Kockeste’st Koiksoniks. XVI sajandi lisanimedest kujunenud eesti perekonnanimed

The emergence of Estonian family names (in Estonian: perekonnanimi) is typically dated to the 19th century. However, approximately one-fourth of these names have older onomastic roots. The first comprehensive lists of Estonian peasants date back to the 16th century. This study examines eight regions of Estonia, encompassing 765 peasants. Of these, 662 (87%) were recorded with a binominal naming structure (byname + given name), which suggests that by the 1560s, Estonian peasants had adopted a binominal personal naming system. One list from the 1540s recorded 63% of peasants with a byname, indicating that the development of bynames was likely complete by the mid-16th century. Among the peasants with bynames, four regions exhibited patronymic bynames (with the suffixes –son or –poeg ‘son’) in at least one-third of cases. In the other four regions, patronymic bynames were rare, yet no clear geographical pattern appears to explain this variation. Comparative analysis with later records from the same areas reveals that the stock of bynames sometimes changed over time, with patronymic bynames replacing those of other origins. This suggests that both bynames and naming practices were fluid and subject to change. Of the 662 peasants with bynames, 3.8% had bynames that later evolved into legal family names during the general bestowal of family names in the 1820s–1830s. Some of these family names appear to have originated from migrated bynames (appearing in a neighbouring village in the 16th century) or from rare given names. Consequently, approximately 1,500 family names (representing about 2% of the total) likely trace their origins back to the 16th century. If research confirms that the same family carried a name before the 1820s, it can be regarded as a family name rather than merely a byname.