Originally Posted by
eupator
Some general guidelines about last names:
1) Suffix -poulos: meaning the "child of ...", πουλίν meaning child (also bird) in Greek. This one doesn't have any specific regionality attached per se, it can be found in both Anatolians and peninsulars, very generic.
2) Suffix -akis: meaning "little ...", this one comes from Crete, it is said that it was assigned by Ottomans as a way to diminish Cretans (for example, the last name Peteinarakis, meaning "little rooster", a way to diminish the size), not sure if this folklore has any truth to it or not.
3) Suffix -akos: regionality from Mani and the Peloponnese, you also have a Maniatis in your list which literally means "from Mani".
4) Specifics that I can recognise:
Soufleris : the froth of the milk, Crete.
Michailidis : very common Pontic Greek last name (could also be Asia Minor).
Arvanitic last names: Sourounis, Glekas, Mandros, Souroulis, ...
Vlach last names : Stamos, Costinas, Zarras, Vlahos (literally meaning Vlach), ...
Discounting the -poulos and the odd -idis, the rest look like Peloponnese+Arvanitovlach and Crete.
Dunno if that helps at all.
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