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Message:: [QUOTE="manny9655, post: 6731965, member: 112417"]This is a fascinating story!  Greeks have different name endings, too, depending on gender.  Most Greek names end with an "s"--if you're male.  The female name will drop the "s" and end with the vowel before it (usually but not always a long e for eta), or with the genitive form of the name (usually -ou).  You can also sometimes tell from the name ending, what part of the country they are from.  For example, names ending in -akis are (or were at one time) from Crete; names ending in -ides are usually from Asia Minor.  -ides means the same as -poulos, that is, "son of"...and a lot of times, last names are connected to occupations and some families changed their last names long ago for that reason.  I've told the story here before how my maternal grandmother's father and uncles were key in the liberation of Crete from Ottoman rule in the late 19th century.  But I just wish I could trace her family back further.  I get a block prior to about 1850, the year my great-great grandfather moved.  I know where they originally came from but that's about it.  I'd also like to trace my grandma's  mother's family as she had a well known (but common) maiden name and we might be related to another famous person from the same area.  There are streets and memorials in the Chania, Crete area named after some of my grandma's known relatives.[/QUOTE]