The most common surname in Russia - a list, a history of origin. Russian surnames for women and men Most common among Russians

The 10 Most Common Last Names on Earth October 2nd, 2012

1. Lee - Over 100 million people worldwide

This is the most common surname in the world, with about 7.9 percent of Chinese people being lucky owners. There are different varieties of this surname - Li, Lee and even Ly, it all depends on the region where the person lives.

Pictured is Bruce Lee, the legendary film actor, master of martial arts.

2. Zhang - more than 100 million people

Zhang is another of the most common Chinese surnames. In 1990, it was recognized as the most common in the world and entered the Guinness Book of Records. This surname has been used in China for many thousands of years. Pictured is Zhang Yining playing table tennis.

3. Wang - more than 93 million people

China's population exceeds 1 billion, no wonder Chinese surnames are the most widespread in the world. Wang is one of the most used surnames in China with 93 million people. In translation, it literally means - "monarch", "king". This surname is also commonly used in Korea, Vietnam, and even Japan. Pictured is Wang Chen Ming, a baseball player.

4. Nguyen - more than 36 million people

Nguyen is the most common Vietnamese surname. About 40% of the people of Vietnam are its carriers. This surname is also common outside of Vietnam in those countries where the Vietnamese emigrate. For example, this surname is in 54th place in France. In the US, it is in 57th place. Pictured is Kyunh Nguyen, a pianist.

5. Garcia - more than 10 million people

The surname Garcia is common throughout the world - in Northern and South America, Philippines, Spain. The surname, most likely, is of Basque origin, meaning "young", "younger". About 3.3% of Spaniards are Garcias, the second most common surname in Cuba, and in Mexico 4.1 million people are Garcias. Pictured is Pablo Marcano Garcia, an artist from Puerto Rico.

6. Gonzalez - more than 10 million people

Gonzalez is a surname of Spanish origin. This is the second surname after Garcia in Spain. She is also popular in Latin America- in countries such as Argentina, Chile, Venezuela and Paraguay. Pictured is Sheila Gonzalez, saxophonist from the USA.

7. Hernandez - over 8 million people

The surname Hernandez has both Spanish and Portuguese roots. It is used in Mexico, USA, Chile, Spain, Cuba and several other countries. In translation, it means "son of Hernan." Pictured is Peter Hernandez, singer.

8. Smith - over 4 million people

Smith is an English surname most common in the UK, Australia and the United States, Canada and Ireland. The origin of the surname is connected with blacksmithing, it was blacksmiths who were called Smiths in the old days. Pictured is Adrian Smith, an American architect who designed many skyscrapers, including the famous Burj Khalifa and Trump Tower.

9. Smirnov - more than 2.5 million people

Contrary to popular belief, the most common Russian surname is not Ivanov, and certainly not Kuznetsov. More than 2.5 million people around the world bear the surname Smirnov. The origin of the surname is probably connected with the word "Smirny". Pictured is Stanislav Smirnov, mathematician.

10. Mueller - over a million people

The German surname Müller is the most common in Germany and Switzerland, as well as in Austria and a number of other neighboring countries. It means "miller" in German. Pictured is Patrick Müller, a football player from Switzerland.

What are the most common surnames in Russia and the USA? Do you think it's Ivanov and Johnson (John is English version name Ivan) respectively? This is not entirely true, although they take top places in a sort of ranking.

Top 20 most common surnames in Russia

1. Smirnov
2. Ivanov
3. Kuznetsov
4. Sokolov
5. Popov
6. Lebedev
7. Kozlov
8. Novikov
9. Morozov
10. Petrov
11. Volkov
12. Solovyov
13. Vasiliev
14. Zaitsev
15. Pavlov
16. Semyonov
17. Golubev
18. Vinogradov
19. Bogdanov
20. Sparrows

As you can see, the surname Smirnov is the first on the list, the surname Ivanov will take the second line of the list, and the third place belongs to the surname Kuznetsov.

Consider now a list of the most common surnames in America. Our rating there is as follows:

Top 20 most common surnames in the US

1. Smith (Smith)
2. Johnson (Johnson)
3. Williams (Williams)
4. Jones (Jones)
5. Brown (Brown)
6. Davis (Davis)
7. Miller (Miller)
8. Wilson (Wilson)
9. Moore (Moore)
10. Taylor (Taylor)
11. Anderson (Anderson)
12. Thomas (Thomas)
13. Jackson (Jackson)
14. White (White)
15. Harris (Harris)
16. Martin (Martin)
17. Thompson (Thompson)
18. Garcia (Garcia)
19. Martinez (Martinez)
20 Robinson

As you can see, both of these lists have similar champions. The American Smith (1) has the Russian counterpart Kuznetsov (3), and the Johnson-Ivan pair is in second place both there and there. Interestingly, in american top purely Latin American realities have already crept in - Garcia and Martinez. Surnames like Petrosyan or Mammadov have not yet been included in our top :)

History buffs often lament that we have little written evidence of days gone by. But besides the annals, there are others historical sources. One of them is genetics. Genes are preserved for thousands of years and store information about those who passed them on to us. People do not sit still, and genes move with them. The variability of the gene pool in space is studied by gene geography. Its founder Alexander Sergeevich Serebrovsky insisted that genogeography is a historical science, not a biological one. Exploring state of the art gene pool, you can learn a lot about the emergence of peoples and their centers of origin. The past of the gene pool is the most important, because it determines both the present and the future.

To study the gene pool, you need to get DNA samples. It is isolated from the blood that has to be taken from many people living in a vast area, then from all the DNA samples, the sequences of certain genes are isolated and analyzed. When there is enough experimental data, they are subject to statistical processing. The larger the amount of work performed, the more accurate the picture it gives and the more time it takes. And besides time, molecular genetic study of the gene pool requires expensive equipment and many reagents, which are also not cheap.

Fortunately, there are markers that allow you to carry out more large-scale study at a much lower cost. These are surnames. If we assume that the surname is inherited from father to son and further in generations (which, as a rule, is absolutely true), and if we know the frequencies of surnames in populations (and it is quite possible to collect such information), then these frequencies can be considered as allele frequencies of one gene and apply to family names all the usual methods of population genetics.

The method of using surnames as an analogue of genetic markers was proposed by J.F. Crowe and A.P. Mange back in 1965. Since then, surnames for the study of the gene pool have been widely used by both foreign and domestic geneticists - Yu.G. Rychkov, A.A. Revazov, E.K. Ginter, their followers and students. It turned out that different peoples genetic and “family” diversity is very close to each other, so surnames are a quite adequate marker.

Currently, the collection and genogeographic analysis of Russian surnames are actively engaged in the laboratory of human population genetics of the State Medical Genetic Institute scientific center RAMN. First of all, we are interested in the history of the formation of the Russian gene pool, and therefore we studied the distribution of tens of thousands of Russian surnames. Although this unique work not yet completed - given the huge area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe range, many years are needed for painstaking data collection - some results can be summed up now. And this article tells only about a small piece of a huge work.

Each surname has its own place

Working with DNA, a scientist cannot examine the genotype of each citizen and is forced to limit himself to a certain sample - a relatively small group of citizens, and then suffer from doubts whether it reflects the true state of affairs. As for the surnames, they have already been carefully collected by officials into lists, and this greatly simplifies the work: you can refuse to sample and study the entire population without exception. But you have to start somewhere. From what?

Since we are interested in the past of the Russian gene pool, it is necessary to investigate the names of the indigenous inhabitants of the "original" Russian area, that is, the territory on which the formation of the Russian people took place: Central Russia and the Russian North. In this area, we have outlined eight regions grouped into five regions: Northern (Arkhangelsk region), Eastern (Kostroma region), Central (Kashinsky district of Tver region), Western (Smolensk region) and Southern (Belgorod, Kursk and Voronezh regions). In each region, several rural areas were selected and the names of all their adult residents were examined. The selected areas are located on average 1000 km from each other and cover the entire territory like a network. We took into account the names of almost a million villagers and found 67 thousand different surnames. No gene has that many alleles. But is it necessary to analyze all the surnames? It depends on whether they are all "indigenous".

In our troubled times, migrants can be found even in villages and small towns, and their names, once included in the analysis, will distort the historical picture. Therefore, in order to study the gene pool of the indigenous population, it is necessary to remove from the resulting list all the surnames brought into the “original” area by migrants. But the lists of surnames that geneticists work with do not contain any other information than the surname itself and the place where it is now located. Therefore, in order to exclude “stray” surnames, we chose only those that are borne by at least four people in the study area, for example, two parents and their two adult children, that is, surnames that are no longer historically random and are highly likely to be preserved. in future generations. After such a selection, the number of surnames was reduced to 14,428, that is, about a quarter of the original list of surnames remained, but these surnames are borne by the majority of the census population (approximately 700 thousand people out of a million). It is these indigenous surnames that replace genetic markers in our population studies. They behave like the alleles of a gene.

First, surnames vary markedly in frequency. So, about one out of a hundred inhabitants of the main Russian area is Kuznetsov, one in seventy-five is Ivanov, and Smirnov is almost one in fiftieth. Other surnames are so rare that only a few carriers were found in the entire Russian area. Secondly, the surnames are unevenly distributed over the territory of the range: where it is dense, and where there is nothing at all. Scientists have compiled a general list of all surnames, arranged in descending order of frequency. The same lists were compiled for each of the five regions. Regional lists differ from each other both in the set of surnames and in the order in which they are located.

When each surname found its place in the lists, all-Russian and at least one regional, as well as on geographical map, it became possible to start actually studying family geography and comparing regions (it was not for nothing that they were singled out). For clarity (and “visibility”), at first you can consider not all surnames, but only the most frequent ones in general list and their "place index" (I P - Index place). What it is?

Each surname in the general list has a serial number, or score: the most frequent surname is assigned the number 1, the tenth - 10, the hundredth - 100, and so on. In the regional lists, the surnames are not in the same order as in the general list, but retain the same score. The surnames have the same score in the regional lists. The sum of the scores of the most frequent surnames in the region, divided by the number of summed surnames, is the “place index”. The closer the place index is to the general Russian one, the closer the region is to general order Russian surnames, the less peculiar it is. For each region, three variants of the index were considered: I P5, I P10 and I P20 - for five, ten and twenty most frequent surnames.

For example, we have a list of surnames in the Western Region, arranged in descending order of frequency. How close is it to the general Russian? The five most common "Western" surnames are Ivanov, Novikov, Kozlov, Vasiliev, Petrov. And in the all-Russian list, Ivanov takes second place, other names are eighth, seventh, thirteenth and twelfth, respectively. To calculate the place index for five surnames, we average these values: (2+8+7+13+12):5=8.4. For the all-Russian list, I P5 is equal to three: (1+2+3+4+5):5. And now, according to the place index, the Western region can be easily compared with any other regions, and with the “original” Russian area. The reader can do this on his own using the table below.

According to the place index, three regions of the middle zone (Eastern, Western and Central) are close to the spectrum of all-Russian surnames, while Northern and Southern differ significantly from it. This means that when moving from west to east, we observe much smaller genetic differences than when moving from north to south (or from south to north). Therefore, our “original” Russian area is striped, and it is possible to distinguish the southern zone, the Central Russian and the Russian North in it. In the middle lane, the same surnames prevail as in the "all-Russian" list, and in the South and in the North - local ones, and in both "peculiar" regions, for some reason, the same surname - Popovs - came out on top.

It is interesting that the portrait of the gene pool of other nations of Eastern Europe turned out to be completely different - there the variability is greater along the west-east axis. And the Russian gene pool, which occupies a huge part of Eastern Europe, has discovered its own structure, obviously connected with its history. And in the three horizontal stripes of the Russian state flag, it turns out, a deep genetic meaning is hidden.

For all three versions of the index, the researchers obtained similar results, which means that we are talking about a pattern that does not depend much on the sample size, therefore, the analysis of only 20 most frequent surnames allows us to roughly classify gene pools without waiting for the completion of complex types of analysis using complete family lists of regions. Unfortunately, a complete analysis cannot be avoided: without studying all the surnames, you cannot determine which of them are indigenous and which are frequent. But most importantly, it is never known in advance how many surnames can be limited without distorting the picture. Therefore, in order to assess the true "relationships" of the regions, one has to analyze the entire family fund.

Speaking about the regions, one cannot avoid the issue of their similarity in terms of the spectrum of surnames. Are there such surnames that are found in all regional lists? It turned out that yes. Taking into account the additionally surveyed Siberian region, there were 250 such surnames, and we are pleased to provide a list of them.

It could be expected that all-Russian surnames, due to their commonality, would be evenly distributed throughout the area, but this did not happen. Each of them, like all other surnames, has its own geographical distribution area, and unpredictable. Here, for example, Ivanov - one might say, the face of the Russian ethnic group (Russian Ivans). In the church calendar, the name John occurs 79 times, its frequency among other male calendar names is about 15%. For such a widespread and, presumably, polyphyletic surname (that is, one that repeatedly appeared throughout the range from the most common name), it was natural to expect widespread distribution. Nevertheless, in some territories, Ivanovos are practically absent. Their range is located in the west and northwest, from where it stretches in an almost continuous "mountain range" to the northeast. In the north and south, with the exception of individual "islands", Ivanovs are very rare.

The most common Russian surname is Smirnov. Three latitudinal zones are clearly distinguished for it: northern, central Russian and southern. The bulk of the Smirnovs settled in the middle lane. In the Russian North, Smirnovs are found, although everywhere, but rarely. There are no Smirnovs in the south.

Ranges of Kozlovs and Volkovs miraculously coincide, forming a "corridor" that leads from the Smolensk lands through the Volga-Oka interfluve to the Tver and Kostroma lands, and then, expanding, but weakening in frequency, goes north, to Vologda and Arkhangelsk. Moreover, as it should be in the food chain, almost everywhere there are more Kozlovs than Volkovs. Kotovs walk by themselves and meet as scattered "islands" in a sea of ​​populations in which there are no Kotovs. There are also surnames evenly distributed throughout the Russian area, Kuznetsov, for example, but there are very few of them everywhere.

By the way, according to the frequencies of “all-Russian” surnames, the regions took other places in the genetic space than according to the results of the “hot twenty”: the southern region got the central position. Apparently, migrants from all over Rus' were striving to the south, and therefore the frequencies of common surnames in this region are close to average. Perhaps an analysis of common Russian surnames will help to identify the most intense migration flows that left a mark in all parts of the Russian area. But this is only a working hypothesis that requires special testing.

In these studies, and in many others for which there is simply no space to describe, surnames serve as a convenient equivalent of genetic markers. But surnames are not genes, they have their own history and, unlike genes, national identity. And if you let the names speak, they will tell a lot of new and interesting things about the Russian gene pool and its structure.

Each place has its own names

Let's try to estimate the origin of the 50 most common surnames in each regional list. To do this, they will have to be classified. In fact, such a classification should be done by a specialist in the field of the science of names - onomastics. But we did not find linguists who wished to participate in such work, and we ourselves divided the names into classes. There are five of them: calendar(that is, surnames derived from the name of the saints - Orthodox calendar), "animal" , To which were assigned all the surnames that have a connection with life on Earth - not only animals, but also birds, and fish, and insects, and plants, and even their parts (for example, Leaves, Tsvetkov), professional, conspicuous, which mark the features of the external or social appearance of a person, and "other" surnames not assigned to any of the listed classes. Looking at the 50 most common regional surnames in terms of this classification, we suddenly found how individual each region is.

A distinctive feature of the Southern region is a huge number of professional surnames: 34%. They cover widest circle professions - these are weavers, and blacksmiths, and potters, and coopers, and tailors, and shaposhnikov (Shapovalov), and bakers (Kalashnikov), and wheel craftsmen. Moreover, the same kind of activity is represented by several frequent surnames. Bondari - Bondarev and Bondarenko. Weavers - Tkachev and Tkachenko. Blacksmiths - Kuznetsov, Kovalev and Kovalenko. The tailors are Kravtsov and Kravchenko, Shevtsov and Shevchenko. There are very few “animal” surnames in the Southern region, but for some reason there are three times more Medvedevs than in the North: the conventional wisdom that where there are more animals, there are more surnames derived from them, is not confirmed. It is possible, however, that at the time when the fund of “animal” surnames was being formed, there were a lot of bears in the south ... There are also few “remarkable” surnames (14%), but they very expressively indicate the presence of migration and, about the appearance of the aliens: Novikov, Litvinov (“Litvins” was also called by the Russians the Belarusians, who before reunification with Russia lived as part of the Lithuanian, and then the Polish-Lithuanian state), Cherkashin (“Cherkashes” - the population of the Right-Bank Ukraine and the Cossacks of the Dnieper), Cherny, Lysenko, Golovin (big-headed, smart). By the way, only in the south are surnames derived from the names of other regions - Smolensky (120 people), Kursk (64 people), Kostromitsky (46 people) and Arkhangelsky (23 people).

The main difference of the North is the abundance of “other”, including dialectal, surnames: 34%! Among them are two very northern ones - Frozen and Morozov (usually a child born on a frosty day was called Moroz). But the main part is dialect surnames: Leshukov (the so-called children for the "amulet" from the goblin), Porokhin (associated with winter powder), Oshukov (a dialect derivative of Orthodox name Osip), Saukov (a dialectal name from the Orthodox name Savva), Galashev (a dialectal name from Galaktion), Fofanov (a dialectal name from Feofan, but also a nickname, “simpleton”), Chursanov (Chur is a Slavic pagan deity of the hearth), and also Tretyakov and Shestakov (the third and sixth child in the family), Bulygin, Kuvaldin, Kogin, Dverin and Karmanov.

The abundance of "animal" surnames - distinguishing feature Central region. These families are half. In addition to all-Russian ones, this list also includes special surnames that paint a specific image of the Central Region: Bobrov, Voronin, Zhukov, Zhuravlev, Kalinin, Korolkov, Krylov, Skvortsov, Sobolev, Tsvetkov.

In the eastern region, the unusually high frequency of Smirnovs is striking - 5.9%! This frequency is 2-7 times higher than the frequencies of leaders in other regions. The peculiarity of the Smirnovs is waiting for its researchers. Moreover, the Tikhomirovs are also common in the Eastern region with a high frequency (0.8%). But main feature Eastern region - this is an unusually high frequency of "remarkable" surnames - 36%. And what glorious surnames: Smirnov and Tikhomirov, Belyaev and Belov, Serov and Ryzhov, Sizov and Rumyantsev, Shorokhov (with traces of smallpox) and Krutikov, Bolshakov and Gromov (strong voice, such surnames were often worn by singers), Chistyakov and Scriabin (that is, “clean”, from “scrub”), Kudryavtsev and Kudryashov, Razumov and Veselov... All together they paint a very joyful portrait of the Eastern Region. And let us remember the "remarkable" names of the Russian South: Novikov, Litvinov, Chernykh, Golovin, Lysenko. And in the North - Khromtsov, Ryabov, Chernousov, Leshukov, Sukhanov... Still, it's amazing how different regional portraits are!

The western region is perhaps the most typical. His "portrait" is very poor in unique surnames. But this region still has one characteristic difference - the predominance calendar names. They are 60%, two to four times more than in other major regions. But there are almost no professional surnames in the West (4%), only the Kuznetsovs and Popovs are in the "top 50".

Outskirts

The ethnic area of ​​Russians has been steadily expanding over the centuries, and we included in the analysis three regions that are marginal in relation to the “original” Russian area. The North-Western region is represented by the population of two historically and geographically different districts of the Pskov region: the Ostrovsky district belonged to the Pskov lands since ancient times, while the territory of the Porkhov district was part of the Novgorod lands and only after the fall of Veliky Novgorod was taken over by Pskov.

The other outskirts is the Kuban. Kuban Cossacks settled near the southern border of the original Russian range in mid-nineteenth century, at the end of the Caucasian war. These are partly from the Don Cossacks, partly from Russian settlers from South and Central Russia. Although the Cossacks are, by definition, a "professional" group of service people, they are usually viewed as a kind of ethnic group. The list included the names of only the descendants of the Kuban Cossacks, and the recent newcomer Russian population was not taken into account.

The modern population of the Kemerovo region represents a different layer of late Russian migrations - to Siberia. The population of the Kemerovo region was formed by the confluence of many migration flows, and it can be considered as a model modern population, gone beyond the "original" Russian area. Perhaps it even represents some model of our future. All three districts were analyzed both by place index and by types of surnames.

In the North-Western region, the predominance of calendar surnames is striking - they are 82%. But there is only one professional surname in the "top 50" (2%) - the Kuznetsovs. According to three options I P, the North-West region is very close to the North, but not to the West, therefore, in terms of the degree of originality of frequent surnames, the North-West cannot be attributed to the regions of the Central Russian strip. This is indeed a "marginal" region.

The most important feature of the family portrait of the Kuban Cossacks is their originality. It is an order of magnitude higher than in the main Russian regions, and even several times higher than in the most peculiar of them, the Southern region. The Kuban Cossacks have a large share of professional surnames (22%). In this they are similar to the Southern region. But the family fund of the Cossacks cannot be considered as a "branch" of the Southern region. He has a rich range of unique features and stable ties with the all-Russian core of surnames.

The Siberian population is the most remote, 3000 km from Moscow. But it is cut off from its original area not so much geographically as historically. This is a zone of migration, intermediate, fluid, which the endless streams of new migrations do not allow to form its own face. And thanks to this fluidity, the family portrait of the Siberian region noticeably resembles the Central Russian strip. The Siberian gene pool turned out to be “more common Russian” than many of the original territories, whose originality is due to their history. An analysis of the classes of surnames suggests that of all the regions of the middle zone, the Siberian region most of all gravitates towards the Western, the most geographically remote. Perhaps the most powerful wave of migration came from the West, but this hypothesis needs to be tested.

Thus, two groups of Russian settlers are two different models for the formation of frequent surnames: the Cossacks are sharply original, and the Russian Siberians are as close as possible to the all-Russian set.

So what does the study of Russian surnames give for the study of the Russian gene pool ?

Firstly, surnames turned out to be another reliable source of information about its structure. The "indications" of surnames surprisingly coincide with the "indications" of genes. They confirmed the well-known differences between the southern and northern Russian populations, with smaller differences between the western and eastern ones. Surnames given Additional information and on many more specific issues, clarifying and clarifying the structure of the Russian gene pool. For example, using indigenous surnames, we predicted random inbreeding for indigenous populations in 49 districts. This level and the burden of hereditary diseases associated with it is steadily increasing from the southwest to the east.

Secondly, the analysis of surnames can be used as intelligence for planning genetic research itself: first, study the structure of the gene pool using family data, identify the main patterns, the main groups of populations - and, based on these data, carry out genetic research. One more bright use of surnames can be suggested: for the study of migratory gene pools. For example, knowing the frequencies of genes in the original groups and having data on surnames, you can find out the frequencies of genes in a migrant group without studying it!

Of course, the benefits of surnames do not end there. The main result of our work with surnames is the opportunity to study the “arrangement” of different gene pools, both Russian and many others.

The article uses materials from the book of E. V. Balanovskaya, O. P. Balanovsky
"Russian gene pool. A look into the past”, which will be published this year by the Luch publishing house (Moscow).

Historians expand the list of nominal nicknames every year. Slavic origin. Many would be interested to know their origin. But sometimes it is impossible to determine this by the sound itself, since various suffixes, prefixes and prefixes have been added to the derivative word for years, distorting its original meaning.

Russian names and surnames

To determine the origin of a person's genus, his passport data is used. The key points are the root of the word, which forms Russian names and surnames. They differ in prevalence. By sound, you can determine the eminence of the family or the belonging of ancestors to different social groups and castes of society: peasants, boyars, clergy. The etymology of some includes archaisms and strange foundations; you can use the reference book to determine these yourself.

Origin

Derivatives and roots can originate from nicknames of ancestors, funny nicknames, names, activities. The origin of Russian surnames, in most cases, is unraveled in its etymology. You should be interested in this clue, because through it you can find out about an outstanding ancestor or eminent family. For those who want to determine the origins of their family nickname, there are alphabetical collections that are replenished and updated annually; on their pages, almost everyone can find out the history of their name.

The most popular derivatives:

• On behalf of the ancestor (whose? whose will you be?) - Ivanov, Sidorov, Kuzmin, Petrov.
• From geographical names - Vyazemsky, Stroganov, Smolensky.
• From the nicknames of the representatives of the clergy - Rozhdestvensky, Preobrazhensky, Assumption.
• From the names of plants and animals - Sokolova, Orlova, Hare, Lebedev, Golubev.
• From count and boyar titles - Minin, Tikhomirov, Tikhonravov, Godunov.

Meaning

Etymology and the formation of a proper genus name are of interest to an increasing number of people. The meaning of Russian surnames is found out when determining the root part of the word, it indicates the meaning. The meaning of family names like Bondarev, Kovalev, Shevtsov - indicate the craft that someone from the family was engaged in. Muzzle, Stoyan, Brave - on external or internal characteristics individual person. All members of the family were called by the nickname of the head of the family, and this was passed down from generation to generation.

When did surnames appear in Russia

The assignment of a generic nickname to identify each genus began to take shape from the 15th century. When surnames appeared in Russia, they initially referred to representatives of the upper strata of society: boyars and aristocrats, later, in the 18th century, to church servants. Until the 19th century, peasants and artisans received their nicknames. Their genus names were derived from the nicknames of one of the members of the family or occupation. Listings were found in historical scrolls and records explaining this phenomenon: “Vasily, the son of Kuznetsov ... Ivan, the son of Khlebnikov”

How many surnames in Russia

The study of these data is still in question. An absolutely correct numerical value has not been deduced that could answer exactly the question of how many surnames exist in Russia today. Researchers undertook such a difficult task only a few times, about 250 thousand meanings are officially included in the collection, and these lists are constantly updated with new forms of nicknames once given.

Declension of surnames in Russian

The rules of the Russian language strictly determine the spelling and pronunciation of passport data. The declension of surnames in Russian occurs according to the following basic rules: standard ones are declined as adjectives, and those of foreign origin are declined as nouns. They do not decline at the zero ending, or ending in a consonant (Bondar, Nitsevich, Ponomar), ending in -o (Petrenko, Shevchenko, Kovalenko), foreign ones in -a, -ya (Varnava, Okidzhava, Zola).

The most common surname in Russia

Boris Ubenhaun was the first to start compiling a directory that lists the names of Russia. There are collected various variations due to the process of transformation of folk nicknames. Each position has an explanation (highlighted parts of word formation that explain the essence of a particular word). There are positions that can be found more often, there are those that are very rare. The data were taken on the basis of the census of the population of the city of St. Petersburg.

Common surnames in Russia:

• Vladimirov;
• Sergeev;
• Petrov;
• Ivanov.

Beautiful Russian surnames

There are people whose generic nicknames enchant with their sound. These include those derived from place names or long nicknames given to church officials. Such an etymology is rare, it sounds aristocratically melodious. Many people change the birth data in the passport in order to get a beautiful name that stands out from the crowd. Lucky among the people are those to whom it was inherited.

Most beautiful surnames in Russia:

• Preobrazhensky;
• Caesar;
• Christmas;
• Vyazemsky;
• Uspensky.

Slavic

There are genus names that originated from the ancient Slavs. These nicknames are very rare and therefore valuable to historians. Their small number is due to the fact that derivatives originate from the names of pagan gods or Old Slavic names. With the advent of Christianity, such nicknames were categorically banned, people were massively baptized and renamed, because those who still have them to this day are a godsend, a prime example pagan culture.

Old Slavic surnames, examples:

• Yarilo;
• Dovbush;
• Putyata;
• Lada;
• Saint;
• Dobrynin;
• Peaceful.

Popular

According to a population census conducted in the 1980s, former USSR, about 50% of the rural and 35% of the urban population have generic nicknames formed on the basis of patronymics with the addition of suffixes. This study is recognized as the highest quality and most detailed up to our times. Popular Russian surnames: Sidorov, Smirnov, Kuzmin, Vasiliev. The second place in frequency is occupied by nicknames that indicate the type of activity: Kuznetsov, Bondarev, Reznikov, Khlebnikov, etc.

Rare Russian surnames

It is difficult to compile a reliable list that includes all positions. But the main ones have been selected. It is not often possible to meet people who have a family nickname that coincides completely with geographical name or formed from a combination of two words. Few of those who were lucky enough to become the namesake of famous historical figures and heroes literary novels.

Rare surnames in Russia:

• Astrakhan;
• Kamchatka;
• Eibogin;
• Krutiperets;
• Crusoe;
• Karenin.

funny

Sometimes among acquaintances there are family nicknames that involuntarily cause a smile with their comicality. They surprise fellow citizens, and especially foreigners, with their pronunciation, they consist of the addition of the foundations of any nouns or verbs, they can denote a funny or strange action, name objects whose name sounds strange in human name. A person who has to wear them can hardly be called lucky.

Funny Russian surnames:

• Kostogryzov;
• Mozgoedov;
• Popkin;
• Rzhach;
• Login;
• Khachapuri;
• Govnodedov;
• Snot.

Russian noble families

Their owners can be sure of high title someone of their kind, they were assigned exclusively to nobles, boyars, high-ranking officials. People close to high positions and ruling power. They can also be merchants. The presence of such titular nicknames among the peasantry, a worker from the common population or artisans is excluded, their mere presence spoke of the high social status of their owner.

Russians noble families:

• Stroganov;
• Godunov;
• Tikhomirov;
• Minin;
• Novgorodtsev;
• Tikhonravov;
• Crowned.

Old Russian

This term denotes not only Old Slavonic nicknames from the times of paganism, but also those that, by their etymology, denote obsolete concepts and words of ancient use, eradicated from the current speech. Interesting to consider are generic nicknames that name old monetary units, household items, crafts that are not found in the modern world. All these signs indicate the prescription of the genus and the roots that go far.

Old Russian surnames:

• Kunin;
• Altynov;
• Kalita;
• Zlatnikov;
• Pryalkin;
• Kozhemyak;
• Bandurov.

Rating of surnames in Russia

The top 100 items have been compiled, which can often be found in the passports of fellow citizens. All of them were selected based on the directory and ordered during the census during the year. This information will be especially interesting for girls, because everyone wants to meet her man and get married. Statistics show that 89% of women switch to a male generic nickname when they get married. Such a top will clearly show the most likely options that everyone can face. The section includes 10 first positions.

• Ivanov;
• Smirnov;
• Kuznetsov;
• Popov;
• Sokolov;
• Vasiliev;
• Fedorov;
• Novikov;
• Egorov;
• Kozlov.

Speaking about the most common surname in our country, many will think that the surname Ivanov is in the lead. However, there will be some bewilderment here, since the most common surname in Russia is absolutely not this one.

Most popular in the world

1. Nguyen
2. Garcia
3. Gonzalez
4. Hernandez
5. Smirnov
6. Miller

So, we see that Lee is the first to be listed in the most popular surnames in the world. On our entire planet, there are over 100,000,000 people who have such. Moreover, most of them live in China, however, there are many Vietnamese with such a surname. We all know very well one of these people - a reformer in Chinese martial arts and actor Bruce Lee.

The next most common surnames in the world are Zhang and Wang. The first of them is recognized as the oldest on Earth - for the first time the name Zhang was mentioned over 4000 years ago. And twenty years ago, she was especially popular, until the name Lee bypassed her. In our time on Earth, there are approximately 100,000,000 people with this surname. Those who bear the surname Wang are somewhat smaller - approximately 93,000,000 people. In ancient times and the Middle Ages, the prefix Wang meant the title of a Chinese, Korean, or Mongol ruler.

Russian popular surnames

On the territory of our homeland, you can often meet a person with the surname Smirnov, which is located in ninth place in the world list of surnames. The surname rating of our compatriots is as follows:

1. Smirnov
2. Ivanov
3. Popov
4. Kuznetsov
5. Sokolov
6. Lebedev
7. Novikov
8. Kozlov
9. Morozov
10. Petrov

And now you will definitely be able to easily give anyone an answer to the question of which Russian surname is the most common, and you will not mislead anyone. The statistics are there. Approximately 70,000 Smirnovs live in the capital of our Motherland alone. And where did such a surname come from? Yes, everything is simple - if a quiet and calm child appeared in a large peasant family, then he was given the worldly name Smirny. So gradually from this worldly name, which was always remembered better than church name, the surname Smirnov appeared. Today there are approximately 2,500,000 Smirnovs in our country.

Next most popular surnames in Russia it is Ivanov and Popov. The surname Ivanov was originally a patronymic from the name Ivan. The stress when pronouncing the surname used to be placed on the letter "A", but today the stress is placed on the last syllable. Popovs - not all come from families of clergy. Previously, the name Pop (Popko) was common in the world, and this surname appeared from here. Also, such a surname began to be given to employees of priests.

The Kuznetsovs went from the name of the lesson. Previously, the blacksmith was a revered and famous person in the village, so the surname Kuznetsov is found everywhere. By the way, the most popular surname in America, Smith, means "blacksmith". There are about 4,000,000 Smiths around the world.

A couple of centuries ago, the surname among ordinary people was a rarity. The inhabitants of Veliky Novgorod were the first to wear surnames on Russian soil. Princes and boyars received generic names at the turn of the 16th-17th centuries, a little later they appeared among merchants and the military, and by the middle of the 18th century. The clergy also acquired surnames.

The peasants, on the other hand, received an “eternal” addition to their name en masse only after the abolition of serfdom. Their surnames came from nicknames or occupations.

The most common surnames in Russia

There have been many attempts to study "all-Russian" family names, and they all show approximately the same results. As a basis, we will take the results of a study by geneticist Elena Balanovskaya, who in 2005 published treatise"Family portraits of five Russian regions" - a list of 257 native Russian surnames, ordered according to frequency. You might be interested in reading an article about the most common surnames in the world.

Petrov

The Petrovs round out the top ten most popular Russian surnames. The frequency of the surname is on average 6-7 people per thousand inhabitants. It is based on the Greek name Peter. The offspring of the bearers of this name were called "Petrov's son", "Petr's daughter", which, as a result, was simply transformed into "Petrova".

About the most popular Russian surnames

Only representatives of the upper strata of society, who were respectfully called after full form name. The peasants had to be content with derivatives: Petrushin, Petkin, Petyunin, Petrishchev, Petrukhin, Petrin.

Among the popular people of Russia there are many carriers of this historical surname People: tennis player Nadezhda Petrova, actor Alexander Petrov, actress Galina Petrova.

Morozov

This surname is also formed from a name, however, unusual for hearing modern man. "Frost" in Rus' in the world was called a child who was born on a particularly cold day. Bearers of the name met among commoners, merchants, and nobility.

Sometimes "Frost" began to call a person already in adulthood - for composure or cruel prudence. So, the founder of the famous noble family of the Morozovs was Ivan Semenovich, nicknamed Frost. His five sons, Fedor, Mikhail, Dmitry, Levkey and Firs, have already received the surname Morozov.

This surname is proudly worn by hockey champion Alexei Morozov and his namesake, actor Alexei Morozov, star of the series " mysterious passion"and the film" 28 Panfilov.

Novikov

The annals say that the nickname "Novik" was received either by recruits in the army, or by young people who began to build an administrative career in the royal service.

According to another version, "newcomers" were called strangers. The nickname firmly attached to the name and did not disappear even after the assimilation of a person in a new place. This is supported by data from old census books, where each person with the nickname Novik is marked “hallway”.

The famous namesakes of the Novikovs are the bard Alexander Novikov and the comedian Clara Novikova.

Kozlov

Do not be surprised by the fact that the name Kozel was the predecessor of the Kozlov surname. After the baptism of Rus', people began to give newborns a church, "baptismal" name, but the "worldly" name has not gone away. And names given in honor of animals or plants were not uncommon in those days.

Calling the child Goat, Squirrel or Wolf, parents turned to the forces of nature with a request to endow him with the appropriate qualities - perseverance, dexterity, strength.

Famous Kozlovs are the former Ranetka Lera Kozlova and football player Alexei Kozlov.

Lebedev

Another "natural" name - Swan - was more common among girls. Naming their daughter in this way, the parents wanted to reward her with the beauty and tenderness of a swan.

Slavic linguist Boris Unbegaun has a different point of view. In his book Russian Surnames, he mentions the high frequency of the Lebedevs among the Russian clergy. The scientist concluded that the priests artificially took this surname for themselves, since the swan has long been a symbol of Christian humility.

But the rather common Russian surname Lebedinsky originates from toponyms with the same root to the swan. “I am Lebedinsky,” answered people from the village of Lebedino or Lebedinoye, who moved to a new place, and this nickname was assigned to them for a long time.

A popular namesake is designer Artemy Lebedev.

Popov

The expression "priest's son" ("son of a priest", "son of a priest") eventually turned into Popov. But not all Popovs or Popkovs are descendants of priests. Sometimes the surname Popov was given to laborers who worked for the priest. Among the peasants, the worldly name Pop or Popko was common.

The surname is especially popular in the north of Russia. In the Arkhangelsk region, there are about twenty Popovs for every thousand people.

This surname was worn by those who left at the end of 2016 in another world " solar clown» Oleg Popov .

Sokolov

Russian male name Sokol has become the most common "bird" surname in Russia - Sokolov. The bird of prey, the hunter's companion, was a symbol of military prowess and a noble soul. And surnames with the same stem, but the ending "-sky" are of Polish-Ukrainian origin.

It is known about the untitled noble family of the Sokolovs, which appeared at the end of the 17th century. His descendant, Count Apollinary Sokolov, who lived on turn of XIX and XX centuries, was nicknamed "the genius of the Russian detective." Historians believe that it was from him that Vladimir Ulyanov-Lenin was hiding abroad at one time.

To the bearers of this noble family belongs to the actor and director Andrei Sokolov, as well as a participant in the show "Voice" Lyudmila Sokolova.

Kuznetsov

The surname Kuznetsov comes from the occupation. The blacksmith was an indispensable person in any village, so the geography of the surname covers all of Russia. Most often, the surname was found in the Saratov province, where there was a whole Kuznechny district.

In the south of Russia, a blacksmith was called a "forger" - hence the surname Kovalev came from. Kovankov and Kovalkov are Russified Belarusian and Ukrainian surnames. But Kuznechikhin and Kovalikhin are formed from the nicknames of the blacksmith's wife.

It is worth noting that the importance of blacksmithing still makes itself felt in the languages ​​of other peoples. IN English speaking countries the surname Smith ("Smith") is widespread, in Germany - Schmidt ("Schmidt").

Famous Kuznetsovs include children's ombudsman Anna Kuznetsova and actor Yuri Kuznetsov.

Ivanov

Ivanov is one of the most common surnames in Russia. Ivan, a derivative name, has been in use for several centuries, primarily among the peasantry and the clergy.

There are more than a hundred surnames similar to Ivanovs. For example, the surname Ivin. Almost all Ivins received a surname not from a willow tree, but from a diminutive form of Ivan - Iva. Another form of the name is Ivsha. Also diminutive forms Ivan - Ishko and Itsko. The latter is characteristic of Smolensk dialects or the Belarusian language. Ishko is a South Russian dialect or Ukrainian language. Other vintage forms named after Ivan - Ishun and Ishuta. Previously, the surname Ivanov was pronounced with an emphasis on the letter "a". Now more often the stress is placed on the last syllable.

There are many Ivanovs among the actors (And what surnames are popular in neighboring countries?

Previously, in a large family, peasant parents sighed with relief if quiet, quiet children were born. This is a rather rare quality and was captured in the name Smyrna (with an emphasis on "o"). The Smirny met among the merchants and the nobility. The surname Smirnov has less common derivatives: Smirenkin, Smirnitsky, Sminin, Smirensky.

Of the owners of this surname, one can separately distinguish the outstanding comedian Alexei Smirnov and the star of Soviet cinema Lydia Smirnova.

Other Popular Russian surnames who were not included in the top 10: Volkov, Solovyov, Vasiliev, Zaitsev, Pavlov, Semyonov, Golubev, Vinogradov, Bogdanov, Vorobyov, Fedorov, Mikhailov, Tarasov, Belov. Also on the site there is a separate article about the most popular names in Russia.
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