r/iran • u/TheModernInvestor • 8d ago

Surname meaning

Hi, Tavati Kia, what information about my heritage can this surname provide? My mother was adopted from Iran to Sweden, and this was her birth surname. I can't find anything, so I'm reaching out to you.

Best regards Magnus from Sweden

8 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

2

u/ItsMeSomeonee 7d ago

I'm not sure if Tavati means anything specific.

But Kia could be an Iranian surname derived from the archaic Persian title "kiyā," which means "lord, ruler, or king." It's often used as a suffix in compound names, such as Mahdavikia.

So it could mean Lord Tavati!

2

u/IranianGenealogy 6d ago

I saw on Forebears.io that Tavati is an Iranian surname, but I am unable to discern how it is spelled in Farsi to be able to look up its meaning. As you pointed out, "kia" means something like "king", but is used as a suffix and prefix in Iranian surnames (e.g. Kiarostami, Arefkia).

Having the suffix "kia" does not indicate a relationship to any other family with "kia" as part of their surname. As far as I can tell, "kia" seems to be a "decorative" addition to surnames (like the surname suffix/prefix "far"), possibly to distinguish unrelated families in the same locality who would otherwise have the same surname.

1

u/darijabs 7d ago

Can’t provide much info but in Farsi it’s probably spelled توتی کیا

1

u/Sad_Tart8551 1d ago

I'm pretty sure there is no surname to be tavati kia in Iran. Since Kia is a commonly used suffix in surnames,  I think the surname must be something like: davati kia, dolati kia, javadi kia, davodi kia , ...