"Patty M." wrote: > > thanks, Frank. You're always such a help. I frankly don't remember any > discussion on double surnames for Croatia, but I trust you are correct. > > Patty In villages throughout Europe, where there were several or more same surname bearers with the same first names, a system of binomes/binames (a.k.a. ' aliases ') evolved. These double surnames were separated by a hyphen (-) Analogous to a married American woman using her her marrried and maiden names together and separated by a hyphen. Usually a nickname or ' alias ' was given the second surname bearer to distinguish him from the first (original) surname bearer. The name left of hyphen was the original surname and one to right was the alias, but not always. If another same surname with the same first name was born in village or moved there ? then this procedure needed to be repeated to differeniate these multiple surname bearers. Over time some binames became branch surnames. Sometimes the names were reversed with the names exchanged from one side to the other. And sometimes the surname bearers were not related. Some such names were recycled over the following generations in a village due to marriages. In addition, some surname bearers used one surname when resident in their village of origin and another surname when traveling away from village. Very confusing. Binames (nicknames) , or surnames were rare throughout Europe (800-1250 A.D.), and most names recorded during this period bear only a given name. The few individuals recorded with a biname bore a patronymic, formed from the father's first name. Between 1250-1526 Christian and saint's names became the standard. Binames or surnames could include patronymics - those derived from the Christian name or profession of the father - or also the name of the surname town of origin or residence. Why the 1526 cutoff ? This is the year that Croatia and Hungary fell to the Turks at the Battle of Mohács, Hungary.