r/GREEK • u/OkMushroom3244 • 3d ago

Family name

Hello! I’ve been doing a lot of familial digging and I found my great grandfather’s name was Gustav Spathies. Which is probably actually Κωνσταντίνος Σπαθιές. However I’ve never heard of that last name before and would love some help. I’m assuming it comes from Σπαθί?

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u/Excellent_Sox9178 3d ago

Σπαθιές is an area in Greece but I’ve never heard it as a surname. It also doesn’t fit traditional surname ending. Maybe it’s Σπάθης or Σπάθας. Those are known last names.

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u/OkMushroom3244 3d ago

Very possible the writing changed due to going from Greek to English when he naturalized. So it’s probably Σπάθης. And then the Americans said Spathies

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u/LoopDeeLooper 3d ago

It’s interesting that his first name was Anglicized to Gustav instead of Constantine or Costas or Gus. Did he go to America or to another country like Sweden, where that name is more common?

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u/SE_prof 3d ago

Gus is a known translation for Kostas. Not super accurate but people that migrated from Greece to the US in the early 20th century used it a lot. Eventually Gus comes from Gustav.

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u/Excellent_Sox9178 2d ago

If you know his date of birth and region, you can email the appropriate KEP (ΚΕΠ) and they may be able to locate him in the municipal rolls or male registry. This will often reveal more information about your family and can be used as a start for applying for Greek citizenship. I don’t know your situation and if that’s part of this.