# Origin of the Kiriakou name

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "Origin of the Kiriakou name," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kiriakou-family-name/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*The Kiriakou surname originates in a clerical error at a Rhodes courthouse, where John Kiriakou's great-great-grandfather, arrested for stealing a potato while starving, gave a patronymic that was written down as his family name and never corrected.*

- **Original family name:** Christodoulou
- **Place:** Rhodes
- **Occasion:** An arrest for stealing a potato
- **What was recorded:** Marcos Kiriakou, "Marcos, son of Kiriakos"
- **Result:** Two branches of the family, Christodoulou and Kiriakou

The **Kiriakou name** originates, in [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s own account, in an uncorrected clerical error.

His great-great-grandfather was arrested in Rhodes for stealing a potato. He was starving.[1] The family name at the time was Christodoulou. In court he was asked his name and answered "Marcos, Marcos the son of Kiriakos", and the clerk wrote down *Marcos Kiriakou*. He never fixed it.[1][2]

The consequence is a family split down two surnames: one branch remains Christodoulou and the other Kiriakou, a divergence never corrected.[2]

Kiriakou tells the story against himself. Asked in a rapid-fire round about potatoes, he answered that he is a long-time fan but can no longer eat them, an answer that prompted the host to raise the origin of the name.[3][1]

## The other side of the family: Chrisopoulos

The paternal name came from a clerk's error. The maternal one, by Kiriakou's account, concealed something, and he says he reconstructed it from etymology before confirming it by test.

His mother's maiden name was Chrisopoulos. The *-opoulos* ending simply marks a family from the Peloponnese; it was the first element that did not fit, because *chriso* means gold. He put the problem to his mother, whose explanation was that somebody in the family must have been a jeweller. His objection was occupational, *"we were farmers for 2,000 years"*, and his own reading was that the name was a Hellenised rendering of something nearer to Goldman, Goldberg or Goldstein.[4]

A 23andMe test, he says, returned the answer he had reasoned his way toward: Jewish ancestry on his mother's father's side, from Lithuania. He puts his own overall figure at roughly two per cent.[5][6]

## See also

- [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)
- [Kiriakou's Cypriot ancestry](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kiriakou-cypriot-ancestry)

## Sources

1. Part 2: How Well Do You Really Know Him? (2026-07-09), at 28:36. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKx-CsyO_zI&t=1716s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-07-09-part-2-how-well-do-you-really-know-him/
2. Part 2: How Well Do You Really Know Him? (2026-07-09), at 29:06. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKx-CsyO_zI&t=1746s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-07-09-part-2-how-well-do-you-really-know-him/
3. Part 2: How Well Do You Really Know Him? (2026-07-09), at 28:05. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKx-CsyO_zI&t=1685s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-07-09-part-2-how-well-do-you-really-know-him/
4. Matan Confronts Kiriakou (Israel) (2026-05-17), at 23:47. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drZH5_d9Xg0&t=1427s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-17-the-matan-show-matan-confronts-kiriakou-israel/
5. Matan Confronts Kiriakou (Israel) (2026-05-17), at 24:17. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drZH5_d9Xg0&t=1457s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-17-the-matan-show-matan-confronts-kiriakou-israel/
6. Matan Confronts Kiriakou (Israel) (2026-05-17), at 23:16. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drZH5_d9Xg0&t=1396s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-05-17-the-matan-show-matan-confronts-kiriakou-israel/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/kiriakou-family-name/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt