Nicknames / Tsikalaria

Because Kythera was settled in such a way that a few dozen original families spawned the majority of present-day Kytherians, almost every branch of every family had a "nickname" to distinguish it from that of others with the same surname.

The nicknames were sometimes simply the genitive form of a christian name (e.g. "Dimitrelou") or derived from the profession of an ancestor (e.g. "Miliotis" = "Miller") or even describe a physical attribute (e.g. "Koutsaftis" or "Tarzan").

This is the section of the website where you can view the island's nicknames and read about which surnames they are associated with and hopefully where they came from as well.

You can submit to the section by clicking on add to nicknames at the top right.

People > Nicknames

submitted by Jim Cassimatis on 26.03.2011

XEROS - Cassimatis (ΚΑΣΙΜΑΤΗΣ) Family

The nickname Xeros refers to a part of the Kasimatis family that lived in Skoulianika. In the past, that area was named Katouni, due to an area nearby called Omonimis. The church of Santa Irene appears to be from the 14th century, but it was certainly older and has been rebuilt many times as it seems. The Xeros family was a part of the Kasimatis family that initially carried the nickname Skoulos. From this nickname we have the ...