(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

*wow*

[vashtan.livejournal.com]

Thanks a ton! I might have to change the name of one of my characters in the current novel, though. "of Gnat" is not very... heroic. :)

Re: *wow*

[yers.livejournal.com]

Not at all. It's technically "mosquito", I kind of made it more "Saxon" to reflect the speech of Russian villagers... but the name is quite euphonious and neutral. In Russian (and other languages too, I guess), you often go without noticing the meaning of a surname completely if that meaning doesn't stick out too much.

Re: *wow*

[vashtan.livejournal.com]

... hm, true. I just really liked the sound. :) (And my character is related to some serious heroes ... with the same name) *cough*.

May I ask whether you know what Rybakin means?

Re: *wow*

[yegor.livejournal.com]

"of the fisher".
But "Rybakov" os more frequent.

Re: *wow*

[vashtan.livejournal.com]

Thanks! And a last one - is there a Russian name associated with "wind", "sky" or "the sun"? In choosing characters' names, I go completely by sound, but I use a lot of eagle/wind/sun/light-associations with that guy.

Any help? Thanks a lot! :)

Re: *wow*

[yegor.livejournal.com]

Wind - Ветров
Sun - Солнцев
Eagle - Орлов
Light - Светлов
Sky - hmmm, hard to say. There is a surname like Небов, but i doubt it's from "Небо" as "sky"

Re: *wow*

[yegor.livejournal.com]

Ah, and again - all those are surnames, not names.

[alon_68]

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

[yegor.livejournal.com]

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

Re: *wow*

[vashtan.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

*makes notes*

Re: *wow*

[msk01.livejournal.com]

Ветров? Небесный? Солнцев?

Re: *wow*

[yegor.livejournal.com]

Небесноватый :)

Re: *wow*

[inkittenus.livejournal.com]

Ye, and associates with бесноватый - possessed. ;-)

Re: *wow*

[steppinrazor.livejournal.com]

I dunno, "of the Gnat" has a kind of delightful irony to it XD

Re: *wow*

[vashtan.livejournal.com]

... well, the guy in question is a mage/interrogator of the Russian interior ministry in around 2070 - and bonkers. Shizophrenic. But he's the hero - because the "evil guys" are just plain much much worse.

Hm. Timo Komarov, the mosquito-boy. Oy... *sniggers*

Re: *wow*

[yegor.livejournal.com]

Timo? What's that?

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.

[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...

Re: Timo...

[arvi.livejournal.com]

Timofey (Тимофей) is a good name for Russian character. Its Orthodox, came from Greece. In Russian its just a sound, like mantra. But means "the one, who respect God" in Greek.

Nothing girlish at all, very strong male name. The short & quick name is Timoha (Тимоха), not Timo. You can use Tim, but its uncommon.

The girlish nickname could be Tima (Тима). If you say Tima to Timofey, he will be aggravated. Even more girlish form is Timochka (Тимочка), that could be correct short & sweet name for Timofey.

Timo is neutral gender and unlikely to be used by Russians. May be Timofey loves French culture and calls himself "timO". But are you sure, you need a gay character? Because its their style.

Re: Timo...

[vashtan.livejournal.com]

Okay, his parents/friends would call him Timosha.... cool. Like that better than Timofei.

Also interesting stuff about "Timo" sounding gay. :) Didn't know there were "gay forms" of Russian names. :)

Re: Timo...

[arvi.livejournal.com]

Only if you stress the last syllable. Gays and lesbians usially use French-kind names. For example, from Nina and Natasha it could be: NinO, Ninel', Natali... TimO could be the same kind of playing with names, like VanO (from Vanya).

There are also Vovan, Tolyan — special kind of names Vova and Tolya, used by New Russians and other criminals.

Re: Timo...

[unlightened.livejournal.com]

used by New Russians and other criminals.
Not necessarily.