Albanian Discussion Thread

[Kelmendasi]

I just googled 'Zaharijie' and it seems to be a Slavic used name thought it might be related to Albanian 'Zaharija' but many others are literally Albanian names but I am using google translate so it's hard to know the Slavic forms of Albanian names , if someone can help I'd appreciate it, I noticed a lot of Progon, Lesh, Leka, Gjin, Gjergj, etc

Zaharije is the Serbian transliteration of the general Christian name Zaharia and thus it is not solely Slavic.

[Reset]

Zaharije is the Serbian transliteration of the general Christian name Zaharia and thus it is not solely Slavic.

Thanks for clearing that up. Nikola, Marko etc could be Albanian too. I see also Vlach village 'Vlahinja' or something like that.

[Karagjoz]

I just googled 'Zaharijie' and it seems to be a Slavic used name thought it might be related to Albanian 'Zaharija' but many others are literally Albanian names but I am using google translate so it's hard to know the Slavic forms of Albanian names , if someone can help I'd appreciate it, I noticed a lot of Progon, Lesh, Leka, Gjin, Gjergj, etc

It is mostly used by romanians/vlachs -
https://forebears.io/surnames/zaharia
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaharia

Could be it was assimilated in north Albania originally from vlachs

[Bruzmi]

The name Zechariah is a Christian name used by both Catholic and Orthodox Churches. It isn't Slavic or Vlach and doesn't have any "ethnic origin", it's just a Christian name and Albanians used it because all of them were Christian 500 years ago.

[Kelmendasi]

I see also Vlach village 'Vlahinja' or something like that.

Влахиња/Vlahinja is modern Vlahen and at this point it appears to have been an Albanian settlement judging the recorded anthroponyms.

[Kelmendasi]

It is mostly used by romanians/vlachs -
https://forebears.io/surnames/zaharia
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaharia

Could be it was assimilated in north Albania originally from vlachs

As Bruzmi has stated, it is a general Christian name without any clear ethnic implications.

[Karagjoz]

The name Zechariah is a Christian name used by both Catholic and Orthodox Churches. It isn't Slavic or Vlach and doesn't have any "ethnic origin", it's just a Christian name and Albanians used it because all of them were Christian 500 years ago.

What is the slavic variant of the name? All I can find is romanian

[Kelmendasi]

What is the slavic variant of the name? All I can find is romanian

The Serbian transliteration is Zaharija; similar to Albanian and Romanian Zaharia/Zakaria.

[Karagjoz]

The Serbian transliteration is Zaharija; similar to Albanian and Romanian Zaharia/Zakaria.

Thanks, it doesn't seem to be too common among Slavs universally and seems to only exist in south Slavs which points to Balkan origin instead of slavic

Mostly in the primorje-gorski kotar region of Croatia -
https://forebears.io/surnames/zaharija

"Later in 1597 General Lenković led Vlachs from Lika to Gorski Kotar and lands owned by the Frankopan family.[140] In the Frankopan estate, Vlachs arrived yet again in 1609 and 1632."

I'm not saying all zaharija are vlachs but it was originally a vlach name which some slavs and albanians who lived alongside them may have also picked up

[Kelmendasi]

I'm not saying all zaharija are vlachs but it was originally a vlach name which some slavs and albanians who lived alongside them may have also picked up

It is a general Christian name without ethnic implications, similar to names such as Andrea and Nikolla.