s.michael
05-26-2014, 04:11 AM
Hey Guys!
We have long been confused about what ethnicity my great-grandfather's surname is actually derived from. His surname was Karalash and he was born in Ukraine back in the 1880s. I originally just wrote it off as a Ukrainian surname since thats where he was from but its very very rare and not a normal ending for a Ukrainian surname either. I then delved further into the name "Karalash" and found out that there is a relatively common surname found in Georgia (the country ;) ) that is Karalashvili. I was wondering if my great-grandfather's last name is actually a shortened form of this Georgian last name? and maybe his father or grandfather moved to Ukraine or Russia, as was not unheard of, and gradually the "vili" ending fell off. It is the only explanation I can think of since the last names are almost identical and Karalash doesn't seem to be Ukrainian at all. I realize that this is nearly impossible to say for sure, especially since no one else has a personal relationship with this last name (most likely) but do you think this sounds possible? Karalash could have originally been Karalashvili and I am possibly part Georgian?
Thanks so so much for your time!
We have long been confused about what ethnicity my great-grandfather's surname is actually derived from. His surname was Karalash and he was born in Ukraine back in the 1880s. I originally just wrote it off as a Ukrainian surname since thats where he was from but its very very rare and not a normal ending for a Ukrainian surname either. I then delved further into the name "Karalash" and found out that there is a relatively common surname found in Georgia (the country ;) ) that is Karalashvili. I was wondering if my great-grandfather's last name is actually a shortened form of this Georgian last name? and maybe his father or grandfather moved to Ukraine or Russia, as was not unheard of, and gradually the "vili" ending fell off. It is the only explanation I can think of since the last names are almost identical and Karalash doesn't seem to be Ukrainian at all. I realize that this is nearly impossible to say for sure, especially since no one else has a personal relationship with this last name (most likely) but do you think this sounds possible? Karalash could have originally been Karalashvili and I am possibly part Georgian?
Thanks so so much for your time!