It was dangerous to be interested in the origin of the surname and the history of the family in Soviet Russia. People for such curiosity went to jail. Especially when it turned out that the ancestors were of noble roots. Now it has become very fashionable to decorate the wall of a room with a beautifully designed family tree.
Instructions
Step 1
Try to find out the origin of your surname yourself. Gather family council and talk to mom, dad, grandparents, and other elderly relatives. Take a notebook and write in it everything they tell you about your common ancestors. Obtain information about both maternal and paternal relatives.
Step 2
Gather enough information and draw a family tree on a piece of Whatman paper. The diagram will make it easier to understand where the surname came from. In the upper circles, write the names, patronymics, surnames, dates of birth and place of residence of the most distant ancestors about whom we managed to get information. Find out how many times they were married and what the names of their spouses were. How many grandparents had children, and in what year they were born.
Step 3
Look for information about the profession of distant relatives. Maybe someone was a shepherd, so you are Shepherds. Someone served in the navy, so your last name is Sailors. Someone's ancestors had a large poultry house, and now they are Petukhovs. Nicknames were also given due to external features - Rotov, Ukhov, etc. Perhaps this family difference is still preserved in your family.
Step 4
Seek help from the Internet if you cannot find a sufficient amount of information about the origin of the surname. Resources such as: https://familytree.narod.ru, https://gendrevo.ru and some others will help in studying the history of the genus. Do not use the services of sites that ask to send a message from a mobile phone for the selection of information or registration. These are scam portals. Their creators will simply withdraw money from the account and will not help. Look for databases that contain a list of names, complete with details of where they came from. There you can find your own distant relatives, send them a message and continue collecting information together
Step 5
Call specialized centers if the surname is rare enough and information about the origin could not be found. Their employees will compile the genealogical tree of your kind, painstakingly examining all the historical and archival data. These companies have access to information from institutions that study the formation of surnames. A full historical report will be prepared for you. The document will be approved by a seal and certificates from document storages will be submitted. These services are quite expensive. On the other hand, you will receive reliable information and you will be proud that you learned so much about your own ancestors.
