LAGEN (LAGINO)
An excerpt from the book "Lerin in Mourning" by Atanas Tane Naumovski found on the website Pollitecon Publications
The village of Lagen was forcibly made to change its name by the Greek government to Triandafilea. It is about 10 kilometres south of Lerin. It is at the foot of the mountain Vicho at 21 degrees 24 minutes longitude and 40 degrees 42 minutes latitude and 1,140 metres above sea level. It is about 18 kilometres square in area.
The village borders to the northwest with the village Neret, to the north with the village Krpeshtina, to the northeast with the village Dolno Kotori, to the east with the village Gorno Kotori, to the southeast Bel Kamen and now the abandoned village Elovo and to the west it borders with the Neret mountain. The Lagen River flows through the village.
Before the start of the Greek Civil War in 1945 about 470 Macedonian residents lived in the village. They were employed in raising livestock, timber getting and less with agriculture.
In the period 1946-49, the residents took part in the organization of NOF and the armed forces of DAG with more than 45 active fighters. 14 gave their lives.
They were:
- Gochev, Stefo Tanas
- Jovanov, Vasil Tanas
- Kostov, Stoiche Kole
- Kostova, Stoiche Kata
- Masin, Dzole Pavle
- Numchev, Vasil Tanas
- Popov, Tanas Jote
- Popova, Stefanija
- Siderov, Stoiche Risto
- Siderov, Tanas Risto
- Stojanov, Risto Sotir
- Trajkov, Tanas Gjorgi
- Trapchinin, Petre Vasil
- Filev, Vane Pandil
Of all of the fallen fighters who gave their young lives there were 12 men and 2 women.
After the Greek Civil War and the forced emigration from Lagen, the number of residents fell significantly. The 1991 census in Greece recorded there were 101 residents in the village.
Family Names of Lagen Inhabitants
Here is a list of family names which at one point lived in Lagen (although it is NEVER complete).
In the first column is the original Macedonian version of the name. In many cases individuals and families that have emigrated to other countries have had their
names 'localized' to the local language (in Australia/Canada/USA they have been shorted - Ivanov to Evans, Branov to Brown). In the European countries they have
adjusted to include "-ski" or "-sky" (examples are Popovski from Popov, Mangovsky from Mangos).
In the second column is how it would be written in Macedonian (NOTE: you will need to have the "MAC C Times" Truetype font installed on your system to properly read it. For
more information on how to get this done please visit Biser Balkanski - How To Install Macedonian fonts on your computer .
The third column is the Hellenized (ie. "Greek") version assigned by the Greek government in the years which followed the Treaty of Bucharest in 1913. In a majority of the cases
the changes did not appear until after 1920. In many cases as with the village names, an attempt was made to spell the last names in the Greek alphabet sound-for-sound but it
was later decided to make them sound more "Greek" (examples were "Dimov" to "Dimopoulos", "Iliev" to "Iliadis").
For those unaware, the Treaty of Bucharest "divided the spoils" of Macedonia amongst the three neighbouring countries - Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia.
Amongst the worst of what was to follow happened in Greece - family names were given "Greek" versions, village names were renamed, churches were re-Christened
under Greek saints, tombstones and epitaphs along with any visible signs of the Macedonian language were erased and re-written in Greek.
| Original Macedonian Name | Po Makedonski | Hellenized Version |
|---|
| Filev |
|
|
| Gochev |
|
|
| Jovanov |
|
|
| Kostov, Kostova |
|
|
| Masin |
|
|
| Numchev |
|
|
| Popov, Popova |
|
|
| Siderov |
|
|
| Stojanov |
|
|
| Trajkov |
|
|
| Trapchinin |
|
|
Thank you to everybody who has contributed to the various lists. If you would like to add your family
please email me at tedn@macedonianvillages.com and specify the village and a list of family names.