View Message

Cyprus is the case of a European country with a somewhat quirky naming scheme: Traditionally, the surname is usually derived from the father's first name. If a Cypriot woman, for example, is named Alexandra and her father's first name is Petros, her full legal name becomes Alexandra Petrou (the -ou ending means "of", pretty much like the French prefix de-). As a result it is quite common for children in Cyprus to have a different Surname than their parents.
It also explains why so many Cypriot surnames end with -ou, rather rhan the predominant Greek -os.
In the past few decades, however, socially "established" families have been increasingly abandonong this traditional scheme to preserve a constant surname.