Hovhannisyan

The origin of the surname Hovhannisyan

Hovhannisyan, a very common Armenian surname, means “son of Hovhannes,” the Armenian form of John.

What kind of surname is Hovhannisyan?

As a patronymic surname, the surname Hovhannisyan was formed from a father's or ancestor's personal name — the single largest way hereditary surnames arose across Europe. Before family names became fixed, a man was often known as the son of his father (for example “John, son of Robert”), and over generations that link hardened into an inherited surname. Different cultures marked the relationship differently: English and Scandinavian names added “-son”, Irish and Scottish used “Mac” or “O’”, Slavic languages added “-ov”, “-ev” or “-vich”, and many languages simply reused the father's name unchanged. A patronymic surname therefore points back to a founding ancestor rather than a place or an occupation.

How Armenian surnames work

Armenian surnames are among the most instantly recognisable in the world thanks to the near-universal ending “-yan” (or “-ian”), meaning “son of / descendant of / belonging to.” It is attached to an ancestor's name, an occupation or a place, so a great many Armenian family names share this single, unifying national marker.

Variants & spellings

• Hovhannisian