Russia Naming Customs

Russian Names and Surnames
In modern Russia, names consist of a GIVEN NAME (imia), a PATRONYMIC (otchestvo), and a SURNAME (familiia).

It is customary in Russia to use patronymics as middle names. Patronymics are derived from the father's given name and end with -ovich or -evich. The female patronymics end in -ovna or -evna.

Most Russian surnames end in -ov or -ev. Surnames derived from given male names are common. Female forms of this type of surnames end in -ova or -eva.

MALE Given Name: Mikhail Patronym: Mikhailovich (=son of Mikhail) Surname: Mikhailov

Given Name: Nikolai Patronym: Nikolaevich (=son of Nikolai) Surname: Nikolaev

FEMALE Given Name: Natalia Patronym: Mikhailovna (=daughter of Mikhail) Surname: Mikhailova

Given Name: Tatiana Patronym: Nikolaevna (=daughter of Nikolai) Surname: Nikolaeva

In older church records the female patronymics took the same form as current female surnames, i.e. in birth records mothers' names were written as Natalia Mikhailova (not Mikhailovna) and Tatiana Nikolaeva (not Nikolaevna). Generally you must find a marriage record to determine a mother's maiden surname.

Russian Surnames
Also -in/ina ending surnames are prevalent: Dumin/Dumina Gagarin/Gagarina Pushkin/Pushkina

Other types of surnames include -ski /-skaya and -ii or -oi/-aya ending names: Mayakovski/ Mayakovskaya Rovenski/Rovenskaya Tshaikovski/Tshaikovskaya Gorkii/Gorkaya Tolstoi/ToIstaya Volotskoi/Volotskaya

Ukrainian surnames frequently end in -ko: Bondarenko Lutsenko Rodchenko

History
Naming practices for early period are first name (baptismal name, usually that of a Biblical saint), followed by the everyday or common first name, patronymic, and rarely a surname.

Russian names started only as a given name, adding the patronymic around the 10th century, and finally the surname only in the late 15th or early 16th century. The surname did not become common, in fact, until the 18th century.

Websites

 * A Dictionary of Period Russian Names


 * Paul Goldschmidt's Dictionary of Russian Names-Grammar