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Latvian names, like in most European cultures, consist of two main elements: the given name (''vārds'') followed by family name (''uzvārds''). Up until recently the practice of giving a middle name was very rare, however since Latvian legislation allows giving of up to two given names〔(Dzimšanas faktu reģistrācija )〕 in recent generations it has become more common to have a middle name as well. Latvian male names end in 1st or 2nd declension masculine endings, either ''-s/-š'' or ''-is'' (with a handful of exceptions ending in indeclinable ''-o'', such as ''Ivo'', ''Raivo'', ''Gvido'', ''Bruno'', ''Oto'' and only a couple belonging to the 3rd declension ending in ''-us'', such as ''Ingus'', ''Mikus'', ''Edžus'', ''Zemgus''.) Latvian female names have the feminine 4th or 5th declension endings ''-a'' or ''-e'' respectively. Latvian names always conform to the highly phonetic Latvian orthography and in the case of foreign born Latvian nationals or marriages between Latvian women and foreigners (whence they assume the family name of their husband) the foreign names are modified to conform to the phonetic spelling and to acquire the respective case ending. This has given rise to at least half a dozen lawsuits over the last couple decades, mostly ethnic Russian Latvian nationals not content with addition of case endings as well as a Latvian woman contesting her husband's name being transcribed phonetically in her documents (Mentzen ''alias'' Mencena v. Latvia case) where the plaintiffs were turned down as well as legal proceedings by a Latvian couple to allow them to register their child as ''Otto'' (instead of ''Oto'')〔(Augstākā tiesa atļauj bērnu saukt par Otto )〕 and a claim filed with UN HRC by a Russian-Jewish Latvian national Leonid Raihman whose claims were upheld. The vocative case is used when addressing someone directly, for example, ''Jāni'' for ''Jānis.'' The diminutive form is often used to express endearment or when addressing children, for example, addressing ''Jānis'' as ''Jānīti'' (vocative diminutive). ==History of Latvian names== The official records of Latvian names were often variously forcibly assimilated into the foreign culture dominant at times in Latvian lands. For example, local pastors, who were often of German descent, used to issue marriage and birth certificates with Germanized names: e.g., ''Kalns'' was written as ''Berg'' (both meaning "mountain" in Latvian and German respectively). Sometimes "de-Germanization" produced a slightly different name, e.g., ''Daugmants'' was Germanized as ''Daugmann'' and then de-Germanized into ''Daugmanis.''〔"Latvia as an Independent State", by Alfred Bilmanis, 2008, ISBN 1-4437-2444-0, (p. 151 )〕 Similarly, in Polish Livonia during the times of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (now Latgale) the Latvian names were Polonized, e.g., ''Karkliņš'' became ''Karklinski'', etc.〔 During the times when Latvia was part of the Russian Empire and Soviet Union, in official usage Latvian names were commonly russified. In particular, it followed the three-part pattern of Russian names: given name, patronymic, family name. Also, the masculine endings of first names were often truncated. For example, poet Imants Ziedonis was officially called Imant Yanovich Ziedonis (Имант Янович Зиедонис 〔("Imant Yanovich Ziedonis" ), an article in the ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia''〕). In the 20th century, in particular in the interbellum period of the Latvian national movement, there has been a tendency to change the assimilated names back to their Latvian origins.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Latvian name」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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