Abkhazian Surnames

Abkhazians 

Among oldest surnames attested in mediaeval Georgian chronicles are Čʲačʲba and Maršʲan, belonging to highest Abkhazian aristocracy. Etymologically, surnames can be based on personal (patronymical) names, ethnic terms, native or borrowed words. The majority of native surnames have as their most typical formant the suffix -ba, derived from the patronymical formant jә-pa ‘his son’, e.g. Agr-ba, Adlej-ba, Cʷej-ba, Č’ʲan-ba, Haš- ba, Zәxʷ-ba, etc. In some cases the patronymical suffix is preserved in its original form in the “official” form of the name: Inal-jәpa, P’at’e-jәpa, Šat-jәpa, Ʒapšʲ-jәpa. 

The feminine forms of surnames have as their formant -pha ‘daughter’, e.g. Agrpha, Adlej-pha, Č’ʲan-pha, Haš-pha. In the Abkhazian diaspora in Turkey, this formant is more often rendered in the phonetically simplified form -ha, e.g. Agәr-ha, Akәrt-ha, Saʒ- ha. 

Other typical surnames formants are -wa (Agʷxa-wa, Andarb-wa, Anә-wa, Ǯʲap’ә- wa), -aa (Abɣaǯʲ-aa, Akәrt-aa, Agʷәm-aa, Arәjʷt-aa, Arst-aa, Atʷm-aa), -ja (Barganǯʲә-ja, Gʷaramә-ja, K’ak’alә-ja, Plә-ja), etc. As to the last type of names, both the formant -ja and often the surname itself, are of Megrelian origin, except for the cases when this element was attached in the official Russian-language registers to the genuine Abkhaz names by Megrelian and Imeretian priests who served in Abkhazia at the end of the 19th – the beginning of the 20th centuries, in order to make them appear “Georgian”; whence such hybrid surnames as Lak’erbaja (cf. the genuine Abkhaz form Lak’rba), Zvanbaja (for Žʷanba), Šxvacabaja (for Ašʷxʷac’aa), etc. There are also surnames which are void of suffixed formants and which etymology is uncertain, such as Barcәc, Baalow, Baras, Čʲaabal(әrxʷa), Dbar, Hašәg, Kapšʲ, K’ʲәwәt, Maan, Maršʲan, Pk’ʲәn, Sәm-sәm, Smәr, Šʲaq’rәl, Trapšʲ, etc. 

The plural forms of surnames are usually marked by the human collective plural suffix -aa, added to the suffix-less form, e.g. Agr-aa, Adlej-aa, Č’ʲan-aa. Alternatively, plural forms can be formed by adding plural suffixes -cʷa or -kʷa to the suffixed form of the surname, e.g. Agәr.ba-cʷa, A-k’alc.ba-kʷa. 

4.1. The social status of surnames. 

Like first names, surnames were also marked for their social status. The name of the old princely ruling house of Abkhazia was Čʲačʲba (which had its Georgian variant Šervašiʒe), who occupied the highest place in the social hierarchy and bore the title of ah ‘prince’. The Chachbas were followed by such high aristocratic family clans, called aam(ә)sta-dәw ‘big aristocrat’ (in Russian usage князь ‘prince’), as Ačʲba, Ajәmxaa, Čʲaabalәrxʷa, Čʲxot’ua, Gʲačʲba, Inal-jәpa, Maršʲan, Ʒapšʲ-jәpa. To the nobility, called aam(ә)sta (Russ дворянин ‘noble’), belonged such family clans as Akәrtaa, Ašʷxʷac’aa, C’әšʷba, Jašba, Lak’(ә)rba, Maan, Žʷanba, etc. The peasants, called a-nxajʷә, were represented by such surnames as Agrba, Adlejba, Amәč’ʲba, Axba, Bganba, Cәgʷba, Č’ʲanba, K’ʷabaxʲәja, Lak’ʷaba, P’ap’ba, etc. The lowest place in the social ladder used to be occupied by people consisting of lower categories of peasants, slaves, foreign captives, people bought or kidnapped, bastards or gutter-children, who did not possess a surname (žʷla z.ma.m, lit. ‘who do not have surname’). They were called only by their first names or nick-names. Some of such people or their descendants could receive in the course of time a new surname on the model ‘X-his-son’, but the lower origin of such clan was long remembered (cf. Inal-ipa 2002: 189-190). People who committed “shameful” crimes, like incest or the like, were subjected to the deprivation of their first name (a-xʲәʒ.xә.x.ra ‘the lifting of the name’) or of their surname (a-žʷla.xә.x.ra ‘the lifting of the surname’), and were usually expelled from the community.