Latgalian language
Latgalian is spoken in Latgale, the eastern part of Latvia. It is debated whether it is a separate language or a distinct dialect of Latvian. Nevertheless, its standardized form is recognized and protected as a "historical variety of the Latvian language" "(vēsturisks latviešu valodas paveids)" by Latvian law. The 2011 Latvian census established that 8.8% of Latvia's inhabitants, or 164,500 people, speak Latgalian daily. 97,600 of them live in Latgale, 29,400 in Riga and 14,400 in the Riga region.
Latvian name
Before the emancipation from serfdom (1817 in Courland, 1819 in Vidzeme, 1861 in Latgale) only noblemen, free craftsmen or people living in towns had surnames. Therefore, the oldest Latvian surnames originate from German or Low German, reflecting the dominance of German as an official language in Latvia till the 19th century. Examples: "Meijers/Meijere" (German: "Meier", farm administrator; akin to Mayor), "Millers/Millere" (German: "Müller", miller), "Šmits/Šmite" (German: "Schmidt", smith), "Šulcs/Šulca" (German: "Schulze", constable), "Ulmanis" (German: "Ullmann", a person from Ulm), "Godmanis" (a God-man), "Pētersons" (son of Peter). Some Latvian surnames, mainly from Latgale are of Polish or Belorussian origin by changing the final "-ski/-cki" to "-skis/-ckis", "-czyk" to "-čiks" or "-vich/-wicz" to "-vičs", such as "Sokolovkis/Sokolovska", "Baldunčiks/Baldunčika" or "Ratkevičs/Ratkeviča".