I have long since supported Jack Kevorkian (I’m sorry, those are just my political beliefs ). And I found it tragic when he finally ended up in prison. Anyways, on a lighter note (which is what this thread is about–I don’t want to start an assisted suicide debate here) is Dr. Kevorkian Arab-American? Does anyone know? The reason why I ask is because I recently saw a woman of Arab descent on tv. And she had the name Kevorkian in her surname.
I would have looked this up myself. But I wasn’t exactly sure how to Google it .
Confirming what I thought, both Rootsweb and NNDB say that the Kevorkian family is of Armenian descent. (No cites provided – both were merely casual mentions in relation to something totally different.)
“Kevorkian” itself is an Armenian name; Armenians being an established minority group in several Middle Eastern countries, it would be perfectly plausible for a person of Arab extraction to have it as a family name.
Kevorkian is an Armenian name. The Armenians are not Arabs, although a number of countries with Arab majority populations and a dominant Arab culture contain Armenian minorities. Kevorkian’s ancestors may therefore have come from an Arab country, but the name suggests that they were Armenians rather than Arabs.
TTB of my knowledge, it is fairly safe to assume that any surname that ends in -ian is Armenian. I’m trying to think of a counter-example but can’t at the moment. There is a large Armenian contingent in the metropolitan Detroit area, along with some of their churches (and I think there’s a bishop).
… nobly stifling further comment. (Hey, why isn’t there a smiley with a halo??)
Another good example of a person of Armenian-American descent is Andre Agassi. His father’s surname was Agassian; he changed it to Agassi when he became a US citizen.
Another Armenian -ian from the tennis world is the Argentine David Nalbandian.
Christian and O’Brian come to mind. Also some southern Indian surnames such as Subramanian. But the majority of “non-English” sounding surnames that end in -ian in the U.S. are probably Armenian.
Another non Armenian last name is Killian (as in Killian’s Red beer) which, I assume, is Irish (the name, not the beer).
Anyways, the -ian suffix means “son of” so Hagopian = Hagop’s son. The equivalent of our Johnson, Thompson, etc. and the Russian -ovitch. During and after the Turkish genocide in the early part of the last century many Armenians became dispersed throughout the Middle East.
Another famous Armenian-American (at least where I am from) is author William Saroyan.
Right… Heller picked a non-modern ethnic group for his protagonist so he could better represent/be Everyman.
A friend of mine is a second-generation American, no foreign accent, of Armenian descent. He grew up here, his father teaches college here, etc. He’s also a photographer who takes artistic photos of post-industrial decay. Long story short, he got picked up by the police and disappeared for 2 days who thought he was an Arab terrorist while taking photos of an old local bridge. :eek:
Not that arresting Arab-Americans for the same reason is a good idea, but clearly there are a lot of people who don’t know the difference. If there’s any light side to this, it’s his description of trying to reason with the police… “No, ARMENIAN. Armenian-AMERICAN… yeah, in the Middle East, but… no, ARMENIAN… we’re CHRISTIANS, fer cryin’ out loud… look, I’m FROM here, I take photos, I eat hot dogs, I’m a basketball fan… AR-ME-NI-AN - look it up!”
Don’t tell that to the Assyrians. Assyrians are alive and well in the modern day. There are a few million (3.5 according to wikipedia) of them still kicking it in the middle east. There are a lot of them in Chicago. And Yossarian was an Assyrian, I checked my copy. However, Yossarian is not an Assyrian name but a Armenian name.
Yep, there’s an Assyrian-American Cultural Center a mile or so from my apartment, and somewhat of an Assyrian neighborhood along Devon Avenue in Chicago (sandwiched in among the Indians, Pakistanis, assorted Russophones, and Orthodox Jews). Great grocery shopping along that stretch of Devon Ave., let me tell you.
). And I found it tragic when he finally ended up in prison. Anyways, on a lighter note (which is what this thread is about–I don’t want to start an assisted suicide debate here) is Dr. Kevorkian Arab-American? Does anyone know? The reason why I ask is because I recently saw a woman of Arab descent on tv. And she had the name Kevorkian in her surname.
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