramiani 13-14

Gugava 16

Gulediani 13-14

Gulubiani 13

Gulubianis 13

Ioseliani 14

Ioseliani 15

Ioseliani 15

Ivechiani 13-14

Iveldiani 15-16

Jabilani ?

Jachvineliani 13-14

Jachvineliani 13-14

Jamburiani 13

Japariani 15 also Japaridzes

Jokhiani 13

Kaldiani 13-14

Khaptani 13-14

Khergiani 15

Khorguani 13-14

Khverguani 13-14

Kirkishliani 14

Kordzianis 14

Kurdiani 13-14

Kvanchiani 16-17

Kvardziani 14-15

Kvitsiani 14

Ladghibiani ?

Lominadze 12-13

Loriani 16

Lortkipanidze 14-15

Magheldiani 13-14

Maregiani 14-15

Margiani 15

Margvelani 14

Meipariani 16

Mitvliani 14-15

Muipariani 13

Nakiani 13-14

Paikelani 16-17

Pakeliani 12

Parjiani 14

Ratiani 13-14

Saghireliani 13-14

Shargviani 13-14

Shkublianis 17

Tsakhanelidze 12-13

Tserediani 13-14

Tsipiani 13-14

Tskhvmiani 13-14 also Tskhuimiani and Tskhvimiani

Umpriani 14

Ushukhiani 13-14 also Ushkhviani

Vedrani 16

Zhorzholiani 14

List of Saxeli

Because of the focus on family names to trace populations the list of saxeli is exactly that, a list of the names given in the original Georgian documents. The only details are that some names have indicated genders. As with English most Georgian names are gendered by habitual use and socialization. There is no linguistic gendering of names. There is no distinction between saxeli and met’saxeli given.

Georgian saxeli are generally distinct from common nouns although in some cases they can be seem to be in the form of a common noun plus a suffix. However the suffixes involved do not always have semantic meaning or consistency.5 Given this as well as other issues no general pattern of forming saxeli can be given at this time.

Given names referenced from period sources (female noted only when it is certain)

Abesalom

Adai

Adashel

Akunela

Amadai

Amuna

Anton

Aslan

Ataraji

Azag

Basil

Basila

Batsia

Bendani

Botso

Chorman

Daturar

Datvai

Demetre

Djulaba

Dodel

Duda

Dudai (f)

Dzadzu

Gamrekeli

Gela

Giorgi

Guangva

Guchu

Gvangva

Igdar

Inai

Indoi

Ioane

Ivane

Jaura

Javakhi

Jiji

Kakhaberi

Kakubai

Khalina (f)

Khuergo

Khvashaqi (f)

Kutia (f)

Kvel

Lela

Mamisa

Mamkan (f)

Mariam (f)

Martskhi

Merab

Michael

Nana

Nanba

Nasqida

Natai

Neke

Nene

Nonai

Okropir

Partsman

Piranteli

Purtukh

Qveli

Ruchag

Rusudan (f)

Sargis

Satut (f)

Shavla

Shaman

Sukvai (f)

Susula

Taba (f)

Taibukh

Taibula

Tamtar

Tarji

Tetrua (f)

Thathe

Thuma

Tsitsman

Tvalai

Tvalmindi (f)

Vakhakhi

Vakhtang

Varedan

Veshag

Two additional categories of names that partially (but not completely) overlap the first list are called out. First is a description of canonized Christian names common in Svaneti and Georgia.

Giorgi

Ilarioni

Mikel

Mariam (f)

Martha (f)

Nino (f)

Ivane

Noe

Arsen

Marine

Egnati

Gabriel

Nikoloz

Demetre

Atanase

Makar

Davit

Zei

Iakob

Anania

Grigol

Basil

Second is a list of names said to be derived from lowland (non-Svaneti) Georgian including eastern influenced names that I theorize are of Armenian, Persian, Turkic, or Arabic descent.

Mukhlukhai

Nateli (f)

Nagvela

Gamrekel

Gvantsa (f)

Khalina (f)

Ertgulai (f),

Sinatle

Rkina

Djavakhi

Okropiri

Tvalshavi

Toulai (f)

Zviad

Qursiki

Nakvetai

Tvalmindi (f)

Mtsare

Shvidai

Bichsai

Ledachi

Tsotne

Malkhina

Shuenuri

Chabukvela

Djokhai

Datuai

Nizhara

Shavai

Kalkmai (f)

Lomai

Prangi

Tbeli

Mtvare (f)

Tsetskhlai

Tvare

Dudai (f)

Chkhagu

Gudjedji

Veshag

Berezhi

Zazi

Chargas

Tutai

Kurtskha

Tinatini

Angurag

Arghun

Tariel

Sargis

Rusudan (f)

Gurandukht

Rati

Vakhtang

Khvashagi

Beshken

Djahvar

Abesalom

Siagush

Partsman

Shahanshah

Taibula

Burlukhan

Chakatan

Atardji

Shekhasan

Bezhan

Issues

As Georgian is written in a non-latin script there are some difficulties dealing with names. I noticed particularly with the name David / Davit but while the issue is worse with that specific name it might occur with others. In modern Georgian script (mkhedruli - used since the 11th century) Davit is დავით . Letter by letter transliteration gives Davit. Google translate gives David. The modern source that I drew from uses transliteration although it is not entirely consistent even when quoting a medieval inscription.

An additional complication is found in cases. Georgian has seven cases and it is not clear if all of the names given are in the same case. As a consonant ending stem Davit is the vocative case and Daviti is the nominative. A vowel ending stem such as Giorgi would be Giorgi in both the vocative and nominative cases. Translation into English, either professional in the case of academic articles presented in both languages or by computer translation, tends not to preserve this distinction.
 

Note on Future Work

I have found a digital copy of Historical Monuments of Svaneti.6 While this is not the original handwritten manuscript it does indicate areas in which the original is missing or unreadable and seems to be a direct copy for purposes of preserving the text without modernization or editing. There is work to be done using this document to look at letter by letter transliteration to help clarify issues that have occurred due to working with a modern Georgian academic paper translated into English. As such this current document is a placeholder until additional analysis can be done.
 

Note on Intent

It should be noted that Pavle Ingorokva, the scholar who preserved the church records by publishing them in 1941, does not have the best reputation. He was the first proponent of the theory that the modern Abkhazians are not the same as the Abkhazians from late antiquity and the medieval period. This completely invalidated theory has been used by both the Soviet Union and independent Georgia as justification for discrimination against the Abkhazians. Having examined a portion of his publication using computer translation I am satisfied that the document in question is a transcription without editorializing or commentary and is in no way tainted by his theory.
 

References

1 Ivorokva, P. Historical Monuments of Svaneti. Tbilisi; 1941

2 Topchishvili, R. Svaneti and its Inhabitants (Family Names and Ethno-historical Studies). Tbilisi; 2015

3 Wier, T. Proper Names in Georgian. https://lingbuzz.net/lingbuzz/007973

4 Wier, p.13

5 Wier, p.9

6 https://dspace.nplg.gov.ge/handle/1234/65818