-ești

The suffix -ești (pronounced [eʃtʲ], sometimes changed to -ăști [əʃtʲ]) is widespread in Romanian placenames.^[1] It is the plural of the possessive suffix -escu, formerly used for patronyms and currently widespread in family names.^[2] Obsolete spellings are -esci and -eșci, used for a few decades until the beginning of the 20th century.^[3]

Overall, this ending is part of the names of 14.8% of the Romanian towns and villages (2,038 out of 13,724) and 11.4% of the Moldovan towns and villages (144 out of 1,254).^[4] In some areas in Romania, more than half of the placenames have this suffix.^[5]