The last Koyzis

I've not spent a lot of effort exploring the origins of my exceedingly rare surname, but this is the best I can do: The last Koyzis. An excerpt:

My Dutch Canadian friends and acquaintances tell stories of how, in 1811, Napoleon compelled residents of the Netherlands to adopt surnames. Prior to that year, many people in the Low Countries had gone by patronymics based on their respective fathers’ first names. Assuming that surnames were a passing fashion, many Netherlanders adopted humorous names, with which, two centuries later, their descendants are still stuck.

In my father’s native island of Cyprus, fixed surnames weren’t adopted until the island’s independence in 1960. Thus my father was born with only a first name and a patronymic: Theodoros Antoniou – Theodore son of Anthony.

 Read the rest of the article here.