![]() ![]() At first, I felt like I had been deprived of something special. When I went to college in Yerevan, there were four other people in my class with my name. I grew up in India, where I was most probably the only Nareg out of literally a billion people. It tells an Armenian story – a multi-cultural and multi-geographical story, with both religious and mundane elements, a story highlighting both Homeland and Diaspora. The Nareg, as it is more commonly called, is invoked to cure illnesses. It is considered the holiest text after the Bible in the Armenian tradition. Gregory of Nareg is most celebrated for writing The Book of Lamentations, a series of mystical prayers. He is known as Grigor-Krikor Narekatsi – Naregatsi, depending on your preferred Eastern Armenian or Western Armenian pronunciation. “Nareg.” Now there’s a rich story, set a thousand years ago, featuring a monk at a monastery near Lake Van. ![]() It can be convenient to have one of those. “Joe,” by the way, is my restaurant or coffee shop name. That tells you something about naming practices prevalent in Armenian culture. ![]() And my nephew’s name – the first-born grandson of my immediate family. It also indicates the Christian heritage which forms a significant part of the Armenian identity. This is an indication of how Armenians have long formed part of the broader cultural landscape around the Mediterranean and Middle East. “Hovsep,” my middle name, is Armenian for “Joseph” – a name from the Bible, Hebrew via Greek. So, alongside the Armenian suffix, that surname reflects the mark of medieval and modern empires and neighboring cultures. The sefer part is ultimately an Arabic root, but it surely became a surname for Armenians under Turkish or Persian rule. “Seferian.” That means “traveler.” My ancestors were probably merchants. It ends in “-ian” – characteristic for most Armenian surnames, also with its other spelling, “-yan.” ![]()
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