Russia Naming Customs
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Understanding customs used in surnames and given names can help you identify your ancestors in records. Learn to recognize name variations and see clues in names. |
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Eastern Slavic naming customs are the traditional way of identifying a person's given name and patronymic name in countries formerly part of the Russian Empire or the Soviet Union.
They are commonly used in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and to an extent in Kyrgyzstan and Georgia (country).
In modern Russia, names consist of a GIVEN NAME (imia), a PATRONYMIC (otchestvo), and a SURNAME (familiia).
| Name | Example: Cyrillic alphabet | Example: Anglicised form |
|---|---|---|
| First name (given name) | Владимир | Vladimir |
| Patronymic | Антонович | Antonovich |
| Family name (surname) | Иванов | Ivanov |
Surnames
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.
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.