Niki Avgerinos

Professor Raymond
UWRT 1103 E01 MW 8am
5 October 2015
Kinship
In the Greek culture, our naming traditions are very different to those of a different
culture. When a man and woman are married the woman always must take the mans last name,
at least in Greek culture. This is common all over the world. When the couple has kids is when
the true tradition is brought out. The kids are named after a grandparent. For example, my name
is Niki and my grandmothers name is Niki, and for both of us its our full name. If the child is
not named after a grandparent, they are typically named after another relative.
Middle names for the parents are typically the parents names. For example, my middle
name is my mothers name in Greek, and my brothers middle name is my dads name. In earlier
generations the kids would take the dads name as their middle name. This happened for my
mom, but when she was old enough she got rid or the middle name since it was a boys name.
Personally my name in Greek means victory, but that did not have a factor in why I was
named Niki. My grandmother was named Niki because Greece had recently won a war around
the time she was born. My last name doesnt mean anything, and its not special. To my parents
it doesnt mean much besides the fact that its our last name. Last names arent very important in
Greek culture as far as the meaning behind them. Same with most of the names in my family. If
they do mean some thing then it was not the reason the person was named that name. Names
arent special in the Greek culture, the only thing that special is the tradition of passing down a
first name to the next generation which isnt practiced by all Greeks.