Home > Forum > Locations > Countries > Macedonian

Re: Ristich surname

By Miodrag Ristich February 13, 2010 at 09:11:30
In reply to: Ristich surname
Louise Dean 8/05/02

Originally, Ristich was not a family name, but a patronymic. When written in Serbo-Croatian with Latin letters it is spelled
Risti?. However, when a Risti? moves to an English speaking country he has 2 choices. He can either spell it Ristic and have the
English speakers pronounce it Ristik or else add an h to the name in order to give English speakers an idea of correct
pronunciation.

Under Ottoman rule Turks and Christians alike identified themselves with their proper name and a patronymic. Thus, in the
case of my father, his name was Teodosije Risti?, indicating that his father's name was Rista or, in Macedonian dialect, Riste.
Rista/Riste is a Serbian/Macedonian corruption of Greek name Hristos, or Christos, i.e. Christ, a name as common among
Greeks and, by extension, among Orthodox Serbs, Macedonians and Bulgarians, who pronounce it Hristo, as Jesus is among
Spanish speaking peoples.

Had the traditional way of naming continued my name would not have been Ristich, but a patronymic based on my father's
name. However, when Serbs liberated Macedonia from Ottoman rule in 1912 they introduced the Western way of naming. The
name of every head of the family was fixed forever and his patronymic became the family name. Since there were many
fathers named Rista/Riste, a lot of Ristich families sprung up, not related among themselves. If you are looking for your
relatives you would have to trace your grandfather's ancestry back to the first decade of the 20th century and then locate the
descendants of the common progenitor Rista or Riste.

No replies.