Macedonian onomastics (Macedonian: Македонска ономастика, romanized: Makedonska onomastika) is part of Macedonian studies that studies names, surnames, and nicknames in Macedonian. This is a relatively new linguistic discipline. In Macedonia, and in Macedonian studies in general, it developed during the 19th century, when the first few research results have been provided. The onomastics for a long period of time has been considered as part of various scientific disciplines, such as geography, historyorethnography, until it became a discipline on its own in the 20th century. Macedonian onomastics, generally speaking, is divided into toponomastics and anthroponomastics.[1]
Macedonian onomastics is divided into two large categories, which in turn include several different subcategories or disciplines. The two basic categories of Macedonian onomastics are:[2]
Toponomastics is a branch of the onomastics that studies toponymy, or the names of the places, geographical terms, and their meaning and origin. Depending on the nature of the toponymy, it can be divided into the following subcategories:[1]
Toponomastics uses toponomastic stratigraphy for its studies. The research of the toponymies is done via analysis of the different names of one particular item. The names are direct consequence of the different people, languages and cultures that existed on that particular area. The main principle that is taken intro account is the fact that even though the languages and people that lived in that area disappeared (via migration or assimilation), the names of the places, their meanings and origin remain. Those names later on will be acquired by the new people that came to that area and they will become part of their active lexicon.[2]
Anthroponomastics is the second large discipline of onomastics. Anthroponomastics studies the meaning and origin of the personal names. Moreover, it deals with:[2]
The most common suffixes used for surnames and the most common (top 6) surnames by statistical region are as follows:[3]