The appearance of surnames in every nation is a process that includes the features of perceiving the world and representing itself in it. Traditions and lifestyle, cultural development, religion, geographical space - all are reflected in the choice of surnames. Often, surnames that sound differently have exactly the same appearance, which indicates the unity of universal human values ​​and worldviews.

The emergence of surnames among the Eastern Slavs

The names of the Eastern Slavs are sometimes difficult to divide into separate peoples. This is due to the formation of the language and the settlement of peoples. Initially, the common Slavic language was formed, only with time did Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian stand out from it.

How did the names of Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians appear?

Most of the East Slavic names came either from the middle names and the name of one of the ancestors (Alekseev, Ivanov, Voinilovich, Fedorovich, Vasyuchenko, Romanenko, Savchuk), or from the nickname (Bezborodov, Brylev - from “bryla” - lip). Surnames were often given by occupation (Melnikov, Popov, Goncharenko, Sklyar - “glassblower”, Spivak - “singer”) and by place of residence (Belyavsky - “resident of the village of Belyavki”, Poleshchuk - “resident of Polesye”, Vyazemsky - “living at the Vyazma River ”).

The Slavs had a tradition of giving children protective names that should help in the future (Gorazd, Zhdan, Dur, Nekras), later such nicknames passed into surnames. A lot in the life of the Eastern Slavs was associated with hunting and animal husbandry. Noting the common behavior of people and animals, people called themselves after any animal (Wolf, Volkov, Vovk, Volchko). Over time, they also turned into surnames.

An interesting feature of the choice of surnames among the Eastern Slavs is not independence. Most of the names came from nicknames that were given to a person by someone else and entrenched in the consciousness of society.

The names of the Eastern Slavs are very similar and sometimes differ only in suffixes. Most Russian surnames end in –ev, -ov, in, Ukrainian –– –uk and –yuk, Belarusian –– ––, –– and –ich (Chernov-Chernenko-Chernyuk).

West Slavic last names

An interesting story of the appearance of surnames among the Western Slavs - Poles and Czechs. Initially, they were limited to one name and a nickname, reflecting any external features, character (Thick - thick, Neruda - evil). Sometimes similar nicknames were passed on to children.

When did the names of the Western Slavs appear?

Surnames of the Poles

In Poland, the first surnames appeared at a noble stratum - the gentry, around the XV century. The gentry was a family of clans united, formed not according to the blood principle, but according to the territorial. Each family had its name on the coat of arms, which was added to the personal surname formed by the name of the locality (for example, Jan Zamoysky coat of arms Elite). Then the names took the form adopted by the Roman patricians: personal name, family name and personal surname (Jan Elita Zamoysky). A little later, the family name and surname began to be written through a hyphen.

Gradually, the use of surnames switched to other social groups: citizens (from the end of the 17th century), peasants, and from the 19th century - Jews. Surnames were formed from nicknames (Golovach - from “head”, Bystron - “smart”), professions (Kowalski - “blacksmith”), place of residence (Vilensky - “resident of the city of Vilnius, modern Vilnius”).

Women's Polish surnames have a different form depending on the status of the woman. So, if the male surname ends in a consonant (except for g), then the unmarried woman's surname form will end in –wuhn / –juvna, and for a married or widow’s –– –owa / –yeva (Novak-Novakuvna-Novakova). From masculine surnames ending in a vowel or g, respectively, forms are formed for –ank / –yanka and –– ina (Plow-Pluzhanka-Pluzhina).

Surnames of the Czechs

In the Czech Republic, surnames first began to be used in the XIV century.Usually they were formed from the names of their ancestors: Jan - Janak, Yanota, Lukash - Lukashek. Because of this, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish where a Czech has a name and a surname: for example, Yakub Peter or Vaclav Havel.

The first Czech surnames appeared to identify citizens of the country. That is why they were formed by type of activity: Vorot - “plowman”, Tesarg - “carpenter”, Sklenarg - “glazier”, Bednarg - “cooper”, Kovarzh - “blacksmith”, Mlinarzh - “miller”. Surnames were also given by nicknames, often ironic and mocking: Teeth - “toothy”, Nedbal - “careless”, Halabala - “loafer”. Moreover, the father and son could have different surnames.

Only in 1780 did Emperor Joseph II legalize family namesinherited. The names of the nobles and the common people were different: among noble people they consisted of a name, a nickname and a generic name (Kryshtof Garant from Polzhitsy), among commoners, surnames were formed by occupation. There were surnames formed from the names of animals and plants: Golub, Gavranek - “Voronenok”, Vorlychek - “Eaglet”, Mouha, Tsibulka - “Bulbs”.

The female form of Czech surnames is always formed with the addition of - ova. This rule applies to foreign surnames: Tereshkova - Tereshkova, Fisher - Fisherova.

Surnames of the Jewish people

The Jewish people, despite their centuries-old history, had no surnames almost until the 18th century. It was customary to have your own name and add the name of the father. Since they tended to repeat themselves, they began to add derivatives of the name of the locality where they were born, or of the type of activity. So the names Oistrakh (a Jew from Austria) or Landau (after the name of a German city) appeared. For the formation of Jewish surnames, there was one unique property - to record not only the name of the father, but also the name of the mother, which is practically not found in other nations. So the names Raykin (son of Rai) or Malkin appeared.

The origin of Jewish surnames was influenced by the late date of their appearance, so you can notice quite interesting points in them. Since the Jews needed a surname in the 18th century for documents, they tried to acquire a “beautiful” surname for their family: Goldstein (“golden stone”), Rosembaum (“pink tree”), Bernstein (“amber”).

Some officials who did not receive bribes from the Jews allowed themselves to bestow a family with an inconsistent surname. So there were Jews with a surname Oksenshvants ("a tail of a bull").

Especially inventive could turn into a surname the abbreviation of the phrase of the scripture: Marshak ("moraine to Raben Shlomo Kruger").

French last names

The appearance of the first surnames in France dates back to the 11th century, and this is due to population growth and the need to distinguish people not only by place of residence and name. For a long time, surnames did not take root: even among high-ranking persons, they were replaced by nicknames, sometimes offensive (kings Philip Krivoy, Karl Sixth Mad, Louis Sixth Tolstoy).

At the beginning of the XVI century, by a royal decree, all residents of France were obliged to choose a surname that would belong to all members of the family. At the same time, it was recommended for the nobility to correlate the surname with the names of their possessions.

The hero of the famous novel by Alexander Dumas “Three Musketeers”, Porthos, owned several estates, so his full name is Baron du Vallon de Brasier de Pierrefon.

Most of the inhabitants of France were engaged in animal husbandry and farming at that time, so many of the chosen surnames reflected their occupations: Vache - “cow”, Labourreur - “farmer”, Fabri - “blacksmith”.

A feature of French surnames is their peculiar social status. Sometimes they were given to a person against his will, therefore there are surnames, the literal translation of which sounds like “cuckold”, “unbridled drunkard” and so on. Sometimes, as a surname, indications of different moments of his life were added to a person: Duval - “from the valley”, Tolu - “who killed the wolf”.

At the end of the twentieth century, an association of people was created in France who advocated the possibility of changing dissonant surnames, since they considered living with surnames unacceptable.

French surnames, thanks to the sonority of pronunciation, seem quite beautiful, although many of them are not always pleasant in translation.

Armenian surnames

The territory of Armenia was inhabited a very long time ago. People living here have a rich culture and national traditions. The first signs of statehood appeared much earlier than many European countries.

If the surnames of other peoples were primarily related to the locality or indicated the name of the father, then the first Armenian surnames were directly related to the totemic concept of the world and belonged to entire villages, communities: Artsvi - the clan’s totem, Vagraspuni — the clan’s totem - the tiger.

The first recorded surnames began to appear in the Middle Ages, when it became necessary to distinguish between people of the same village, bearing the same name. Then the totemic clan nicknames ceased to be used, but they added the name of the locality (Nakhichevan), an indication of the ancestors, a story about the occupation (Nalbandyan - “blacksmith”) or some special distinguishing feature, sometimes telling about a bright event in life or about a feat.

Like many nations, among the Armenians, the presence of a surname indicated the antiquity of the clan and its high origin. A distinctive feature of this was the final uni (Khatuni, Varnuni).

Many Armenian peasants did not have surnames until the middle of the 19th century. It was at this time that surnames ending in -an, -yan (or the more ancient forms -anc, -yanc) were formed: Melkumyan, Hakobyan.

In Armenian surnames the affiliation of a person to the nobility is still fixed. So, the initial “melik-” indicates that the ancestors of man occupied a high position in society, and the prefix “ter-” talks about the spiritual dignity of the ancestor.

Late Armenian surnames bear a touch of national poetry: Hambardzumyan - “heavenly radiance”, Dzhigarkhanyan - “glory to the winner”.

Georgian last names

The first Georgian surnames were recorded in the 7th century. Most often, they indicated family relationships, place of residence or profession, occupation of people. Later, the roots of the surnames began to correlate the owners with the names of the animal, obviously highlighting a character trait, or with an object, an object of the real world.

An important informative feature of Georgian surnames is their endings, which can be used to determine which part of Georgia a person comes from. The most common are surnames ending in “-ze” (Ordzhonikidze, Dumbadze) or “-eli” (Tsereteli). Such endings usually occur among residents of the central and western parts of the country. In literal translation, “dze” means “son”, that is, such a relationship is related in nature.

The endings of Georgian surnames can tell about belonging to a separate people living on the territory of Georgia: “-ia”, “-ua”, “-ia”, “ava” - to mehrels (Beria, Okudzhava), “-sha” - to Lazam, "Ani" - to the Svans (Dadiani).

In eastern Georgia, surnames with the ending “-shvili” are more common, which is essentially synonymous with “dze”, since it also speaks of heredity. In mountainous areas, territorial affiliation will be shown by the endings of “-uri” or “-uli” (Gigauri).

Surnames of the inhabitants of Africa

For most African peoples, surnames for a long time did not have much significance, since basic information about a person was embedded in his name, which could voice both the characteristics of the person and his place of residence, and even some individual worldviews: Abimbola - destined to be rich, Makena - happy. Surnames appeared much later, when it became necessary to draw up identity documents. As a rule, the name of the locality, clan or tribe was attributed to the name, sometimes the name of the father, which became the name of the person.

It seems surprising, but among the ancient African surnames there are practically no ones that indicated animals or birds. Obviously, people did not compare themselves with them.

Japanese last names

For the Japanese, the surname is an important indicator of status and origin, which is why, introducing themselves, they first pronounce the surname, and then the name.

Since ancient times, there have been several respected aristocratic clans: Takashi, Ichijo, Hirohata and others, as well as samurai clans: Asikaga, Shimazu, Genji. Men of clans had such surnames, and women of their noble families added “-hime” to their name, indicating their kind.

For a long time, until the end of the 19th century, only aristocrats and samurai, and only men, could have a surname in Japan, because a woman was his property, and therefore the surname was not supposed to be her.

At the beginning of the 20th century Emperor Mutsuhito obliged everyone to choose a surname, first of all it concerned peasants who never had one, although many were wealthy people and even had their own business. It turned out that choosing a surname was not a simple matter, because everything necessary for representing the genus should be reflected in it.

Some traditionally decided to make surnames derived from the names of famous ancestors who became famous in the battles or left their mark in the history of the country. Someone fixed the name of the area, but more often not a specific geographical name, but the fact that this region was decorated, for example, Kataki ("the great tree") or Yesikawa ("river"). There were those who made family names in tune with the names of their shops and workshops - this was a kind of advertising move.

Some Japanese people took original names that could indicate the time of year: Akiyama ("autumn"), the names of plants, animals: Suzuki ("bell"), or to be a kind of wish to the family: Fukui ("happiness").

Chinese last names

In modern China, despite the large numbers of these people, there are only about seven hundred surnames, but approximately twenty of them are spread, therefore, in this country there are so many namesakes who are not relatives. So, in Beijing, a little more than 450 names are used. The most popular and common names are Lee, Chen, Zhang, Wang and Liu.

Chinese surnames are passed from father to children, but women who marry, according to tradition, keep their surname for themselves, so mothers and children have different names, although recently two women have used their surnames: their own and their husband.

Surnames of noble Chinese men traditionally consisted of two components: surname (xing) and clan index (chi). In the future, only clan names remained, and the actual names passed to representatives of the lower classes. Only family members of the imperial families, Yao and Jiang, could keep their names.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, marriages between namesakes in China were banned, even if the young were not blood relatives. This decree stimulated the emergence of new surnames.

The surnames of commoners were most often associated with the name of the locality or nationality: Wu, Chen, Dream. Sometimes they indicated belonging to the feudal lord and his possessions: Di, Ouyang. Since in China there is a fixation in the name of the order of birth of sons in the family (meng, chong, shu), this is expressed in the last names: Meng (“born from the first son in the family”). Peasants often indicated in their surnames the occupation: Tao (“potter’s master”).

The emergence of surnames among different peoples did not occur at one time, and this was reflected in the process itself. The earlier a surname was acquired, the more clearly it was possible to see an imprint of a family affiliation on it, so the oldest ones will be those that indicate attitude to the ancestors. Almost all peoples recorded in their surnames an indication of the geographical space where they were born or lived.

Following the origin were the names indicating the type of activity, therefore, for many peoples, despite the sound difference, they have the same meaning: Goncharov, Gonchar - among the Eastern Slavs and Tao - from the Chinese. Surnames that occurred at a later date already have significant differences. They could reflect the imagination of the carrier, the geographical features of the area, and national poetry.