See what “Family ending” is in other dictionaries. That's why some Russian surnames end in “-in”, while others end in “-ov”

11.05.2019

Have you ever wondered about the origin of your last name? In fact, this is very interesting, because the surname makes it possible to find out a person’s nationality and roots. To figure out what nationality a particular surname belongs to, you need to pay attention to suffixes and endings.

So, the most common suffix Ukrainian surnames- “-enko” (Bondarenko, Petrenko, Timoshenko, Ostapenko). Another group of suffixes is “-eiko”, “-ko”, “-ochka” (Belebeyko, Bobreiko, Grishko). The third suffix is “-ovsky” (Berezovsky, Mogilevsky). Often among Ukrainian surnames you can find those that come from the names of professions (Koval, Gonchar), as well as from combinations of two words (Sinegub, Belogor).

Among Russian surnames The following suffixes are common: “-an”, “-yn”, -“in”, “-skikh”, “-ov”, “-ev”, “-skoy”, “-tskoy”, “-ikh”, “ -s.” It is easy to guess that the following can be considered examples of such surnames: Smirnov, Nikolaev, Donskoy, Sedykh.

Polish surnames most often they have the suffixes “-sk” and “-tsk”, as well as the endings “-iy”, “-aya” (Sushitsky, Kovalskaya, Vishnevsky). You can often find Poles with surnames with an unchangeable form (Sienkiewicz, Wozniak, Mickiewicz).

English surnames often come from the name of the area where a person lives (Scott, Wales), from the names of professions (Smith - blacksmith), from characteristics (Armstrong - strong, Sweet - sweet).

In front of many French surnames there is an insertion “Le”, “Mon” or “De” (Le Germain, Le Pen).

German surnames most often formed from names (Peters, Jacobi, Wernet), from characteristics (Klein - small), from the type of activity (Schmidt - blacksmith, Müller - miller).

Tatar surnames come from Tatar words and the following suffixes: “-ov”, “-ev”, “-in” (Yuldashin, Safin).

Italian surnames are formed using the following suffixes: “-ini”, “-ino”, “-ello”, “-illo”, “-etti”, “-etto”, “-ito” (Moretti, Benedetto).

Majority Spanish and Portuguese surnames come from characteristics (Alegre - joyful, Bravo - brave). Among the endings, the most common are: “-ez”, “-es”, “-az” (Gomez, Lopez).

Norwegian surnames are formed using the suffix “en” (Larsen, Hansen). Surnames without a suffix at all are also popular (Per, Morgen). Surnames are often formed from the given name natural phenomena or animals (Blizzard - blizzard, Svane - swan).

Swedish surnames most often end in “-sson”, “-berg”, “-stead”, “-strom” (Forsberg, Bosstrom).

U Estonians You can’t tell by a surname whether a person is masculine or feminine (Simson, Nahk).

U Jewish surnames There are two common roots: Levi and Cohen. Most surnames are formed from male names (Solomon, Samuel). There are also surnames that are formed using suffixes (Abramson, Jacobson).

Belarusian surnames end in “-ich”, “-chik”, “-ka”, “-ko”, “-onak”, “-yonak”, “-uk”, “-ik”, “-ski” (Radkevich, Kuharchik ).

Turkish surnames have the ending “-oglu”, “-ji”, “-zade” (Mustafaoglu, Ekinci).

Almost everything Bulgarian surnames formed from names using the suffixes “-ov”, “-ev” (Konstantinov, Georgiev).

Men's Latvian surnames end with “-s”, “-is”, and female ones end with “-e”, “-a” (Shurins - Shurin).

And men's Lithuanian surnames end in “-onis”, “-unas”, “-utis”, “-aytis”, “-ena” (Norvidaitis). Women's endings in “-en”, “-yuven”, “-uven” (Grinyuvene). In surnames unmarried girls contains a part of the father's surname and the suffixes “-ut”, “-polut”, “-ayt”, as well as the ending “-e” (Orbakas - Orbakaite).

Majority Armenian surnames end with the suffix “-yan”, “-yants”, “-uni” (Hakopyan, Galustyan).

Georgian surnames end in “-shvili”, “-dze”, “-uri”, “-ava”, “-a”, “-ua”, “-ia”, “-ni” (Mikadze, Gvishiane).

Greek surnames The endings “-idis”, “-kos”, -“pulos” are inherent (Angelopoulos, Nikolaidis).

Chinese and Korean surnames consist of one, sometimes two syllables (Tang Liu, Qiao, Mao).

Japanese surnames are formed using one or two words (Kitamura - north and village).

Feature of women's Czech surnames is the obligatory ending “-ova” (Valdrova, Andersonova).

It's amazing how many differences there are between the names of different nationalities and peoples!

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With each year of his life, a person increasingly expands his choice of communication, meeting new people. In order for a new acquaintance to contact you, you need to make a pleasant impression on him. To avoid uncomfortable situations, it is important to know what nationality the person in front of you is in order to behave in accordance with the moral and ethical standards of his country. By most surnames you can accurately determine the nationality of your friends, neighbors, business partners, etc.

Russians - use surnames with the suffixes -an, -yn, -in, -skikh, -ov, -ev, -skoy, -tskaya, -ikh, -yh (Snegirev, Ivanov, Voronin, Sinitsyn, Donskoy, Moskovskikh, Sedykh) ;

Belarusians - typical Belarusian surnames end in -ich, -chik, -ka, -ko, -onak, -yonak, -uk, -ik, -ski. (Radkevich, Dubrova, Parshonok, Kuharchik, Kastsyushka); many names in Soviet years were Russified and Polished (Dubrovsky, Kosciuszko);

Poles - most surnames have the suffix -sk, -tsk, and the ending -й (-я), indicating masculine and feminine gender (Sushitsky, Kovalskaya, Khodetsky, Wolnitskaya); There are also double surnames - if a woman, when getting married, wants to keep her surname (Mazur-Komorowska); In addition to these surnames, surnames with an unchanged form are also common among Poles (Nowak, Sienkiewicz, Wujcik, Wozniak). Ukrainians with last name endings ending in -y are not Ukrainians, but Ukrainian Poles.;

Ukrainians - the first classification of surnames of this nationality is formed using the suffixes -enko, -ko, -uk, -yuk (Kreshchenko, Grishko, Vasilyuk, Kovalchuk); the second series denotes the type of craft or occupation (Potter, Koval); the third group of surnames consists of individual Ukrainian words(Gorobets, Ukrainian, Parubok), as well as a merger of words (Vernigora, Nepiyvoda, Bilous).

Latvians are a special feature masculine denotes a surname ending in -s, -is, and for a feminine ending - in -a, -e (Verbitskis - Verbitska, Shurins - Shurin)

Lithuanians - male surnames end in -onis, -unas, -utis, -aitis, -enas (Pyatrenas, Norvydaitis), women's surnames are formed from the husband's surname using the suffixes -en, -yuven, -uven and the ending -e (Grinius - Grinyuvene), surnames unmarried girls contain the basis of the father's surname with the addition of the suffixes -ut, -polut, -ayt and endings -e (Orbakas - Orbakaite);

Estonians - male and female genders are not differentiated by surnames, everyone foreign names(mainly German) were at one time Estonianized (Rosenberg - Roosimäe), this process continues until today. for example, in order to be able to play for the Estonia national team, football players Sergei Khokhlov and Konstantin Kolbasenko had to change their surnames to Simson and Nahk;

The French - many surnames are preceded by the prefix Le or De (Le Pen, Mol Pompadour); basically, dissimilar nicknames and personal names were used to form surnames (Robert, Jolie, Cauchon - pig);

Romanians: -sku, -u(l), -an.

Serbs: -ich.

English - the following surnames are common: formed from the names of the place of residence (Scott, Wales); denoting profession (Hoggart - shepherd, Smith - blacksmith); indicating the external appearance of character and appearance (Armstrong - strong, Sweet - sweet, Bragg - boastful);

Germans are surnames formed from personal names (Werner, Peters); surnames that characterize a person (Krause - wavy, Klein - small); surnames indicating the type of activity (Müller - miller, Lehmann - geomor);

Swedes - most surnames end in -sson, -berg, -sted, -strom (Andersson, Olsson, Forsberg, Bostrom);

Norwegians - formed from personal names using the suffix -en (Larsen, Hansen), surnames without suffixes and endings can be found (Per, Morten); Norwegian surnames can repeat the names of animals, trees and natural phenomena (Blizzard - blizzard, Svane - swan, Furu - pine);

Italians - surnames are characterized by the suffixes -ini, -ino, -ello, -illo, -etti, -etto, -ito (Benedetto, Moretti, Esposito), can end in -o, -a, -i (Conti, Giordano, Costa ); the prefixes di- and - indicate, respectively, that a person belongs to his family and geographical structure(Di Moretti is the son of Moretti, Da Vinci is from Vinci);

Spaniards and Portuguese have surnames ending in -ez, -az, -iz, -oz (Gomez, Lopez), surnames indicating a person’s character are also common (Alegre - joyful, Bravo - gallant, Malo - horseless);

Turks - most often their surnames have the endings -oglu, -ji, -zade (Mustafaoglu, Ekindzhi, Kuindzhi, Mamedzade), when forming surnames they often used Turkish names or everyday words (Ali, Abaza - fool, Kolpakchi - hat);

Bulgarians - almost all Bulgarian surnames are formed from personal names and suffixes -ov, -ev (Konstantinov, Georgiev);

Gagauz: -oglo.

Tatars: -in, -ishin.

Greeks - the surnames of the Greeks cannot be confused with any other surnames, only they have the endings -idis, -kos, -poulos (Angelopoulos, Nikolaidis);

Czechs - the main difference from other surnames is the obligatory ending -ova in women's surnames, even if where it would seem to be inappropriate (Valdrova, Ivanovova, Andersonova).

Georgians - common surnames ending in -shvili, -dze, -uri, -ava, -a, -ua, -ia, -ni, -li, -si (Baratashvili, Mikadze, Adamia, Karchava, Gvishiani, Tsereteli);

Armenians - a significant part of the surnames of residents of Armenia have the suffix -yan (Hakopyan, Galustyan); Also, -yants, -uni.

Moldovans: -sku, -u(l), -an.

Azerbaijanis formed surnames by taking Azerbaijani names as a basis and attaching Russian suffixes -ov, -ev (Mamedov, Aliyev, Gasanov, Abdullaev) to them. Also, -zade, -li, ly, -oglu, -kyzy.

Jews - the main group consists of surnames with roots Levi and Cohen (Levin, Levitan Kagan, Koganovich, Katz); the second group came from male and female Hebrew names with the addition of various suffixes (Yakobson, Yakubovich, Davidson, Godelson, Tsivyan, Beilis, Abramovich, Rubinchik, Vigdorchik, Mandelstam); the third classification of surnames reflects the character of a person, his appearance or profession (Kaplan - chaplain, Rabinovich - rabbi, Melamed - pestun, Schwartzbard - black-bearded, Stiller - quiet, Shtarkman - strong).

Ossetians: -ti.

Mordva: -yn, -in.

Chinese and Koreans - for the most part these are surnames consisting of one, less often two syllables (Tan, Liu, Duan, Qiao, Tsoi, Kogai);

The Japanese are modern Japanese surnames are formed by merging two full-valued words (Wada - sweet voice and rice field, Igarashi - 50 storms, Katayama - hill, Kitamura - north and village); The most common Japanese surnames are: Takahashi, Kobayashi, Kato, Suzuki, Yamamoto.

As you can see, to determine a person’s nationality, it is enough to accurately analyze his last name, highlighting the suffix and ending.

WHAT DO SURNAMES WITH "-IN" MEAN? SURNAMES ENDING WITH -IN HAVE RUSSIAN ROOTS OR JEWISH ROOTS?

In the collection of the famous Slavic linguist B. O Unbegun “Russian Surnames” you can read that surnames ending with “in” are predominantly a Russian type of surname.

Why the ending "-in"? Basically, all surnames ending in “in” come from words ending in -а/-я and from nouns feminine ending in a soft consonant.

There are many examples of the erroneous addition of -in to stems with a final hard consonant: Orekhin, Karpin, Markin, where -ov should be. And in another case, -ov turned out to be in the place of -in: Shishimorov from the base of shishimora. Mixing of formants is possible. After all, among Russians -in and -ov have been semantically indistinguishable for more than a thousand years. The meaning of the difference has been lost in the common Slavic language; the choice of -ov or -in depends only remnantly on the phonetic feature of the stem (Nikonov “Geography of Surnames”).

Do you know how the name of the famous leader came about? people's militia 1611 -1612 Minin? Minin bore the personal nickname Sukhoruk, he did not have a surname. And Minin meant “son of Mina.” Orthodox name"Mina" was widespread in Rus'.

Another vintage Russian surname- Semin, also a surname with “-in”. According to the main version, the surname Semin goes back to the baptismal male name Semyon. The name Semyon is the Russian form of the ancient Hebrew name Simeon, meaning “listening”, “heard by God”. From the name Semyon in Rus', many derivative forms were formed, one of which - Syoma - formed the basis of this surname.

The famous Slavic linguist B.O. Unbegaun, in the collection “Russian Surnames,” believes that the surname Semin was formed from the baptismal Russian name according to the following scheme: “Semyon - Sema - Semin.”

Let's give another example of a surname that we examined in detail in the family diploma. Rogozhin is an old Russian surname. According to the main version, the surname preserves the memory of the profession of distant ancestors. One of the first representatives of the Rogozhins could be engaged in the manufacture of matting or trade in fabric.

Coarse woven fabric made from wash tapes was called matting. A matting hut (rogozhnitsy, matting) in Rus' was the name of a workshop where matting was woven, and a matting weaver was a matting weaver or a matting dealer.

In his close circle, Rogozhnik’s household were known as “Rogozhin’s wife,” “Rogozhin’s son,” and “Rogozhin’s grandchildren.” Over time, terms denoting the degree of relationship disappeared, and the hereditary surname Rogozhin was assigned to the descendants of Rogozhin.

Such Russian surnames ending in “-in” include: Pushkin (Pushka), Gagarin (Loon), Borodin (Beard), Ilyin (Ilya), Ptitsyn (Bird); Fomin (from the personal name Thomas); Belkin (from the nickname "squirrel"), Borozdin (Furrow), Korovin (Cow), Travin (Grass), Zamin and Zimin (winter) and many others

Please note that the words from which surnames starting with “in” are derived mostly end in “-a” or “-ya”. We won’t be able to say “Borodov” or “Ilyinov”; it would be quite logical and more sonorous to say “Ilyin” or “Borodin”.

Why do some people think that surnames ending with “-in” have Jewish roots? Is this really true? No, this is not true; you cannot judge the origin of a surname by one ending. The sound of Jewish surnames coincides with Russian endings simply by pure chance.

You should always research the surname itself. For some reason, the ending “ov” does not cause us any doubts. We believe that surnames ending in “-ov” are definitely Russian. But there are also exceptions. For example, we recently prepared a beautiful family diploma for one wonderful family named Maksyutov.

The surname Maksyutov has the ending “ov”, which is common among Russian surnames. But, if you examine the surname deeper, it turns out that the surname Maksyutov is formed from the Tatar male name “Maksud”, which is translated from Arabic means “desire, premeditated intention, desire, goal”, “long-awaited, desired.” The name Maksud had several dialect variants: Maksut, Mahsud, Mahsut, Maksyut. This name is still widespread among the Tatars and Bashkirs.

"The surname Maksyutov is an old princely surname Tatar origin. ABOUT ancient origin the names Maksyutov say historical sources. The surname was first documented in the 16th century: Maksutovs (Maksutovs, obsolete Maksyutovs, Tat. Maksutovlar) - a Volga-Bulgar princely-Murzin family, descended from the Kasimov prince Maksut (1554), in the genealogical legend Prince Maksut was called an ulan and a descendant of the prince Kashima." Now there is almost no doubt about the origin of the surname.

How do you know if a surname ending in -in is of Jewish origin or is it an original Russian surname? Always analyze the word that underlies your last name.

Here are examples of Jewish surnames with the ending “-in” or “-ov”: Edmin (derived from the name of the German city of Emden), Kotin (derived from the Hebrew קטן- in the Ashkenazi pronunciation “kotn”, meaning “small”), Eventov (derived from Hebrew “even tov” - “ gem"), Khazin (derived from the Hebrew "hazan", in the Ashkenazi pronunciation "hazn", meaning "a person leading worship in a synagogue"), Superfin (translated as "very handsome") and many others.

The ending “-in” is simply an ending by which one cannot judge the nationality of a surname. You always need to research a surname, analyze the word that underlies it and try to search in various books And archival documents the first mention of your last name. Only when all the information has been collected will you be able to confidently determine the origin of your surname and find answers to your questions.

SURNAMES ENDING IN √ SKIY/-SKAYA, -TSKIY/-TSKAYA

Many Russians have a firm and unfounded belief that surnames in -skiy are certainly Polish. From history textbooks, the names of several Polish magnates are known, derived from the names of their estates: Potocki and Zapotocki, Zablocki, Krasinski. But from the same textbooks the surnames of many Russians with the same suffixes are known: Konstantin Grigorievich Zabolotsky, okolnichy of Tsar John III, late 15th - early 16th centuries; clerk Semyon Zaborovsky, early 16th century; boyars Shuisky and Belsky, close associates of Ivan the Terrible. Famous Russian artists are Levitsky, Borovikovsky, Makovsky, Kramskoy.

An analysis of modern Russian surnames shows that forms in -sky (-tskiy) exist in parallel with variants in -ov (-ev, -in), but there are fewer of them. For example, in Moscow in the 70s of the twentieth century, for every 330 people with the surname Krasnov/Krasnova, there were only 30 with the surname Krasnovsky/Krasnovskaya. But enough rare surnames Kuchkov and Kuchkovsky, Makov and Makovsky are represented almost equally.

A significant part of surnames ending in -skiy/-skaya, -tskiy/-tskaya are formed from geographical and ethnic names. In letters from our readers who want to know about the origin of their surnames, the following surnames in -sky / -tsky are mentioned.

Brynsky. The author of this letter, Evgeniy Sergeevich Brynsky, himself sent the history of his surname. We present only a small fragment from the letter, since it is not possible to publish it in its entirety. Bryn - river Kaluga region, flows into the Oka Zhizdra tributary. In the old days, large dense Bryn forests stretched along it, in which the Old Believers took refuge. According to the epic about Ilya Muromets, it was in the Bryn forests that the Nightingale the Robber lived. Let us add that there are several settlements of Bryn in the Kaluga and Ivano-Frankivsk regions. The surname Brynski/Brynska, found in Poland, is derived from the name of two settlements Brynsk in different parts country and also, apparently, goes back to the names of the rivers Bryn and Brynitsa. There is no uniform interpretation of the names of these rivers in science. If the suffix -ets is added to the name of a populated place, then such a word denotes a person from this place. In Crimea in the 60s - 70s of the 20th century, winegrower Maria Bryntseva was well known. Her surname is derived from the word brynets, that is, a native of the city or village of Bryn.

Garbavitsky. This Belarusian surname corresponds to the Russian Gorbovitsky (in Belarusian language in place of the unstressed o the letter a is written). The surname is derived from the name of some settlement of Gorbovitsy. In the materials we have, there are only Gorbov, Gorbovo and Gorbovtsy. All these names come from the designations of the terrain: hump - a hillock, a sloping hill.

Dubovskaya. The surname is derived from the name of one of the many settlements: Dubovka, Dubovo, Dubovoe, Dubovskaya, Dubovsky, Dubovskoye, Dubovtsy, located in all parts of the country. It is possible to find out from which one exactly, only from the information preserved in the family, where the ancestors who received this surname lived, or where they came from to their future place of residence. The emphasis in the surname is on “o”: Dubovsky/Dubovskaya.

Steblivsky. The Ukrainian surname corresponding to the Russian one is Steblevsky; formed from the names of the populated places Steblevka in the Transcarpathian region or Steblev - Cherkassy. In Ukrainian spelling, i is written in place of the second e.

Tersky. The surname comes from the name of the Terek River and indicates that one of the distant ancestors of this person lived there. There were the Terek region and the Terek Cossacks. So bearers of the Tersky surname may also be descendants of Cossacks.

Uriansky. The surname, apparently, is derived from the name of the settlement of Urya. In our materials, this name is recorded in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Perhaps there are similar names in other places, since the name of the populated place is associated with the name of the river and with the designation ethnic group ur, as well as with the name of the medieval Turkic people Uryanka. Similar names could be found in different places, since medieval peoples led a nomadic lifestyle and assigned the name of their ethnic group to those places where they stayed for a long time.

Chiglinsky. The surname comes from the name of the settlement Chigla Voronezh region, which is apparently related to the designation of the union of the medieval Turkic tribes Chigil.

Shabansky. The surname is derived from the names of the settlements Shabanovo, Shabanovskoye, Shabanskoye, located in different parts of the country. These names come from the Turkic name Shaban of Arabic origin. In Arabic, shaban is the name of the eighth month. lunar calendar. The name Shaban is also attested in Russian peasant families in the 15th-17th centuries. In parallel with this, the spelling variant Shiban was noted in the Russian language - obviously, by analogy with the Russian shibat, zashibat. Records from 1570-1578 mention Prince Ivan Andreevich Shiban Dolgoruky; in 1584 - the grooms of Tsar Feodor Ioannovich Osip Shiban and Danilo Shikhman Ermolaevich Kasatkin. The servant of Prince Kurbsky was called Vasily Shibanov - executed by Ivan the Terrible in 1564.

In addition, the name of the ethnic group of the Siberian Tatars Shibans and their family name are known Crimean Tatars Shiban Murzas. IN Perm region there is a settlement called Shibanovo, and in Ivanovskaya there is Shibanikha.

So closely related to each other different types proper names: personal names, geographical and ethnic names, as well as surnames.

In ancient times, any person could be immediately identified by his first and last name, who he was, what people he was from and where he came from. Nowadays, many people change their last names and it is difficult to determine who they are.

Russians - use surnames with the suffixes -an, -yn, -in, -skikh, -ov, -ev, -skoy, -tskaya, -ikh, -yh (Snegirev, Ivanov, Voronin, Sinitsyn, Donskoy, Moskovskikh, Sedykh);

Belarusians - typical Belarusian surnames end in -ich, -chik, -ka, -ko, -onak, -yonak, -uk, -ik, -ski. (Radkevich, Dubrova, Parshonok, Kuharchik, Kastsyushka); many surnames in the Soviet years were Russified and Polished (Dubrovsky, Kosciuszko);

Poles - most surnames have the suffix -sk, -tsk, and the ending -й (-я), indicating masculine and feminine gender (Sushitsky, Kovalskaya, Khodetsky, Volnitskaya); There are also double surnames - if a woman, when getting married, wants to keep her surname (Mazur-Komorowska); In addition to these surnames, surnames with an unchanged form are also common among Poles (Nowak, Sienkiewicz, Wujcik, Wozniak). Ukrainians with last name endings ending in -y are not Ukrainians, but Ukrainian Poles.;

Ukrainians - the first classification of surnames of a given nationality is formed using the suffixes -enko, -ko, -uk, -yuk (Kreshchenko, Grishko, Vasilyuk, Kovalchuk); the second series denotes the type of craft or occupation (Potter, Koval); the third group of surnames consists of individual Ukrainian words (Gorobets, Ukrainians, Parubok), as well as a merger of words (Vernigora, Nepiyvoda, Bilous).

Latvians - the peculiarity to the masculine gender is indicated by a surname ending in -s, -is, and to the feminine gender - with -a, -e (Verbitskis - Verbitska, Shurins - Shurin)

Lithuanians - male surnames end in -onis, -unas, -utis, -aitis, -enas (Pyatrenas, Norvydaitis), female surnames are formed from the husband’s surname using the suffixes -en, -yuven, -uven and the ending -e (Grinius - Grinyuvene ), the surnames of unmarried girls contain the basis of the father's surname with the addition of the suffixes -ut, -polut, -ayt and endings -e (Orbakas - Orbakaite);

Estonians - male and female genders are not distinguished using surnames, all foreign surnames (mostly German) were at one time Estonianized (Rosenberg - Roosimäe), this process continues to this day. for example, in order to be able to play for the Estonia national team, football players Sergei Khokhlov and Konstantin Kolbasenko had to change their surnames to Simson and Nahk;

Jews - the main group consists of surnames with Levi roots ( upper caste Jews lion ites and Cohen s and kagan s) and Cohen (Levin, Levitan Kagan, Koganovich, Katz); the second group came from male and female Hebrew names with the addition of various suffixes (Yakobson, Yakubovich, Davidson, Godelson, Tsivyan, Beilis, Abramovich, Rubinchik, Vigdorchik, Mandelstam); the third classification of surnames reflects the character of a person, the features of his appearance, Dvorkovich (pchelkin) - yard in Hebrew, a bee or belonging to a profession (Kaplan - chaplain, Rabinovich - rabbi, Melamed - pestun, Schwartzbard - black-bearded, Stiller - quiet, Shtarkman - strong). Also, all surnames ending in - man (from manka - monkey), such as Chapman, Goldman, Tsukerman...

French - many surnames are preceded by the prefix Le or De (Le Pen, Mol Pompadour); mainly to form surnames, dissimilar nicknames and personal names were used (Robert, Jolie, Cauchon - pig);

Romanians: -sku, -u(l), -an.

Serbs: -ich.

English - the following surnames are common: formed from the names of the place of residence (Scott, Wales); denoting profession (Hoggart - shepherd, Smith - blacksmith); indicating the external appearance of character and appearance (Armstrong - strong, Sweet - sweet, Bragg - boastful);

Germans - surnames formed from personal names (Werner, Peters); surnames that characterize a person (Krause - wavy, Klein - small); surnames indicating the type of activity (Müller - miller, Lehmann - geomor);

Swedes - most surnames end in -sson, -berg, -sted, -strom (Andersson, Olsson, Forsberg, Bostrom);

Norse - formed from personal names using the suffix -en (Larsen, Hansen), surnames without suffixes and endings can occur (Per, Morten); Norwegian surnames can repeat the names of animals, trees and natural phenomena (Blizzard - blizzard, Svane - swan, Furu - pine);

Italians - surnames are characterized by the suffixes -ini, -ino, -ello, -illo, -etti, -etto, -ito (Benedetto, Moretti, Esposito), can end in -o, -a, -i (Conti, Giordano, Costa) ; the prefixes di- and - indicate, respectively, a person’s belonging to his clan and geographical structure (Di Moretti is the son of Moretti, Da Vinci is from Vinci);

Spaniards and Portuguese - have surnames ending in -ez, -az, -iz, -oz (Gomez, Lopez); surnames indicating a person’s character are also common ( Alegre - joyful, Bravo - gallant, Malo - horseless);

Turks - most often surnames have the endings -oglu, -ji, -zade (Mustafaoglu, Ekindzhi, Kuindzhi, Mamedzade); when forming surnames, Turkish names or everyday words were often used (Ali, Abaza - fool, Kolpakchi - hat);

Bulgarians - almost all Bulgarian surnames are formed from personal names and suffixes -ov, -ev (Konstantinov, Georgiev);

Gagauz: -oglo.

Tatars: -in, -ishin.

Greeks - Greek surnames cannot be confused with any other surnames, only they have the endings -idis, -kos, -poulos (Angelopoulos, Nikolaidis);

Czechs - the main difference from other surnames is the obligatory ending -ova in female surnames, even if where it would seem inappropriate (Valdrova, Ivanovova, Andersonova).

Georgians - common surnames ending in -shvili, -dze, -uri, -ava, -a, -ua, -ia, -ni, -li, -si (Baratashvili, Mikadze, Adamia, Karchava, Gvishiani, Tsereteli);

Armenians — a significant part of the surnames of residents of Armenia have the suffix -yan (Hakopyan, Galustyan); Also, -yants, -uni.

Moldovans: -sku, -u(l), -an.

Azerbaijanis - formed surnames, taking Azerbaijani names as a basis and attaching Russian suffixes -ov, -ev (Mamedov, Aliev, Gasanov, Abdullaev) to them. Also, -zade, -li, ly, -oglu, -kyzy.

Ossetians: -ti.

Mordva: -yn, -in.

Chinese and Koreans - for the most part these are surnames consisting of one, less often two syllables (Tan, Liu, Duan, Qiao, Tsoi, Kogai);

Japanese - modern Japanese surnames are formed by merging two full-valued words (Wada - sweet voice and rice field, Igarashi - 50 storms, Katayama - hill, Kitamura - north and village); The most common Japanese surnames are: Takahashi, Kobayashi, Kato, Suzuki, Yamamoto.

As you can see, to determine a person’s nationality, it is enough to accurately analyze his last name, highlighting the suffix and ending.

WHAT DO SURNAMES WITH "-IN" MEAN? SURNAMES ENDING WITH -IN HAVE RUSSIAN ROOTS OR JEWISH ROOTS?

In the collection of the famous Slavic linguist B. O Unbegun “Russian Surnames” you can read that surnames ending with “in” are predominantly a Russian type of surname.

Why the ending "-in"? Basically, all surnames ending in “in” come from words ending in -а/-я and from feminine nouns ending in a soft consonant.

Do you know how the surname of the famous leader of the people's militia of 1611-1612, Minin, came about? Minin bore the personal nickname Sukhoruk, he did not have a surname. And Minin meant “son of Mina.” The Orthodox name "Mina" was widespread in Rus'.

Another old Russian surname is Semin, also a surname with “-in”. According to the main version, the surname Semin goes back to the baptismal male name Semyon. The name Semyon is the Russian form of the ancient Hebrew name Simeon, meaning “listening”, “heard by God”. From the name Semyon in Rus', many derivative forms were formed, one of which - Syoma - formed the basis of this surname.

The famous Slavic linguist B.O. Unbegaun, in the collection “Russian Surnames,” believes that the surname Semin was formed from the baptismal Russian name according to the following scheme: “Semyon - Syoma - Semin.”

Let's give another example of a surname that we examined in detail in the family diploma. Rogozhin is an old Russian surname. According to the main version, the surname preserves the memory of the profession of distant ancestors. One of the first representatives of the Rogozhins could be engaged in the manufacture of matting or trade in fabric.

Coarse woven fabric made from wash tapes was called matting. A matting hut (rogozhnitsy, matting) in Rus' was the name of a workshop where matting was woven, and a matting weaver was a matting weaver or a matting dealer.

In his close circle, Rogozhnik’s household were known as “Rogozhin’s wife,” “Rogozhin’s son,” and “Rogozhin’s grandchildren.” Over time, terms denoting the degree of relationship disappeared, and the hereditary surname Rogozhin was assigned to the descendants of Rogozhin.

Such Russian surnames ending in “-in” include: Pushkin (Pushka), Gagarin (Loon), Borodin (Beard), Ilyin (Ilya), Ptitsyn (Bird); Fomin (from the personal name Thomas); Belkin (from the nickname "squirrel"), Borozdin (Furrow), Korovin (Cow), Travin (Grass), Zamin and Zimin (winter) and many others

Please note that the words from which surnames starting with “in” are derived mostly end in “-a” or “-ya”. We won’t be able to say “Borodov” or “Ilyinov”; it would be quite logical and more sonorous to say “Ilyin” or “Borodin”.

Why do some people think that surnames ending with “-in” have Jewish roots? Is this really true? No, this is not true; you cannot judge the origin of a surname by one ending. The sound of Jewish surnames coincides with Russian endings simply by pure chance.

You should always research the surname itself. For some reason, the ending “ov” does not cause us any doubts. We believe that surnames ending in “-ov” are definitely Russian. But there are also exceptions. For example, we recently prepared a beautiful family diploma for one wonderful family named Maksyutov.

The surname Maksyutov has the ending “ov”, which is common among Russian surnames. But, if you examine the surname more deeply, it turns out that the surname Maksyutov is derived from the Tatar male name “Maksud”, which translated from Arabic means “desire, premeditated intention, aspiration, goal”, “long-awaited, desired”. The name Maksud had several dialect variants: Maksut, Mahsud, Mahsut, Maksyut. This name is still widespread among the Tatars and Bashkirs.

Let's explore the name further and find out:

"The surname Maksyutov is an old princely surname of Tatar origin. Historical sources speak about the ancient origin of the surname Maksyutov. The surname was first documented in X VI century: Maksyutovs (Maksutovs, obsolete Maksutovs, Tat. Maksutovlar) - Volga-Bulgar princely-Murzin family, descended from the Kasimov prince Maksut (1554), in the genealogical legend Prince Maksut was called an ulan and a descendant of Tsarevich Kasim." Now there are doubts about the origin there is almost no last name left.

How do you know if a surname ending in -in is of Jewish origin or is it an original Russian surname? Always analyze the word that underlies your last name.

Here are examples of Jewish surnames with the ending “-in” or “-ov”: Edmin (derived from the name of the German city of Emden), Kotin (derived from the Hebrewקטן - in the Ashkenazi pronunciation “kotn”, meaning “small”), Eventov (derived from the Hebrew “even tov” - “precious stone”), Khazin ( comes from the Hebrew “khazan”, in the Ashkenazi pronunciation “hazn”, meaning “a person leading worship in a synagogue”), Superfin (translated as “very handsome”) and many others.

The ending “-in” is simply an ending by which one cannot judge the nationality of a surname. You always need to research your surname, analyze the word that underlies it and try to look for the first mentions of your surname in various books and archival documents. Only when all the information has been collected will you be able to confidently determine the origin of your surname and find answers to your questions.

SURNAMES ENDING IN √ SKIY/-SKAYA, -TSKIY/-TSKAYA

Many Russians have a firm and unfounded belief that surnames in -skiy are certainly Polish. From history textbooks, the names of several Polish magnates are known, derived from the names of their estates: Potocki and Zapotocki, Zablocki, Krasinski. But from the same textbooks the surnames of many Russians with the same suffixes are known: Konstantin Grigorievich Zabolotsky, okolnichy of Tsar John III, end XV - beginning X VI century; clerk Semyon Zaborovsky, beginning of X VI century; boyars Shuisky and Belsky, close associates of Ivan the Terrible. Famous Russian artists are Levitsky, Borovikovsky, Makovsky, Kramskoy.

An analysis of modern Russian surnames shows that forms in -sky (-tskiy) exist in parallel with variants in -ov (-ev, -in), but there are fewer of them. For example, in Moscow in the 70s of the twentieth century, for every 330 people with the surname Krasnov/Krasnova, there were only 30 with the surname Krasnovsky/Krasnovskaya. But the rather rare surnames Kuchkov and Kuchkovsky, Makov and Makovsky are represented almost equally.

Last name is the family name that a person receives by inheritance. Many people live for a long time and do not even think about what their last name means. Thanks to the surname, you can not only determine who your great-grandfathers were, but also determine the nationality of its owner. In this article we will try to figure out what nationality this or that surname belongs to.

You can find out the origin of your surname in several ways, which are described in the article, among them you can identify the determination of origin by the endings of surnames.

Last name endings

Using certain endings, you can find out what nationality a surname belongs to:

The British. It is very difficult to identify specific endings that indicate the English. Mostly surnames are derived from English words, indicating the place of residence: Wales, Scott, or the person’s profession: Smith - blacksmith, Cook - cook.
Armenians. Most Armenian surnames end in - yang: Aleksanyan, Burinyan, Galustyan.
Belarusians. Belarusian surnames end in -ich, -chik, -ka, -ko: Tyshkevich, Fedorovich, Glushko, Vasilka, Gornachenok.
Georgians. It is very easy to identify a person of Georgian nationality; their surnames end in - shvili, - dze, - a, - ua, - ni, - li, - si: Gergedava, Geriteli, Dzhugashvili.
Jews. If the surname contains the root Levi or Cohen, then its owner belongs to Jewish nationality: Levitan, Koganovich. But you can also find surnames with endings - ich, - man, -er: Kogenman, Kaganer.
The Spaniards and Portuguese have surnames with the endings - ez, - iz, - az, - iz, oz: Gonzalez, Gomez, Torres. There are also surnames that indicate a person’s character: Alegre - joyful, Malo - bad.
Italians. If we talk about Italians, their surnames end in - ini, - ino, - illo, - etti, - etto, - ito: Puccini, Brocchi, Marchetti. The prefix di and da can indicate that the genus belongs to a certain territory: da Vinci.
Germans. German surnames generally end in - man, - er and they indicate the person’s occupation (Becker - baker, Lehmann - landowner, Koch - cook) or contain some characteristic (Klein - small).
Poles. Surnames ending in - sk; - tsk; -y indicate that a person (or his ancestors) belongs to the Polish nationality: Godlewski, Ksieszynski, Kalnitski, and their roots go back to the time of the creation of the Polish nobility (gentry).
Russians. Surnames ending in -ov, -ev, -in, -skoy, -tskoy: Ignatov, Mikhailov, Eremin. Russian surnames in structure are patronymics, which are formed from the names: Ivan - Ivanov, Grigory - Grigoriev; but among the examples you can find surnames derived from the name of the family’s locality: White Lake - Belozersky.
Ukrainians. The endings that indicate that a person belongs to Ukrainian nationality include: - ko, - uk/yuk, - un, -niy/ny, - tea, - ar, - a: Tereshchenko, Karpyuk, Tokar, Gonchar, Peaceful. Surnames mainly indicate the family's affiliation with a particular craft.

Onomastics

It is worth noting that the science that studies proper names and their origin is called onomastics. Its section - anthroponymy - studies the origin of human names and their forms, one of which is the surname. It touches on the history of their origin and transformation as a result of long-term use in the source language.

IN Russian Federation Every 10th marriage is mixed. This is due to demographic reasons and the fashionable tendency to enter into an alliance with foreign citizen. They are often legitimized between Russians and visiting students. But such mixed marriages are often doomed to short-lived existence. As a result, owners of a “specific” surname may not always know their true roots, especially if the parents categorically do not want to raise the topic of kinship.

You can find out nationality by last name. But this is a painstaking and long process that is best left to specialists. However, the origins can be established according to general rules.

History of the surname

In past centuries, only aristocrats had a pedigree. To the common people you were not supposed to know your origin, and therefore have a surname. Only during the reign of Vasily the First did peasants begin to receive nicknames that resembled their real name: Semyon Cherny, monk Rublev and others.

Studying the pedigree is of great importance. It not only allows you to find out how to determine nationality by surname, but also conveys the historical past.

Since ancient times, the official surname served to identify a person and his family. Many marriages were and are of an interethnic nature. The surname allows you to establish the degree of relationship, because it takes into account not only language features, but also a territorial feature with historical factors.

How to carry out the analysis?

To determine a person’s nationality by last name, you should remember school course Russian language. A word consists of a root, a suffix and an ending. allow you to calculate the first two points.

In the surname you need to highlight the root and suffix.
Determine nationality using suffixes.
If this is not enough, analyze the root of the word.
Rate the name according to the degree of its origins in Europe.

Many surnames take into account not only morphological features words, but also a person’s belonging to a certain group: by specialty, personal qualities, name of an animal or bird.

Establishing nationality by suffixes and word roots

Belonging to Ukrainian origins is confirmed by the presence of suffixes:

enko;
eiko;
point;
ovsky.

Finding out the nationality of people with Jewish roots by last name is not so easy. Its origin is influenced by many factors.

The surname can be based on the name of a profession, animal or bird. For example, Bondar, Gonchar are Ukrainian designations for a working specialty. Gorobets is a sparrow in Ukrainian. It’s just that later this word was transformed into a surname.

You can often see surnames consisting of two words, such as Ryabokon, Krivonos and others. They indicate the presence of Slavic roots: Belarusian, Polish, Ukrainian, Russian.

How to determine Jewish roots

The suffix and root of a word do not always help determine nationality by surname. This also applies to Jewish origins. To establish kinship, there are 2 large groups:

The roots are "Cohen" and "Levi".
Male names.

The roots “Cohen” and “Levi” indicate that the owner of the surname belongs to Jews whose ancestors had the rank of clergy. Among them you can find the following: Kogan, Kagansky, Kaplan, Levita, Levitin, Levitan.

The second group contains male names. These include the names Solomon, Moses and others.

The Jewish people have one peculiarity: during prayer, a person is called by his mother’s name. And nationality here is also given on the maternal side. This one is interesting historical fact led to the formation of surnames that are based on the feminine gender. Among them are Sorinson, Rivkin, Tsivyan, Beilis.

AND working specialty can answer the question of how to determine nationality by surname. This also applies to Jewish roots. For example, the surname Fain translated from Hebrew means “beautiful” and characterizes a person’s appearance. And Rabin means “rabbi”, that is, professional activity.

European roots

In Russia you can often find English, French, and German origins. Certain rules of word formation help to recognize a specific nationality by last name.

French origin is confirmed by the presence of the prefixes De or Le in the surname.

German were formed in three ways:

on behalf of personal names - Walter, Peters, Werner, Hartmann;
from nicknames (for example, Klein);
associated with a specific profession (the most common is Schmidt).

Surnames of English origin also have several ways of formation:

depending on place of residence - Scott, English, Irish, Welsh, Wallace;
from professional activities human - Spooners, Carver, Butler;
taking into account human qualities- Bad, Sweet, Good, Moody, Bragg.

A separate group is formed Polish surnames: Kowalczyk, Sienkiewicz, Novak. As a rule, they have the suffixes -chik, -vich, -vak.

Lithuanian surnames have the suffixes -kas, -kene, -kaite, -chus, -chene, -chite.

Features of Eastern origins

The formation of a surname is influenced by several factors:

territorial affiliation of ancestors;
type of activity;
personal human characteristics;
morphological components of a word.

IN eastern countries To find out whose last name is by nationality, you need to analyze its suffixes and endings.

Chinese and Korean surnames are monosyllabic and short. The most typical of them are Xing, Xiao, Jiu, Layu, Kim, Dam, Chen.

Muslims have surnames with suffixes ending in -ov, -ev (Aliev, Aushev, Khasbulatov, Dudayev and others). U Armenian people they end in -yan (Shiyan, Bordiyan, Porkuyan).

They have “incomparable” suffixes and endings: -shvili, -dze, -uri, -uli, -ani(ya), -eti(ya), -eni, -eli(ya).

All of the above features allow us to find the true roots. But only a specialist can tell you exactly how to find out nationality by last name. Sometimes this requires detailed analysis, which takes into account many factors. A person is inextricably linked with his name, and it can really tell a lot about him and his ancestry.