Each person has a surname, but did anyone wonder where it came from, who invented it, and for what purpose is it needed? There were times when people had only names, for example, in the territory of the former Rus, such a tendency was observed up to the 14th century. Studying the surname can tell a lot of interesting things about the history of the clan, and in some cases even allows you to determine the ancestor. Just one word will tell about the welfare of the ancestors of the family, their belonging to the upper or lower classes, the presence of foreign roots.
The origin of the word "last name"
Many are interested in what the surname came from, what it denoted and for what purposes it was used. It turns out that this word has a foreign origin and originally had a completely different meaning than it is now. In the Roman Empire, this term did not refer to family members, but to slaves. By a specific surname was meant a group of slaves belonging to one Roman. Only in the 19th century did this word gain its present meaning. Nowadays, a surname is a family name that is inherited and added to a person’s name.
When did the first surnames appear in Russia?
To find out where the surnames came from, you must return to the XIV-XV centuries and delve into the history of Russia. In those days, society was divided into classes. It was this conditional division that was reflected in future surnames; representatives of different layers acquired them at different times. Family names were the first to acquire princes, feudal lords, boyars, and a little later this fashion came to merchants and nobles. Ordinary people did not have surnames, they were addressed only by name. Only the wealthy and influential estates enjoyed this privilege.
How a surname occurred can be determined by its meaning. For example, the family names of many feudal lords echo the name of their land: Vyazemsky, Tverskaya, etc. The lands passed by inheritance from father to son, respectively, the clan kept the name of its founder. Many family names had roots of foreign origin, this was due to the fact that people came from other states and were based on our lands. But this is characteristic only of the wealthy estates.
Surnames of former serfs
It turns out that even in the 19th century, having your own surname was an impermissible luxury that the poor and serfs could not boast of . Before the abolition of serfdom, which took place in 1861, ordinary Russian people used names, nicknames, patronymics. When they gained freedom and began to belong to themselves, and not to the nobles, it became necessary to come up with their surname. During the census in 1897, the census tellers themselves came up with the names of the clans of the former serfdom, as far as imagination was enough. For this reason, a huge number of namesakes appeared, because the same names were attributed to hundreds of people.
For example, where did the name Ivanov come from? Everything is very simple, the fact is that its founder was called Ivan. Very often in such cases, the suffix “ov” or “ev” was added to the name, thus Alexander, Sidorov, Fedorov, Grigoryev, Mikhailov, Alekseev, Pavlov, Artemyev, Sergeev, etc. were added, the list goes on and on. Where did the surname Kuznetsov come from? Here the answer is even simpler - from the occupation, there are a lot of such: Konyukhov, Plotnikov, Slesarenko, Sapozhnikov, Tkachenko, etc. Some peasants took the names of animals they liked: Sobolev, Medvedev, Gusev, Lebedev, Volkov, Zhuravlev, Sinitsyn. Thus, by the end of the 19th century, the majority of the population had their own surnames.
The most common surnames
Many are interested not only in the question of where the surnames came from, but also which of them are the most common. There is an opinion that most often there are Ivanov, Petrov and Sidorov. Perhaps it was before, but today it is outdated information. Ivanov, although one of the three leaders, is not in the first, but in the second place of honor. Kuznetsov takes the third place, but Smirnov holds the leadership. Mentioned Petrov is in 11th place, but Sidorov - in 66th.
What can prefixes, suffixes and endings tell?
As already mentioned, the suffixes “ov” and “ev” were assigned to the names, if they are discarded, then the person will receive the name of his founder ancestor. Much depends on the stress, if it falls on the last syllable, then the name belongs to the peasant, and on the second to the eminent nobleman. The clergy changed the name of the clan, for example, Ivanov became John.
When asked about where the surnames with the suffix "sky" came from, for a long time there was no definite answer. Today, researchers agreed that such names belonged to nobles of Polish blood, as well as ministers of churches dedicated to the Epiphany: Znamensky, Epiphany, Holy Cross Exaltation. They are associated with holidays such as the Exaltation of the Cross, Baptism, dedicated to the icon of the Virgin "Sign".
The suffixes “in” and “un” mainly belong to Russian Jews: Ivashkin, Fokin, Fomin. Ivashka could derogatoryly say to a Jew, and Fok and Thomas are purely
Jewish names. The diminutive suffixes “uk”, “chuk”, “enk”, “onk”, “yuk” belong to Slavic surnames. They are mainly found in Ukraine: Kovalchuk, Kravchuk, Litovchenko, Osipenko, Sobachenko, Gerashchenko, etc.
Random last names
Not all surnames can tell about an ancient, glorious clan. The fact is that most of them were simply invented by people, so such names do not even contain information about the name, occupation or place of residence of the founder. Sometimes there are very curious cases telling where the names came from. In the Soviet Union, there was an active formalization, so anyone with an inconsistent name could easily change it. Many people from the villages (mostly young boys and girls) received their surnames along with passports. So, a policeman asked one guy: “Whose are you?” “Papanin,” and so it was written into the document. And there are a lot of such stories. Whatever it was, but now every person has a surname that can tell a lot of interesting things about the whole race.