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7 February 2011
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Greek today
The history of Greek
Names and writing system

More about Greek

The writing system
The Greek alphabet developed from the Semitic writing system used for Phoenician and was the first fully phonemic writing system, representing both consonants and vowels with 24 different letters. It formed the basis for many other alphabetic writing systems, including the Latin alphabet used in English writing.
Greek writing

Greek names
Greek names consist of a personal name followed by a family name. Children take their father's family name; married women usually take their husband's family name. Male family names commonly end in -os, -is, -as or -ou; the corresponding female family names end in -ou, -i, -a and -ou.

The oldest son is often named after the paternal grandfather; the oldest daughter after the paternal grandmother:

Personal nameFamily name
GrandfatherKostasSifianos
GrandmotherMariaSifianou
FatherSpirosSifianos
MotherEugeniaSifianou
SonKostasSifianos
DaughterMariaSifianou

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