4. Generating Surnames in Theory and Practice: Surnames Booklets and Registry Documents

A perceived problem during the reception of the law was how a limited number of Turkish names would be used to issue surnames to the relatively large population of Turkey. The solution: surname generator booklets. A number of booklets were published by a variety of government and non-government presses after the announcement of the law. Notes on documents and attached correspondence between population offices and between citizens and officials indicated the specific reasons why names were not approved. Agency and genealogical awareness was the privilege and domain of male family members and was very prevalent among urban elites, many of whom carefully chose, or tailored names. A piece of correspondence between two population officials in Istanbul points to the lack of standard communication among offices concerning procedures for minorities. Documents show that members of non-Muslim Greek minority families not only negotiated but also resisted the imposition of names by officials. Armenian families often kept their names, but also took Turkic sounding names, and some carefully kept a syllable of the old name in the new Turkish name.