Cyprus-Forum.com

by **Get Real!** » Mon Sep 17, 2012 9:33 pm

Cap wrote:Unbelievable things have happened in the past.
This island was built to smash the status quo.

Apparently not the political one!

by **GreekIslandGirl** » Mon Sep 17, 2012 10:03 pm

Get Real! wrote:
GreekIslandGirl wrote:
CBBB wrote:
Me Ed wrote:As for his surname, it's not unusual for Cypriots to have a surname that reflects an ancestor from foreign lands.

Very true, a mate of mine is an Englezo and I know and AmerIkano.

Yes, it usually signifies that the father-head at the time a surname had to be registered (probably in the 50's) originated from that place. (For example, Theo Paphitis)

No it doesn’t, they’re only nick names! In those days someone could’ve returned from a rare holiday to the US boasting sunglasses and he could’ve automatically been branded an American as a joke which would then stick for life!

My granddad got a black eye in a fight when young so he was nicknamed “mavromaddis” (black eye) which stayed with him till his end. So no, he was not a Caribbean pirate and none of us kept that name.

Exactly - you never kept it because it was a nickname. That's the difference between nicknames and actual registered surnames - you don't 'keep' your grandfather's nickname but you do keep the surname. :roll:

So tell me, brainiac (that' your nickname

), why would Tio have a surname like Ellinas? Are you suggesting he's not Cypriot?

by **Get Real!** » Mon Sep 17, 2012 10:21 pm

GreekIslandGirl wrote:
Get Real! wrote:
GreekIslandGirl wrote:
CBBB wrote:
Me Ed wrote:As for his surname, it's not unusual for Cypriots to have a surname that reflects an ancestor from foreign lands.

Very true, a mate of mine is an Englezo and I know and AmerIkano.

Yes, it usually signifies that the father-head at the time a surname had to be registered (probably in the 50's) originated from that place. (For example, Theo Paphitis)

No it doesn’t, they’re only nick names! In those days someone could’ve returned from a rare holiday to the US boasting sunglasses and he could’ve automatically been branded an American as a joke which would then stick for life!

My granddad got a black eye in a fight when young so he was nicknamed “mavromaddis” (black eye) which stayed with him till his end. So no, he was not a Caribbean pirate and none of us kept that name.

Exactly - you never kept it because it was a nickname. That's the difference between nicknames and actual registered surnames - you don't 'keep' your grandfather's nickname but you do keep the surname.

Nicknames were revered in those days… they’d stick and they’d even get registered!

So tell me, brainiac (that' your nickname ), why would Tio have a surname like Ellinas? Are you suggesting he's not Cypriot?

A possible scenario is that his granddad or great-GD, was the first or sole visitor to Greece from his village and/or may have returned with an evzone uniform to act in the then famous Greek play Golfo! Hence… “O Ellinas!”

Use your imagination… they did! :wink:

by **GreekIslandGirl** » Mon Sep 17, 2012 10:29 pm

Get Real! wrote:
GreekIslandGirl wrote:
Get Real! wrote:
GreekIslandGirl wrote:
CBBB wrote:
Very true, a mate of mine is an Englezo and I know and AmerIkano.

Yes, it usually signifies that the father-head at the time a surname had to be registered (probably in the 50's) originated from that place. (For example, Theo Paphitis)

No it doesn’t, they’re only nick names! In those days someone could’ve returned from a rare holiday to the US boasting sunglasses and he could’ve automatically been branded an American as a joke which would then stick for life!

My granddad got a black eye in a fight when young so he was nicknamed “mavromaddis” (black eye) which stayed with him till his end. So no, he was not a Caribbean pirate and none of us kept that name.

Exactly - you never kept it because it was a nickname. That's the difference between nicknames and actual registered surnames - you don't 'keep' your grandfather's nickname but you do keep the surname.

Nicknames were revered in those days… they’d stick and they’d even get registered!

So tell me, brainiac (that' your nickname ), why would Tio have a surname like Ellinas? Are you suggesting he's not Cypriot?

A possible scenario is that his granddad or great-GD, was the first or sole visitor to Greece from his village and/or may have returned with an evzone uniform to act in the then famous Greek play Golfo! Hence… “O Ellinas!”

Use your imagination… they did!

Thank you, brainiac, for the great insight into the workings of that brain - how you manage to derive a completely fictitious narrative because the simple truth is not convenient. :wink:

by **GreekIslandGirl** » Mon Sep 17, 2012 10:38 pm

Oh look

- what a lot of Cypriots have the name "Ellinas" (who came back with a foustanella from their holidays, according to brainiac)

http://cy.linkedin.com/pub/dir/+/Ellinas

I especially like this one:

Kypros Ellinas
Manager at Bank of Cyprus

by **Get Real!** » Mon Sep 17, 2012 10:41 pm

GreekIslandGirl wrote:Thank you, brainiac, for the great insight into the workings of that brain - how you manage to derive a completely fictitious narrative because the simple truth is not convenient.

I had a customer with the surname “Americanos” but I know for a fact that he only got a wife from the states, I think while studying (maybe an ex now)!

I also knew someone called “Romeos” in Limassol in the 80s because he allegedly recited Romeo & Juliet to a girl he wanted and certainly not because he was a remnant of the Eastern Roman Empire!

But anyway, I swear my dad used to tell me the stories of people’s nicknames and how they got them and I was always fascinated by all the twists and turns involved…

by **Get Real!** » Mon Sep 17, 2012 10:44 pm

GreekIslandGirl wrote:Oh look - what a lot of Cypriots have the name "Ellinas" (who came back with a foustanella from their holidays, according to brainiac)

I'll bet they all stem from that first one! Once he wore that Greek skirt they all wanted to root him so they multiplied!