Hello Debbie,
If your grandfather was the first born child in his family, it is very probable that he was named after his PATERNAL GRANDFATHER; so that means you might be looking for another MICHAEL LAZAROU as the grandfather of your grandfather.
There are ways (albeit complicated) to access old family documents here in Greece, but it will require a bit more information from you. Do you have the names of your grandfather's parents? Do you have any specific dates, or locales of birth, marriage or death? Do you have the names of any additional relatives living or deceased?
The
Greek Citizen's Help Center at
www.kep.gov.gr works in
English as well as
Greek. You might try filling out one of their applications for family info. At least there you will find out what documents or details you still need to gather in order to find old family records. If you decide to go this route, you will at some point need to know where you can obtain the
HAGUE APOSTILE, where you can arrange for accepted
Greek translations, and the location of your nearest
Greek Consulate.
In the meantime, if you use
www.whitepages.oteshop.gr to search the
Greek phone book, you can select folks who share the same last name (and especially those with an 'M' middle initial or Michael as a first name). Click on the British flag to work the phone book in
English.
Have you already done the passenger list searches to discover any relatives who might have travelled outside of Greece? See
www.stevemorse.org and use the White Form to try a beginning passeneger list search. You may hook up with a distant relative who has already done the family search, or may at least have more family details for you.
There are many useful websites for doing family searches; some that are particularly helpful for
Greek family work are those I have mentioned above, and also the following:
www.gtp.grwww.grecian.net/postcodes_eSee
www.cyndislist.com for many, many, many more wonderful genealogical websites.
Good luck with your search,
Maggie