Are there "correct" ways to spell Romanian names?
For example:
* Zoia vs Zoita vs Zoe
* Gheorghe vs Gheorge
* Vasile vs Basil
* Smaranda vs Mandita
* Traian vs Trajan
* Eleonora vs Eleonore
* Virgil vs Vergiliu
* Augustus vs August
* Sabina vs Sabine
* Teodorescu vs Theodorescu
Hello!
I realise this can be confusing, and it often is for Romanians too. It is very common to find such variations used interchangeably in documents.
- Zoe and Zoia are the proper forms, Zoe is of Greek origin, Zoia is slavic. Zoica, Zoița, Joița are diminutive forms.
- Gheorghe is the proper name, still used today but not as common. George is a contemporary form, became popular in the twentieth century. Gheorghiță, Ghiță, Gigi, Gigel, Georgică, Gică, Gicuță, Gogu are all diminutives. Ghiorghie, Ghiorghe, Gheorghie are deprecated spellings, used before the standardisation of spelling. I would say Gheorge would rather be a spelling mistake.
- Vasile, Eleonora and Sabina are the standard forms in Romanian. I think Basil, Eleonore and Sabine are rare and might be: a) a variation used in late 1800 and early 1900 as a trend to make names have an aristocratic or foreign sound. Or b) an alteration of the spelling migrants (or local clerks) sometimes do to adapt their names to the local variation.
- Smaranda is the proper form. Smărăndița, Mărăndița, Maranda, Manda, Măndița, Dița, Dițica, are all diminutives.
- Traian is the standard spelling. Trajan is deprecated. Might also be a) or b) like above.
- Virgiliu, Vergiliu fell out of fashion and Virgil is the more common form today.
- Augustus and August are both uncommon. Augustus is the Latin root and August would be an adaptation in Romanian.
- Teodor(escu) is the standard form. Theodor(escu) falls in situation (a) described above.
Thank you so much for your detailed explanation.
I think a lot of the spelling variations that I have found are because of multiple translations of letters.
Should I be searching for my family using the spelling of Teodor?
And I have another name variation. Is it Cornelia or Cornelie (I am guessing Cornelia)?
The ending "-escu" means "child of", similar to "-son" in English.
Indeed, to cover spelling variations, I think you should look for Teodorescu as well. At some point, you might find an ancestor named Teodor (or Todor, Toader, Tudor, Tóder, etc).
Cornelie is in the same category as Sabine and Eleonore. Cornelia is the standard spelling.
Thanks Andrei J. I think Andrei C might have also previously mentioned the surname variations of Teodor and Toader to me. I am starting to understand it all a bit better.
Speaking of Gheorghe, I have encountered it both as Gheorge and Georghe. In my case (circa 1870-1890), I think it was because they were used/schooled to write with Chirilic letters (those who were in charge of registering the births/deaths/marriages) and using the Latin ones was new, leading to such variants (but for them, at that time, it was the same, it was "correct" / is my opinion, at least, but I may be wrong).
Speaking of August/Augustus, I am also recommending Augustin.
Citat din: RPS din Mar 17, 2026, 08:03 AMShould I be searching for my family using the spelling of Teodor?
And I have another name variation. Is it Cornelia or Cornelie (I am guessing Cornelia)?
Because transcriptions vary in accuracy, it's best to search using multiple spelling variants, particularly in databases that don't account for these differences.
Citat din: idna din Mar 17, 2026, 01:48 PMSpeaking of Gheorghe, I have encountered it both as Gheorge and Georghe. In my case (circa 1870-1890), I think it was because they were used/schooled to write with Chirilic letters (those who were in charge of registering the births/deaths/marriages) and using the Latin ones was new, leading to such variants (but for them, at that time, it was the same, it was "correct" / is my opinion, at least, but I may be wrong).
Yes, that's likely due to the transition from Cyrillic to Latin script, when spelling wasn't yet standardized. The "gh" sound was rendered inconsistently, which explains forms like "Gheorge" or "Georghe."
Even if a name appears as "George" in Cyrillic records, its correct Latin rendering would typically be "Gheorghe", since the original pronunciation was preserved, even if the spelling varied.