http://makedon.mtx.net/rev0.htm ------------------------------------------------------ What's in a Name? I was attending this meeting of self-professed Macedonian activists, when one of the speakers complained that we urgently needed to redress the Government's major underestimation of the number of Macedonian citizens. As a start, he explained, his group had methodically surveyed the Sydney telephone directory and made a list of all the Macedonians. I asked how could he possibly decide who was Macedonian and who was not, from the telephone directory? He answered that Macedonians, have names ending in -SKI. Therefore all people listed in the telephone directory whose names end in -SKI are bone fide (chisti) Macedonians. In the Socialist Republic of Macedonia after 1944 an extensive campaign was set in motion to systematically change family names by adding the -SKI suffix. This plan was one of many ordered by the Yugoslav Communist Party aimed at directly erasing any vestige of the people's Bulgarian identity. Thus after 1944, to receive any benefits or privileges within Socialist Macedonia, politically "correct" names were necessary. Of course when any new identifying documentation was issued, the name was automatically altered. Therefore in 1944 we saw a process initiated which affected people in different ways. Some accepted these happenings in the context of change and conforming to the requirements demanded by the new political ideology. Others, predominantly communist party supporters, viewed it as the institutionalization of a new and necessary Macedonian "ethnic" identity. However for most people it was perceived exactly for what it actually was, an attempt to erase their very self-identity. Accordingly their were many personal tragedies regarding this issue, and these remain generally unknown and unpublicised to this day. People were executed in 1944 for not accepting the -SKI addition to their last name - individuals like Gligor Georgiev of Skopje. Countless others were sentenced to long terms of imprisonment, and some of them while in prison, refused for many years to receive letters from their wives (who in the meantime were forced to add -SKI to there last names) since the letters were addressed with the surname addition -SKI. At the graveyards, the workers who engrave names of the deceased on tombstones, would deliberately add -SKI after the persons last name. This occurred at Butel, near Skopje, as late as 1975. Also, in the late 1940s and 1950s many fighters from the 1903 Ilinden insurrection were still alive in the USA . One of them, Naum Hristov, originally from Bitolya, (he was a part of the Naum Bufcheto's revolutionary group in 1903), would return unopened, his brother's letters from Bitolya because they were addressed to Naum Hristovski, with an explanation "that cannot be from my brother, he knows my name". There are endless other examples. It has to be clearly understood, that in Macedonia, there is simply no evidence for the existence of surnames ending in -OSKI or -ESKI prior to 1944. Nor is there any justification for the establishment of these names based on any historical, linguistic or custom antecedent. Such contentions merely seek to disguise a 1944 political decision as some form of cultural continuation. For example there is not a single folk song that mentions a last name with an -OSKI or -ESKI ending. Not a single one. And there are thousands of folk songs with personal names in them - names like Mile Pop-Ordanov, Hristo Uzunov, Goce Delchev, Lenka Pingova, Georgi Sugarev, Vasil Chakalarov, Nevena Georgieva, Epsa Dimusheva, Metodi Patchev, Vasil Z'mbov, Stoyan Mandalov, Vaska Evgova, ...ad infinitum, The names of the most prominent writers from Macedonia in the last two centuries almost all had the -ov and -ev endings:- Konstantin Miladinov (Struga, born 1829), Dimitar Miladinov (Struga, 1810), Raiko Zhinzifov (Veles), Yordan Hadzhi Konstantinov-Dzhinot (Veles), Grigor Parlichev (Ohrid), Kuzman Shapkarev (Ohrid), Dimitar Matov (Veles, 1864), Naum Sprostranov (Ohrid), Iosif Kovachev (Shtip), Arseni Kostencev (Shtip), Georgi Dinkov (Salonica), Georgi Gogov (Voden) etc The names of almost all the organizers and participants in the Ilinden resurrection in 1903 had the -ov and -ev endings. Here there are a few examples: Goce Delchev, Dame Gruev, Pere Toshev, Hristo Matov, Mishe Razvigorov, Todor Aleksandrov, Boris Sarafov, Ivan Garvanov, Traiko Kitanchev, Todor Lazarov, Lazar Traikov, Vassil Chakalarov, Pando Klyashev, Toma Davidov, Hristo Tatarchev, Hristo Uzunov, Lazar Moskov, Slaveiko Arsov, Kolyo Rashaikov, Todor Saev, Nikola Karandzhulov, Georgi Sugarev, Luka Ivanov, Metodi Patchev, Hristo Chernopeev, Angel Sprostranov, Aleksandar Panov, Andrei Dimov, Alekso Turundzhov, Angel Andreev, Atanas Karshakov, Aleksandar Stanoev, Alekso Dzhorlev, Andrei Kazepov, Andon Zlatarev, Apostol Petkov, Atanas Lozanchev, Argir Manasiev, Boris Drangov, Boris Sugarev, Vasil Popov, Vasil Diamandiev, Velyo Markov, Vasil Monchev, Vladimir Slankov, Grigor Manasiev, Georgi Korubinov, Georgi Churanov, Georgi Muchitanov, Gono Yanev, Georgi Nikov, Georgi Kiosev, Georgi Peshkov, Grigor Popev, Deyan Dimitrov, Dimitar Gushtanov, Dimitar Vladev, Dimche Tsvetanov, Dobri Daskalov, Dicho Andonov, Dimitar Dalkalachev, Dimche Matliev, Dzhole Gergev, Dime Fildishev, Ekaterina Simitchieva, Efrem Miladinov, Efrem Chuchkov, Evtim Karanov, Ivan Naumov, Ivan Dulev, Ivan Dukov, Ilyo Kotev, Ivan Tsonchev, Yordan Varnaliev, Ivan Pop Kostadinov, Kuzo Dinov, Kosta Mazneikov, Kuzo Stefov, Krsto Asenov, Konstantin Nunkov, Lazar Madzarov, Lecho Gioshev, Mirche Atsev, Milan Delchev, Mitse Tsitskov, Mihail Mladenov, Maksim Kostov, Mihail Daev, Nikola Kokarev, Nikola Petrov, Nikola Ivanov, Nikola Andreev, Naum Petrov, be!ikola Ivanov, Petv'qar Atsev, Pesho Radev, Petar Samardzhiev, Petar Yurukov, Pandil Shishkov, Pavle Naumov, Pavel Hristov, Panayot Konstantinov, Petar Nachev, Petar Pogonchev, Parashkev Cvetkov, Psaltir Antonov, Petar Mihov, Petar Hristov, Petar Vaskov, Sando Kitanov, Stefan Petkov, Stoyan Lekov, Simeon Molerov, Spiro Kalemanov, Stefan Dimitrov, Spiro Dzherov, Stoyan Lazov, Sofroni Stoyanov, Sava Mihailov, Stamat Georgiev, Stefan Malchankov, Stefan Nikolov, Tane Stoychev, Todor Milev, Tase Milosov, Simeon Denkov, Tarpena Dimitrova, Trendafil Dumbalakov, Tushe Deliivanov, Hristo Silyanov, Hristo Dimitrov, Hristo Kuslev, Hristo Velyov, Hristo Sarakinov, Cvetko Panov While some family names did end with -SKI (-SKA for women), it has to be clearly understood that this suffix relates to its special use as either an adjective or as a place of origin or activity. The following examples illustrate this aspect explicitly: Makedonski m, Makedonska f - a person from Macedonia; Dobrudzhanski - from Dobrudja; Berkovski - from the town of Berkovitsa; Vodenicharski - son of a miller; Zidarski - son of a mason. Benkovski was a name of Polish origin assumed by Gavril Gruev Hlutev, the leader of the April Uprising in 1876 in Central Bulgaria. The name of the Bulgarian national hero, Vasil Levski, is an adjective form meaning lion-like. Arzhentinski - Argentina; Frantsaliiski - one who wears "French" (modern) cloths; Italiyanski - Italy, Persiiski - owner of a factory for Persian rugs; Ruski - Russia; Yaponski - Japan. Stambolov or Stamboliiski - one who visited or lived in Stambul (Bulgarian pronunciation of Istanbul, known to the Western world as Constantinople). We can understand that under Yugoslavia it was hard to address many things, particularly the changing of ancestral names. While numerous Macedonians may now be proud of their present family name and all it entails, it still does not alter events and policies that took place in the past. We only ask that the historic truth be known and respected. Macedonians deserve something better than Marxist-Leninist fabrications about their history. That is why after 1913 the Serb invaders in Vardar Macedonia changed all the last name extensions to -ICH, to show even by the names of the people, that the population in South Serbia IS NOT Bulgarian but Serbian And, that is why after 1913 the Greek state changed the personal names in Aegen Macedonia to ones with -IS extension or similar. To show that the population there IS NOT Bulgarian but Greek And, that is why after 1944 the Yugoslav Communists in Vardar Macedonia forced -SKI and introduced -OSKI and -ESKI extensions. To show that the population there IS NOT Bulgarian but ethnic Macedonian