The most popular surname in Russia and its origin

"What's in my name for you ..." once wrote Pushkin inthe album of Caroline Sobanska, well-known in the aristocratic circles of the beautiful Polka, addressing her one of her best lyrical works. To paraphrase the words of a famous poet, let's say differently: what do our names and surnames mean, why do some seem attractive, euphonious, and others, on the contrary, cause a negative reaction?

Business card

About what is the most popular in Russia surname,unfounded, you can argue for a long time. After all, how many people, so many tastes, and therefore, of opinions about the same number. But if you analyze the statistical data and remember that the personification of all Russian is "Ivan", then there is nothing surprising in another fact. All derivatives of it are also high-frequency and widely distributed.

Hence it is clear that the most popular in Russiasurname, business card, so to speak, the national anthroponymy - Ivanov. It was worn for many centuries by peasants - the most numerous class of the population of the country. Even the saying goes like this: "We have Ivanov as a filthy mushroom." What is remarkable: in order to "refine" the common origin of the surname, some of its owners began to change the stress from the last syllable to the first, from the sound "o" to "a" at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. For example, one of the brightest poets of the Silver Age, Vyacheslav Ivanov, did this. Such a substitution did not affect the fact that this was the most popular surname in Russia, and it remains to this day.

Smirnovy from the Smyrnae

Probably, now many will be surprised that sometimeamong the common people there was the name Smyrny. So parents in large, noisy and loud families, where the children were, that the peas in the field, and they did not differ in their obedience, distinguished quiet, silent, unstrung offspring. Later, as usual, a nickname was formed from the name. And from it has already turned out one more popular in Russia surname - Smirnovy. It was famous for its numerous representatives in the Northern Volga, Kostroma and Yaroslavl, as well as other neighboring regions and regions.

When the profession determines the name

Often nicknames (original names of surnames)were given to people depending on what kind of occupation they were engaged in. For example, blacksmiths in Russia were valued almost in weight of gold. This profession was considered very prestigious, honorable, respected. No village could do without a blacksmith. Therefore, the most popular surname in Russia, along with those already listed, are the Kuznetsovs. At first, that was the name of the children whose father worked in the smithy. Then the nickname received the status of a full name of his own. Similar analogies, by the way, are also many in the foreign anthroponomy. Especially clear examples we see among the Germans. Surname Müller, which means the miller, was worn by almost half of the inhabitants of Germany, and it is just as revealing as the Kuznetsovs or the Ivanovs. And Fischer (remember the great chess player?) Is a fisherman, Schmidt is also a blacksmith.

The nickname for the feathered

This popular Russian names, of course, do not end there. Romanovs are widely known, the "high-frequency" Popovs, Morozovs, Ermakovs, Tikhonovs.

Entire clans take the origins of their nicknames from thosethe settlements where their ancestors settled for the first time. And here is another phenomenon of onomastics: the most popular Russian surname of "bird's" origin is the Sokolovs. There is nothing to surprise with. Hunting is not only one of the main means of harvesting food among the ancient Slavs, including Russian peasants, but also the inhabitants of villages of later centuries. Falconry is our national fun. At the court of the tsar-father, as well as the richest noblemen (boyars), the falconer was a special post. Those who occupied it had to train and keep in proper form hunting falcons. Of the same number were the popular in Russia surnames of Orlov, Lebedevs. And in general, the names of birds and animals - one of the main sources of our nicknames. Volkovs, Olenines, Lvovs, Medvedevs, Karpovs, Somovs, Ershovs, etc. - this is an obvious proof.

It's curious

Linguist Boris Genrikhovich Unbegaum in the beginningThe last century, analyzing the metric data and address books of 1910, determined, as it is now customary to say, the top-hundred most frequently met in the state of Russian surnames. The list was opened, of course, the Ivanovs. Then came the Vasilievs and the Petrovs, Smirnovs and Mikhailovs. That is, the principle already described by us - from name to nickname - worked.