InEstonia, a person must have asurname and one or moregiven names. One or two given names are common, whereas the legally permitted maximum number (three) given names is nowadays very rarely used. Surname is inherited from one of the parents, and given names must be chosen by the parents at birth. The calling name, by which the person is normally identified in conversation, is one of the given names, typically the first. For example, the former presidentLennart Georg Meri was usually calledLennart, and became widely known asLennart Meri.
There is nopatronymic part and multiple given names are used rarely.[1] During theSoviet occupation, the official names of Estonians followed theEast Slavic naming customs of "given name"/"patronymic"/"family name",[a] but this custom was abandoned in the post-Soviet Estonia.
Prior to 1819 very few Estonians had surnames. For more exact reference, the given name was prepended with a byname, some kind of identifier inpossessive case, such as the name of the father, farmstead, birthplace, trade, or profession.[b][3]
In records written in Latin and Germanic languages typical name patterns include: "placename" + "given name" (rarely "given name"+"placename"), "given name"+ "patronymic"+"placename", "occupational byname" + "given name", or "given name" + "occupational byname". Often the conjunctions "de", 'van", "i" were used before the placenames. A number of variations of recording the patronymics was used, some included the byname of the father. Married women could be recorded with the given name of the father, e.g., in the pattern "«Given name» «Husband's name» wif".[4]
Very little number of native Estonian given names are recorded from pre-Christian times and most of them virtually disappeared from registries after some time after the beginning of the 13th-centuryNorthern Crusades.[5] However the Christian names became dominant only by the end of the 15th century. There was also a tradition to give two names: one Christian and one Pagan, after a grandparent. This reflected a common Eurasian tradition of worshipping the ancestors.[6] In 19th century, with national awakening a limited number of old names were reintroduced, such as Kairo, Himot, Lembit, Meelis, Sulev. The female given names were not preserved, and historian suggested some reconstructions, such as Virve, Aita, Maimu, Leida, Salme, Väike/Vaike etc.[5]
Germanic names were usually adapted to Estonian phonology, e.g.,Dietrich could be changed toTiidrik orTiidrek.
In modern times there is a great variety of Estonian given names, mixing Finno-Ugric, Germanic, and other traditions and the Registry Office of the Ministry of Interior reports that parents keep being inventive with the given names. In 1995, of 52,000 recorded given names only about 5,500 ones are used six or more times, i.e., the vast majority of them are unique.[6]
Often it is difficult to recognize whether an Estonian given name is male or female, since there is no grammatic distinction, although this distinction does exist in borrowed names, e.g., "Johannes" vs. "Johanna".[6][5]
Estonian grammar allows the letters c, q, w, x and y only in foreign names.[6]
Since the 21st century there is a tendency to give names which do not sound strangely to Europeans. This is thought to be related to increasedlabor migration of Estonians.[5]
In 2004, a law about the names limited the number of name components. Specifically, a given name may consist either at most three separate names or a singledouble-barrelled name. The law also forbids to use numeric or other characters.[5] The law also restricts (i.e., disallows without sufficient reason):[5]
Alexander I of Russia abolished the serfdom in Estonia and Estonian peasants started systematically getting the surnames, for the purpose ofcensus. Only about 5% of the population of about 700,000 of Estonians had surnames. When a person moved to another place, his farmstead-related reference usually changed. It is argued that pastor J.F. von Roth ofKanepi Parish started giving surnames to peasants in 1809. During the reform of 1826-1835 all Estonians were assigned the hereditary family name, written after the given name.[7] Often a byname was re-used as a surname. Commonly a German surname was used, with little influence of Danish, Swedish, or Russian.[3] Russian surnames were taken by peasants who hoped to get land. Peasants who moved to a town tended to get German surnames, which sounded more respectable. For example, if a JaanRätsep entered theTartu University, he graduated it as JohannesSchneider.[7]
After Estonia gained independence due to thecollapse of the Russian Empire, the government carried out the campaign ofEstonianization of surnames.[3] For example, Estonian writer Friedebert Mihkelson changed his name toFriedebert Tuglas. Until mid-1930s the Estonianization was voluntary and recommended, with the assistance of theMother Tongue Society by Tartu University. During the dictatorship ofKonstantin Päts ("Era of Silence"), since mid-1930s, it was politicized and enforced. In 1934 theEstonian Names Association and theCentral Bureau of Estonianization of Names [et] were established, both funded by the Government Information and Propaganda Service, replaced by theState Propaganda Service [et]. Estonian linguists issued instructions for Estonianization and published a recommended list of surnames. Since it was the period of the growth of prosperity, despite the name of the era given by the opposition, the government had popular support, including its efforts in fostering the national feelings of Estonians, and the campaign was successful.[8]
During 1935–1940 the Estonian Ministry of Interior maintained theFamily Name Protection Register [et]. The protected surnames could be given only to the relatives of the surname owner with his consent. This was no longer possible with the Soviet occupation of Estonia. As of 1940, there were 407 protected surnames in the Register.[9]
The Onomastic Treasure of the CIA mentions several issues with transliteration in cases when Estonian names were taken from Russian and from the times when diacritics were used rarely in English print. In Russian, the Estonian double consonants could be rendered both as double and a single, i.e., Jansson could be written in Russian both as Янссон and Янсон, resulting in English Jansson/Janson or Yansson/Yanson. Estonian 'TS' could be rendered in Russian both as 'ТС' or 'Ц', which could create a confusion if 'Ц' transliterates as 'TZ' as in German or YiddishKatz. Estonian letters with diacritics may be confusingly transliterated as Germandigraphs, e.g., Teeäär, written as Teeaeaer. If diacritics are not available, it is recommended to simply omit them: 'Teeaar'.[3]