A Persian name or Iranian name consists of a given name, sometimes more than one, and a surname.
Given names
Since the Muslim conquest of Persia, some names in Iran have been derived from Arabic, although the majority are Persian in origin. Persian Christians have Arabic names indistinguishable from their Muslim neighbors. They can also use Arabic derivations of Christian names, or Greek, Neo-Aramaic, or Armenian names, as most Christian Iranians are Iranian Armenians. Many Persian names come from the Persian literature book, the Shahnameh or "Epic of Kings". It was composed in the 10th century by Ferdowsi and is considered by many the masterpiece of Persian literature. Approximately 10%-15% of all Persian names are from Shahnameh. A few examples are Abtin, Ardeshir, Armeen, Arzhang, Babak, Bijan, Bizhan, Bozorgmehr, Darab, Dariush, Esfandiar/Esfandyar, Javid, Faramarz, Farhad, Fariborz, Farshid, Farzad, Sam and Yazdan.
Last names
Prior to 1919, the Iranian people did not use surnames. An act of the Vosough od-Dowleh government in 1919 introduced the use of surnames, and the practice expanded during the reign of Reza Shah. Prior to that, a person was often distinguished from others by a combination of prefixes and suffixes attached to his or her name. If it was omitted, that person might be taken for someone else. Since the adoption of surnames, Ahmadi has become the most popular surname in Iran. In many cases individuals were known by the name of the district, city, town, or even the village from which they came by using the locality's name as a suffix, for example: Nuri, Khorasani, Mazandarani, Kordestani, Tehrani, Esfahani, Gilani, Hamedani, and Shirazi. The same rule is followed for the many millions of Iranians who have surnames of regions or cities of the Caucasus region. The latter was forcefully ceded in the course of the 19th century to Imperial Russia through the Treaty of Gulistan and Treaty of Turkmenchay. Examples of common Iranian surnames in this regard are Daghestani, Gharabaghi, Darbandi, Shirvani, Iravani, Nakhjevani, Lankarani. Among many other secularization and modernization reforms, surnames were required by Reza Shah, following similar contemporary patterns in Turkey under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and later in Egypt under Gamal Abdel Nasser.
-i, the most common suffix used for Persian surnames. They are, in fact, adjectives created by the adding suffix "-i" to person names, location names or other names. Surnames with "-i" are also popular in other countries of historic Greater Persia and neighboring countries like in the Caucasus, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey, Iraq, and Central Asia.
-ian, like the above case, but with the addition of the plural suffix "-an", common among Iranians and Armenians. Examples are Shaheenian and Sargsyan.
