Question on a Bulgarian name

[Alexander Sitzmann]

Jozdzhan:
The origin of jo- might either be turk. yo- (e.g. turk. yoz > bulg. joz
'sheep that do not give milk') or turk. ö- (e.g. turk. örs > bulg. jors
'anvil'), while turk. ö- could also reflect as bulg. ju- (e.g. örnek > bulg.
jurnek 'model'). The Bulgarian etymological dictionary also names turk. yoz
'prost, obiknoven = simple' which seems to be more likely than yoz 'sheep'.
However it is not very likely, that -dzhan is a derivation with suffix -an
from a suffix -dzhija/chija (e.g. in sakadzhija/dzhebchija). But there are
many examples with bulg. dzhan- < turk. can 'soul' (e.g. njama dzhan-dzhun =
njama zhiva dusha, njama nikoj 'there's nobody' or dzhanâm < canim 'dusho
moja', dzhansâz 'weak person' < cansiz 'without soul').

There seem to be two possible constructions: Özcan (as pointed out by Kjetil
Rå Hauge) or Yozcan - 'the one with real soul' or 'the one with a simple
soul (???)'. Perhaps one of the two names really exists in Turkish, but from
a Bulgarian point of view it is impossible to decide. I'd prefer the first
one, as Öz- can be met in other Turkish names as well. If you really want to
know, you'd better ask a specialist for Turkish onomastics.

Best wishes,
Alexander Sitzmann

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