(no subject)

[yers.livejournal.com]

Top 10 Russian surnames, and what they mean:

1 Смирнов — Smirnov, “of the meek one”*
2 Иванов — Ivanov, “of Ivan (John)”
3 Кузнецов — Kuznetsov, “of the blacksmith”
4 Попов — Popov, “of the priest”
5 Соколов — Sokolov, “of Falcon”*
6 Лебедев — Lebedev, “of Swan”*
7 Козлов — Kozlov, “of Goat”*
8 Новиков — Novikov, “of the newcomer”
9 Морозов — Morozov, “of Frost”*
10 Петров — Petrov, “of Pyotr (Peter)”

*presumably from a nickname

A longer list: 50 most common Russian surnames

Comments

[joliecanard.livejournal.com]

No, it's a surname.

[basile.livejournal.com]

Smithson. ;)

[alon_68]

Небов? Never heard of such surname. It sounds rather strange for me.

[alon_68]

I guess he meant Sokol as name

[yegor.livejournal.com]

Yes, it sounds strange, but there is such surname. Try to search it in Yandex.

[wire-shock.livejournal.com]

The name of a company is more likely to be derived from a surname of a person.

[nataxxa.livejournal.com]

of archpriest .

[mytza.livejournal.com]

Hehe, thanks!!
I have two more names that I wonder about their origin - Kozyrev and Tolkach...
And what about Yeltsyn and Putin? :)

[maksa.livejournal.com]

Top ten surnames in Moscow:

1. Ивано´в (sometimes Ива´нов)
2. Кузнецо´в
3. Смирно´в
4. Попо´в
5. Но´виков
6. Петро´в
7. Васи´льев
8. Соколо´в
9. Во´лков (Volkov, “of wolf”)
10. Козло´в

Re: *wow*

[wolfie-18.livejournal.com]

If you recall/have read Dr. Zhivago, you'd know there was a Комаровский there. But it was approrpriate, the guy was a blood sucker. Just thought I'd add.

[wolfie-18.livejournal.com]

Путин - of the path.

Remember Grigory Распутин? Of the lost path/strayed from the path. Interestingly enough - this was a man who loved his orgies with several women while not having bathed in months creating body odor only a *insert smelly animal* could stand.

[mytza.livejournal.com]

Oh, sure, Rasputin... I should've thought before :)))

[strelf1.livejournal.com]

Maybe Тимур (Timur) or Тимофей (Timofey) but not Timo.

Timo...

[vashtan.livejournal.com]

... erm, yes, of course. I call him Timo. His actual name would be Timofey, but he doesn't like it a lot. He thinks it sound girlish. For whatever reason.

(Yes, my characters talk to me ... and have strong opinions, which is worse).

Re: Timo...

[strelf1.livejournal.com]

Maybe, only such as individual nick...

[llill.livejournal.com]

Tolkach - Pusher
Kozyrev - of Kozyr, Kozyr - Trump
Yeltsyn - of Yeltsa, Yeltsa - Little yel, Yel - Firtree, so Yeltsyn - of a Little Firtree
Putin - of Putya, Putya - nickname for Pytyata, Putyata - a very 'auld' slavic name, given to a child born in a trip, on a way.

[arvi.livejournal.com]

> 5 Соколов — Sokolov, “of Falcon”*
> 6 Лебедев — Lebedev, “of Swan”*

> There were such _names_, but they're very ancient.

There were never such names. Its classical family names, very common among Russians. There are also common family names Орлов (Orlov, of Eagle) and Сидоров (Sidorov).

[arvi.livejournal.com]

Сокол (Sokol) is very acient name, from tales. Never used nowadays. But there are plenty of Соколовых in Russia.

[arvi.livejournal.com]

Распутин, два Путин. :-)))

[arvi.livejournal.com]

> sometimes Ива´нов

Never met (I live in Moscow). But there is a town Ива´ново, nor far from Moscow.

[alon_68]

Commonly, there were many indigenous Russian names before the Christening. Many of them were derived from the names of animals or birds like Волк (wolf), Заяц (hare), Медведь (bear), Козёл (goat), Сокол (falcon), Орёл (eagle), Гусь (goose) etc. With the time, they were exterminated by the Christianity, but kept in surnames.

Only single indigenous names survived like Vladimir (own the world), Vsevolod (own everything), Svyatoslav (holy glory), Lyudmila (nice to people), Nadezhda (hope), Lyubov (love) etc Some names have been revived after the communist revolution like Vadim (leader) or Svetlana (light).

[mytza.livejournal.com]

Thanks a lot!

[mytza.livejournal.com]

+1

[arvi.livejournal.com]

> there were many indigenous Russian names before the Christening.

   Yes. And now many people, insulted by Christian revanchism, turn to original Russian names. I have a great book about this names, that were common in our land before Greek/Jewish influence.

> but kept in surnames.

   Surname means family name? Yes, people always try to save what they have. And family lives longer, than individual.

> Some names have been revived after the communist revolution

   Revolution gave many new names, and few survived. The most known are Владлен (Vladlen, male, Vladimir Lenin) and Гертруда (Gertruda, female, Hero of Labor).

   May be its time to make new family names, to keep atheist tradition in centuries.

[arvi.livejournal.com]

Tolkach gives more Ukrain feeling, and Tolkachev is closer to modern Russian family names and used 3 times more often, if we believe Google. But those names are not common.

There is an acient Russian name Tolmach (Толмач), that was known in 1614 and means translator. :-) I know a person with family name Толмачёв (Tomlachjov).