See also
Look up Appendix:Slavic surnames in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
A Slavic name suffix is a common way of forming patronymics, family names, and pet names in the Slavic languages. Many, if not most, Slavic last names are formed by adding possessive and other suffixes to given names and other words. Most Slavic surnames have suffixes which are found in varying degrees over the different nations. Some surnames are not formed in this way, including names of non-Slavic origin. They are also seen in North America, Argentina, and Australia.
An example using an occupation is kovač , koval or kowal , which means blacksmith. It is the root of the names Kovačević, Kovačić, Kowalski, Kowalchuk, Kowalczyk, Kovachev, Kovalenko, Kovalyov, and Kovalev. All mean "descendant of a blacksmith".
The given name Petr, Petro, Pyotr or Petar (equivalent to Peter) can become Petrov, Petriv, Petriw, Petrenko, Petrovsky, Petrović, Petrić, Petrič, Petrich, etc. All mean "descendant of Peter". This is similar to the use of "-son" or "-sen" in Germanic languages.
In East Slavic languages (Belarusian, Russian, Rusyn, and Ukrainian) the same system of name suffixes can be used to express several meanings. One of the most common is the patronymic. Instead of a secondary "middle" given name, people identify themselves with their given and family name and patronymic, a name based on their father's given name. If a man gives his full name as Boris Vladimirovich Kuznetsov, then his father's name must have been Vladimir. Vladimirovich literally means "Vladimir's [son]".
Similarly, many suffixes can be attached to express affection or informality (in linguistics, called a diminutive). For example, calling a boy named Ivan "Ivanko", "Ivo", "Ivica" etc, or Yuri "Yurko", expresses that he is familiar to you. This is the same as referring to Robert as "Rob," "Bob" and "Bobby"; or William as "Bill", "Will" and "Willy". Unlike in English, nicknames can be derived from the middle of names, such as "Sasha" from "Aleksander."
| Suffix | Region | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cyrillic | Roman | ||
| -оў/-ов/-ев/-ёв/-ів (-ова/-ева/-ёва) [1] | -oŭ/-ov/-ev/-yov/-iv (-ova/-eva/-yova) | Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Serbia (especially in Vojvodina), Croatia (rare) | This has been adopted by many non-Slavic peoples of Central Asia and the Caucasus who are or have been under Russian rule, such as the Tatars, Chechens, Kyrgyz, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Tajiks, Azerbaijanis, Turkmens, etc. Note that -ev (Russian unstressed and non-Russian) and -yov (Russian stressed) are the soft form of -ov, found after palatalized consonants or sibilants. The suffix -off comes from the French transliteration of -ov, based on the Muscovite pronunciation. |
| -ová | Czech Republic and Slovakia | Not a possessive suffix (unlike -ova would be in these languages), but rather it makes a feminine adjective out of a surname. Example: Krejčí 'tailor' (male form), Krejčová 'tailored' (female form) | |
|
| Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Serbia (especially in Vojvodina), Croatia | |
|
| Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, Serbia (only -ić endings), North Macedonia (rare), occasionally Bulgaria (-ич, -на endings) Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic (-ič, -na), Poland (-icz), [2] Ukraine, Belarus, Russia (-ич, -ыч, -на) [2] | Example: Petrović means Petr's son. In Russia, where patronyms are used, a person may have two -(ov)ich names in a row; first the patronym, then the family name (e.g. Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich). |
| -ин (-ина) [1] | -in (-ina) | Russia, Serbia (especially in Vojvodina), Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Ukraine (rare) | |
| -ко -ка | -ko -ka | Ukraine (to a lesser extent in Belarus, Russia, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia) | Comes from the physically smaller of a noun; possibly coming from the younger son or daughter of a family. (i.e. Proto-Balto-Slavic āˀbōl > OCS. аблъко, Rus. я́блоко, Srb-Cro. jȁbuka, Pol. jabłko.) |
| -енко | -enko | Ukraine, [3] Belarus, (to a lesser extent in Russia) | Of Ukrainian origin. |
| Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Bosnia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, also in Russia | ||
| -чук -юк -чик -чак |
| Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, Slovenia, Poland [2] Ukraine, [2] Belarus, Russia | |
|
| Bosnia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia (only -ac), Czech Republic and Slovakia (-ec), Belarus and Russia (-ец) and Ukraine (-єць) | |
The East Slavic languages constitute one of three regional subgroups of the Slavic languages, distinct from the West and South Slavic languages. East Slavic languages are currently spoken natively throughout Eastern Europe, and eastwards to Siberia and the Russian Far East. In part due to the large historical influence of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, the Russian language is also spoken as a lingua franca in many regions of Caucasus and Central Asia. Of the three Slavic branches, East Slavic is the most spoken, with the number of native speakers larger than the Western and Southern branches combined.
Surname conventions and laws vary around the world. This article gives an overview of surnames around the world.
A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather, or an earlier male ancestor. It is the male equivalent of a matronymic.
Rusyn is an East Slavic language spoken by Rusyns in parts of Central and Eastern Europe, and written in the Cyrillic script. The majority of speakers live in an area known as Carpathian Ruthenia that spans from Transcarpathia, westward into eastern Slovakia and south-east Poland. There is also a sizeable Pannonian Rusyn linguistic island in Vojvodina, Serbia, as well as a Rusyn diaspora throughout the world. Per the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, Rusyn is officially recognized as a protected minority language by Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Poland, Serbia, and Slovakia.
Ge or G is a letter of the Cyrillic script. It is part of the Ukrainian alphabet, the Pannonian Rusyn alphabet and both the Carpathian Rusyn alphabets, and also some variants of the Urum and Belarusian alphabets. In these languages it is usually called ge, while the letter it follows, ⟨Г г⟩ is called he.
Eastern Slavic naming customs are the traditional way of identifying a person's family name, given name, and patronymic name in East Slavic cultures in Russia and some countries formerly part of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union.
Polish names have two main elements: the given name, and the surname. The usage of personal names in Poland is generally governed by civil law, church law, personal taste and family custom.
Czech names are composed of a given name and a family name (surname). Czechs typically get one given name – additional names may be chosen by themselves upon baptism but they generally use one. With marriage, the bride typically adopts the bridegroom's surname.
Mongolian names have undergone a number of changes in the history of Mongolia, both with regard to their meaning and their source languages. In Inner Mongolia, naming customs are now similar to Mongolia but with some differences.
Kovalchuk, Kavalchuk, Kowalczuk (Polish), Covalciuc (Romanian), also transliterated as Kowalchuk, is a common East Slavic surname. The Kovalchuk name extends back to before 1500 AD in Kievan Rus.
The Bulgarian name system has considerable similarities with most other European name systems, and with those of other Slavic peoples such as the Russian name system, although it has certain unique features.
A modern Belarusian name of a person consists of three parts: given name, patronymic, and family name (surname), according to the Eastern Slavic naming customs, similar to Russian names and Ukrainian names.
A Lithuanian personal name, as in most European cultures, consists of two main elements: the given name followed by the family name. The usage of personal names in Lithuania is generally governed by three major factors: civil law, canon law, and tradition. Lithuanian names always follow the rules of the Lithuanian language. Lithuanian male names have preserved the Indo-European masculine endings. These gendered endings are preserved even for foreign names.
This article features the naming culture of personal names of ethnic Serbs and the Serbian language. Serbian names are rendered in the "Western name order" with the surname placed after the given name. "Eastern name order" may be used when multiple names appear in a sorted list, particularly in official notes and legal documents when the last name is capitalized.
Basque surnames are surnames with Basque-language origins or a long, identifiable tradition in the Basque Country. They can be divided into two main types, patronymic and non-patronymic.
Yo, Jo or Io is a letter of the Cyrillic script. In Unicode, the letter ⟨Ё⟩ is named CYRILLIC CAPITAL/SMALL LETTER IO.
By the 18th century almost all Ukrainians had family names. Most Ukrainian surnames are formed by adding possessive and other suffixes to given names, place names, professions and other words.
The system of Russian forms of addressing is used in Russian languages to indicate relative social status and the degree of respect between speakers. Typical language for this includes using certain parts of a person's full name, name suffixes, and honorific plural, as well as various titles and ranks.
In the Republic of Azerbaijan, an Azerbaijani name typically consists of an ad (name), ata adı (patronymic), and soyad (surname), following Russian/Soviet-influenced naming customs. This article focuses on Azeri names as used in Azerbaijan; elsewhere, conventions for Azeri personal names may differ.