Antroponimik Verilere Göre Osmanlı Trabzon’unda Ermeniler [1555-1701]

What is it about?

This article examines the Armenian population of Ottoman Trabzon between 1555 and 1701 through an anthroponymic analysis of personal names recorded in sharia court registers. By analysing approximately 30,000 archival records, the study explores naming practices, the linguistic and cultural origins of Armenian names, and their spatial distribution within the city and its surroundings. The article demonstrates how personal names functioned as markers of identity, cultural continuity, and socio-cultural interaction among different religious and ethnic communities in early modern Ottoman society.

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Why is it important?

This article is significant because it offers one of the first systematic, archive-based anthroponymic studies of an Armenian community in the Ottoman provinces. By using sharia court registers rather than population surveys, it brings women, children, and non-elite individuals into historical visibility. The study demonstrates how personal names can be used as a powerful analytical tool to trace identity, cultural continuity, and intercommunal interaction in a multi-religious Ottoman city, thereby contributing both to Ottoman social history and to the growing field of historical onomastics.

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