Estonia, Petseri County, Surname Register Cards, 1921-1923

What is in This Collection?

This collection contains new surname register cards for residents of Narva and Petseri counties who didn’t have Estonian names. Name cards are organized alphabetically by the new surnames.

During the first period of the Independent Republic (1918-1940), over 210,000 people acquired their own surnames. New names replaced those that were insulting (Kõnts Filth, Sopaauk Muckhole); weird (Kollikivi Ghost-stone, Pudrunahk Porridgeskin); foreign (Apfelbaum, Vassiljev); of mixed origins (Jahimann, Karubach); or undesirable on other grounds. Those of non-Estonian origin had to renounce to their original German, Russian, or other language names and take Estonian names instead. In order to change their names, they had to apply for a name change and then register the new one.

Between 1920 and 1934, only 820 names were spontaneously Estonianised. Estonianisation of names effectively began in 1935, in which year there were approximately 34,000 name changes; by 1940, there had been about 200,000. Some of the new surnames were translations or equivalents of the old names, but others were simply chosen for their attractive sound, meaning, or association.

For an alphabetical list of records currently published in this collection, select the Browse link from the collection landing page.

In several instances in the history of Estonia, the government requested people to change their foreign language names to an Estonian name (referred to as the Estonianisation of names). Estonianising foreign-sounding family names was initiated in 1921, although the results were rather modest at first. The situation changed after Konstantin Päts established his authoritarian regime in 1934 and the process acquired a political dimension. Getting an Estonian name became the main cornerstone of demonstrating a person’s national unity.

Additional records and/or images may be added to this collection in the future.

Reading These Records

These records are written in German, Russian and Estonian. For help reading them see:

• German Word List
• German Language and Languages
• Germany Handwriting
• Russian Genealogical Word List
• Russia Language and Languages
• Russia Handwriting
• Translator

To Browse This Collection

What Can These Records Tell Me?

The following information may be found in these records:

• Name and surname
• Ages
• Place of residence
• New name and surname

Collection Content

Sample Images

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  Surname Registration Card, 1921