In Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, it is customary to call people by their personal name, patronymic and surname. The reason for this phenomenon becomes clear if we consider long story the emergence of Russian patronymics.

In almost all European countries, it is customary to name people using a pair of names: a personal name and a family name (surname). This tradition dates back to the times Ancient Rome. An exception is Iceland, where instead of a family name, a patronymic is used, that is, the name of the parents, father (patronym) or mother (matronym). The famous Icelandic singer Björk, for example, is actually called Björk Gvüdmündsdóttir (daughter of Gvüdmünd).

Thus, Icelanders do not have surnames.

But in the East Slavic states there is a different tradition. In Russia, Ukraine and Belarus full name a person consists of a personal name, patronymic and surname: Philip Bedrosovich Kirkorov, Alla Borisovna Pugacheva. This custom is a little surprising to other Europeans, but seems quite reasonable to people in the Middle East, where the father's name is often added to the personal name. The mighty genie Hasan-Abdurakhman ibn Hottab (that is, the son of Hottab) in Soviet Moscow simply became Hasan Hottabovich, old man Hottabych.

IN Slavic languages The role of the Arabic word “ibn” is played by the suffixes “-vich” (for men) and “-ovna/-evna/-ichna” (for women). Therefore, for example, Serbian and Bosnian surnames are very similar to Russian patronymics: Bregovich, Voinovich, Vukovich and even Karageorgievich. During times Kievan Rus Greatness by patronymic was the privilege of only noble people: princes and their squads.

There are a lot of examples in Russian epics: Dobrynya Nikitich, Alyosha Popovich, Nastasya Mikulichna. Even Tugarin’s enemy is called by his patronymic: Tugarin Zmeevich. Yes, and Nightingale the Robber, although a damned bastard, is also Odikhmantiev’s son. That is, Odikhmantievich. Perhaps the only exception is when the plowman is called by his patronymic in epics - Mikula Silyaninovich. Well, yes, Mikula is an exception in many respects.

Exception from general order There was also Veliky Novgorod. Rich and, by the standards of that time, a completely European free city, it loved to live independently, according to its own laws.

So the Novgorodians introduced a special order: to address each other by patronymic, that is, in a princely manner. Even when Tsar Ivan III destroyed the Novgorod Republic and resettled the proud Novgorodians in different cities, they retained this custom, expressing mutual respect. Moreover, they passed it on to others.

The fashion for surnames came to Rus' from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Back in the 12th century, Veliky Novgorod established close contacts with this state. Noble Novgorodians can be considered the first official owners of surnames in Rus'.

Earliest of famous lists victims with the names: “Novgorodets are the same: Kostyantin Lugotinits, Gyuryata Pineshchinich, Namst, Drochilo Nezdylov son of a tanner...” (First Novgorod chronicle of the older edition, 1240). Surnames helped in diplomacy and in recording troops. This made it easier to distinguish one Ivan from another.

Boyar and princely families

IN XIV-XV centuries Russian princes and boyars began to take surnames. Surnames were often formed from the names of the lands. Thus, the owners of the estate on the Shuya River became the Shuiskys, on Vyazma - the Vyazemskys, on Meshchera - the Meshcherskys, the same story with the Tverskys, Obolenskys, Vorotynskys and other -skys.

It must be said that -sk- is a common Slavic suffix; it can be found in Czech surnames (Komensky), and in Polish (Zapototsky), and in Ukrainian (Artemovsky).

Boyars also often received their surnames from the baptismal name of the ancestor or his nickname: such surnames literally answered the question “whose?” (implied “whose son?”, “what kind?”) and included possessive suffixes.

The suffix -ov- was added to worldly names ending in hard consonants: Smirnoy - Smirnov, Ignat - Ignatov, Petr - Petrov.

The suffix -Ev- was added to names and nicknames with soft sign, -y, -ey or h: Medved - Medvedev, Yuri - Yuryev, Begich - Begichev.

The suffix -in- received surnames formed from names with the vowels “a” and “ya”: Apukhta -Apukhtin, Gavrila - Gavrilin, Ilya -Ilyin.

Meanwhile, the granting of patronymic names to people from low classes turned into a royal reward. Starting from the 15th century, the title of “eminent people” appeared, who, for special merits, were allowed by royal decree to be called by their patronymic. The honor was great. In the 17th century, for example, the only merchant family awarded a patronymic was the Stroganov merchants.

For other humble people (or, as they said then, people of “vile rank”), patronymics, if necessary, were formed according to the model “Ivan son of Sidorov” or even simpler “Ivan Sidorov”. Thus, a significant part of Russian surnames were formed from patronymics. By the way, it is precisely according to this model that, if necessary, patronymics are formed in the Bulgarian language: Philip Bedrosov Kirkorov.

And now let’s remember about Peter Alekseevich, that is, about Tsar Peter I. Among his other merits is the reform of the sovereign service. Instead of the loose system of orders that existed during the time of his father, Alexei Mikhailovich, the emperor introduced a European-style slender pyramid of service hierarchy, a “table of ranks.” He, of course, did not invent it himself, but “copied” it from the Prussian civil service system. The Prussian origin of the “report card” is evidenced by the “assessors”, “fendricks” and “equilinemasters” who settled in it.

Without a doubt, the famous Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz pointed out the power of the “table of ranks” to Peter I. Leibniz was delighted with the “Prussian project,” during which a shabby kingdom, dependent on its powerful neighbor Poland, became a prominent state in Europe in just a few years. And at the same time, Prussia did not have any resources other than human ones.

But all the people were assigned to the place and together performed their service, military or civilian. Each was an inconspicuous cog or gear, and together they made up a smoothly working state mechanism. Naturally, the mind of a mathematician and philosopher could not help but admire such perfection. The emperor's mind too.

Among other bonuses, the “table of ranks” guaranteed service people, after reaching a certain rank, nobility, first personal and then hereditary. As a result of the expansion of the nobility base, people with suspiciously “mean” surnames began to appear among the serving nobles: Ivanovs, Mikhalkovs, Ilyins. How to distinguish them from the bourgeois Ivanovs, the merchants Mikhalkovs or the peasants Ilyins?

Catherine II tried to do this.

According to her decree, it was proposed to introduce different spellings of patronymics for officials or officers of different classes.

Officers and officials of low classes, from 14 to 9 inclusive, were recorded in official documents without a patronymic - Nikita Mikhalkov. (Class 9 corresponded to the military rank of captain or the civil rank of titular councilor).

Officers and officials from grades 8 to 5 inclusive were to be called: Nikita Sergeev Mikhalkov. (The 5th class ranks were state councilor and brigadier - although high ranks, they were not yet generals.)

Finally, officials and officers who held general ranks (4th grade and above) were named in official documents by their patronymic: Nikita Sergeevich Mikhalkov. It seems that it was in those years that a phenomenon arose that led to the prevalence of patronymic names in Russian anthroponyms. In official correspondence, everything was written as Catherine II ordered.

But in unofficial correspondence, every nobleman referred to himself as a general, with a patronymic: Staff Captain Konstantin Aleksandrovich Bagration-Mukhransky.

A bad example is contagious. Patronymic naming was picked up by other classes, burghers, merchants and even rich peasants. By the time of the fall of the Russian Empire, in February 1917, almost all of its inhabitants had patronymics in their passports.

Why are the Romanovs - Romanovs?

The most famous surname in the history of Russia - the Romanovs. Their ancestor Andrei Kobyla (a boyar from the time of Ivan Kalita) had three sons: Semyon Zherebets, Alexander Elka Kobylin and Fyodor Koshka. From them descended the Zherebtsovs, Kobylins and Koshkins, respectively.

After several generations, descendants decided that a surname from a nickname was not noble. Then they first became the Yakovlevs (after the great-grandson of Fyodor Koshka) and the Zakharyins-Yuryevs (after the names of his grandson and another great-grandson), and remained in history as the Romanovs (after the great-great-grandson of Fyodor Koshka).

Aristocratic surnames

The Russian aristocracy initially had noble roots, and among the nobles there were many people who came to Russian service from abroad. It all started with surnames of Greek and Polish-Lithuanian origin at the end of the 15th century, and in the 17th century they were joined by the Fonvizins (German von Wiesen), the Lermontovs (Scottish Lermont) and other surnames with Western roots.

Also, the surnames that were given to illegitimate children of noble people have foreign language bases: Sherov (French cher “dear”), Amantov (French amant “beloved”), Oksov (German Ochs “bull”), Herzen (German Herz “heart” ").

By-product children generally “suffered” a lot from their parents’ imagination. Some of them didn't bother to come up with new name, but simply shortened the old one: so from Repnin Pnin was born, from Trubetskoy - Betskoy, from Elagin - Agin, and from Golitsyn and Tenishev the “Koreans” Go and Te came out. The Tatars also left a significant mark on Russian surnames. This is exactly how the Yusupovs (descendants of Murza Yusup), the Akhmatovs (Khan Akhmat), the Karamzins (Tatar punishment “black”, Murza “lord, prince”), the Kudinovs (distorted Kaz.-Tatar. Kudai “God, Allah”) and other.

Surnames of servicemen

Following the nobility, ordinary service people began to receive surnames. They, like the princes, were also often called by their place of residence, only with “simpler” suffixes: families living in Tambov became Tambovtsevs, in Vologda - Vologzhaninovs, in Moscow - Moskvichevs and Moskvitinovs. Some were satisfied with the “non-family” suffix, denoting a resident of a given territory in general: Belomorets, Kostromich, Chernomorets, while others received the nickname without any changes - hence Tatyana Dunay, Alexander Galich, Olga Poltava and others.

Surnames of clergy

The surnames of the priests were formed from the names of churches and Christian holidays (Rozhdestvensky, Uspensky), and were also artificially formed from Church Slavonic, Latin and Greek words. The most interesting of them were those that were translated from Russian into Latin and received the “princely” suffix -sk-. Thus, Bobrov became Kastorsky (Latin castor “beaver”), Skvortsov became Sturnitsky (Latin sturnus “starling”), and Orlov became Aquilev (Latin aquila “eagle”).

Peasant surnames

Until the end of the 19th century, peasant surnames were rare. The exceptions were non-serf peasants in the north of Russia and in the Novgorod province - hence Mikhailo Lomonosov and Arina Rodionovna Yakovleva.

After the abolition of serfdom in 1861, the situation began to improve, and by the time of universal passportization in the 1930s, every resident of the USSR had a surname.

They were formed according to already proven models: the suffixes -ov-, -ev-, -in- were added to names, nicknames, places of residence, and professions.

Why and when did they change their names?

When the peasants began to acquire surnames, for superstitious reasons, from the evil eye, they gave their children surnames that were not the most pleasant: Nelyub, Nenash, Nekhoroshiy, Blockhead, Kruchina. After the revolution, queues began to form at passport offices from those who wanted to change their surname to a more euphonious one.

The first Russian surnames appeared in the 13th century, but most remained “nicknameless” for another 600 years. All you needed was your first name, patronymic and profession.

When did surnames appear in Rus'?

The fashion for surnames came to Rus' from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Back in the 12th century, Veliky Novgorod established close contacts with this state. Noble Novgorodians can be considered the first official owners of surnames in Rus'.

Russian surnames appeared in different social strata at different times. The first in the Russian lands to acquire surnames were citizens of Veliky Novgorod and its vast possessions in the north, stretching from Baltic Sea to the Ural ridge. Novgorod chroniclers mention many surnames and nicknames already in the 13th century. So, in 1240, among the Novgorodians who fell in the Battle of the Neva, the chronicler mentions the names: “Kostyantin Lugotinits, Gyurata Pineshchinich, Namst, Drochilo Nezdylov, son of a tanner...”(First Novgorod chronicle of the older edition, 1240). Surnames helped in diplomacy and in recording troops. This made it easier to distinguish one Ivan from another.

Somewhat later in the XIV-XV centuries family names appeared among princes and boyars. The princes were nicknamed by the name of their inheritance, and the moment of the emergence of the surname should be considered the moment when the prince, having lost his inheritance, still retained his name as a nickname for himself and his descendants: Shuisky, Vorotynsky, Obolensky, Vyazemsky, etc. A minority of princely surnames originate from nicknames: Gagarins, Humpbacks, Glazatye, Lykovs, etc. Surnames like Lobanov-Rostovsky connect the name of the reign with the nickname.

Boyar and princely families

Boyar and noble Russian surnames were also formed from nicknames or from the names of ancestors. The process of becoming boyar families of hereditary nicknames is well illustrated by the history of the boyar (later royal) family of the Romanovs.
At the end of the 15th century, the first surnames appeared among Russian nobles foreign origin, first of all, the names of Polish-Lithuanian and Greek (for example, Philosophers) immigrants; in the 17th century, such surnames of Western origin as the Fonvizins and Lermontovs were added to them. The surnames of the descendants of Tatar immigrants were reminiscent of the names of these immigrants: Yusupov, Akhmatov, Kara-Murza, Karamzin (also from Kara-Murza).
But it should be noted that the eastern origin of a surname does not always indicate eastern origin its bearers: sometimes they come from Tatar nicknames that were in fashion in Muscovite Rus'. This is the surname Bakhteyarova, which was borne by the branch of the Rostov Rurik princes (from Fyodor Priimkov-Bakhteyar), or the surname Beklemishev, which came from the nickname Beklemish (Turkic - guarding, guarding), which was borne by Fyodor Elizarovich, the boyar of Vasily I.

In the XIV-XV centuries, Russian princes and boyars began to take surnames. Surnames were often formed from the names of the lands. Thus, the owners of the estate on the Shuya River became the Shuiskys, on Vyazma - the Vyazemskys, on Meshchera - the Meshcherskys, the same story with the Tverskys, Obolenskys, Vorotynskys and other -skys.
It must be said that -sk- is a common Slavic suffix; it can be found in Czech surnames (Komensky), and in Polish (Zapototsky), and in Ukrainian (Artemovsky).
Boyars also often received their surnames from the baptismal name of the ancestor or his nickname: such surnames literally answered the question “whose?” (implied “whose son?”, “what kind?”) and included possessive suffixes.
The suffix -ov- was added to worldly names ending in hard consonants: Smirnoy - Smirnov, Ignat - Ignatov, Petr - Petrov.
The suffix -Ev- was added to names and nicknames that had a soft sign at the end, -iy, -ey or ch: Bear - Medvedev, Yuri - Yuryev, Begich - Begichev.
The suffix -in- received surnames formed from names with the vowels “a” and “ya”: Apukhta -Apukhtin, Gavrila - Gavrilin, Ilya -Ilyin.

Why are the Romanovs - Romanovs?

The most famous surname in Russian history is the Romanovs. Their ancestor Andrei Kobyla (a boyar from the time of Ivan Kalita) had three sons: Semyon Zherebets, Alexander Elka Kobylin and Fyodor Koshka. From them descended the Zherebtsovs, Kobylins and Koshkins, respectively. The descendants of Fyodor Koshka for several generations bore the nickname - the surname Koshkins (not all: his son Alexander Bezzubets became the ancestor of the Bezzubtsevs, and another son Fyodor Goltyai became the ancestor of the Goltyaevs). The names of his son Ivan and grandson Zakhary Ivanovich were Koshkins.
Among the children of the latter, Yakov Zakharovich Koshkin became the founder of the noble family of the Yakovlevs, and Yuri Zakharovich began to be called Zakharyin-Koshkin, while the son of the latter was already called Roman Zakharyin-Yuryev. The surname Zakharyin-Yuryev, or simply Zakharyin, was also borne by Roman’s son, Nikita Romanovich (as well as his sister Anastasia, the first wife of Ivan the Terrible); however, the children and grandchildren of Nikita Romanovich were already called Romanovs, including Fyodor Nikitich (Patriarch Filaret) and Mikhail Fedorovich (Tsar).

Aristocratic surnames

The Russian aristocracy initially had noble roots, and among the nobles there were many people who came to Russian service from abroad. It all started with surnames of Greek and Polish-Lithuanian origin at the end of the 15th century, and in the 17th century they were joined by the Fonvizins (German von Wiesen), the Lermontovs (Scottish Lermont) and other surnames with Western roots.
Also, the surnames that were given to illegitimate children of noble people have foreign language bases: Sherov (French cher “dear”), Amantov (French amant “beloved”), Oksov (German Ochs “bull”), Herzen (German Herz “heart” ").
By-product children generally “suffered” a lot from their parents’ imagination. Some of them did not bother to come up with a new surname, but simply shortened the old one: this is how Pnin was born from Repnin, Betskoy from Trubetskoy, Agin from Elagin, and the “Koreans” Go and Te from Golitsyn and Tenishev. The Tatars also left a significant mark on Russian surnames. This is exactly how the Yusupovs (descendants of Murza Yusup), the Akhmatovs (Khan Akhmat), the Karamzins (Tatar punishment “black”, Murza “lord, prince”), the Kudinovs (distorted Kaz.-Tatar. Kudai “God, Allah”) and other.

Surnames of servicemen

IN XVIII-XIX centuries surnames began to spread among employees of the merchant class. At first, only the richest - the “eminent merchants” - were awarded surnames. IN XV-XVI centuries there were few of them and mostly of Northern Russian origin. For example, merchants Merchant - in the old days: a rich merchant, owner of a trading enterprise. The Kalinnikovs, who founded the city of Sol Kamskaya in 1430, or the famous Stroganovs. They, like the princes, were also often called by their place of residence, only with “simpler” suffixes: families living in Tambov became Tambovtsevs, in Vologda - Vologzhaninovs, in Moscow - Moskvichevs and Moskvitinovs. Some were satisfied with the “non-family” suffix, denoting a resident of a given territory in general: Belomorets, Kostromich, Chernomorets, while others received the nickname without any changes - hence Tatyana Dunay, Alexander Galich, Olga Poltava and others.
Among the merchant surnames there were many that reflected the “professional specialization” of their bearers. For example, the surname Rybnikov, derived from the word rybnik, that is, “fish merchant.” One can also recall citizen Kuzma Minin - as is known, he did not belong to the nobility. The nobility is one of the highest classes of feudal society (along with the clergy), which had privileges enshrined in law and inherited. The basis of the economic and political influence of the nobility is land ownership. In 1762, the nobility achieved exemption from compulsory military and civil public service introduced by Peter I; The nobility was not subject to corporal punishment and was exempt from conscription and personal taxes. The charter (1785) of Catherine II (for the rights of liberty and advantages of the Russian nobility) established wide circle personal privileges of the nobility, introduced noble self-government. How the nobility class was liquidated after October revolution., but who had his own surname already at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries.

Surnames of clergy

The clergy began to have surnames only with mid-18th century century. Usually they were formed from the names of parishes and churches (Blagoveshchensky, Kosmodemyansky, Nikolsky, Pokrovsky, Preobrazhensky, Rozhdestvensky, Uspensky, etc.). Before this, priests were usually called Father Alexander, Father Vasily, Father or Father Ivan, without any surname being implied. Their children, if necessary, often received the surname Popov.
Some clergy acquired surnames upon graduation from the seminary: Athensky, Dukhososhestvensky, Palmin, Kiparisov, Reformatsky, Pavsky, Golubinsky, Klyuchevsky, Tikhomirov, Myagkov, Liperovsky (from a Greek root meaning “sad”), Gilyarovsky (from a Latin root meaning “cheerful”) "). At the same time, the best students were given the most euphonious surnames and those that carried a purely positive meaning, in Russian or Latin Becoming literary language- 3-2 centuries BC on: Brilliantov, Dobromyslov, Benemansky, Speransky (Russian analogue: Nadezhdin), Benevolensky (Russian analogue: Dobrovolsky), Dobrolyubov, etc.; vice versa, bad students came up with cacophonous surnames, for example Gibraltar, or formed from the names of negative biblical characters (Sauls, Pharaohs). The most interesting of them were those that were translated from Russian into Latin and received the “princely” suffix -sk-. Thus, Bobrov became Kastorsky (Latin castor “beaver”), Skvortsov became Sturnitsky (Latin sturnus “starling”), and Orlov became Aquilev (Latin aquila “eagle”).

Peasant surnames

During this period, Russian peasants usually did not have surnames; their function was performed by nicknames and patronymics, as well as the mention of their owner, since in the 16th century the peasantry of central Russia was subjected to mass enslavement. For example, in archival documents of that time one can find the following entries: “Ivan Mikitin’s son, and his nickname is Menshik,” entry from 1568; “Onton Mikiforov’s son, and nickname is Zhdan,” document from 1590; “Guba Mikiforov, son of Crooked Cheeks, landowner,” entry from 1495; “Danilo Soplya, peasant”, 1495; “Efimko Sparrow, peasant,” 1495.
In those records one can see indications of the status of still free peasants (landowner), as well as the difference between the patronymic and the surname (son of such and such). The peasants of northern Russia, the former Novgorod possessions, could have real surnames in this era, since serfdom did not apply to these areas. Probably the most famous example This kind of person is Mikhailo Lomonosov. You can also remember Arina Rodionovna Yakovleva, a Novgorod peasant woman, nanny of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. Cossacks also had surnames. Surnames were also given to a significant part of the population of the lands that were previously part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - Belarus to Smolensk and Vyazma, Little Russia.
Under Peter I, by Senate Decree of June 18, 1719, in connection with the introduction of the poll tax and conscription, the earliest police registration documents were officially introduced - travel documents (passports). The passport contained information: name, surname (or nickname), where he came from, where he was going, place of residence, characteristics of his type of activity, information about family members who were traveling with him, sometimes information about his father and parents.
By decree of January 20, 1797, Emperor Paul I ordered the preparation of a General Armorial noble families where more than 3,000 noble family names and coats of arms were collected.
Back in 1888, a special decree of the Senate was published, which read:

As practice reveals, even among persons born in a legal marriage, there are many people who do not have surnames, that is, bearing so-called patronymic surnames, which causes significant misunderstandings and even sometimes abuses... To be called by a certain surname is not only a right, but it is also the duty of every full-fledged person, and the designation of the surname on some documents is required by law itself.
The procedure for adopting a law is established by the constitution. The law forms the basis of the state legal system and has supreme legal force in relation to the normative acts of other state bodies.


In central Russia, surnames among the peasantry were relatively rare until the 19th century. However, we can recall some examples - famous Ivan Susanin.
The memory of Susanin was preserved in oral folk tales and legends. His feat is reflected in fiction and in Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka’s opera “A Life for the Tsar” (“Ivan Susanin”). A monument to Susanin, who lived in the 16th-17th centuries, was erected in Kostroma. In addition, the names of some peasants are known - participants in certain wars, campaigns, defenses of cities or monasteries and other historical disasters. However, in fact, until the 19th century, surnames were not widespread among the peasants of Central Russia. But this is rather due to the fact that in those days there was no need for a complete mention of all peasants, and there are no documents in which peasants were mentioned without exception or in the majority. And for the official document flow of those years, if a peasant was mentioned in it, it was usually quite enough to mention the village in which he lived, the landowner to whom he belonged, and his personal name, sometimes along with his profession. The majority of peasants in the center of Russia were officially given surnames, recorded in documents only after the abolition of serfdom.
In the 12th century, similar in nature to serfdom, was the exploitation of rolled (arable) purchases and smerds in corvee. According to Russian Pravda, the princely smerd is limited in property and personal rights (his escheated property goes to the prince; the life of a smerd is equal to the life of a serf: the same fine is imposed for their murder - 5 hryvnia). in 1861.

Some surnames were formed from the surnames of landowners. Some peasants were given the full or changed surname of their former owner, the landowner - this is how entire villages of the Polivanovs, Gagarins, Vorontsovs, Lvovkins, etc. appeared.
At the root of some surnames were the names of settlements (villages and hamlets) from which these peasants came. Mostly these are surnames ending in -"sky", for example - Uspensky, Lebedevsky.
However, most surnames are, in origin, family nicknames, which, in turn, came from the “street” nickname of one or another family member. For the majority of peasants, this very “street” nickname was written down in the document, of which another family could have more than one. Nicknames appeared much earlier than universal family names. These same family nicknames, sometimes with roots going back many generations, actually served as surnames among the peasants of Central Russia - in everyday life, even before they were universally consolidated. They were the first to be included in the census forms, and in fact, family registration was simply the recording of these nicknames in documents.


Thus, giving a peasant a surname often came down simply to official recognition, legitimization, and assignment of family or personal nicknames to their bearers. This explains the fact that in the era before the mass allocation of surnames to the peasants of Central Russia - we still know individual names and the names of the peasants who took part in certain important events. When it became necessary to mention a peasant in a chronicle or in a narration about some event in which he was a participant, the corresponding nickname was simply indicated as his surname - his own, or his family's. And then, during the general assignment of surnames to the peasants of Central Russia, which occurred after the abolition of serfdom, these same nicknames were, for the most part, officially recognized and assigned.
Worldly surnames were formed on the basis of the worldly name. Worldly names came from pagan times, when church names did not yet exist or they were not accepted into common people. After all, Christianity did not immediately captivate the minds, much less the souls, of the Slavs. Old traditions were preserved for a long time, the covenants of ancestors were revered sacredly. Every family remembered the names of their ancestors up to the 7th generation and even deeper. Legends from the history of the family were passed down from generation to generation. Instructive stories about the past deeds of the ancestors (ancestor - distant ancestor, ancestor) were told at night to the young successors of the family. Many of the worldly ones were proper names (Gorazd, Zhdan, Lyubim), others arose as nicknames, but then became names (Nekras, Dur, Chertan, Zloba, Neustroy). It should be noted here that in Old Russian system names, it was also customary to call babies protective names, amulets - names with negative content - for protection, scaring away evil forces or for the reverse action of the name. This is how it is still customary to scold those taking an exam, or to wish a hunter “no feather, no feather.” It was believed that Dur would grow up smart, Nekras would grow up handsome, and Hunger would always be well-fed. Protective names then became familiar nicknames, and then surnames.
For some, the patronymic was recorded as a surname. The tsar's decrees on conducting a census usually stated that everyone should be recorded “by first name and nickname,” that is, by first name, patronymic and last name. But in the XVII - first half XVIII centuries The peasants did not have hereditary surnames at all. The peasant family lived only for one life. For example, Procopius was born into the family of Ivan, and in all metric records he is called Procopius Ivanov. When Vasily was born to Procopius, the newborn became Vasily Prokopyev, and not Ivanov at all.
The first census of 1897 showed that up to 75% of the population did not have a surname (however, this applied more to residents of the national outskirts than of indigenous Russia). Finally, surnames appeared for the entire population of the USSR only in the 30s of the 20th century during the era of universal passportization (the introduction of the passport system).
After the abolition of serfdom in 1861, the situation began to improve, and by the time of universal passportization in the 1930s, every resident of the USSR had a surname.
They were formed according to already proven models: the suffixes -ov-, -ev-, -in- were added to names, nicknames, places of residence, and professions.

Structure of Russian surnames

Anthroponymy- a section of onomastics that studies the origin, change, geographic distribution, and social functioning of people’s proper names. surnames states that most often Russian surnames are formed from personal names through possessive adjectives. The bulk of Russian surnames have the suffixes -ov/-ev, -in, from the answer to the question “whose?” The difference is purely formal: -ov was added to nicknames or names with a hard consonant (Ignat - Ignatov, Mikhail - Mikhailov), -ev to names or nicknames with a soft consonant (Ignaty - Ignatiev, Golodyay - Golodyaev), -in to stems with a, I (Putya - Putin, Erema - Eremin, Ilya - Ilyin). This also suggests that, for example, the surnames Golodaev and Golodyaev, which have the same root, are related, but the outwardly similar Golodov, Golodnov, Golodny are not.
The vast majority of Russian surnames come from dedichestvo, the temporary surname of the father, that is, the name of the grandfather, thus securing the hereditary name in the third generation. This made it easier to designate families of the same root. If the grandfather, whose name formed the basis of the established surname, had two names - one baptismal, the other everyday, then the surname was formed from the second, since baptismal names did not differ in variety.
You should know that Russian officials used their grandfather’s name to register in late XIX- the beginning of the 20th century and surnames for residents of the national outskirts, thus the majority of surnames in Transcaucasia and Central Asia arose.

Why and when did they change their names?

When the peasants began to acquire surnames, for superstitious reasons, from the evil eye, they gave their children surnames that were not the most pleasant: Nelyub, Nenash, Nekhoroshiy, Blockhead, Kruchina. After the revolution, queues began to form at passport offices from those who wanted to change their surname to a more euphonious one.

Since ancient times, family nicknames and names have been used to emphasize a person’s belonging to his family. Previously it could mean professional activity, character traits appearance or personal nature of its owner. That's whyfind out the history of the origin of the surnamefor researchers it means finding out a lot of interesting and important information from its carriers. Who they were, what they did and where they lived - all this information can be hidden and encrypted in the name of your family.

If previously nicknames were used for practical purposes and could be forgotten over time or changed due to circumstances, then the surname in the modern sense has a completely different meaning. It is directly related to pedigree, family history and continuity of generations. Unfortunately, we often take it for granted. We have been wearing it since childhood, without thinking about what family secrets are hidden in it. It is rarely seen as a source of pride, since now everyone receives it from birth. But previously this was the privilege of only nobles and noble families. This was a kind of reflection of the superiority of the nobility and the unity of family members.

Pay tribute to your ancestors, honor their memory, strengthen kinship and family bonds It is possible even today. You just have to put in a little effort and find outHow to find out the history of your family by last name. Online services for freeoffer access to archives containing large lists of detailed description the supposed place, cause and approximate time of origin, down to the indication of the century. You can use them, or contact specialists who will help you calculate your roots, tell you why the genus was named that way, and even draw up a family tree.

If you have enough patience and enthusiasm, try to find out the meaning of your last name yourself. You will learn how to do this from our article, where we have collected a variety of useful tips about this theme.

How to find out the origin of your last name: freeexcursion into history

First, let's remember how the nicknames of our ancestors were formed in Ancient Rus'. We call them by nicknames because modern definition It is impossible to assign their surnames. They were given to make it easier to recognize a person or contact him, and changed over time. As for forced peasants, their family name could generally change at the whim of the master. The owners especially liked to have fun by inventing offensive and offensive nicknames. For example, someone born Ignatov (by the name of an ancestor) became Shcherbakov (by external sign - the absence of front teeth).

Find out the meaning of your last name,associated with the ancient roots themselves, easiest for those whose ancestors lived in the Veliky Novgorod region. Chronicles dating back to approximately the 13th century indicate that it was there that the very first generic nicknames originated. In ancient archives there are references to Novgorodians who died in the Battle of the Neva.

They appeared among princes and boyars in the 14th century. The loudest and most famous of them were worn by representatives of influential and ruling dynasties: Shuisky, Nevsky, Donskoy. A little later, the nobles also had borrowed from foreign languages: Fonvizin, Yusupov, Karamzin.

However, ordinary, not famous and not noble people remained with nicknames. Even the reforms of Peter the Great could not restore order to peasant families. So, it was he who introduced the word, it comes from the Latin familia - family, into everyday use. Conducted censuses of the population, including the peasant population - the so-called “audits”. Of course, it would be much more convenient for the emperor if each clan had a permanent name passed on by inheritance, but that was still a long way off. The absence of a permanent surname indicated a person’s low origins and the stigma remained among the general population throughout almost its entire existence. Russian Empire.

Remember the works of Russian classics. There are never any indications or information about the surname of the serfs. Let's take for example " Dead Souls» Gogol. There, peasants were listed by nicknames.

Naturally, the names for the families were not taken from anywhere. They were assigned according to certain characteristics. If now we don’t think about the roots and meaning, then before the generic nickname made sense. Sohow to find and find out the history of the origin of your last name - freea way to find out interesting details of the life of your ancestors, we suggest you study the most common options in Rus', which are still found in modified, and sometimes even in their original form:

• By analogy with animals: Lisitsyn, Medvedev, Khomyakov, Volkov, Kobylkin.
• By occupation: Stolyarov, Kuznetsov, Rybakov, Streltsov.
• At your place of residence or geographical names: Belozersky, Kareltsev, Sibiryak, Vyazemsky, Donskoy, Bryantsev.
• By the names of ancestors: Fedotov, Ivanov, Fedorov.
• By the name of the religious holidays during which the child was born: Preobrazhensky, Assumption, Blagoveshchensky.
• For household items that a person used in his work: Shilov, Spitsyn, Molotov.
• By external signs: Ryzhov, Krivtsov, Krivoshein, Sleptsov, Nosov, Belousov, Sedov.
• By home nicknames: Malyshev - baby, Menshikov - youngest child in the house.
• By nationality: Tatarinov, Ordyntsev (from the word “horde”), Nemchinov.

As you can see, having determined the origin of your surname, you can find out about the profession of your ancestors, what they did, who they were or where they were born. If you are the Tolmachevs, then there were once interpreters and translators in your family. Muromov’s distant ancestors could have been born or lived in the city of Murom, while the Pobezhimovs’ ancestors probably arranged an escape. This data may be useful to you in compiling your family's pedigree.

Very interesting phenomenon are the so-called seminarian surnames. They arose much later, in the 17th century among representatives of the clergy. People also called them “priestly”, since they were worn mainly by clergy. They were created artificially, the priests explained this by saying that they wanted to be closer to the people. They were specially made to be harmonious and beautiful, which emphasized special status carrier. They are formed mainly with the help of the suffixes skiy/-tskiy. Here are some of them:

• Aquilev
• Blagonadezhin
• Vetrinsky
• Bethlehem
• Damascene
• Demosthenes
• Euclidean
• Zlatoumov
• Kristallevsky

Their origin lies mainly latin words. Also found are the names of birds, animals and plants, the names of philosophers, clergy and saints. Often they are also transliterations of Russian names from Latin. Such surnames sound somewhat unnatural for our language and it is almost impossible to meet them today. However, if instead of the usual Russian language suffixes ov/-ev, in/-yn you have skiy/-tskiy, then most likely your ancestors belonged to the clergy.

Where to find out family history: determine the profession of ancestors by last name

When compiling a family tree, it is very important to know what your distant relatives did many centuries ago. Perhaps they did something very important for the state: they were war heroes, saved people, and were engaged in art. This could be an impetus for a future career and determination life path for yourself. Being inspired by the actions of your ancestors makes it much easier to find and understand your purpose. How to do it? Access to ancient archives, historical documents and chronicles is not available to everyone. On the Internet, opportunities are also limited, since resources that offer to find out the history of a family by name for free online do not have a complete list of necessary information. In addition, it is not always reliable and there is no way to verify the data.

It is best for you to handle the task yourself. Listen to your last name, break it down into its component parts (prefix, root, suffix) and think about what word or phrase it came from. Here are the surnames that representatives of different professions and classes in Rus' bore:

Merchants

Merchants have always been a privileged class and enjoyed honor and respect. Therefore, much earlier than ordinary people, they were awarded the right to bear surnames. Initially, this opportunity was provided only to influential and noble merchants of the highest guilds. The most famous of them:

• Bakhrushins
• Mamontovs
• Shchukins
• Ryabushinsky
• Demidovs
• Tretyakovs
• Eliseevs
• Soltadenkovs

Nobles

The etymology of this word means that this is a certain person located at the princely or royal court. Members of the class passed on their status by inheritance from generation to generation, and with it the surname of their ancestors.

• Ancient nobility who received title in the period before the second half XVII centuries: Scriabins, Eropkins.
• Nobles with the title of count, baron, prince, listed in genealogical books: Urusovs, Alabyshevs.
• Foreign nobility: surnames contain foreign language elements “de”, “von”, “von dem”.

Clergy

For clergy, surnames were most often used to designate the parish in which the priest worked: Uspensky, Voznesensky, Rozhdestvensky. Those who graduated from the seminary were assigned fictitious ones. The euphony depended on how diligent the student was. For example, someone who demonstrated outstanding academic success was given the surname Diamonds.

Service people

Those who were on public service, also enjoyed a special position and privileges from the sovereign. This is especially influenced by the fact that the rank of nobility could be obtained in the service. The appearance of such surnames dates back to the XVII - XVIII. They usually reflected the location of the employee or the territory of important battles and battles. These include:

• Kazantsev
• Bryantsev
• Moskovkin
• Kareltsev

Peasants

This class officially received surnames only after the revolution and the overthrow of the monarchy in the Russian Empire, although many rulers of the state made attempts to restore order with their nicknames. The surnames of serfs emphasized their low social status, most often associated with crafts and physical labor, as well as household equipment that was used for this:

• Melnikov
• Khomutov
• Sokhin
• Bochkarev
• Goncharov
• Brewers
• Cab drivers
• Karetin
• Basement
• Nebogatikov
• Bosyakov

If you find your last name on this list, it will be easier for you to understand what type of activity your ancestors had. This means that you have found the answer to one of the mysteries of your ancestry.

How to find and determine the origin of your surname yourself

If you are interested in in-depth independent searches and are committed to serious investigation, then you can make significant progress in the study of your ancestry. Here are tips to help you with this:

Find out more about genealogy

Very often, reading books and studying resources on this topic becomes a source of inspiration for your own research. Devote a few days to this, and then your work will become more orderly and conscious.

Purchase the necessary materials

It's difficult to keep all the information in your head. To make it more convenient for you to draw diagrams and record data, stock up on notepads and folders. You can even make a large table on a piece of Whatman paper indicating all the names of your close and distant relatives.

Dig through family archives

You probably have old documents at home: passports, birth certificates, certificates, extracts.

Get your relatives involved

Ask your parents, grandparents, what surnames were in your family. In women it is especially important to recognize them maiden names which they wore before marriage.

Getting to know your family history is a great opportunity to get together and feel the unity of family members.

It is believed that surnames with the suffixes “-ov” or “-ev” are mainly of family origin. At first they came from patronymics. For example, Peter, the son of Ivan, was called Peter Ivanov. After surnames came into official use (and this happened in Rus' in the 13th century), surnames began to be given by the name of the eldest in the family. That is, Ivan’s son, grandson, and great-grandson already became Ivanovs.

But last names were also given by nicknames. So, if a person, for example, was nicknamed Bezborodov, then his descendants received the surname Bezborodov.

They often gave surnames based on their occupation. The son of a blacksmith bore the surname Kuznetsov, the son of a carpenter - Plotnikov, the son of a potter - Goncharov, the son of a priest - Popov. Their children also received the same surname.

Surnames with the suffix “-in”, or, less commonly, “-yn” could also come from the names and nicknames of ancestors, from the names of their professions, and in addition, from words ending in “-a”, “-ya” and from feminine nouns ending in a soft consonant. For example, the surname Minin meant: “son of Mina.” Orthodox name Mina was widespread in Rus'. And in our time, the surnames Ilyin, Fomin, Nikitin are common. The surname Rogozhin reminds us that this man’s ancestors sold matting or made it.

Where did the surnames derived from the names of animals come from - Volkov, Medvedev, Kozlov, Zaitsev, Orlov? Genealogists believe that many “animal” surnames could come from secular names that were given to children in the pre-Christian era. By giving the child the name of this or that animal, parents hoped that this would give him the traits inherent in this animal. So, the name Bear was supposed to bestow strength, Wolf - courage, Fox - cunning, Boar - power and stubbornness, Goat - fertility, Crow - wisdom, Swan - beauty and fidelity, Nightingale - the ability to sing well. Subsequently, from these names came the Medvedevs, Volkovs, Lisitsyns, Kabanovs, Kozlovs, Voronins, Lebedevs, Solovyovs.

The origin of “animal” surnames could also be connected with a person’s occupation. Thus, a fan of chasing pigeons was called Golub, and his descendants were subsequently given the surname Golubev.

The nobility in Russia dates back to the 12th century. At first it was not of particular value; the nobles were mainly representatives of the lower military service class. However, gradually, with the advent of some privileges and financial support, the nobility began to be regarded as the support of princely power.

The rise of the nobility began in the 14th century. It was from this moment that representatives of this class ceased to be the “lowest stratum of the nobility” and received rights almost equal to the boyars. And the land plots they received gave rise to family surnames, which came from the names of these same land plots:

Vorotynsky

Obolensky

Vyazemsky

Meshchersky

Ryazan

Galician

Smolensk

Yaroslavl

Rostov

Belozersky

Suzdal

Smolensk

Moscow

Tver

There were surnames that came directly from the nicknames of their bearers. History claims that there were actually not many such surnames in the nobility.

Gagarins

Humpbacks

Big-eyed

By the 15th century list noble families began to be replenished with foreigners. Most often, these surnames belonged to people from Greece, Poland, Lithuania, Asia and Western Europe. And often their bearers belonged to the aristocracy.

Fonvizins

Lermontovs

Akhmatovs

Kara-Murza

Karamzins

Kudinovs

But boyars much more often received surnames based on the baptismal name or nickname of the ancestor. These surnames have one more feature - almost all of them contain possessive suffixes. By the way, the royal family of the Romanovs is of the same origin.

Smirnovs

Ignatovs

Medvedevs

Apukhtins

Gavrilins

The following surnames originated from ancient boyar and princely families who received the title of nobility before 1685.

Scriabins

Eropkins

Titled nobles - counts, princes and barons had genealogical books. Among the titled nobles were bearers of the following surnames

Alabyshevs

Sheremetyevs

Golovkins

Here are some more noble names

Aksenovs

Anichkovs

Arakcheevs

Bestuzhevs

Velyaminovs

Vorontsovs

Golenishchevs

Demidovs

Derzhavins

Dolgoruky

Kurbatovs

Kutuzovs

Nekrasovs

Pozharsky

Razumovsky

Saburovs

Saltykovs

Trubetskoys

Cherkasovs

Chernyshevs

Shcherbatovs

Back in 1886 V.V. Rummel and V.V. Golubtsov compiled the “Genealogical Collection of Russian Noble Families,” which included the genealogies of 136 families of the Russian nobility. IN total there are hundreds of noble families.