The history of the emergence of Russian patronymics and surnames. Origin of names and genealogy

MOU secondary school No. 8

VYAZMA, SMOLENSK REGION

ON THE HISTORY OF RUSSIA

"HISTORY OF ORIGIN

NAMES AND SURNAMES»

STUDENTS 9 - IN THE CLASS

Kuznetsova Nadezhda

NIKOLAEVNA

SUPERVISOR:

history teacher and

social science

LEVCHUK TATIANA

VALENTINOVNA

Plan:

I.Introduction. ……………………………………………………………. 2

II.Main part …………………………………………………….. 5

2.1. The mystery of the origin of names………………………………. 5

2.2. History of Russian calendar names. …………………... 7

2.3. Variants of the origin of Slavic names………….. 10

2.4. Alien Names…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

2.5. Namemaking after October…………………………. 13

2.6. Russian personal name ………………………………………….. 16

2.7. Patronymic formations …………………………. 17

2.8. Surnames ………………………………………………….… 18

2.9. Surname distribution

by geographical regions …………………………… 20

III.Conclusion ……………………………………………………. 22

IV.Applications ……………………………………………………. 23

1. Table of names of girls in our class ………………………... 24

2. The table of names of the boys of our class ……………………. 26

3. Table of the origin of the surnames of classmates ……… .. 27

4. Ways of forming surnames ……………………………….. 28

5. 150 most Russian surnames …………………………………… 29

v.List of used literature …………………………. thirty

I.Introduction.

Who was your great-grandfather in Rus'?

Ask for your last name!

There are Kuznetsov in every class,

Who is Kuznetsov's great-grandfather?

He was from a family of blacksmiths,

Father's father's father.

Goncharov's great-grandfather knew

Pottery wheel and clay.

At Degtyarev - tar drove,

In the tar he hunched his back.

Perhaps young Stolyarov

And with a chisel will not cope,

But my great-grandfather was from joiners,

He was a master grandfather.

Pilshchikov was friends with the saw,

Crumpled Kozhemyakin skin,

I went to the attacks of the Warriors,

Streltsov also fought.

They sound like music, like poetry,

Surnames are simple.

Look closely and you will see them

I chose the topic "History of the origin of names and surnames", as I was interested to know how the names of mine and my friends are interpreted. Working on this topic, I set myself the task of finding out how and when some very specific surnames were born, to find the history of Russian calendar names, variants of the origin of Slavic names, to find out the distribution of surnames by geographical regions, when patronymics began to be used instead of a given name, determine the ways of forming surnames.

In all eras, names have played a significant role in the communication of people.

The science that studies the history of names, their origin, evolution and meaning is called anthroponymy. It employs psychologists, historians, astrologers, theologians and philologists. They study the relationship between name and personality. This connection is not simple and often even mysterious.

Unfortunately, the ancient Russian written monuments, which are the main source for the study of anthroponymy, recorded it only from the 11th century, that is, at the time when Christianity was already accepted in Russia, and Christian ones poured in from Byzantium, or, as they are called, calendar, names - ancient Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Aramaic, ancient Persian, ancient Egyptian in origin, incomprehensible and unusual for a Russian person, but obligatory at baptism.

In the history of Russian personal names, three stages are distinguished - pre-Christian, when original names were used, created on East Slavic soil by means of the Old Russian language; the period after the introduction of Christianity in Rus', when the church began to plant, along with Christian religious rites, foreign names borrowed by the Byzantine church from various peoples of antiquity; and a new stage that began after the Great October Socialist Revolution and was marked by the penetration of a large number of borrowed names into the Russian nomenclature and active name creation.

The power of the name is mysterious, inexplicable. Some names are forgotten for decades, and even for centuries, sinking to the bottom of the River of Time, others emerge from its dark fatal depths...

“In love, we repeat the beloved name and call on the beloved through his name. And we pray and curse through the names, through the pronunciation of the name. And there are no limits to the life of a name, there is no measure for its power. The world is created and sustained by name and words. Every living being bears a name. Peoples live by name and words, millions of people move from their place, the deaf masses of the people advance towards sacrifice and victory. The name has conquered the world."

A person walks along the path of life: he rejoices, mourns, cunning, acts as a hero, acts evil, repents - everything happens in a long century. But now his earthly term is over. The body decays in the earth or is incinerated in fire, the soul is scattered throughout the Universe. What about the name? The name slumbers like a bird in the family nest, patiently waiting for the chosen one-baby. So he appeared in the light of God, announced his arrival with a desperate cry - and the bird-name flies into his cradle, embraces the chosen one with wings for a whole life, as the Moon embraces the Earth with its mysterious light.

The connection between personality and name is vast and mysterious. Name - character - destiny! - this triad has not only an earthly, but also a cosmic beginning, for it is connected with time and space. It is no coincidence that each name has its own zodiac sign and its own planet. And even your own specific numerical expression! As long as the Earth is alive, human names will live.

II.Main part

2.1. The mystery of the origin of names.

The names of people are part of the history of peoples. They reflect the way of life, beliefs, aspirations, fantasy and artistic creativity of peoples, their historical contacts. Our country is multinational, and each of the peoples inhabiting it has its own wonderful names.

In order for any name to appear among a given people, certain cultural and historical conditions are necessary. Therefore, many names bear a vivid imprint of the corresponding era.

Before the introduction of Christianity in Rus', personal names were very similar to nicknames given for one reason or another. In ancient times, people perceived names materially, as an integral part of a person. They hid their names from their enemies, believing that knowing the name alone was enough to harm someone.

Old Russian names are of great interest. They reveal the richness of the Russian folk language, show the breadth of imagination, observation and sharpness of the Russian person, his kindness and sociability, sometimes rude simplicity and causticity when it comes to moral vices or physical shortcomings.

Early Slavic totemism is a belief in the divinity of individual plants and animals, obviously, mainly those that played a special role in the life of our ancestors. Direct evidence of this side of their spiritual life has not been preserved; the names should aid the study of this historical fact.

The atheist Ivan, a Rusak among Russians, does not even suspect that in Hebrew he is “God’s messenger”, and the name of his portly, loud-voiced wife Glafira in the language of Ancient Greece sounds like “refined, refined”. Pelageya, arguing hoarsely with her neighbor Marina, whose name is more beautiful, is unaware that they are actually namesakes: Pelageya is “sea” in Greek, Marina is in Latin.

The history of each name developed in a special way. Some names lived a long, complicated life before reaching our time, others appeared quite recently. A colossal number of names of Russian people is known to us only from written records: they disappeared, having lived for centuries, or, on the contrary, having existed for a very short time, meeting in isolated cases.

For many centuries, children were traditionally named after their ancestors (fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers), in connection with some domestic or religious events that were repeated at different times. And so the same names were passed down from generation to generation, the original reason for their appearance was gradually forgotten, they lost their former meaning. But by studying such names and comparing them with the common nouns of the modern and Old Russian language, it is often possible to restore, at least presumably, why they once appeared in the world. Any word that a person was called by was perceived by those around him as his personal name, and, therefore, any word could become a name.

Thus, a personal name (in the Old Russian language also - ad, name, nickname, name, nickname, naming) is a special word that serves to designate an individual and is given to him individually in order to be able to contact him, and also talk about it with others.

Many centuries ago, when our ancestors still worshiped pagan gods - Perun, Yarovit, Zimtserle - no one was philosophizing over human names. Whatever word comes to mind, that was the reward for the baby. So there were Wolf, Ravine, Dobrynya, Long, Oxygen, Failure, Golokhrebetnik, Bast Saber, Neumyvaka, Sturgeon, Crane, Tongue, Moshna etc.

2.2. History of Russian calendar names.

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 the long history of the emergence of Russian patronymics.

In almost all European countries, it is customary to name people using a pair of first names: a personal name and a family name (surname). This tradition dates back to ancient Roman times. The exception is Iceland, where a patronymic is used instead of a family name, that is, the name of the parents, father (patronymic) or mother (matronymic). The famous Icelandic singer Björk, for example, is actually called Björk Gvüdmundsdottir (Gvüdmund's daughter).

Thus, Icelanders do not have surnames.

But in the East Slavic states there is a different tradition. In Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, the full name of 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 Khottab (that is, the son of Hottab) became in Soviet Moscow simply Gasan Hottabovich, old 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: Bregovic, Voinovich, Vukovich and even Karageorgievich. In the days of Kievan Rus, patronymic patronymics were 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 the Nightingale the Robber, although a damned bastard, is also Odikhmant's son. That is, Odikhmantievich. Perhaps the only exception when a plowman is called a plowman by patronymic in epics is Mikula Silyaninovich. Well, yes, this Mikula is an exception in many respects.

Veliky Novgorod was an exception from the general order. A rich and, by the standards of that time, a completely European free city, loved to live on a person's behalf, according to its own laws.

So the Novgorodians introduced a special order: to address each other by patronymic, that is, in a princely way. Even when Tsar Ivan III destroyed the Novgorod Republic and settled proud Novgorodians in different cities, they preserved this custom, expressing mutual respect. Not only that, they passed it on to others.

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

The earliest known list of the dead with surnames: “Novgorodets is the same pade: Kostyantin Lugotinits, Gyuryata Pineshchinich, Namst, Drochilo Nezdylov son of a tanner ...” (The first Novgorod chronicle of the senior version, 1240). Surnames helped in diplomacy and in accounting for the troops. So it was easier to distinguish one Ivan from another.

Boyar and princely families

In the XIV-XV centuries, Russian princes and boyars began to take surnames. Surnames were often formed from the names of lands. Thus, the owners of the estate on the Shuya River became Shuisky, on Vyazma - Vyazemsky, on Meshchera - Meshchersky, the same story with Tversky, Obolensky, Vorotynsky and other -skys.

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

The boyars also often received their surnames from the baptismal name of the ancestor or his nickname: such surnames literally answered the question “whose?” (meaning “whose son?”, “what kind?”) and had possessive suffixes in their composition.

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

The suffix -Ev- joined names and nicknames that had a soft sign at the end, -y, -ey or h: Medved - Medvedev, Yuri - Yuryev, Begich - Begichev.

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

Meanwhile, giving patronymics to people from the lower 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 honored with a patronymic were the Stroganov merchants.

For other ignoble people (or, as it was said then, people of a “mean rank”), patronymics, if necessary, were formed according to the model “Ivan son of Sidorov” or even more simply “Ivan Sidorov”. So, from patronymics, a significant part of Russian surnames was formed. By the way, it is precisely according to this model that patronymics are formed, if necessary, 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 back in the days of his father, Alexei Mikhailovich, the emperor introduced a European-style slender pyramid of service hierarchy, the “table of ranks”. He, of course, did not invent it himself, but “copied” it from the Prussian system of civil service. The Prussian origin of the “report card” is said by the “assessors”, “fendriks” and “stallmasters” 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 the snuffy kingdom, which was 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 resources.

But all the people were assigned to the place and unanimously performed the service, military or civil. Each was an inconspicuous cog or cog, and together they made up a well-functioning state mechanism. Naturally, the mind of a mathematician and philosopher could not but admire such perfection. The emperor's mind, too.

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

Tried to do this Catherine II.

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

Officers and officials of low classes, from 14 to 9 inclusive, were recorded in official documents without a middle name - Nikita Mikhalkov. (Grade 9 corresponded to the military rank of captain or the state rank of titular adviser).

Officers and officials from 8th to 5th grade inclusive were to be called as follows: Nikita Sergeev Mikhalkov. (The ranks of the 5th class were the state adviser and the brigadier - the ranks, although high, were not yet generals.)

Finally, officials and officers who had general ranks (grade 4 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 patronymics in Russian anthroponyms. In official correspondence, everything was written as ordered by Catherine II.

But in unofficial correspondence, every nobleman called himself a general, with a patronymic: staff captain Konstantin Alexandrovich Bagration-Mukhransky.

A bad example is contagious. The naming by patronymic was picked up by other estates, philistines, merchants and even wealthy 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 Romanovs - Romanovs?

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

After several generations, the descendants decided that the surname from the nickname is 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 originally had noble roots, and among the nobles there were many people who came to the 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), Lermontovs (Scottish Lermont) and other surnames with Western roots.

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

Born children generally "suffered" a lot from the imagination of their parents. Some of them did not bother inventing a new surname, but simply abbreviated the old one: this is how Pnin was born from Repnin, Betskoy from Trubetskoy, Agin from Elagin, and the “Koreans” Go and Te came from Golitsyn and Tenishev. The Tatars also left a significant mark on Russian surnames. That is how the Yusupovs (descendants of Murza Yusup), Akhmatovs (Khan Akhmat), Karamzins (Tatar. Kara "black", Murza "lord, prince"), Kudinovs (distorted Kazakh-Tatars. Kudai "God, Allah") and other.

Surnames of servicemen

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

Surnames of the clergy

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

Peasant surnames

Surnames among peasants until the end of the 19th century 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 inhabitant of the USSR had a surname.

They were formed according to already proven models: suffixes -ov-, -ev-, -in- were added to names, nicknames, habitats, professions.

Why and when did they change names?

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

Tags:

It is believed that surnames with the suffixes "-ov" or "-ev" are mostly of generic origin. At first they came from patronymics. For example, Peter, the son of Ivan, was called Peter Ivanov. After surnames entered 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 of Ivan were already becoming Ivanovs.

But surnames were also given by nicknames. So, if a person, for example, was called Bezborodov, then his descendants received the name Bezborodov.

Often given surnames according to occupation. The son of a blacksmith bore the surname Kuznetsov, the son of a carpenter - Plotnikov, the son of a potter - Goncharov, the priest - Popov. The same surname was given to their children.

Surnames with the suffix "-in", or, more rarely, "-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." The Orthodox name Mina was widespread in Rus'. And in our time, the surnames Ilyin, Fomin, Nikitin are common. The surname Rogozhin recalls that the ancestors of this man traded matting or made it.

And where did the surnames formed from the names of animals come from - Volkov, Medvedev, Kozlov, Zaitsev, Orlov? Genealogists believe that many "animal" surnames could come from worldly names that were given to children in the pre-Christian era. Giving the child the name of this or that animal, the parents hoped that this would give him the features 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. In the future, the Medvedevs, Volkovs, Lisitsyns, Kabanovs, Kozlovs, Voronins, Lebedevs, Solovyovs went from these names.

The origin of "animal" surnames could also be associated with the occupation of a person. So, a lover of chasing pigeons was called Dove, and his descendants were subsequently given the surname Golubev.

In Rus', a person could often be called by occupation. Some forgotten and unknown professions are still found in various modern surnames.

The most common surnames of this type are − Kuznetsovs, Melnikovs, Rybakovs. But there are also less clear ones, the origin of which has been forgotten: some testify to a clear specialization and even to individual stages of the technological process of past centuries.

Take, for example, in modern terms, textile and clothing production. The descendants of the ancient masters bear the names of the Tkachevs, Krasheninnikovs, Krasilnikovs, Sinelnikovs, Shevtsovs and Shvetsovs (from the word “shvets” or “shevets”; the Ukrainian version is Shevchenko), Kravtsovs (kravets is a cutter; the Ukrainian surname is Kravchenko), Epaneshnikovs (epancha is a family cloak), the Shubnikovs, the Rukavishnikovs, the Golichnikovs (the heads are also mittens), the Skatershchikovs, the Tulupnikovs, etc.

Curious surname Pustovalov. Its original root is Don word "polstoval", that is, a fuller of woolen bedspreads - half. This word was simplified into “postoval”, which formed the surname Postovalov. But the meaning of the word “postoval” outside the Don regions was not clear, and the surname Postovalov was rethought or, rather, became meaningless - they began to speak and write Pustovalov.
The master who made the "berd" (combs at the looms) was called a berdnik - hence the Berdnikovs.

Leather and saddlery craft the ancestors of the Kozhevnikovs, the Kozhemyakins, the Syromyatnikovs, the Ovchinnikovs, the Shornikovs, the Rymarevs, the Sedelytsykovs, and the Remennikovs.

headwear specialists were the ancestors of the Kolpashnikovs, Shaposhnikovs, Shapovalovs, Shlyapnikovs.

Potters, pots, turtles engaged in ceramics. However, the inhabitants of Cherepovets were also called skulls!

Cooperage products were made by the ancestors of the Kadochnikovs, Bondarevs, Bocharovs, Bocharnikovs, Bochkarevs.

The circle of "flour-grinding" and "baking" surnames is wide. First of all, these are the Melnikovs, then the Miroshnikovs, Prudnikovs, Sukhomlinovs, Khlebnikovs, Kalashnikovs, Pryanishnikovs, Blinnikovs, Proskurnikovs and Prosvirins (from proskur, prosvir or prosphora - a loaf of a special form used in Orthodox worship). It is curious that the names of Pekarev and Bulochnikov are relatively rare: both original words entered our language later, only in the 18th century.

In surname Sveshnikov not everyone already guesses about the original - a candle; the ancestors of the Voskoboynikovs also knocked down candles and other products from wax.

Manufacture and sale of oil the ancestors of not only the Maslennikovs, but also the Oleinikovs or Aleinikovs were engaged in: ole - vegetable oil.

It is unlikely that any of us met Medikovs and Veterinarovs. Ancestors were engaged in the treatment of people in the old days Lekarevs and Baliyevs(baly - doctor, healer), treatment of animals - the ancestors of the Konovalovs.

A lot of Russian surnames are also formed from various names. "trading people": prasols and shibais traded cattle; kramari, mosols, scribblers and peddlers - small goods; hawkers, maklaks and lighthouses walked around the villages as buyers, burygs traded in old clothes, etc. The name Rastorguev speaks for itself. But the Tarkhanovs seem to be the descendants of the Tatars. Meanwhile, “tarkhan” is a word, although of Tatar origin, but at one time it was widely used in the Russian environment. Tarkhans were called wandering merchants, usually Muscovites and Kolomna, and a hundred years ago on the Volga one could hear such a song:

Is it from the other side
Tarkhans came,
Moscow merchants,
All the guys are great.

Surname Tselovalnikov is also "trading". Tselovalniks were people who were engaged in the state-owned or leased sale of wine at retail. It is natural to hear the question: what does the kiss have to do with it? And here's what: getting the right to this very profitable trade, the kissers were obliged to "kiss the cross", swearing that they would trade honestly and give the treasury the prescribed percentage.

And here is the most likely explanation for some of the other "professional" surnames:

Argunov– Argun (the so-called Vladimir carpenters)

Bortnikov– Bortnik (a person engaged in forest beekeeping)

Bronnikov– Bronnik (a gunsmith who makes armor)

Bulatnikov– Bulatnik (a craftsman who makes products from damask steel)

Voitov- Voit (village headman in some provinces of Tsarist Russia)

Vorotnikov– Collar (gatekeeper, gatekeeper)

Guselnikov- Guselnik (gusliar)

Zhiveinov- A lively cab driver (unlike a cart driver, he did not carry goods, but people)

Zemtsov– Zemets (beekeeper, beekeeper)

Kologrivov- Kologriv (servant at the royal horses (stood "near the mane") or from the city of Kologriv)

Kolomiytsev- Kolomiets (in the old days in Ukraine, a worker who mined salt, but may be a resident of the city of Kolomyia)

Komissarov- Commissioner (in the old days, an official who performed police functions)

Kukhmisterov- Kuhmister (owner of the "kukhmister", that is, a dining room)

Mechnikov– Swordsman (warrior armed with a sword)

Reznikov- Reznik (butcher who slaughters cattle)

Reshetnikov– Reshetnik (a master who makes sieves)

Ruzhnikov- Ruzhnik (a priest who received special support from the prince or parishioners)

Sopelnikov- Sopelnik (playing the nozzle - an old pipe)

Serdyukov- Serdyuk (Cossack from the ataman's guard)

Sotnikov– Sotnik (commander of a military unit – hundreds)

Stolnikov– Stolnik (servant at the royal table)

Syreyshchikov- Cheesemaker (buyer of raw meat)

Trubnikov- Trubnik (trumpeter)

Furmanov- Furman (cab driver)

Chumakov- Chumak (a Ukrainian peasant who brought bread to the Don and brought salt and fish from there).

It should be added: “professional” surnames can also include those that originated not from the name of the profession, but also from the very object of the craft. So, the hatmaker could be called simply the Hat, and his descendants became the Shapkins, the potter - the Pot, the tanner - Skurat (which means a flap of skin), the cooper - Lagun (barrel). Other nicknames were given from the tool of labor: a shoemaker could be called Shil, a carpenter - an Ax, etc.

From the lessons of literature, you know that likening by similarity is called a metaphor, and likening by contiguity is called metonymy. Of course, separating metaphorical surnames from metonymic surnames is not an easy task. After all, a barrel could be called both a fat man and a cooper, Shilom - and a shoemaker, and a sharp tongue. And if we know that, say, the ancestor of the Shilovs was both a shoemaker and a wit, then it’s just left to guess which of these properties led to the formation of a surname. Maybe both at once.

And in conclusion, the question is natural: Why, then, are the names of the newest professions reflected in the surnames to such an insignificant extent? Yes, it's very simple: in the 18th - 19th centuries, specialists, as a rule, already had their hereditary surnames and did not need new ones. Of the more or less modern surnames of this kind, the Mashinistovs are more common than others. But these are hardly the descendants of the first locomotive drivers. At the end of the 18th century, a machinist was a person serving any machine, that is, a machine worker or mechanic.

Based on the materials of the book Fedosyuk Yu. A. “What does your last name mean?”

Surnames formed from the names of animals - Volkov, Medvedev, Kozlov, Zaitsev, Orlov, Shchukin, Zhukov - are among the most common in Russia. A lot of unusual stories are associated with their appearance.

"Incomprehensible" surnames

We are accustomed to believing that Russian surnames come either from the names of ancestors - Ivanov, Petrov, Sidorov, or from the occupation - Kuznetsov, Plotnikov, or from the name of the area - for example, natives of the village of Penkovo ​​and their descendants will be called Penkov or Penkovsky.

But with the names "in honor" of animals, birds, fish or insects, it is somehow incomprehensible. However, there are several versions of the origin of such surnames.

Surnames derived from pagan names

Genealogists believe that many "animal" surnames could come from worldly names that were given to children in the pre-Christian era. Giving the child the name of this or that animal, the parents hoped that this would give him the features 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. In the future, the Medvedevs, Volkovs, Lisitsyns, Kabanovs, Kozlovs, Voronins, Lebedevs, Solovyovs went from these names.

Also, the ancient Slavs believed that the “animal” name protects from evil spirits, and in addition, wild animals will accept a person who bears such a name as “their own” and will not harm him. Since in those days people were closer to nature than now, the main industries were hunting and fishing, the “protective” function of the name was very relevant. And in battle, such a name "protected".

“Not very beautiful transformations have taken place with many glorious surnames, primarily animal and bird ones,” M.B. Olenev, author of the work ""Animal", "bird" and "fish" names of the Arkhangelsk region. - From fighting totems, they are now, thanks to the centuries-old struggle of Orthodoxy with paganism, into an object for ridicule. Nevertheless, the ancient families live on.”

Surnames from nicknames

Often, our ancestors noticed some characteristic features in a person, which became the basis for a nickname. So, a fidgety peasant could be nicknamed Fly, hence the common surname Mukhin. If a person's gait resembled a goose, then he turned into a Goose, and his descendants became Gusevs.

A nimble, crafty peasant could be christened Sparrow, and he gave rise to the Vorobyov family. They could say about a dark-haired man that he was black as a jackdaw, and so the nickname Jackdaw was assigned to him, from which the Galkins subsequently went. The lanky subject was called the Crane and he became the ancestor of the Zhuravlevs. The cocky one became the Rooster, his descendants, respectively, the Petukhovs.

By the way, the “animal” nicknames were worn by the founders of the Romanov family - the Moscow boyar of the time of Ivan Kalita Andrei Kobyla and one of his sons, Fyodor Koshka, a rather prominent statesman of the XIV century.

The Old Russian chronicle says: “And the Grand Duke Vasily Dmitrievich sent Fyodor Koshka, the son of Andrei Kobyla, Ivan Udod and Selivan to them in Novgorod, and they secured the world in the old way and pledged to give the Grand Duke black boron from all the volosts of Novgorod.” Among the descendants of Andrei Kobyla and Fyodor Koshka there are people with the surnames Kobylina and Koshkina.

Surnames by occupation

Oddly enough, the origin of the "animal" surnames could also be associated with the occupation of a person. So, a lover of chasing pigeons was called Dove, and his descendants were subsequently given the surname Golubev.

If a person's profession was associated with falconry, then he himself received the nickname Sokol, while his descendants became Sokolov. If the fisherman successfully caught pikes, ruffs, perches, crucian carp, he received the appropriate nickname, which then turned into a surname - Shchukin, Ershov, Okunev, Karasev. A hunter for hares or bears could become, again, the ancestor of the Zaitsevs or Medvedevs.

"Spiritual" surnames

In theological seminaries, students tried to give euphonious surnames. And often they were given in honor of some noble animals.

So, for example, the surnames Lvov, Leopardov, Panterovsky, Golubitsky, Lebedinsky appeared, although they are not so common in Russia. They have nothing to do with real animals or their features - they have an artificial origin.