The answer to the question in the title of our publication is extremely simple: since Artem and Artemy are different names, the middle names formed from them will differ in spelling. Accordingly, the son of a man named Artem should wear the middle name Artemovich, and the descendant of Artemy - Artemievich.
Everything flows, everything changes
Names that are similar in sound, as a rule, have common roots. In some cases, over time, they separate. The disagreements in the spelling of the patronymics Artemovich or Artemyevich look somewhat far-fetched, since there is no reason to consider these names the same. Morphological changes in the language have always occurred, and this process is quite natural.
Consider this statement on the example of the now widespread female name Alyona. In the birth certificates of our mothers and grandmothers, this spelling is almost never found. Parents who want to name their daughter Alenka were offered to register the girl Elena or Olga in the registry office. Today Alena is a completely independent name. The same thing, but much earlier happened with the male names Artem and Artemy.
Dedicated to Artemis
Translated from Greek, this name sounds like "strong, strong, with good health." Many sources provide information that it happened on behalf of the mythological Artemis - the patroness of family ties and the assistant in childbirth. Ancient authors also call Artemis the goddess of hunting, fertility, the protector of all life on Earth.
Here we see one of the rare cases when a male name is formed from a female. Usually, everything happens exactly the opposite. For comparison: Vasily and Vasilisa, Alexander and Alexandra, Eugene and Eugene.
Orthodox traditions
Often you can hear the opinion that Artyom is a diminutive form of the name, and when a boy is baptized, he will still be called Artemy. Therefore, there is no difference what the middle name of future children will be: Artemovich or Artemievich. This statement is far from the truth. To prove our point of view, let's look at the Orthodox clergy. In Christianity, several saints bearing this name are worshiped. In addition to the great martyr Artemy of Antioch and the miracle worker Artemy of Verkolsky, there is also the apostle Artyom.
Although the last name contains the ending "-a", it can be stated that the morphological separation occurred a very long time ago. What middle name: Artemovich or Artemyevich - would a descendant of Artemy be? Obviously, the most correct is the first option.
According to the traditions established in the Russian language, middle names from names ending in “-a” are formed by appending the suffix “-ovich”. For example: Gavrilovich, Danilovich, Vavilovich. The exception is the names of Savva, Nikita, Thomas and some others. Their sons will wear the middle names Savvich, Nikitich, Fomich. Although recently this situation has become somewhat outdated. The descendants of people with similar names are often recorded by Nikitovich, Savvovich, Fomovich.
However, patronymic Artemovich (or Artemievich) is not included in the list of exceptions, and difficulties should not arise with his writing.
Rules for the formation of Russian patronymics
So, we were convinced that Artem and Artemy are not the same thing. In everyday life, boys can be called Themes, Artyushki or Artemyushki, but the essence of this does not change. Recording in the birth certificate with absolute accuracy will show what is the name of a young man or an adult man. The same applies to patronymics Artemovich or Artemievich. They should be recorded depending on which of the two names the father of the child bears.
In order to dispel the last doubts as to which of these options is the only true one, we will look into any reference book on the Russian language and read the rules:
“From a masculine name ending in a solid consonant sound (except for hissing w, w, h, h, w, h), middle names are formed by adding the suffixes“ -ovic / ram ”. For example: Ivanovich - Ivanovna, Petrovich - Petrovna, etc. "
“Artem” fits in perfectly with this rule. The son of a man with that name will be Artemovich, and the daughter of Artemovna.
Now consider the names ending in “-th”: Vitaly, Vasily, Terenty, Yuri and others like that. Here the rule is this: if the ending of the name is unstressed, then the suffixes “-evich / evna” are added when the middle name is formed. In this case, the last letter is discarded, and the previous sound “and” either remains or is replaced by a soft sign. The transition of “and” to a soft sign occurs when the combination “-nt-” is before the end of the name (for example, Vincent - Vikentievich, Terenty - Terentyevich).
The same rule applies to names, where after cutting off the end of the "-th" there remains one consonant sound: Artemy, Vitaliy, Arseny and others. Therefore, without a doubt, choosing between the options of Artemovich or Artemyevich, one should give preference to the latter. For comparison, we analyze a couple of names as close to each other as Kondrat and Kondraty. The sons of men with such names will be patronymic Kondratovich and Kondratievich.