Rural Latvia was and is covered with farms – usually quite small in size, and all with names. Many of these names have been around for centuries – in most cases, longer than surnames.

Many of these farm names come from natural features, occupations and so on – much like the surnames that would later come from them. Many also come in compound forms – this could have been to indicate two (or more) parts of what used to be one farm, and then split into two (or more) for various reasons.

Farm names like this are fairly common – usually using prefixes such as Jaun-/Vec- (New/Old) or Kaln-/Lejas- (Hill/Valley) to distinguish the two. Examples like this can be seen all over Latvia, such as Kaln-SamÅ¡i and Lejas-SamÅ¡i in Lāde parish in northern Latvia, and Vecpavāri and Jaunpavāri in Vandzene parish in the west.

But sometimes, there are even more prefixes, using a combination of the ones listed above, as well as others. Sometimes it might be limited to two prefixes, but I’ve even seen three prefixes at times.

One parish where double prefixes (as well as the occasional triple prefix) are ubiquitous is Ranka parish, in central Latvia between CÄ“sis and Gulbene. Here, if you look at a modern map, you’ll see clusters of similarly-named farms, many of which existed in years and centuries past as well.

One such cluster is the “Dukuļi” cluster: Besides the basic “Dukuļi” farm, we have Dārza Dukuļi (Garden Dukuļi), TÄ«rumdukuļi (Field Dukuļi), Veclieldukuļi (Old Big Dukuļi), Jaunlieldukuļi (New Big Dukuļi), Galadukuļi (End Dukuļi), Vidusdukuļi (Middle Dukuļi), Kalnadukuļi (Hill Dukuļi) and Kalnalieldukuļi (Hill Big Dukuļi). What Dukuļi means, I don’t know for certain, but perhaps it is related to the Lithuanian word “dÅ«kulys”, meaning “madness”.

Then there is the “Sāvas” cluster: Jaunmazsāvas (New Small Sāvas), Kalnalielsāvas (Hill Big Sāvas), Lejaslielsāvas (Valley Big Sāvas), Vecmazsāvas (Old Small Sāvas), Liepsāvas (Linden Sāvas), Veclielsāvas (Old Big Sāvas).

Ranka was also home to the triple prefix names that I have seen – KalnavecmežsilieÅ¡i (Hill Old Forest SilieÅ¡i) and KalnajaunmežsilieÅ¡i (Hill New Forest SilieÅ¡i). Neither appear on the map today, but it is likely that they were part of what is now just a “MežsilieÅ¡i” cluster of farms, where the houses are numbered as “MežsilieÅ¡i 1” through “MežsilieÅ¡i 7” instead of having separate names like the abovementioned clusters. I wonder why this changed – was it a Soviet-era change, to simplify the names? Or did the farm owners choose to simplify them on their own? Land records could hold the answers to those questions.

Have you seen any triple (or more!) prefixed farms in Latvia? Share in comments if you have!