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ArchivesRe: Common/poetical Iranian(persian) surnames? Any ideas?
in reply to a message by Auriel
Take a spin through this lot, pre-Islamic - http://www.avesta.org/znames.htm#parsi
not surnames, but does that matter? The names in smaller letters appear to be Parsee, of India, so not strictly Persian.
The commonest Iranian surnames seem to be Islamic male forenames with an adjectival ending, e.g., Hosseini, Abbassi. Other endings are found, -zade, -ian, -pur, but they mean pretty much the same thing. When surnames became compulsory in Iran, in 1929, some of the bourgeoisie who identified with the new, secular, regime adopted pre-Islamic names to emphasise their Persian identity. Islam was identified with Arab cultural domination. The majority, however, stuck to the Old Islamic names.
not surnames, but does that matter? The names in smaller letters appear to be Parsee, of India, so not strictly Persian.
The commonest Iranian surnames seem to be Islamic male forenames with an adjectival ending, e.g., Hosseini, Abbassi. Other endings are found, -zade, -ian, -pur, but they mean pretty much the same thing. When surnames became compulsory in Iran, in 1929, some of the bourgeoisie who identified with the new, secular, regime adopted pre-Islamic names to emphasise their Persian identity. Islam was identified with Arab cultural domination. The majority, however, stuck to the Old Islamic names.
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