The history of Russian surnames
The first to have
Russian surnames were those who lived in
Novgorod, which was the first democratic state in Russia that was later destroyed. The
Russian surnames were reintroduced in the 1800s and even then, a big part of the population did not have surnames. Most of the
Russian surnames at that time were patronymics. For example, Ivan
Vasiliev was the son of
Vasily, while Petr
Mikhailov was the son of Mikhail. The
Ivanov last name is the second most popular and shows that the person was the son of an
Ivan. Only after the Emancipation reform in 1861, the serfs, who were a big part of the population, became independent and started having surnames. The
Russian last names became most popular after the Revolution when people got passports and had to indicate an official
Russian last name.
The meanings of common Russian last names
This lesson includes the most common
Russian surnames and meanings. Most of the
old last names were derived from the occupation of the person. For example, the person who had the surname
Kuznetzov was either a smith or part of a family of smiths. The
most common Russian last names were also derived from nature and animals.
Volkov comes from
volk, which means a wolf, while
Morozov comes from
moroz - frost. Some
cool Russian last names come from the place where a person lived or was born:
Smolensky comes from the city of
Smolensk,
Moskovsky from
Moscow, etc. Some of the
Slavic last names are very old and come from pre-Christian Russia, for example,
Durov comes from
durak, meaning stupid. Of course, a part of the
most popular last names are foreign. The ones that end in -idze are Georgian, in -yah are Armenian, in -ko are Ukrainian. There are many more nations that live in Russia and more foreign last names. Take a look at the
Russian surnames list that is in the lesson in order to get introduced to the
Russian last names meaning and understand the
Russian culture better. If you're curious to learn more about Russia, proceed to our other lessons. The
Fun facts about Russia lesson will introduce you to some interesting facts about the country, while the
Russian food you need to try lesson will make you want to try Russian cuisine!
