This is the second in a series about myths relating to Latvian genealogy. Go check out the first one about record availability here! Today’s myth: “My ancestors only spelled their surname one way.” Wrong. Very wrong. Very incredibly wrong. If
Finnic Influences in Latvia: Personal Names
Time for my second post on Finnic influences in Latvia – see the first one on place names here. This post was planned for last week, but then my laptop’s motherboard died, and since it would have cost so much
Where Could They Be From?
What do you do if you have little to go on when it comes to researching your Latvian ancestors? What if they emigrated in the late 1800s or early 1900s, and the only information that passenger lists or naturalization records
Forename Friday – Ziedīte
Today’s name is Ziedīte. This is a female name. According to Klāvs Siliņš’ Latviešu personvārdu vārdnica (Dictionary of Latvian Personal Names), Ziedīte comes from the Latvian verb “ziedēt”, which means “to blossom”, and was first seen in 1915 in Zemgale,
Forename Friday – Zinta
Welcome back to Forename Friday! This will be a biweekly series looking at Latvian first names, chosen based on one of the names found in the Latvian calendar of names for that day. Today’s name is Zinta. This is a
“Fearless Females” – March 3
Today’s prompt: Do you share a first name with one of your female ancestors? Perhaps you were named for your great-grandmother, or your name follows a particular naming pattern. If not, then list the most unique or unusual female first
Forename Friday – Fire and Light
Today’s Forename Friday is dedicated to given names that relate to fire and light. This is an interesting category, because so many Latvian names come from it. But as I’ve mentioned before, even though there are many names in this
Forename Friday – “Saule”
Today’s edition of Forename Friday is dedicated to names derived from the word “saule”, meaning “sun”. Names derived from “saule” are not very popular, even though a number of them exist. But when I searched the PMLP personal name database
Forename Friday – “Laime”
The genea-blogging community has Surname Saturday, so why not Forename Friday? This is not meant to exclude those from cultures where given names appear after surnames, but there is no day of the week starting with a G for “given