An Interdisciplinary Analysis of Surname Extinction in Mingrelia (North-West Georgia)

The surname is an important focus of the study in ethno-historical research in Georgia. It usually coincides with the father’s genetic line, thereby allowing comparison of surname data with those from anthropological, demographic, biomedical, genetic and historical-ethnological studies. This study investigated surnames that are infrequent and on the verge of extinction in Mingrelia (Samegrelo). We investigated the reasons of these surnames becoming scarce and their implications on Georgian population dynamics. The analysis of hundreds of Mingrelian surnames through our collaborative research revealed various social, economic, migration, and biological reasons for their rarity. The results of this study allow us to reexamine the main aspects and trends of ethno-historic and demographic research on surnames. It will further contextualize results from our population-genetic studies and yield insights into the relationship between surname diversity and marriages patterns in Samegrelo, as well as the formation of genetic and morphological types of populations in the region. © 2019 Bull. Georg. Natl. Acad. Sci.