Meaning of Ritsos or Ritsis
What's the meaning of the greek last name Ritsos or Ritsis? There are also some variants like Ritsopoulos and Ritsatos.
Is it just like the italian last name Rizzo or Rizzi?
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Replies

There is a discussion here -
https://maillists.uci.edu/mailman/public/mgsa-l/2004-May/003593.html
the suggestion being that it is a variant of rissos, which means "lynx". However, if this is a Greek word, it's not the standard word, which appears to be lygkas. The word lynx is itself of Greek origin, so why borrow the Slavic RYS? It might possibly be a hellenised Macedonian name, nickname for a keen-eyed person.
Note also that a possible Italian origin (Rizzo) is considered.
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It is possible that Greek names Ritsos comes from Christo, especially in areas of shared Helenophonia and Slavophonia in the past.
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Thank you a lot for the info!
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