Albanization of names explained

Albanization (US) or Albanisation (UK) of names is Albanization of non-Albanian personal names and toponyms in Albania, Kosovo, western North Macedonia and Montenegro. Right after the Second World War Albanian communist authorities required non-Albanians to Albanize their names. In 1966 the Albanian Communist Party issued a decree aimed to wipe out "traces of the non-Albanian population" in places where significant Slavic minorities still lived. In 1968 one of the demands of Albanian nationalistic demonstration on Kosovo was to remove Serbian Orthodox name Metohija from the name of the province. On 23 September 1975 the Albanian Communist Party issued "Decree #5339" on the Albanization of all place-names and personal names which ordered citizens to give "modern revolutionary (Illyrian) names" to their children, while non-Albanian toponyms or ones that had religious connotations all over the country were Albanized to better suit the "state ideology".^[1]

After the Kosovo War and the entrance of the NATO forces to Kosovo in June 1999 a sweeping Albanization of place-names, organizations, street-names and business took place. In 2005 a special envoy of UN Secretary-General, issued a report submitted to the UN Security Council inviting the Kosovo Albanian leaders to react and bring a halt to the attempts to rewrite the history through "albanization". The politicians in contemporary Albania continued to support the politics of Albanization, particularly Albanization of Slavic toponyms.

In Albania

Soon after the Second World War people of non-Albanian ethnicity were required to Albanize their names.^[2] The Central Committee of the Albanian Communist Party issued two decrees which Albanized place-names and personal names. The first decree was issued in 1966 aimed to wipe out "traces of the non-Albanian population" in places where significant Slavic minorities still lived.^{[3] [4]} The 1966 Albanization of names included personal names of ethnic Macedonians and names of the villages where they lived in compact communities.^[5] A Decree on the Albanization of all place-names and personal names was also issued at 7th congress of the Communist Party held in period 26—29 May 1975. The decree referred to all names which are not aligned with ideological and political guideline of the Communist Party.^[6] This decree ordered citizens to give "modern revolutionary (Illyrian) names" to their children.^{[7] [8]}

Tzachristos argues that Christian names were overwhelmingly affected while on the other hand, the use of several Muslim names was allowed in spite their religious connotations. However, French anthropologist Gilles de Rapper states that according to some observations the religious names survived better among Christians than among Muslims.^[9] Under the same decree geographical name changes occurred all over the country in cases of non-Albanian toponyms or ones that had religious connotations. Around 90 towns and toponyms in the southern areas where ethnic Greek communities are located were renamed and received secular names.^[10] The names of 13 settlements in Korçë and 6 in Sarandë regions were changed in order to be in agreement with the "state ideology".^[11] Moreover, the names of Greek and Roman archaeological sites were changed to "Illyrian".

A ban of religious names had deleterious consequences on people of Greek ethnicity who traditionally give religious names to their children.^[12]

In case of substantial Serb community in northern Albania (Shkodër), their family names had been Albanized during dictatorship of Enver Hoxha.^[13]

The desire of the Greek minority's representatives to be able to use bilingual signposts and signs within municipalities is based on their need for recognition of Greek culture and, more importantly, a fear of its erosion. The December 2007 lawsuit against Omonoia President Vasil Bolano for replacing signs in Albanian with signs in Greek in the municipality of Himara illustrates the issues surrounding toponymy and its symbolic meaning. The situation was the exact counterpoint to the measures of Albanization of toponyms operated by the communist regime.^[14]

The politicians in contemporary Albania continued to support the politics of Albanization, particularly Albanization of Slavic toponyms. In 2009 Albanian president Bamir Topi and Prime Minister Sali Berisha proposed establishment of the commission for Albanization of Slavic toponomy.^[15] Berisha actually supports Albanization of not only Slavic toponyms but all placenames in Albania.^[16] In spite of his proposal, there are no similarly strong attempts to Albanize Latin, Turkish or Greek place names for the time being.^[17]

The Albanian civil service’s policy tends to Albanianize personal names to persons who belong to ethnic or cultural minorities without even asking them.^[18]

In Kosovo

During the widespread demonstrations in Priština and several other towns on Kosovo in 1968, the Albanian nationalists demanded a change of name of the Serbia's province Kosovo and Metohija to Kosovo.^{[19] [20]} They considered an Orthodox name of Metohija as provocative.^[21] Their demands were met and less than a month after demonstrations Yugoslav Federal Parliament removed Serbian name Metohija from the official name of the province.^[22]

After the Kosovo War and entrance of the NATO forces to Kosovo in June 1999 a sweeping Albanization of place-names, organizations, street-names and business took place.^[23] In some cases newly forged placenames (i.e. Burim, Besiana or Theranda) are not accepted instead of traditional names.^[24]

In 2003 UN Secretary-General reported that names of many non-Albanians were "Albanized" in official documents which include their identity cards. In the same report it is indicated that after becoming award of this activities in some cases UNMIK reissued documents with correct spelling of the name.^[25] The Minister for Kosovo in the Government of Serbia informed EULEX that the practice of Albanization of names of Serbs is unacceptable.^[26]

In 2005 Kai Eide, a special envoy of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, issued a report which was later submitted to the UN Security Council. In this report the Kosovo Albanian leaders are invited to react and bring a halt to the attempts to rewrite the history through "albanization".^[27]

Assembly of Kosovo adopted a Law on the Use of Languages which stipulated that non-Albanians have the right to receive all information, documents and other services in any of the Kosovo’s official languages. It was reported by UNHCR that Kosovo’s public companies do not respect this law when it comes to their non-Albanian customers, particularly Serbs, whose names are changed to Albanized versions with "ç".^[28] There is a common practice reported by Ombusdperson institution in 2008 which has serious long-term consequences when municipalities don't respect names in the Serbian, Bosniak and Turkish languages of newborn babies when they are recorded in the registry books.^[29]

In North Macedonia

During Second World War western part of North Macedonia was annexed into fascist Albania. All Macedonian schools were replaced with Albanian while names and surnames of non-Albanian people had to take an Albanian form.^[30]

Further reading

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Notes and References

1. Sabrina P. Ramet, Nihil Obstat: Religion, Politics, and Social Change in East-Central Europe and Russia (Duke University Press, 1998) p. 218
2. Book: Veikou, Mariangela. Plamen Makariev. Islamic and Christian Cultures: Conflict Or Dialogue. 16 December 2013. 1 January 2001. CRVP. 978-1-56518-162-5. 159. For instance, soon the minority members were all required to Albanize their names; a list of approved names was provided in a booklet distributed to every household by the state. These names were selected on the basis of a Latin origin,.
3. Book: Macedonian Review. 16 December 2013. 1990. "Kulturen život" (Cultural Life). 63. By a decree passed in 1966 place-names were changed to wipe out "traces of the non-Albanian population"....
4. Book: Filipović, Gordana. Kosovo--past and present. 16 December 2013. 1989. Review of International Affairs. 353. An act of violence was committed over topography and geography in the aim of albanizing Albania..
5. Book: Anton Vratuša. Narodne manjšine: zbornik referatov in razprav na znanstvenem srečanju 30. in 31. marca 1989. 1990. Slovenska akademija znanosti in umetnosti. 978-86-7131-033-8. 115. Tako je 1966. godine izvršena albanizacija ličnih imena Makedonaca, imena sela u kojima oni kompaktno žive, a promenjena su i ostala geografska imena. .
6. Book: Elsie, Robert. Robert Elsie. Historical Dictionary of Albania. 16 December 2013. 19 March 2010. Scarecrow Press. 978-0-8108-7380-3. 41. ...the Albanization of all personal and place-names that are not in line with political, ideological, and moral guidelines.
7. Book: Macedonian Review. 16 December 2013. 1990. "Kulturen život" (Cultural Life). 63. Under a decree of 1975, citizens were ordered to give their children "modern revolutionary (Illyrian) names"....
8. Web site: On the Implementation of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities in Kosovo. Minority Electronic Sources. 16 December 2013 . Aleksandra Dimitrijevic . Mustafa Balje, Osman Osmani, Bekim Syla, Elvir Ilijazi . 107 . 2005 . official names of towns, villages and places are frequently renamed, which unofficially results in the “Albanization” of those names..
9. News: Religion in post-communist Albania: Muslims, Christians and the idea of 'culture' in Devoll, southern Albania. Gilles de Rapper. 7 October 2008. 2 October 2017. Anthropological Notebooks, Slovenian Anthropological Society. 2. 14. 31–45. . Page 42: "Finally, other observations seem to support the idea of the relatively privileged position of Christians during communism: for instance, and as far as I could determine, the destruction of places of cult in 1967 and afterwards seems to have been more systematic in the case of Muslim places, while Christian places (although closed as cult places and dedicated to secular usage) have more often been spared as ‘cultural monuments’ [41] (monument kulture). Also, as far as I could determine, religious first names, formally forbidden in 1976, seem to have survived better among Christians than among Muslims. They seem to have reappeared more easily after 1990, for newborn children as well as for children and adults who got baptised when religious practices were authorised again. Muslim names, on the contrary, do not seem to have regained favour. "
10. Book: Albania : a country study . Area handbook series . 1994 . Federal Research Division, Library of Congress . 0-8444-0792-5 . 2nd . 86.
11. Book: Tzachristos . Vaios Vasileiou. Η εκκλησιαστική πολιτική του Ενβέρ Χότζα και των επιγόνων του [The Ecclesiastical Policy of Enver Hoxha and of his Successors]]. 2013. University of Thessaloniki. Thessaloniki. 103. 2 October 2017. el.
12. Web site: Human Rights in Post-Communist Albania. 16 December 2013. Helsinki. 134. 1996. Since Greek minority culture is closely tied to the Orthodox Church, the community did suffer disproportionately from the ban on religion and the destruction of churches. In addition, governmental pressure to change foreign and religious names to Albanian forms had a deleterious impact on Greek families, who often name children after religious figures..
13. Book: Ahrens, Geert-Hinrich. Diplomacy on the Edge: Containment of Ethnic Conflict and the Minorities Working Group of the Conferences on Yugoslavia. 6 March 2007. Woodrow Wilson Center Press. 978-0-8018-8557-0. 299. ...their family names, which had been Albanized during the Hoxha dictatorship.
14. Dorlhiac . Renaud . La minorité grecque d'Albanie : survivance de l'hellénisme ou produit de la construction étatique albanaise ? . Anatoli . 1 October 2015 . 6 . 59–78 . 10.4000/anatoli.287 . 23 November 2018 . fr . 2111-4064 . Le procès intenté au président d’Omonoia, Vasil Bolano, pour avoir remplacé dans sa commune d’Himara les panneaux de signalisation en albanais par des panneaux en grec, en décembre 2007, illustre les enjeux entourant la toponymie et révèle en outre un rapport symbolique très fort au terroir, creuset des traditions. Il est l’exact contrepoint des mesures d’albanisation des toponymes opérées par le régime communiste. .
15. Web site: Lexical cleansing: Slavic toponyms in Albania (or out of?). Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso. 16 December 2013. Marjola Rukaj. 2009. Current president Bamir Topi first mentioned the idea during a routine visit to a village in the country's northeast. At first, it seemed like a simple gaffe made by a president who lacked better speech ideas for a minor event. But a few months later, Prime Minister Berisha also mentioned Slavic toponymy. Berisha, discussing the issue in one of his new government's first meetings, did not hesitate to take the idea further. "We have to create a commission to replace all the Slavic toponymy in the country with corresponding Albanian toponyms originating before the Slavic invasion," Berisha said..
16. Web site: Lexical cleansing: Slavic toponyms in Albania (or out of?). Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso. 16 December 2013. Marjola Rukaj. 2009. In that sense, Berisha went even further with a proposal to "Albanize" all place names in the country..
17. Web site: Lexical cleansing: Slavic toponyms in Albania (or out of?). Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso. 16 December 2013. Marjola Rukaj. 2009. But for the time being Greek place names in southern Albania, Turkish ones in other regions, and Latin and Italian ones along the coast do not seem to be a source of concern..
18. Giakoumis . Konstantinos . The policy of non-discrimination and the protection of minority cultural heritage in Albania . International Journal of Cultural Policy . 6 June 2020 . 26 . 4 . 502 . 10.1080/10286632.2019.1567722 . 150417947 . 5 August 2022.
19. Book: Gordana Filipović. Kosovo--past and present. 1989. Review of International Affairs. 249. ... Flag Day, November 27, 1968, they organized demonstrations in Pristina and several other towns in Kosovo and Metohija. ... Accession to the demand for a change in the name of the Province followed only a month later and was a high point in the albanization of the province. The old idea of ethnic Albanian nationalists to change the historical name of Kosovo and Metohija to Kosovo, so as to adapt it ....
20. Book: United States. Congress. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. Repression and violence in Kosovo, March 18, 1998; Kosovo, the humanitarian perspective, June 25, 1998: two hearings before the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, One Hundred Fifth Congress, second session. 1998. U.S. G.P.O.. 978-0-16-057628-7. 73. The 1968 demonstrations resulted in the changing of Kosovo and Metohija's name to Kosovo only, and the albanization of the province: the albanization of the topography,....
21. Book: Year Book. 1990. ELIAMEP. 151. ... other Kosovo cities, calling for an independent University, the removal of what they saw as "the provocative Orthodox name of Metohija" from the ... .
22. Book: Frederick L. Shiels. Ethnic separatism and world politics. 1984. University Press of America. 130. 9780819137296 . Serbian name "Metohija" was dropped from the Province's official title in deference to Albanian sentiments..
23. Rajić . Ljubiša . Toponyms and the political and ethnic identity in serbia . Oslo Studies in Language . 4 . 2 . 203–222 . 2012 . 10.5617/osla.319 . 16 December 2013 . 1890-9639. When NATO forces came to Kosovo in June 1999 a thorough “Albanization” of the names of the streets, squares, settlements, businesses and other organizations was carried out in order to define Kosovo as an Albanian region, and the name Metohija ceased to be used as it was officially renamed Dukagjin which is an Albanian word.. free .
24. Book: Elsie, Robert. Historical Dictionary of Kosova. 2004. Scarecrow Press. 978-0-8108-5309-6. 11.
25. Web site: Responses to Information Requests. Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. 16 December 2013. Canada. 2005. A report by the UN Secretary-General stated that many non-Albanian minorities had had their names "Albanized" in official documents, including identity cards (UN 14 Apr. 2003). However, the report also indicated that when UNMIK is made aware of these "violations," it would endeavour to fix the problem, in some cases by reissuing documents with the correct spelling of the bearer's name.
26. News: K. Albanians "trying to finalize ethnic cleansing". 16 December 2013. 2011. "It is unacceptable for the names of Serbs to be Albanized in the documents issued by Priština.
27. Web site: Eide. Kai. Letter dated 7 October 2005 from the Secretary-General addressed to the President of the Security Council. Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for the future status process for Kosovo. 16 December 2013. 17. 2005. The Serbian Orthodox Church is experiencing pressure against its identity. In addition to intimidation and threats, there are attempts to rewrite the history and origin of Serbian Orthodox heritage. They see uncontroversial and neutral names of streets in the vicinity of their sites being changed and “albanized”. The Kosovo Albanian leaders should react and bring a halt to these activities..
28. Web site: Uneven implementation of the Law on the Use of Languages in Kosovo (2009). The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC). 16 December 2013. 2010. In Kosovo’s public companies, the Law on the Use of Languages is practically not implemented. Electricity bills, bank statements and informative leaflets are written and distributed only in Albanian, or, in the best cases, also in English (see Annex B). Often the names of non-Albanian customers, in particular Serbs, are mangled, for instance changing the last letter of the Serbian last names from “ć” to the Albanized-version ending with “ç”.. https://web.archive.org/web/20120720144626/http://www.internal-displacement.org/idmc/website/countries.nsf/(httpEnvelopes)/6924B4D6BAFB2987C125764F003E6EC8?OpenDocument. 20 July 2012. dead.
29. Web site: Uneven implementation of the Law on the Use of Languages in Kosovo (2009). The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC). 16 December 2013. 2010. It is also rare for municipalities to respect the spelling of names in the Serbian, Bosniak and Turkish languages, which can have long time bearing consequences when it comes to the spelling of the name of a new born in a civil status registry book.". https://web.archive.org/web/20120720144626/http://www.internal-displacement.org/idmc/website/countries.nsf/(httpEnvelopes)/6924B4D6BAFB2987C125764F003E6EC8?OpenDocument. 20 July 2012. dead.
30. Book: Rossos, Andrew. Andrew Rossos. Macedonia and the Macedonians: A History. 16 December 2013. 6 June 2008. Hoover Press. 978-0-8179-4883-2. 179. The names and surnames of non-Albanians had to take on an Albanian form.