The word surname in translation means family (lat. Familia - family). The surname is the proper name of the tribal community - the united primary social cells linked by blood ties. How do the names of surnames arise, what is the principle of the formation of Russian surnames, in particular, surnames with "-ov".
The emergence of surnames
The emergence and spread of surnames in Russia was gradual. The first surnames and nicknames were acquired by the citizens of Veliky Novgorod and the lands under its jurisdiction. Chronicle evidence draws our attention to this fact, telling about the heroes of the Battle of the Neva in 1240.
Later, in the XIV-XV centuries, princes and boyars began to acquire generic names. Proclaiming by the name of the inheritance, which they owned, having lost it, the princes began to leave behind themselves and their descendants its name as a family nickname. This is how the Vyazemsky (Vyazma), Shuisky (Shuya) and other noble families appeared. At the same time, surnames, derived from nicknames, began to be fixed: Lykovs, Gagarins, Gorbatovs.
Boyar and then noble families, in the absence of their inheritance status, were formed to a greater extent from nicknames. Also, the formation of the surname from the name of the ancestor has become widespread. A striking example of this is the name of the family that reigned in Russia - the Romanovs.
Romanovs
The ancestors of this old boyar family were ancestors who at different times bore the nicknames: Mare, Cat Kobylin, Koshkins. The son of Zakhari Ivanovich Koshkin, Yuri Zakharovich, was already called by his father and nicknamed Zakharyin-Koshkin. In turn, his son, Roman Yuryevich, bore the surname Zakhariev-Yuryev. The Zakharyins were also the children of Roman Yuryevich, but from the grandchildren (Fedor Nikitich - Patriarch Filaret) the family continued under the name of the Romanovs. With the surname Romanov, Mikhail Fedorovich was elected to the royal throne.
Surname as personal identification
The establishment of passports by Peter I in 1719 for the convenience of collecting the poll tax and the implementation of recruiting duty gave rise to the spread of surnames for men of all classes, including peasants. At first, a patronymic and / or nickname were entered in the passport along with the name, which then became the owner's surname.
Formation of Russian surnames on -ov / -ev, -in
The most common Russian surnames are derived from personal names. As a rule, this is the name of the father, but more often of the grandfather. That is, the surname was fixed in the third generation. At the same time, the personal name of the ancestor passed into the category of possessive adjectives formed from the name of a noun with the help of the suffixes –s / –ev, –in and answering the question “whose?”
“Whose is Ivan? - Petrov.
In the same way, at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries, Russian officials formed and wrote down the names of the inhabitants of the Russian Transcaucasia and Central Asia.
