Papadopoulos, Ioannidis and Karagiannis: The 20 most common Greek surnames

While everyone knows that Papadopoulos is the most common Greek surname, what are the other 19 that make up the top 20?

1. Papadopoulos: "Son of a priest." The word for priest fluctuated for decades between "Papas" and "Pappas" before it was also established in modern Greek with one "p."

2. Pappas: In this case, the last name kept its oldest form, with two "p." The surname comes from the word for priest, which flourished during the period of Turkish occupation.

3. Karagiannis: This is a compound surname derived from "Ioannis" (John) and the Turkish word "kara," which means black. In addition to external characteristics (e.g., darker skin), it symbolises concepts such as misfortune, unhappiness, etc.

4. Vlahos: Literally an ethnic surname (the Vlachs speak a Latin language and have their own customs), but it spread beyond them to be applied to almost all animal breeders. Due to this, it came to be used to describe the uncouth and the uncivilised.

5. Ioannidis: According to author Manolis Triantafyllidis, over 1,400 variations of the name John, such as Ioannidis, are recorded.

6. Oikonomou: This is probably the first surprise on the list. In addition to being related to business, it is also for those who worked in ecclesiastical offices or senior employees (head of staff) in rich houses.

7. Papageorgiou: We expected this last name to be higher on the list, but it's nonetheless still a very common male name.

8. Makris: This word is used to describe a tall person.

9. Konstantinidis: This patronymic surname literally means "the son of Konstantinos (Constantinos, Kostas, Costas)." The ending (as with Ioannidis) indicates a Pontic origin and is much more widespread than the other variants (Konstantopoulos, Konstantinou, etc.).

10. Dimopoulos: The son of Dimitrios or Demosthenes. It is more popular than Dimitriou and Dimitropoulos.

11. Georgiadis: This is the second entry in the list of names related to the very popular "Georgios." The ending shows a Pontic origin here as well.

12. Papadimitriou: Quite below Papageorgiou but clearly above Papaioannou.

13. Papadakis: As a variant of Papadopoulos, but from Crete (where the ending -akis is typical) and many Aegean islands.

14. Antoniou: The first entry in the list related to the name "Antonis", and indeed in its simplest form.

15. Papanikolaou: This is also the first surname related to the name "Nikolaos" and attached to priests or sons of priests.

16. Panagiotopoulos: The Peloponnesian variant for the son of Panagiotis.

17. Vassiliou: Surname related to "Vasilios", the first in the list. It is perhaps surprising that it is under a less popular first name, such as Antoniou.

18. Giannopoulos: This is another surname that, as related to Ioannis, we expected to be higher on the list.

19. Nikolaou: Just below "Papanikolaou", a surname found in all regions of Greece.

20. Vassiliadis: The list ends with one more surname that indicates origin from Pontus.

By Argiris Pagartani is a columnist for New Money. Translated by Paul Antonopoulos.

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