Why do greece prefer to put ou for female last names but os for the male?

Question

i asked before how to write the name of someone i know & i recieved new information. in greece apparently they put "ou" for the female last names but for male it is "os" why is this? i've never heard of it before. plz do not get frustrated i am not greek or from greece so i would just like to know. thank you! =)

Answer 1

It is something like a tradition

Answer 2

The female surnames are the genitive form of the male equivalent. Women's surnames therefore indicate that they 'belong to' the man (their father or husband)!

Answer 3

In Greek language all the  nouns have genders for ex in

English you just say the boat, the wall, the house.In Greek it is e varka , o tehos, to spiti (Female, male, neuter).This makes some words to have different endings:The dog becomes o skylos(male) e skyla(female) to skyli (neuter).So surnames also have different endings accordingly the gender.

Answer 4

And also "i" instead of "is",  and others. It makes for a richer language. Ever single noun has a gender, a couch is masuline, a chair is feminine and a table is neuter. Its not easy telling the difference.

When I first went to Greece, and said my surname the "is" way instead of 'i', I got teased and asked if I was a transvestite! VERY frustrating. But don't worry, most foriegners get gender wrong. It's the one surefire way of telling the difference between a foreigner and a Greek.

Answer 5

Have you Heard Mikhail Gorbachev and his late wife Raisa Gorbachyova? Russian, Greek and other languages have similar rules.

So for example Maria Menounos is called in Greek  

Menounou.

Answer 6

my grand mothers name is koutsoukou and her father was koutsoukos, thats allways like that

Answer 7

Endings indicate 'male' or 'female' - as said belonging to the father. Since the late 80s married Greek women no longer take the the man's surname - so there is no 'belonging to husbands!'  I have a English surname (Mee) which resulted in getting teased throughtout my childhood - hoping to rid myself on marriage - but sadly still got it and now the Greeks tease me! (ΜΗ - don't) and it's painted on the side of lorries - on t-shirts (workers) and cement bags etc!!!!

Another bit of info (full of it today!)

In Greece most of your documents are followed by your father's name to stop confusion over the numerous members of the family with the same names.

e.g Maria Yiannakou - on her paper's would be Maria Yiannakou tou Andreas (father)

My dad thinks its great to see his name all over 2 businesses in Greece (they are both under my name which remains my maiden name - sure confuses the factories when we order bricks/ metal etc - on the bright side they never forget us!)

Answer 8

The ending -ou is put so as to show the "Geniki ktitiki", which shows that something or someone belongs to another person or that he/she/it comes from another person or thing. An equivalent could be the 's that english put in names so as to express the same thing! E.g. Paul's birthday

So e.g. Panagopoulos say is a man. Panagopoulou is either HIS daughter or HIS wife! It is kind of sexist don't you think?

Answer 9

Hello! It's because women's names are in the genitive case, whereas men's are in the nominative.  It's not just "os" and "ou", for example if the male surname ends in "is",  the female will end in "i" or "ou", if the male ends in "as", the female will end in "a", if the male ends in "es", the female will end in "e".

eg. George Sarandakos- Maria Sarandakou

      George Ioannidis- Maria Ioannidi/Ioannidou

      George Tzifas- Maria Tzifa

      George Skouzes- Maria Skouze

The reason the female surnames are in the genitive case is because this case indicates that the woman is the daughter of the man who bears this surname. So, "Maria Sarandakou" for example, literally means "Maria, the daughter of Sarandakos".  

Greek women who live outside Greece usually keep the male ending of the name.