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Possible Aromanian name?

Essen

New Member
English
So I have been investigating my family background and found someone named "Papi" (Not Pappy or Poppy or anything. Straight up named Papi.)
My family identify as Macedonians (And our phenotypes are mostly Slavic with slight Native Balkan features) and we mostly come from Kočani and it is said that the Aromanians/Vlachs were concentrated here in Kočani other than Skopje and such. I would like to know if the name Papi is similar to/stems from Latin and/or Aromanian languages. I hope it won't require a lot of etymology knowledge. Thanks!

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Papi is dad in colloquial Spanish, if that's any useful for you.
I did a little research and saw that, yes. I have also noticed that the name Papi is also found in Hungary near the Danube River (It's apparently the name of a place and an article says that immigrants would name themselves the name of the place they migrated to so they could distinguish themselves from the native population)

Aromanians migrated from the Danube River (lower basin) so that's the second reason why I suspect an Aromanian ancestry apart from the concentration of Aromanian population in Kočani.
I don't want some extensive research on genetics or anything. I just wanted to know if someone has an idea about the roots of this name like if its Latin/Romance/Slavic.
The word "papi" in Hungarian place names (e.g. Hejőpapi) comes from "pap" (=priest), a Slavic loanword.
That's interesting. We would need to make some research about onomastics to see where it came from (Romance, Slavic or some other).
It seems that Papi is a colloquial/familiar shortening in Italian for the name that in plain English would be Jacob. Any Italian in the room can confirm it?
I am baffled by how many regional countries use the same name. I guess Papi will stay as a mystery now! Thank you guys.
- an alternative to ''papà'' (=daddy) in some It. regions/milieux
For example in Bologna: the son of my Bolognese friend calls his father papi.

The word "papi" in Hungarian place names (e.g. Hejőpapi) comes from "pap" (=priest), a Slavic loanword.
I'd like to add that the ending -i serves for creating adjectives from nouns in Hungarian and it is very frequent in surnames of Hungarian origin. They typically derive from:

a) toponyms (e.g. Budai = "from Buda";' Római = "from Rome, Roman", etc.)
b) first name (e.g. Jánosi = "son of John", Ferenci = "son of Francis", etc.)
c) profession (e.g. Juhászi = "son of shepherd", Kovácsi = "son of smith", etc.)

Thus the Hungarian origin of the surname Papi (< pap + i) is possible both from semantic and phonetic point of view. The Slavic origin doesn't seem probable to me.
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In Greece there are people with the surname Papis and Papistas. By searching romanian dictionaries you find that papi means papacy or something related. Maybe some people were nicknamed (and later named) so when they became Catholics.
In Greece there are people with the surname Papis and Papistas. By searching romanian dictionaries you find that papi means papacy or something related. Maybe some people were nicknamed (and later named) so when they became Catholics.

That's an interesting point.

According to the Dictionary of American Family Names (2013), as a variant of Papa, Papi is a "Hungarian habitational name for someone from any of various places named with pap ‘priest’."

But the Greek surname Papis suggests an alternative origin via Greek. If we drop the Greek final "s" we get Papi.

Aromanians do seem to have close Greek connections, especially if the family in question identifies its origins as "Macedonian". Thus we find Aromanian surnames like Papahaji, Papadumitru, Caraianni, etc.

Apparently, there are even Aromanian diminutives like "Tasu" (probably from Greek Tasso < Anastasios).
Aromanians do seem to have close Greek connections, especially if the family in question identifies its origins as "Macedonian". Thus we find Aromanian surnames like Papahaji, Papadumitru, Caraianni, etc.

Apparently, there are even Aromanian diminutives like "Tasu" (probably from Greek Tasso < Anastasios).
Certainly. Names Papahaji, Papadumitru etc are not native Aromanian but Greek or Greco-turkish. "Haji " is the title of one who visited the Holy Lands (Muslim in Arabia or Christian in Palestine.). The prefix "Papa" means that an ancestor was a priest (papas). Tasu is the genitive commonly found in surnames, i.e. the son (or wife) or Tasos.
Certainly. Names Papahaji, Papadumitru etc are not native Aromanian but Greek or Greco-turkish. "Haji " is the title of one who visited the Holy Lands (Muslim in Arabia or Christian in Palestine.). The prefix "Papa" means that an ancestor was a priest (papas). Tasu is the genitive commonly found in surnames, i.e. the son (or wife) or Tasos.
Correct. But I think the suffix -u in Aromanian Tasu is nominative used in lieu of Greek nominative -s rather than Greek genitive -ou though phonetically it is identical with the latter.
Correct. But I think the suffix -u in Aromanian Tasu is nominative used in lieu of Greek nominative -s rather than Greek genitive -ou though phonetically it is identical with the latter.
I tend to agree, -u in Aromanian Tasu is used in lieu of Greek nominative Tasos.
The sound [ u] in Tasu has probably been influenced by a phenomenon that exists in northern Greek dialects: the unstressed /o/ turns into [ u]. Thus, Tasos is pronounced ['tasus] in the northern Greek dialects and ['tasu] in Aromanian.
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