How to find out nationality by the end of a surname. Ukrainian surnames: list and declension

Ukrainian names are very common, not to mention surnames. When Kievan Rus converted to Christianity, beautiful words began to emerge, which later became Ukrainian. The Christian church calendar states that it is the basis of all data. So what is the magic of the Ukrainian language?

Ukrainian names and surnames

The origin of Ukrainian surnames is a long story that goes back several centuries. There is one very interesting fact: Ukrainian data came into use much earlier than Russian or English. The first surnames had the suffix –enko-, which is now well-known and even customary. But few people know that this is one of the most ancient suffixes, which dates back to the 16th century.

Every word was given to people for a reason; it meant something. So, for example, the common surname Maistrenko has the translation “freedom”, i.e. someone in the family was not a serf, but had the right to be a master. An ethnic Ukrainian can be part of a group that has a long history due to the presence of some specific signs of the formation of a surname.

Men's

Ukrainian male surnames depend on endings and suffixes - this is the most important indicator of construction. They were formed for a long time, based on people’s nicknames, their professions, appearance and region of residence, so they could receive them based on the specifics of their activities. Common alphabetical suffixes that play a major role in data formation are:

• -eik-;
• -ko-;
• -points-;
• -nick-;
• -ar (ar) -;
• -shin-;
• -ba- .

Women's

Ukrainian female surnames are formed in exactly the same way as male ones. Here the endings change a little, they have a declination, but only thanks to this we can understand that this is a woman. Also, forms for girls do not exist for everyone. There are also data that do not change, i.e. suitable for both sexes at once. Examples of suffixes are the same as given above. But it’s best to look at it visually.

1. Pilipenko. Treats both men and women equally.
2. Serdyukov - from the mention in this case, it is clearly clear that he is a man. Serdyukova - declension with the addition of the letter “a”, one can no longer think that this is the male gender. This consonance is much more suitable for a woman.

Funny Ukrainian surnames

The dictionary of Ukrainian surnames is replete with unusual, funny data, which is even strange to consider as names. No, it's not about ridicule at all. They are just really very funny, funny, few people have the courage to give their child a similar name. Although, for Ukraine, such names are considered the best of all:

• Ladle;
• Golka;
• Do not shoot;
• Nedaichleb;
• Thinness;
• chicken coop;
• Fear;
• Pipko-Besnovatataya;
• Cattle;
• Kochmarik;
• Grievoul;
• Gurragcha;
• Surdul;
• Boshara;
• Zhovna.

The list can be continued endlessly; there are also not the most successful options that do not sound very aesthetically pleasing. But what can we do, this is the Ukrainian language, and we must respect it.

Beautiful Ukrainian surnames

Beautiful Ukrainian surnames, the list of which is extensive. There is some familiar data here that comes up frequently. The data is really very interesting, well-known, and most importantly, consistent.

• Tkachenko;
• Stepanenko;
• Plushenko;
• Leshchenko;
• Skripko;
• Goncharenko;
• Sobchak;
• Tishchenko;
• Vinnichenko;
• Tymoshenko;
• Romanyuk;
• Onishchenko;
• Guzenko.

Western Ukrainian

Western Ukrainian surnames have the suffix -iv-, it is found absolutely everywhere. For example, Illiv, Ivaniv, Ivantsiv. In general, in Western Ukraine there are not so many endings and suffixes, so people limited themselves to basic additions to the data, without declension: -vich-, -ych-, -ovich-, -evich- and -ich-. That's all the variety. If a word ends in one of these suffixes, then it should immediately be determined that this is exclusively Western Ukraine. So, for example, here are a number of famous names that belong to the Western Ukrainian addition system:

• Mishkevich;
• Koganovich;
• Mrych;
• Enukovich;
• Gorbatsevich;
• Krivich;
• Bekonovitch;
• Vinich;
• Stroganovich;
• Strarovoitovich;
• Gudzevich;
• Bykovich;
• Kpekych.

Common

There are also a dozen - the most common Ukrainian surnames, which are not only found on every corner, but are also considered the most popular of all. A large number of famous people have real surnames of Ukrainian origin, for example, astronauts, politicians, etc. List of Ukrainian surnames:

1. Strelbitsky.
2. Kravets.
3. Kravchenko.
4. Koval.
5. Kravchuk.
6. Kovalchuk.
7. Pridius.
8. Butko.
9. Khrushchev.
10. Matvienko.

How do Ukrainian surnames decline?

Do Ukrainian surnames decline? In general, a man's surname will always fit this rule. But there is also one more weighty rule: non-Russian surnames that end in a consonant are necessarily declined, and foreign data related to non-Slavic traditions ending in a vowel remain unchanged. The feminine side is not as flexible, as there are some suffixes that simply fall out. So, women have to live with male identifiers all their lives, but this does not upset them in any way, because in most cases these surnames are very laconic and beautiful.

Video

Where did such surnames as Yushchenko, Khmelnitsky, Gavrilyuk and Shevchenko come from? What do Tyagnibok and Zhuiboroda have in common?

This is a unique “-enko”

Surnames ending with the suffix “-enko” are considered the most typical for Ukrainians, and not because they constitute the largest group, but because practically none are found among other Slavic peoples. The fact that such surnames have become widespread in Russia is explained by the fact that Ukrainians, after joining the Moscow State in 1654, constituted the second largest ethnic group after the Russians.

It should be noted that Ukrainian surnames came into use earlier than Russian ones. The very first mentions of a surname with the suffix “-enko” date back to the 16th century. Their localization was typical for Podolia, a little less often for the Kiev region, Zhytomyr region and Galicia. Later they began to actively spread to Eastern Ukraine.

Researcher Stepan Bevzenko, who studied the register of the Kyiv regiment of the mid-17th century, notes that surnames ending in “-enko” accounted for approximately 60% of the entire list of family names of the regiment. The suffix “-enko” is a diminutive, emphasizing the connection with the father, which literally meant “little”, “young man”, “son”. For example, Petrenko is the son of Peter or Yushchenko is the son of Yuska.

Later, the ancient suffix lost its direct meaning and began to be used as a family component. In particular, it became an addition not only to patronyms, but also to nicknames and professions - Zubchenko, Melnichenko.

Polish influence

For a long time, most of today's Ukraine was part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which left its mark on the process of formation of surnames. Surnames in the form of adjectives ending in “-sky” and “-tsky” were especially popular. They were mainly based on toponyms - names of territories, settlements, and water bodies.

Initially, surnames with similar endings were worn exclusively by the Polish aristocracy, as a designation of the rights of ownership of a particular territory - Potocki, Zamoyski. Later, such suffixes spread to Ukrainian surnames, being added to names and nicknames - Artemovsky, Khmelnytsky.

Historian Valentin Bendyug notes that from the beginning of the 18th century, “noble surnames” began to be assigned to those who had an education, primarily this concerned priests. Thus, according to the researcher’s calculations, over 70% of the clergy of the Volyn diocese had surnames with the suffixes “-tsky” and “-sky”.

The appearance in Western Ukraine of surnames with endings in “-uk”, “-chuk”, “-yuk”, “-ak” also occurred during the period of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The basis for such surnames became baptismal names, but later any others. This helped solve the problem of identification - separating a specific person from society and separating a Ukrainian from a nobleman. This is how Gavrilyuk, Ivanyuk, Zakharchuk, Kondratyuk appeared, although over time these suffixes became more widely used - Popelnyuk, Kostelnyuk.

Eastern trail

Linguists have established that the Ukrainian language contains at least 4,000 Turkic words. This is due to the active resettlement of some Turkic and other eastern peoples in the Black Sea and Dnieper regions due to the increased Islamization of the Caucasus and Central Asian regions.
All this directly affected the formation of Ukrainian surnames. In particular, the Russian ethnologist L. G. Lopatinsky argued that the family ending “-ko”, common in Ukraine, comes from the Adyghe “ko” (“kue”), meaning “descendant” or “son”.

For example, the frequently occurring surname Shevchenko, according to the researcher, goes back to the word “sheudzhen”, which the Adygs used to call Christian priests. The descendants of those who moved to the Ukrainian lands “sheudzhen” began to add the ending “-ko” - this is how they turned into Shevchenko.
It is curious that surnames ending in “-ko” are still found among some Caucasian peoples and Tatars, and many of them are very similar to Ukrainian ones: Gerko, Zanko, Kushko, Khatko.

Lopatinsky also attributes Ukrainian surnames ending in “-uk” and “-yuk” to Turkic roots. So, as evidence, he cites the names of the Tatar khans - Kuchuk, Tayuk, Payuk. Researcher of Ukrainian onomastics G. A. Borisenko supplements the list with Ukrainian surnames with a wide variety of endings, which in his opinion are of Adyghe origin - Babiy, Bogma, Zigura, Kekukh, Legeza, Prikhno, Shakhrai.

And, for example, the surname Dzhigurda - an example of Ukrainian-Circassian anthroponymic correspondence - consists of two words: Dzhikur - the name of the Zikh governor of Georgia and David - the Georgian king. In other words, Dzhigurda is Dzhikur under David.

Cossack nicknames

The environment of the Zaporozhye Cossacks contributed to the formation of a large number of a wide variety of nicknames, behind which serfs and representatives of other classes who escaped from dependence hid their origin for safety reasons.
“According to the rules of the Sich, new arrivals had to leave their surnames behind the outer walls and enter the Cossack world with the name that would best characterize them,” writes researcher V. Sorokopud.
Many of the bright and colorful nicknames, consisting of two parts - a verb in the imperative mood and a noun, subsequently turned into surnames without any suffixes: Zaderykhvist, Zhuiboroda, Lupybatko, Nezdiiminoga.
Some of the names can still be found today - Tyagnibok, Sorokopud, Vernigora, Krivonos. A number of modern surnames come from one-part Cossack nicknames - Bulava, Gorobets, Bereza.

Ethnic diversity

The diversity of Ukrainian surnames is the result of the influence of those states and peoples under whose influence Ukraine has been for centuries. It is interesting that for a long time Ukrainian surnames were the product of free word creation and could change several times. Only at the end of the 18th century, in connection with the decree of the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa, all surnames acquired legal status, including in the territories of Ukraine that were part of Austria-Hungary.

Professor Pavel Chuchka points out that a “Ukrainian surname” should be distinguished from a surname belonging to a Ukrainian. For example, the surname Schwartz, which is still found in Ukraine, has German roots, but its derivative Schwartzuk (son of Schwartz) is already typically Ukrainian.

Thanks to foreign influence, Ukrainian surnames often acquire a very specific sound. For example, the surname Yovban, according to Czuchka, has always been prestigious, as it comes from the name of St. Job, which in Hungarian is pronounced Yovb. But the researcher sees the surname Penzenik in the Polish word “Penzyc”, which translates as to scare.

In a conversation you can come across the following statement: “Here, his last name ends with -in, which means he is a Jew.” Are Susanin, Repin and even Pushkin really Jewish surnames? It’s some kind of strange idea among the people, where did it come from? After all, the suffix -in- is often found in possessive adjectives formed from first declension nouns: cat, mother. While adjectives from words of the second declension are formed using the suffix -ov-: grandfathers, crocodiles. Is it really true that only Jews chose words of the first declension as the basis for their surname? It would be very strange. But probably everything that is on people’s tongues has some basis, even if it has been distorted over time. Let's figure out how to determine nationality by last name.

Ending or suffix?

Calling the familiar -ov/-ev endings is not entirely correct. The ending in Russian is the variable part of the word. Let's see what inclines in surnames: Ivanov - Ivanova - Ivanov. It can be concluded that -ov is a suffix and is followed by a zero ending, as in most masculine nouns. And only in cases or when changing gender and number (Ivanova, Ivanovy) endings are heard. But there is also a folk, and not linguistic, concept of “ending” - what it ends with. In that case, this word is applicable here. And then we can safely determine the ending of surnames by nationality!

Russian surnames

The range of Russian surnames is much wider than those ending in -ov. They are characterized by the suffixes -in, -yn, -ov, -ev, -skoy, -tskoy, -ih, -yh (Lapin, Ptitsyn, Sokolov, Soloviev, Donskoy, Trubetskoy, Moskovskikh, Sedykh).

There are actually as many as 60-70% of Russian surnames with -ov, -ev, and only about 30% with -in, -yn, which is also quite a lot. What is the reason for this ratio? As already mentioned, the suffixes -ov, -ev are added to second declension nouns, most of which are masculine. And since in Russian surnames often originate from the name or occupation of the father (Ivanov, Bondarev), such a suffix is ​​very logical. But there are also male names ending in -a, -ya, and it was from them that the surnames Ilyin and Nikitin arose, the Russianness of which we have no doubt.

What about Ukrainians?

Ukrainian ones are usually formed using the suffixes -enko, -ko, -uk, -yuk. And also without suffixes from words denoting professions (Korolenko, Spirko, Govoruk, Prizhnyuk, Bondar).

More about Jews

Jewish surnames are very diverse, because Jews have been scattered throughout the world for centuries. A sure sign of them can be the suffixes -ich, -man and -er. But even here confusion is possible. Family endings -ich, -ovich, -evich are characteristic of the Poles and Slavic peoples living in East Germany. For example, one of the most famous poets in Poland is Mickiewicz.

But the basis of a surname can sometimes immediately suggest the Jewish origin of its bearer. If the basis is Levi or Cohen/Cohan, the clan originates from the high priests - the Kohanim or his assistants - the Levites. So everything is clear with Levi, the Levitans, and the Kaganovichs.

What do surnames in -sky and -tsky tell you?

It is incorrect to assume that surnames ending in -sky or -tsky are necessarily Jewish. This stereotype developed because they were common in Poland and Ukraine. In these places there were many family estates; the surnames of the noble owners were formed from the name of the estate. For example, the ancestors of the famous revolutionary Dzerzhinsky owned the Dzerzhinovo estate on the territory of modern Belarus, and then Poland.

Many Jews lived in these areas, so many took local surnames. But Russian nobles also have such surnames; for example, the noble surname Dubrovsky from Pushkin’s work is quite real. There is another interesting fact. In seminaries they often gave a surname derived from church holidays - Preobrazhensky, Rozhdestvensky. In this case, determining nationality by the end of surnames can lead to errors. Seminaries also served as the birthplace of surnames with an unusual root for the Russian ear, because they were formed from the Latin words: Formozov, Kastorov. By the way, clerk Ivan Velosipedov served under Ivan the Terrible. But the bicycle had not yet been invented! How is it possible - there is no object, but there is a surname? The solution was this: it turned out to be a tracing paper from the Latin “swift-footed”, only with the original Russian suffix.

Last name starting with -in: revealing the secret!

So what about ending your last name with -in? It is difficult to determine nationality on this basis. Indeed, some Jewish surnames end like this. It turns out that in some of them this is just an external coincidence with the Russian suffix. For example, Khazin descends from the modified surname Khazan - this is the name in Hebrew for one of the types of servants in the temple. Literally this translates as “overseer,” since the hazan monitored the order of worship and the accuracy of the text. You can guess where the surname Khazanov comes from. But she has the “most Russian” suffix -ov!

But there are also matronyms, that is, those that are formed on behalf of the mother. Moreover, the female names from which they were formed were not Russian. For example, the Jewish surname Belkin is a homonym for a Russian surname. It is not derived from a furry animal, but from the female name Beila.

German or Jew?

Another interesting pattern has been noticed. As soon as we hear surnames like Rosenfeld, Morgenstern, we immediately confidently determine the nationality of its bearer. Definitely, this is a Jew! But not everything is so simple! After all, these are words of German origin. For example, Rosenfeld is a “field of roses”. How did this happen? It turns out that on the territory of the German Empire, as well as in the Russian and Austrian Empire, there was a decree on assigning surnames to Jews. Of course, they were formed in the language of the country in which the Jew lived. Since they were not passed down from distant ancestors from time immemorial, people chose them themselves. Sometimes this choice could be made by the registrar. This is how many artificial, bizarre surnames appeared that could not have arisen naturally.

How then can one distinguish a Jew from a German if both have German surnames? This is difficult to do. Therefore, here you should not be guided only by the origin of the word, you need to know the pedigree of a particular person. Here, you can’t just determine nationality by the end of your last name!

Georgian surnames

For Georgians, it is not difficult to guess the ending of their last names by nationality. If the Georgian is most likely -shvili, -dze, -uri, -ava, -a, -ua, -ia, -ni, -li, -si (Basilashvili, Svanidze, Pirtskhalava, Adamia, Gelovani, Tsereteli). There are also Georgian surnames that end in -tskaya. This is consonant with Russian (Trubetskaya), but this is not a suffix, and they not only do not change by gender (Diana Gurtskaya - Robert Gurtskaya), but also do not decline by case (with Diana Gurtskaya).

Ossetian surnames

Ossetian surnames are characterized by the ending -ty/-ti (Kokoyty). The ending of the surname in -ev (Abaev, Eziev) is also typical for this nationality; it is usually preceded by a vowel. Often the basis of a word is not clear to us. But sometimes it can turn out to be homonymous or almost homonymous with a Russian word, which is confusing. Among them there are also those that end in -ov: Botov, Bekurov. In fact, these are real Russian suffixes, and they are attached to the Ossetian root according to the tradition of conveying surnames in writing. These are the fruits of the Russification of Ossetian surnames. At the same time, it is stupid to think that all surnames ending in -ev are Ossetian. The ending of a surname with -ev does not determine nationality. Surnames such as Grigoriev, Polev, Gostev are Russian and they differ from similar ones ending in -ov only in that the last consonant in the noun was soft.

A few words about Armenians

Armenian surnames often end in -yan or -yants (Hakopyan, Grigoryants). Actually, -yan is a truncated -yants, which meant belonging to a clan.

Now you know how to find out your nationality by the end of your last name. Yes, it is not always easy to do this with guaranteed accuracy, even with a developed linguistic sense. But as they say, the main thing is that the person is good!

Surnames, as well as given names, in ancient times always carried a certain meaning - they provided additional important information about the origin of each individual person: what kind of family he is from, what class he belongs to, what craft he or his relatives do...

Common Ukrainian surnames are no exception to this. As soon as we start talking about Ukrainian surnames, the first names to emerge from the subconscious are Shevchenko, Petrenko, Doroshenko, Timoshenko, Shinkarenko, Klimashenko.

Indeed, this is a typical family form for the Ukrainian people, the most common.

Lists of registered Cossacks of the 17th century studied by historians show 60% of the presence of people with the surname ending in -enko.

It arose more often from the names, nicknames, professions of the fathers of young Cossacks:

• “Stepanenko” is Stepan’s offspring, “Klimenko” is Klima’s, “Romanenko” is Roman’s;
• “Tkachenko” - on his father’s side with the profession of a weaver, “Skotarenko” - the son of a cattle farmer, “Goncharenko” - the son of a potter;
• “Chubenko” is the heir of Chub (most likely the owner of such a nickname was endowed with noble hair);
• “Leshchenko” - from the fish bream (perhaps the bearer came from a fishing family or the people awarded him this nickname for his characteristic similarity with this fish);
• "Pluschenko" - from the ivy vine plant.

Astrologers and numerologists have long been studying the influence of first and last names on human destiny. What can we say about the nation? If the dictionary of Ukrainian surnames is filled with a semantic form that is, as it were, derivative for the younger generation, then we can safely say, and there is no arguing with it: the Ukrainian people are a young, strong nation.

Flexible, freedom-loving, with a light character, ready to change (if you pronounce - Butenko, Goncharenko, Pisarenko, Guzenko - it seems as if the ball is bouncing). But at the same time with their own personalities, heroes and military acumen (Podoprigora, Vyrvidub). And also very musical (Music, Kobzar, Violin, Skripko, Sopilka, Sopilnyak).

According to scientists, the family forms of that time were not clearly defined enough, and therefore the succeeding generations could well have had different (in form) surnames, or, on the contrary, the entire village could have had the same surname.

Since the prehistory of the Ukrainian people arose during the existence of the Eastern Slavs, as well as the prehistory of the Belarusians and Russians, the many family forms that exist among these three peoples coincide.

The most popular and common forms after -enko are:

Suffix -eyk-: Koreiko, Lomeiko, Buteyko, Geiko.
Suffix -chk-: Burlachko, Klitschko, Skachko, Batechko.
Suffixes -y, -ey, -ay: Paliy, Geletey, Galai, Parubiy, Kalatay.

Suffixes -tsk-, -sk-: originally common among the Polish gentry, more such surnames were among noble nobles and officials: Kirovsky, Vishnevetsky, Koritsky, Skoropadsky, Zagorsky. But they could also indicate the attitude of a commoner to one or another owner (until serfdom was abolished) - Barsky, Boyarsky, or territorial affiliation - Galitsky, Polovetsky, Rivne.

Endings -la, -lo: Zamula, Minyailo, Pritula, Shatailo.
Endings -uk, -yuk: Serdyuk, Pavlyuk, Bondarchuk, Sklyaruk.
Suffixes -nik, -ar (-ar), characteristic for determining professional affiliation: Bortnik, Miller, Gonchar, Kobzar, Sexton.
Endings -da, -ba, -ta: Lagoda, Palivoda, Dzyuba, Zhuleba, Golota.
Suffixes -ich, -ych: Kuzmich, Shufrich, Zvarych, Yanukovych.
Suffixes -ak, -yak, -yk, -ik: Gopak, Tretyak, Bryk, Kulik.

Separately, we can distinguish among Ukrainian surnames those that simply convey the common name of something, be it a thing or an animal, the name of a natural phenomenon: Scoop, Frying Pan, Gogol (bird), Babak (marmot), Moroz, Barabola, Gorobets (sparrow) , Khmara (cloud), Zozulya (cuckoo).

Male (Cossack) surnames

If we talk about surnames that are memorable and historically valuable for the Ukrainian people, then these are undoubtedly the “calls” that were used to call the Cossacks who arrived in Sich (Sich - Russian). Usually these are double words, very harsh, sometimes offensive: Tyagnibok, Netudykhata, Kuibida, Stodolya, Likhoded, Sorokopud, Pidiprigora, Golota, Perederiy, Novokhatko, Krivoruchko, Skorobogatko, Zadripaylo, Neizhsalo, Tovchigrechka.

Such funny surnames and nicknames characterize the Cossacks as strong and fearless warriors, but with a sense of humor and the ability to laugh at themselves.

The versatility and diversity of historical events that influenced the origin of Ukrainian surnames can be seen in the following surnames: Pshigovsky, Vygotsky, Voznesensky, Miloradovich, Zarevich, Khorunzhiy, Sagaidachny, Khmelnytsky, Uspensky. Here are princely and royal surnames with a long pedigree, and surnames with church themes, and the surnames of famous rebellious Sich atamans. They contain a huge layer of the historical era associated with wars, captivity, revolutions. There are ways of word formation not only of the Russian people, but also of the Poles, Tatars, Germans, and Austrians.

Famous male surnames: Khmelnitsky, Shevchenko, Skovoroda, Grushevsky, Kvitka-Osnovyanenko, Dovzhenko, Klitschko, Poroshenko.

Female surnames

In the Ukrainian language, there are not many modifications of surnames based on female characteristics. These are surnames that can be classified in a morphological context as adjectives –sky, -ensky: Mogilevskaya, Vishnevetskaya; also surnames with the Russian suffix –ov, -ev, -in: Dubova, Zvereva, Spirina.

Famous female surnames: Kosach-Kvitka (Lesya Ukrainka), Lisovskaya (Roksolana), Pysanka, Lyzhichko, Klochkova, Prikhodko.

There is a linguistic peculiarity in the writing of male and female surnames with the endings -o, -ko, -chko when declensting. Men's surnames are declined, but women's surnames are not: Ivan Fedko - Ivana Fedko, but Maria Fedko - Maria Fedko. The same thing happens with the endings –iy, -ich, -ych, -ik, -uk. (Sergei Petrik, but Nastya Petrik, Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, but Alevtina Vakarchuk).

Beautiful Ukrainian surnames

I would also like to mention the beauty and melodiousness of proper names. The dictionary of Ukrainian surnames can be recited: Nalivaiko, Nightingale, Lastivka (swallow), Pysarenko, Kotlyarevsky, Kotsyubinsky, Lyzhychko, Pysanka (from the Easter egg - krashanki), Lysenko, Kulchytsky, Dovzhenko, Stupka, Malvinets, Ognevich.

The list of Ukrainian surnames is rich in unusual, mystical surnames: Viyt, Stus, Mavka, Veleten, Bogatyrev, Prisukha, Lyubich, Yarilo. There are many beautiful double family combinations: Nechuy-Levitsky, Kvitka-Osnovyanenko, Dobriyvecher.

As we see, the dictionary of Ukrainian surnames has been created and transformed over centuries, absorbing the acquired wisdom of its people. It can say a lot about people, their culture, traditions and beliefs.