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I grew up in Ukraine with the last name Arakelov without giving it a second thought. Only later in life I started thinking about it. I found out that this surname goes back 3-4 generations and then we loose track of it. So I don’t know at what point and why my surname was changed. I started more seriously thinking about this topic in 2020 when I visited Armenia through Birthright. In 2022 I’m in Ukraine once again, under attack by Russia, and that completely convinced me to change my surname to Arakelian, which is what it was meant to be. So far the change is unofficial, but I’m considering changing it officially, especially once I repatriate to Armenia once the war in Ukraine is over

My grandma always said "Turq te Rrus nuyn qaq" Yet after all this they're are til Armenians calling Russia "Axper azg"...

I have been watching your content for a while and want to sincerely thank you for your work. It's incredibly valuable.

It's sad we are allied with Russia, they are no allies and don't care for us, but they are all we have. Nice video though learned a lot, please keep making videos, you are doing a lot for the Armenian community and you should be proud, and these are damn well interesting, good job

There was no real friendship between Russia and us ... even now ...

All Armenians should understand that this colonization that continues till now shall be ended 🇦🇲🇦🇲🇦🇲✊🏼✊🏼✊🏼

Very interesting, didn't know the exact reasons for the -ian and -yan differences. I have eastern (Iran -julfa, isfahan and azerbaijan -ganja, voskanapat) Armenian background and we spell our name with -ian.

oh man, this is a high quality video. I'm going to binge your channel now :p

What's up bro, I wouldn't have guessed you'd make this video out of all the ideas we discussed! Great info as always, hope to see you in Armenia again soon!

Again a very interesting video, Thanks man. I really like your voice, it sounds so calmy and pleasant.

u deserve more followers! love from Artsakh 🇦🇲❤

From the title I would have guessed you were going to criticize the spelling reform(s) but you didn’t talk about them much. Though I guess you are against the new spelling since you mentioned the yan/ian thing and also that the spelling was changed to apparently make it closer to Russian (though I don’t see what you mean there). All I can say is that the reformed spelling is very much preferred by Armenian citizens and academics and there is no need or desire among us to change it back to the classical spelling which is outdated for modern Eastern Armenian. Today, unlike during Soviet era, nobody is forcing the Western Armenian diaspora to change their spelling (keep in mind that our diaspora is no longer only Western Armenian, and the Eastern half also uses the reformed spelling), so technically your surname isn’t changed :) It’s just written with yan so that Armenians can read it easily; just like how in WA they change EA spelling for their own conveniences, and I don’t see a problem with that either. But these are just my opinions! (I agree with everything else you said about Russian oppression, past and present.) Thanks for the context in the video as always 😊

Fascinating video as usual Akrav! This got me thinking about the largest Armenian diaspora population, in Russia. Would you ever consider making a video on similarities and differences Armenian diasporas hold around the world? Like what is different about the Russian diaspora and their relationship with Armenia than say the diaspora from Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Ukraine, US, France?

Hope you keep making these great videos. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and discoveries. Be well.

Great video!

Dear Akrav, you are an amazing one man institution of extreme knowledge. Essential for every Armenian to follow you and listen to your videos. Greatly appreciated. A thousand thank you for your efforts.

I’m eastern (Artsakh) and my surname (2nd surname, bc I’m also Spaniard and we use 2) is written the traditional way (-ian).

Very informative, good work!

Lav video axper.

Cool!

My name is Arsen Hakhumyan and my grandfather's name is Arsen Hakhoumian

I somewhat had to change my name when I live in Canada it was not a big change but it went from Rassul to Russell to make it fit in more and no one thinks that it is a foreign name And the fact that they changed the alphabet for Persian in the USSR makes me mad because as a Persian speaker it makes it impossible to communicate to writing and only through speech which is dumb but a Tajik person who I know said that they are going back to the Persian alphabet because the Russian one does not make sense

I would like the make a clarification about the origin of YAN vs IAN. Unless you are talking about the Armenian spelling ՅԱՆ vs ԵԱՆ, it started not in 1922 but 1995. Up until 1995 the passports issued by Soviets & then by Armenia were using IAN for spelling the latinized version of Armenian last names. Then starting 1996 Armenia introduced the new (blue) passports. At this time someone in passport authority made a decision to switch to YAN when latinizing the last name endings. As a result, people like me who left Armenia before the passport reform of 1995 and never received a blue passport still have an IAN, but my own brother & father who live in Armenia were issued blue passports and have their last names spelled with YAN. However, both IAN and YAN are spelled ՅԱՆ when using Armenian script.

Hello, I'm sorry for asking, but can I translate your video 《Armenians in Ukraine》 into Russian and put it on my channel?

Could you make a video abt medieval Armenia?

Thank you so much brother. The unfortunate matter of fact is that Armenians assimilate most in Slavic countries, many I've met identify with their Slavic ancestor, join the protestant or Baptist church or even Russian Orthodox, and change their last names, men can change Hagopian to Hakobov, and women take their Slavic husband names. There's a reason why and Monte Melkonian states this reasoning, any "richer" nation Armenians are likely to join residential struggles rather than for the homeland, and Armenians in oppressed nations like Arab countries tend to preserve.

Could you make a video about Ashot III and the historical Armenian city of Ani?

Excellent job, learned a lot!

Every day Russian history finds a new way to disgust me. Thank you for making this video, even if it was deeply uncomfortable to watch.

I am not sure English -ian and -yan has anything to do with that. After all, prior to the spelling reform, it was -եան (not -իան), which literally means -ean, but since it is pronounced as -յան (-yan), anyway, it was changed to that. I am an Eastern Armenian, and I use -ian in English, but in Armenian, I would, probably, write the reformed way -յան (-yan) because it is not for me to decide whether to return to the classical spelling but rather for the Armenian Republic. English does not have exact correspondence, anyway. That's why, some people use -ian and others use -yan. You know, there is an Eastern Slavic form for the Greek name Georgios, Юрий. In reformed Armenian spelling that would be Յուրիյ. In classical spelling, it would, probably, be Եուրիյ, not sure. Anyway, in reformed spelling it is crystal clear how to pronounce the name, but if you try to find how to write it in English, you will find so many different attempts: Yuriy, Yury, Iuriy, Iouriy, Ioury, etc. And most probably, the native English won't pronounce it correctly, anyway. That's why I would not make the parallels between -եան/-յան and -ian/-yan. They don't exactly match. Another reason may be Soviet English. In the Soviet era, it was expected the Russian я(յա) letter to transform into -ya in English, that's why in Soviet Armenia, they would use -yan, but even if they all switch to -ian in English, it won't change the spelling in Armenian. There should be pan-Armenian consensus on that; or the government of the Republic has to decide. And I don't see any indication they would like to switch back to the classical spelling. After all, the reformed one is easier. And the human nature tends to choose the easier way.

Well, and then there's me, being born in Germany and having his name pronounced "Abgardshan" all the time :D ("j" in German is pronounced like "y")

my teacher always spell my name wrong it's kool not kul! just show them your ID card that fixed the spelling

My name is Maghikian,i think it have iranian root

Where is the language split of West and Ost Armenia?

More than 50% of our Armenian Western last names are Turkish words. Bajaksouzian (which means legless; assigned to a short man), Soghanyemezian (which means one who does not eat onions), and Srmakeshkhanlian (which means owner/worker of a factory where gold/ silver thread is drawn). Apparently, prior to the Ottoman Empire, Armenians were called the Loyal ones and had Turkish last names as per C.K. Garabed Etymology (ist) of Armenian Surnames.

Both of my grandparents on mother side were deported to Siberia by stalin. Their fathers were both part of Dashnak groups of Andranik Zoravar and Garegin Njdeh. Patriotism was not permitted.

There are only two main points I’ve learned from this video. 1: Russia is a bad influence on Armenia, wanting to profit off of them, and it is a horrible thing. 2: (not biased!!!) Yan is better than Ian because I said so!! (Defn not in my real name)

What do you think of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation?

👍👋👋👋

Long live to real Armenia and to the catalan countries or real Catalonia!!!

Can you speak Western Armenian

🏞️🛕🗿🗽Axtamar

Whos name ends with ian lol. #fakeArmenian

Well, in defense of the spelling reform: Did it make learning Armenian easier? I don't speak Armenian myself, but in the case of Greek; In modern these all make an 'i' sound: "ει, η, ι, οι, υ". That makes it needlessly hard for beginners. Hæd ìnglìš bīn spɛlt lïĸ̄ þÌs Ìt wʊd bī mƏć īßīëŗ föŗ bigiñeŗs tu ŗīd Ənd rït (Had English been spelled like this it would be much easier for beginners to read and write) Didn't the Soviets have "Universal litteracy" as their motto; I learned Russian for two years, and cyrrilic is really beginner friendly. The tradeoff however, is that it has 32 letters, and no modifiers at all. (you wouldn't write 'Th' as тЪ rather "ѳ" or "ӟ") It's easy, but bulky, inflexible and makes reading older text more difficult. Maybe you could compare the two spellings, and make a video about your experiences.