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Hi everyone. I live in Argentina and "Dunayevich" in my last name. There seems to be some lack of agreement in the family about its true meaning and origin. They are Jews from around Odesa, Ukraine, but we don't look like jews, much rather like southern slavs or serbs. There is word that at some point the religion was adopted. Anyway, an old uncle said that the last name had been wrongly translated when they got here, and it originally was "Dunaievic"
Most of my family is gone now, and the trail of the name has been lost. Can anybody help me track the origins?
Thanks in advance.
Most of my family is gone now, and the trail of the name has been lost. Can anybody help me track the origins?
Thanks in advance.
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Replies
My last name is Dunayevich too.
Family?
My family is from Ukraine...
Family?
My family is from Ukraine...
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What do "jews" look like then?
Do you mean you do not look like you are from Judea??
You see, I know quite a few people from Argentina and just by looking at them, you could never tell if they are Jewish, catholic, vegetarian, new ageists or chocoholics...
Do you mean you do not look like you are from Judea??
You see, I know quite a few people from Argentina and just by looking at them, you could never tell if they are Jewish, catholic, vegetarian, new ageists or chocoholics...
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> but we don't look like jews
Are you implying you dont have pointy ears and green blood???
Are you implying you dont have pointy ears and green blood???
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LOL! Don't forget our horns, Pavlos. ;)
-- Nanaea
-- Nanaea
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Sorry I hurt your sensitivities. I guess we Argentine Jews aren't so worried about getting stereotyped. Interesting...
By the way, thanks for your wonderful help.
By the way, thanks for your wonderful help.
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Your name might come from the Slavic name of Danube, Dunaj, as Nanaea noted, or it might be derived from the old Russian "dunai" - breath. In favor of the "breath" theory - Ukraine is nowhere near the Danube, but close enough to Russia (an in fact, a former Soviet Republic) to have absorbed Russian words. In favor of the Danube theory: Ukrainian last names generally end in -enko. -evic names are typical for the better part of former Yugoslavia: Serbia, Monte Negro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, etc. So, your family might indeed have come from that region, in which case the name can very well mean "of the Danube"
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Ivayla, how would you pronounce "Dunaj"? Is it pronounced the same way as "Dunay" or "Dunai"? Thanks. :)
-- Nanaea
-- Nanaea
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"Dunaj" is a Polish surname meaning "dweller near the Dunaj River" (which is another name for the Danube River). The "Dunay" or "Dunai" part of your name may be a variation of "Dunaj".
The "-evich" part could be a slavic patronymic, meaning "son of".
I'm not entirely certain what Jews look like in Argentina, when you say that "we don't look like jews", but here in the U.S. we can look like just about anyone else.
-- Nanaea
The "-evich" part could be a slavic patronymic, meaning "son of".
I'm not entirely certain what Jews look like in Argentina, when you say that "we don't look like jews", but here in the U.S. we can look like just about anyone else.
-- Nanaea
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e5y
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...and Dunaj is also a slovenian name for Wienna.
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Why Wienna of all the cities that are on the Danube?
Just curious if you know. Wienna is the most remarkable one also works as an answer =o)
Just curious if you know. Wienna is the most remarkable one also works as an answer =o)
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I often wondered about that myself. I really don`t know :))
But it is interesting that the name of the Danube river in slovenian is not Dunaj or Dunav (Croatian & Serbian), but Donava. So, in slovenian the name of the city and the name of the river do not sound quite the same.
But it is interesting that the name of the Danube river in slovenian is not Dunaj or Dunav (Croatian & Serbian), but Donava. So, in slovenian the name of the city and the name of the river do not sound quite the same.
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