East Slavic name

Patronymics

The patronymic name is based on the given name of the father and is written in all legal and identity documents. If used with the given name, the patronymic always follows it; but it is not analogous to an English middle name.

Usage

The patronymic name is obligatory when addressing a person of higher social stance and/or on special occasions such as business meetings; for example, when a pupil addresses a teacher, they are obliged to use both first and patronymic names – Russian: Марья Ивановна, могу я спросить..., lit. 'Marya Ivanovna, may I ask...'. Not using patronymic names in such situations is considered offensive.

Addressing a person by patronymic name only is widespread among older generations and serves as a display of close relationship based on not only sympathy but also mutual responsibility.

In speech patronymics are commonly truncated and it is not considered to be a colloquialism, e.g., written "Ivan Ivanovich" may be pronounced "as is", as well as "Ivan Ivanych".

In the past of East Slavs, before the introduction of surnames, noble, wealthy, or otherwise respected people were addressed by name plus patronymic, see, e.g., "Yaroslavich"/"Yaroslavna". From this custom a number of surnames of West Ruthenian origin was produced, such as Antonovich or Prokopovich, which in their turn derived Polish surnames, such as Antonowicz or Prokopowicz (the Ruthenian origin is recognized by the suffix -wicz: the corresponding native (now archaic) Polish suffix was '-wic': Szymonowic, Klonowic).

For commoners, when the distinction among people with the same given name was required, a qualifier "son of..." was usually added: "Ивашка, Антонов сын" ("Ivashka, Antonov syn", i.e., 'Ivashka, son of Anton'). From the latter tradition Russian patronymic surnames ending in "-ov/-ev/yov" originated, in this case, Antonov".

Derivation

The patronymic is formed by a combination of the father's name and suffixes. The suffix is -ович (-ovich) for a son, -овна (-ovna) – for a daughter. For example, if the father's name was Иван (Ivan), the patronymic will be Иванович (Ivanovich) for a son and Ивановна (Ivanovna) for a daughter.

If the suffix is being appended to a name ending in a й ("y") or a soft consonant, the initial o in the suffixes -ович (-ovich) and -овна (-ovna) becomes a е ("ye") and the suffixes change to -евич (-yevich) and -евна (-yevna). For example, if the father is Дмитрий (Dmitry), the patronymic is Дмитриевич (Dmitrievich) for a son and Дмитриевна (Dmitrievna) for a daughter. It is not Дмитрович (Dmitrovich) or Дмитровна (Dmitrovna) because the name Дмитрий (Dmitry) ends on "й" ("y");

For some names ending in a vowel, the suffix is -ич (-ich) for a son and -ична (-ichna) or -инична (-inichna) for a daughter; for example, Фока Foka (father's first name) – Фокич Fokich (male patronymic) – Фокична Fokichna (female patronymic); Кузьма Kuzma (father's first name) – Кузьмич Kuzmich (male patronymic) – Кузьминична Kuzminichna (female patronymic).

Historical grounds

Historical Russian naming conventions did not include surnames. A person's name included that of their father: e.g. Иван Петров сын (Ivan Petrov syn) which means "Ivan, son of Peter". That is the origin of most Russian -ov surnames.

From the 17th century, the second name with suffix -ович (-ovich) was the privilege given by the tsar to commoners. For example, in 1610, Tsar Vasili IV gave to the Stroganovs, who were merchants, the privilege to use patronyms. As a tribute for developing the salt industry in Siberia, Pyotr Stroganov and all his issues were allowed to have a name with -ovich. The tsar wrote in the chart dated on 29 May, "... to write him with ovich, to try [him] in Moscow only, not to fee [him] by other fees, not to kiss a cross by himself [which means not to swear during any processions]" In the 18th century, it was the only family of merchants to have patronyms. By the 19th century, the -ovich form eventually became the default form of a patronymic.

Legal basis

Everyone in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus is supposed to have a tripartite name. Single mothers may give their children any patronym, and this does not have any legal consequences. Foreigners who adopt Russian citizenship are exempted from having a patronym. Now, an adult person is entitled to change patronyms if necessary, such as to alienate themselves from the biological father (or to show respect for the adopted one) as well as to decide the same for an underage child.

Matronymic

In modern Russia, there are cases when women raising a child without a father give the child their own name instead of a patronymic (Russian: матчество, матроним, romanized: matchestvo, matronim, lit. 'matronymic'). This practice is not recognized by law, but the civil registry offices may meet such wishes. A common loophole is when the mother's name is a feminine form of a masculine given name, the mother will give the child the patronym of the masculine equivalent.

Family names

Family names are generally used like in English.

Derivation and meaning

In Russian, some common suffixes are -ов (-ov), -ев (-yev), meaning "belonging to" or "of the clan of/descendant of", e.g. Petrov = of the clan of/descendant of Petr (Peter), usually used for patronymic surnames—or -ский (-sky), an adjectival form, meaning "associated with" and usually used for toponymic surnames. Historically, toponymic surnames may have been granted as a token of nobility; for example, the princely surname Shuysky is indicative of the princedom based on the ownership of Shuya. Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tavricheski had the victory title 'Tavricheski', as part of his surname, granted to him for the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Empire.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, -off was a common transliteration of -ov for Russian family names in foreign languages such as French and German (like for the Smirnoff and the Davidoff brands).

Surnames of Ukrainian and Belarusian origin use the suffixes -ко (-ko), -ук (-uk), and -ич (-ych). For example, the family name Писаренко (Pisarenko) is derived from the word for a scribe, and Ковальчук (Kovalchuk) refers to a smith.

Less often, some versions of family names will have no suffix, e.g. Lebed, meaning swan, and Zhuk, meaning beetle (but see also Lebedev and Zhukov).

Hyphenated surnames like Petrov-Vodkin are possible.

There is also a plural form used when referring to the family as a whole or several members of it (as opposed to a single member). For "–ов/–ев/-ёв" (-ov/-yev/-yov) it is "–овы/–евы/-ёвы" (-ovy/-yevy/-yovy), for "–ин" (-in) the form is "–ины" (-iny) and for "–ий/-ой/-ый" (-iy/-oy/-yy) it is "–ие/-ые" (-iye/-yye).

Grammar

East Slavic languages are synthetic languages and have grammatical cases and grammatical gender. Unlike analytic languages like English, which use prepositions ("to", "at", "on" etc.) to show the links and relations between words in a sentence, East Slavic suffixes are used much more broadly than prepositions. Words need the help of some suffix to integrate them into the sentence and to build a grammatically correct sentence. That includes names, unlike in German. Family names are declined based on the Slavic case system.

The surnames that originally are short (-ov, -ev, -in) or full (-iy/-oy/-yy) Slavic adjectives, have different forms depending on gender: male forms -ov, -ev, -in and -iy/-oy/-yy correspond to female forms -ova, -eva, -ina and -aya, respectively. For example, the wife of Борис Ельцин (Boris Yel'tsin) was Наина Ельцина (Naina Yel'tsina); the wife of Leo Tolstoy was Sophia Tolstaya, etc. All other, i.e. non-adjectival, surnames stay the same for both genders (including surnames ending with -енко (-yenko), -ич (-ich) etc.), unlike in many West Slavic languages, where the non-adjectival surname of men corresponds to the derivative feminine adjectival surname (Novák → Nováková). Note the difference between patronymics and surnames ending with -ich: surnames are the same for males and females, but patronymics are gender-dependent (for example, Ivan Petrovich Mirovich and Anna Petrovna Mirovich).

This dependence of grammatical gender of adjectival surname on the gender of its owner is not considered to be changing the surname (compare the equivalent rule in Polish, for example). The correct transliteration of such feminine surnames in English is debated: the names technically should be in their original form, but they sometimes appear in the masculine form.

The example of Иванов (Ivanov), a family name, will be used:

The surnames which are not grammatically adjectives (Zhuk, Gogol, Barchuk, Kupala etc.) decline according to case and number as the corresponding common noun. The exception is when a woman has a surname which is grammatically a noun of masculine gender; in such case, the surname is not declined. For example, Ivan and Anna Zhuk in dative case ("to whom?") would be: Ивану Жуку (Ivanu Zhuku), but Анне Жук (Anne Zhuk).

Family names are generally inherited from one's parents. As in English, women usually adopt the surname of the husband upon marriage; the opposite, when the husband adopts the maiden surname of his wife, occurs very seldom. Occasionally, both spouses keep their pre-marriage family names. A fourth option, very rare but still legal, is to take on a double surname; for example, in a given marriage between Ivanov (he) and Petrovskaya (she), the spouses may adopt the family names Ivanov-Petrovsky and Ivanova-Petrovskaya, respectively.

Slavicisation of foreign names

Slavicisation of foreign surnames

Some surnames in those languages have been Russified since the 19th century: the surname of Kazakh former president Nursultan Nazarbayev has a Russian "-yev" suffix, which literally means "of Nazar-bay" (in which "bay" is a Turkic native noble rank: compare Turkish "bey", Uzbek "boy" "bek", and Kyrghyz "bek"). The frequency of such Russification varies greatly by country.

After the incorporation of Azerbaijan into the Soviet Union, it became obligatory to register their surnames and to add a Russian suffix such as -yev or -ov for men and -yeva or -ova for women. Since the majority did not have official surnames, the problem was resolved by adopting the name of the father and adding the mentioned suffixes. Examples are Aliyev, Huseynov, and Mammadov. After Azerbaijan gained its independence, the Azerbaijanization of surnames has been pursued.

Since the 1930s and 1940s, surnames and patronymics were obligatory in Uzbekistan. The surname could be derived from the name of the father by adding the suffixes -ev after vowels or soft consonants and -ov in all other cases. Examples are Rashidov, Beknazarov and Abdullaev. Most of the people born in this time had the same surname as their patronymic.

Slavicisation of foreign patronymics

By law, foreign persons who adopt Russian citizenship are allowed to have no patronymic. Some adopt non-Slavonic patronymics as well. For example, the Russian politician Irina Hakamada's patronym is Муцуовна (Mutsuovna) because her Japanese father's given name was Mutsuo. The ethnicity of origin generally remains recognizable in Russified names. Other examples are Kazakh ұлы (uly; transcribed into Latin script as -uly, as in Nursultan Abishuly Nazarbayev), or Azeri оглы/оғлу (oglu) (as in Heydar Alirza oglu Aliyev); Kazakh қызы (transcribed into Latin script as -qyzy, as in Dariga Nursultanqyzy Nazarbayeva). Such Turkic patronymics were officially allowed in the Soviet Union.

Bruno Pontecorvo, after he emigrated to the Soviet Union, was known as Бруно Максимович Понтекорво (Bruno Maximovich Pontekorvo) in the Russian scientific community, as his father's given name was Massimo (corresponding to Russian Максим (Maksim)). His sons have been known by names Джиль Брунович Понтекорво (Dzhil Brunovich Pontecorvo), Антонио Брунович Понтекорво (Antonio Brunovich Pontecorvo) and Тито Брунович Понтекорво (Tito Brunovich Pontekorvo).

Forms of address

Common rules

• For informal communication, only the first name is used: Иван Ivan. Even more informally, diminutives (several can be formed from one name) are often used.
• In rural areas, the patronymic name alone (Петрович Petrovich, Ивановна Ivanovna) is used by old people among themselves, but young people sometimes use the form for irony. Also, younger people can use the form for much older people for both respect and informality. For example, a much younger man with a very good relationship with his elder colleague may use a patronymic and the "ty" form, but using the first name alone is generally inappropriate. Using a diminutive (like in most informal communication) would nearly always be very impolite.
• The family name alone (Петров, Petrov) is used, much more rarely, in formal communications. It is commonly used by school teachers to address their students. Informally, Russians are starting to call people by their surnames alone for irony.
• the form "first name + patronymic" (for instance, Иван Иванович, Ivan Ivanovich):
  • is the feature of official communication (for instance, students in schools and universities call their teachers in the form of "first name + patronymic" only);
  • may convey the speaker's respect for the recipient. Historically, patronymics were reserved for the royal dynasty (Рюриковичи, Ruerikovichi)
• The full three-name form (for instance, Иван Иванович Петров Ivan Ivanovich Petrov) is used mostly for official documents. With some exceptions, everyone in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus is supposed to have a three-part name. This form is also used on formal occasions and for introducing oneself to a person who is likely to write down the full name, like a police officer. The family name is placed first (Петров Иван Иванович, Petrov Ivan Ivanovich) in various documents, when sorting by personal name is important.

Historically, diminutives of the given names were used in reference to commoners, to indicate an their low status: Stenka Razin, Grishka Rasputin, etc. A diminutive could be used by persons of a higher class when referring to themselves to indicate humility, e.g., when addressing to the tsar.

The choice of addressing format is closely linked to the choice of second-person pronoun. Russian language distinguishes:

• formal вы (vy, "you"); respectful Вы ("Vy", "You") may be capitalized in formal correspondence, but plural вы ("vy", "you") is not.
• informal ты (ty, "you", "thou" in old English);

Вы ("Vy") is the plural of both forms to address a pair or group. Historically, it comes from German, under Peter the Great, which uses du and Sie similarly.

Other than the use of patronymics, Russian forms of address in Russian are very similar to English ones.

Also, the meaning of the form of address strongly depends on the choice of a V-T form:

Using a "ty" form with a person who dislikes it or on inappropriate occasions can be an insult, especially the surname alone.