The Betrayal of Macedonia in Political Statistics

[Soldier of Macedon]

Probably because there was no need to apply the "system" across the board as the majority of the population was Macedonian, with different last name formulas (-ev, -ov).

Are you suggesting the -ski suffix was mostly applied to non-Macedonians? Or that the -ev and -ov suffixes weren't common in western Macedonia, which is where the -ski suffixes are more prominent today? How did the "system" fail to impose itself on certain Vlachs, Turks and Albanians who don't have the -ski suffix?

Egejci maybe?

No. Many people in eastern Macedonia (where the -ev and -ov suffixes prevail) aren't descended from people who came from further south.

The -ski suffix was widely common in western Macedonia so maybe that's why.

Both the -ski and the more common -ev and -ov suffixes were used in the past, at least formally. Go back earlier and neither were common. In many cases, people just used the name of their father or a family moniker based on a trade or something else as an informal surname (a practice still in use today). Perhaps formality wasn't really critical for a down-trodden and illiterate peasantry during the Ottoman period.

[Carlin]

Are you suggesting the -ski suffix was mostly applied to non-Macedonians? Or that the -ev and -ov suffixes weren't common in western Macedonia, which is where the -ski suffixes are more prominent today? How did the "system" fail to impose itself on certain Vlachs, Turks and Albanians who don't have the -ski suffix

Yes, the -ev and -ov suffixes were present in western Macedonia as well as the -ski suffix (which was apparently more common than say eastern Macedonia). Some Serbs or Bulgarians claim that the -ski suffix was "invented" and applied whole cloth in Macedonia after WWII. They are not aware and do not want to hear that the -ski suffix was very common and popular in certain area of western Macedonia long before WWII.

Anyway, from what I can tell you the -ski suffixes were applied to all, Macedonians included. If you're asking me for percentage breakdown, details, etc. I don't have that information nor have I claimed anything one way or another.

The reason why the "system" failed to impose itself on certain (most?) Turks and Albanians is because they openly and actively rejected it. As far as the Vlachs are concerned, it's a different story. Vlachs were Christians and intermarried with Macedonians a lot, and decided to accept the new names without fuss. Vlachs participated in Ilinden and were active in building the Macedonian nation and state. Many Vlachs nowadays (since the independence of Macedonia) are starting to use and change back to their traditional surnames. Most arguably choose/chose to leave their official -ski names unchanged to this day.

[Niko777]

I want to point out 2 items related to this discussion:

1. Nestoroi is the same as Nestorovi. (V) was lost in many western Macedonian dialects, meaning -oi suffix is actually -ovi (plural of -ov).

2. A 1914 Greek electoral census from the village of Buf, Lerinsko (which I already posted in other parts of this forum) revealed many families with last names ending in -ovski and -ski.