SISTEMUL ANTROPONIMIC AL ROMILOR DIN ROMÂNIA
PERSPECTIVĂ ISTORICĂ ȘI COMPARATĂ

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A history of the names borne by the Roma in the Romanian space has not been carried out so far, although their presence in medieval documents through mentions in various circumstances (tributes, inheritances, sales, etc.) is extremely abundant. The first mention of the Roma in documents is that of 1385, as “gypsy slaves”, designating their status as slaves, and they were to be classified as such, without their personal names being mentioned for more than half a century. The first anthroponyms of the Roma appear in 1441 (Manea, Pascu, Micu), as unique names, patronymics, representative of the settlements they designated. Starting with this document, in Wallachia during the 15th century, 60 anthroponyms are recorded, and in Moldova 206, following which in the 16th century their number increased to 698 in Wallachia and 957 in Moldova, the total number of anthroponyms encountered during the two centuries in both regions being 1921. As a result, one of the reasons why such a work was necessary was precisely the abundance of names by which the Roma are present in medieval documents, names that were waiting to be analyzed and highlighted especially from the perspective of the ethnic criterion, both the forms common to the Romanian anthroponymic system and those specifically Roma. Thus, by carrying out this work, we propose a revitalization of specific Romani names to be taken over and integrated by the Roma in today’s society, not only as surnames, as nicknames, but also as official names, thus trying to provide readers with an inventory of older or newer names, but enlivened by the spirit of the Romani language and culture.