Postovani,

Molim Vas da kontaktirajte arhiv Smederevo i da pitajte ako postoje takvi podaci u njihovoj arhivi.

Avram and Kuzman are Bulgarian names, Sokrates and Kosta are Greek, you trace your surname to Struga, it certainly isnt Albanian though the town is and has been heavily populated by Albanians, I think your ancestors of the Stepanoski family are of mixed Bulgarian-Greek origin, Christian Orthodox, since the ending -oski almost always has a Greek origin (-os) while -ovski is Bulgarian in origin, and in your case the name STEPANOSKI is greek, meaning simply, the son of Stepanos (Stephanos + ski = Stepanoski).

nkcic Wrote:

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> Avram and Kuzman are Bulgarian names, Sokrates and
> Kosta are Greek, you trace your surname to Struga,
> it certainly isnt Albanian though the town is and
> has been heavily populated by Albanians, I think
> your ancestors of the Stepanoski family are of
> mixed Bulgarian-Greek origin, Christian Orthodox,
> since the ending -oski almost always has a Greek
> origin (-os) while -ovski is Bulgarian in origin,
> and in your case the name STEPANOSKI is greek,
> meaning simply, the son of Stepanos (Stephanos +
> ski = Stepanoski).

Sumnjam da je ta porodica bugarsko-grckog porekla, prezime je jedno ali ima vise oblika u zavisnosti od jezika i dominantne kulture. Takodje je izlisno na osnovu imena odredjivati etnicku pripadnost, a pogotovu reci da su Avram i Kuzman bugarska imena. To su biblijska imena, odnosno imena iz hriscanske tradicije. Ime Sokratos je jasno grckog porekla, nisam do sada naisao na to ime medju ostalim narodima na Balkanu, dok je Kosta siroko rasireno izvan grckog etnickog prostora, kao sto medju Srbima postoji i prezime Avram, izmedju ostalih (navodim taj primer jer mi je poznat).

Predanje nije relevantan dokaz, ali je indikativno da se izricito pominje Smederevo, koje je daleko na severu. Nisam siguran ni da bi arhivsko istrazivanje pomoglo u tom slucaju, jer se ne kaze nista o mogucem periodu preseljenja iz Smedereva.

Bogdan

"Avram and Kuzman are Bulgarian names, Sokrates and Kosta are Greek".

To claim that first names ( or surnames) are *of this or that ethnicity* is ignorant and pointless. Of the four names you listed there three are also found among ethnic Serbs :

AVRAM

KUZMAN

KOSTA

but that does not make them *Serbian names* , only first names found among Serbs (and other ethnicities as well) .

http://www.rodoslovlje.com/en/documentation/naming-customs-among-ethnic-serbs-xix-century

I will not comment on the rest of the equally baseless assumptions in this post ( -OSKI suffix being "Greek" and -OVSKI "Bulgarian". )  and how ethnicity/ origin of the family is *interpreted* based on them , because  -SKI suffixation as surname formation pattern is present in all Slavic languages . 

"Slavic countries are noted for having masculine and feminine versions for many (but not all) of their names. Most of their surnames have suffixes which are found in varying degrees over the different nations. (Of course, many other names do not have suffixes at all.)

Note: the following list does not take regional spelling variations into account.

• -ov / -ev (-ova/-eva): Russia, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Republic of Macedonia, Serbia (especially frequent in Vojvodina), Croatia (rare) (sometimes as -iv in Ukraine); this has been adopted by many non-Slavic peoples of Central Asia who are or have been under Russian rule, such as the Tatars, Chechens, Kyrgyz, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, etc. Note that -ev is the soft form of -ov, found after palatalized consonants or sibilants.
•  
• -sky (-ska), -ski (-ska), -skiy (-skaya): Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Republic of Macedonia, Serbia (especially in Vojvodina), Croatia.
•  
• Note that these first two can be combined: -ovsky (-ovska), -owski (-owska): Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavic_surnames#Slavic_countries