Origin of the name. Etymology of names: meaning, origin, character, interesting facts

Russian names

Names, like everything else in the world, have their own history. They, like other words, are created by human imagination, flourish, die, disappearing from the language of the people who were their creator. The history of Russian names goes back to a very distant era and is closely connected with the history of the Russian people and their language.

About four thousand years ago, ancient tribes lived on the plains stretching between the Odra, Vistula and Dnieper rivers - the ancestors of the ancient Slavs. These tribes lived in a tribal system and spoke the same language, which scientists call Common Slavic.

When the process of unifying the tribes began, the Slavs who lived in the East of Europe laid the foundation for the Russian nation. Their language began to differ somewhat from the language of other Slavs, although it did not lose its family ties with them and with the common Slavic language from which it originated.

The oldest monuments of Russian writing date back to the 10th – 11th centuries. From this time on, a reliable, scientifically based history of Russian names begins.

Ancient Russian names were unique characteristics of people. The name was given to a person as a sign by which one could distinguish him from a family or clan.

In some cases, a person was characterized by some external characteristic, in others - by moral qualities, by position in the tribe or family, in relation to him by parents and relatives, and sometimes by his occupation. The latter was possible because names were given not only in early childhood, as now, but also in adulthood. At the same time, the adult name often lived simultaneously with the child’s name.

Here are some ancient names-characteristics:

according to a person’s appearance: Small, White, Oblique, Pockmarked, Curly, Chernysh;

by human character trait: Kind, Clever, Proud, Quiet, Brave, Proud, Fool, Boyan;

by place in the family: First, Second, Drugan, Tretyak, Zhdan, Nechay, Menshak, Senior;

by profession: Kozhemyaka, Villager, Warrior, etc.

When you first encounter such a name, you might think that these are not names, but nicknames. After all, there was no difference between a name and a nickname in ancient Rus'. And each of these names can be documented.

In the ancient handwritten book “The Initial Russian Chronicle” it is mentioned, for example, that the leader of the East Slavic tribe of the Drevlyans named Mal. What does this name mean? Nothing else except that its owner was not tall. The prince's name was a short but very expressive description of him. The name Mal seems funny to us, but a thousand years ago it never occurred to anyone to see this as some kind of encroachment on princely dignity, because characterization names were common and taken for granted.

The names Brave and Good were also found in ancient manuscripts. They talk about high moral qualities their carriers. The name Dobrynya (derived from the name Dobr) means “very kind”, “very good”. Zhdan means “the one who was expected.” In ancient Rus' this name was given to children whose birth was great joy for their parents. Now only the Zhdanov surname retains traces of this name at its core. The names First and Second arose in large families, where the number of children often exceeded a dozen. In such cases, it was difficult to select characteristic names. The name was chosen simply: he was the first to be born - get the name First or First; born second, you will be second or friend, etc. up to the Ninth and even the Tenth.

Such numeral names were found not only among Russians or Slavs, but also among other peoples of Europe. They were quite common among the ancient Romans: Quintus - the fifth, Sextus - the sixth, Septimius - the Seventh, Octavius ​​- the Eighth, Nonnius - the Ninth, Decimus - the tenth, by the way, the name Nonna came into the Russian language, which means the Ninth. From the roots of ancient Russian nouns, the surnames Pervovy, Pervushin, Drugov, Tretyakov, Devyatovsky, Desyatov and the like were later formed.

The name Menshak (Menshik, Menshoy) was given to the youngest son, and the first-born in such a family received the name Elder. Probably these names were already given to adults, because... It is difficult to determine in advance which of the children will be the last. Of course, the grown-up names had a professional connotation: Selyanin, Kozhemyaka, Boyan.

The name Boyan is based on the root - fight, sign. Boyan is a fighter, a warrior. In ancient handwritten documents, the name Boyan is pronounced and written in the Moscow manner with a vowel a: Bayan. The re-vocalization of the name led to its rethinking: they began to explain it based on the basis of the verb “bayat”, i.e. speak - “talker”, “storyteller”, “songwriter”. This name was given to the famous ancient world musician-performer and singer. In honor of him, they named one of the people’s favorite instruments - Bayan.

The whole world seemed animate to our ancestors, all objects had properties similar to human ones, so the ancient Slavs began to use the names of birds, animals, plants and various objects as personal names: Wolf, Bear, Nightingale, Beetle, Eagle, Pike, Oak , Birch, etc.

The desire to be like this or that animal seems ridiculous to us. But ancient people thought differently: the wolf is not beautiful, but he is strong and resilient. And these properties are useful to humans. Therefore, in ancient Rus' it was not uncommon to meet a man with such a formidable animal name.

Subsequently, this name fell out of use among the ancient Slavs, but a derivative from it remained - this is the surname Volkov. But it still exists in many languages ​​of the world, which is explained by the internationality of the very principle of using common nouns. So among the Serbs the name Wolf sounds like Vuk, in German it sounds like component names Wolfgang, Adolf, Rudolf. It was also found in ancient European languages: in Gothic - Ulf or Wulf, in Latin Lupus, from which, by the way, came the Russian name Lup, which is found in A. N. Ostrovsky’s play “Puchna” - Lup Lupych Pereyarkov. The name Nightingale was given in ancient times talented singers. It is not difficult to guess that the Solovyov surname came from this name.

Also, the ancient Slavs had blind faith in mascot names, names with a trick.

Because Our ancestors were very afraid of “evil spirits”, evil words, the evil eye and other dangers that seemed to them everywhere. According to their ideas, people who were most in danger were those who were more honest, whose intelligent, positive traits were usually emphasized by their names-characteristics. In order to deceive evil people and evil spirits, caring parents deliberately gave their good children bad names. Boys who were smart and beautiful were deliberately called Fools and Freaks, honest and brave boys were called Scoundrels and Cowards, and those dear to the heart were called Nechayami.

Traces of such “preventative” names have survived to this day in the foundations modern surnames such as Nechaevs, Durakovs, etc.

What to name a newborn? This question worries many parents. In pre-revolutionary times, the issue of a name for a child was resolved simply. Registration of newborn children was carried out only by the church where the baptism ceremony took place. Thus, not a single child escaped baptism, even if his parents were unbelievers.

What names were given then? In the Russian Orthodox Church there were (and still are) special books - monthly books, or calendars. In the month's book, for each day of each month, the names of the saints who are honored by the church on that day are written down. Before the baptismal ceremony, the priest offered a choice of several names that were listed in the calendar for the child’s birthday. This usually ended the matter.

Why were there so many Ivans in Rus'? Yes, for the simple reason that the name Ivan (John) appears 170 times (!) in the complete calendar, that is, almost every other day.

True, sometimes the priest made concessions and, at the request of the parents, gave a different name, which was not listed in the calendar for that day. This, in fact, explains that sometimes a name that is rarely found in the calendar appears quite often in life. So, Slavic names Faith, Hope and Love in pre-revolutionary times were often given to children, despite the fact that Faith appears in the calendar only twice a year, and Hope and Love only once each.

But, in any case, the child could only be given the name that was in the calendar. No “free thinking” was allowed here.

Parents found themselves in a different position after the Great October Revolution socialist revolution. Registration of newborns began to be carried out by civil registry offices (registry offices), and parents could now choose any name: old (former church), borrowed name (Polish, German, etc.) and, finally, could even invent a new name.

Taking advantage of the freedom to choose a name, parents sometimes gave their children strange, unusual names. About three thousand new and borrowed names are known, which, with rare exceptions, will never take root on Russian soil. Here are names such as Oak, Birch, Carnation, Lilac. Almost all elements of the Mendeleev system (Radium, Vanadium, Tungsten, Iridium, Ruthenium, etc.), minerals (Granite, Ruby) are represented. Personal names include geographical names (Altai, Himalaya, Kazbek, Ararat, Volga, Onega, Amur, Cairo, etc.) and all the names of the months, from January to December, mathematical terms and technical names (Median, Radian , Hypotenuse, Algebrina, Tractor, Turbine, Railcar, Diesel, Combine, etc.).

A lot of names were formed from revolutionary slogans, names of institutions, etc. For example, Ikki (Executive Committee of the Communist International), Roblen (born to be a Leninist), Remizan (world revolution began), Revvola (revolutionary wave), Revdit (revolutionary child ), Lorikarik (Lenin, October Revolution, industrialization, collectivization, electrification, radioification and communism), Loriex (Lenin, October Revolution, industrialization, electrification, collectivization, socialism).

There is no need to even talk about such dissonant names as Tsas (Central Pharmaceutical Warehouse), Glasp (Glavspirt), Raitiya (district printing house) and the like.

In the post-revolutionary period, the influx of foreign names increased. There are names borrowed from different nations: Robert, Romuald, Rudolph, Richard, Josephine, Edward, Eric, Jeanne, etc.

Names appear that consist of two or even several words: White Night, Artillery Academy, Hammer and Sickle, Jean-Paul-Marat. L.V. Uspensky in the article “They call Zovutka” gives the following female names: Great Worker (!) and Cherry tree color in May.

Finally, there are also names - from the words read from the end: Ninel - Lenin, Avksoma - Moscow.

Being overly carried away by foreign names, parents forgot that these names often sound dissonant with the Russian patronymic and surname of the bearer of the name. For example: Harry Semenovich Popov, Diana Krivonogova, Robert Ovechkin, Red Alekseevich.

Sometimes “revolutionary” names fall into the same awkward combination, for example: Revolution Kuzminichna. Some parents like to give their daughters a diminutive form of their name instead of the full form. Sometimes in registry offices they write it down like this: Lyusya, Ira, Ina, Rita, Nata, etc. While the bearers of the name are still children, this sounds good. But Nata graduated from high school and became a teacher, Aga became a doctor, Rita became an engineer. And how ridiculous it will sound: teacher Nata Petrovna, famous surgeon Lena Romanovna, or even better: professor Lyusya Kondratyevna Kondakova!

But the fate, perhaps, of most of these names is the same: the bearer of such a name grows up and raises the question of changing it.

It is impossible not to mention the so-called “fashion” for names. It seems that even the most beautiful names lose their charm if they appear too often. Teacher S.N. Uvarova from the village of Korostovo, Ryazan region, writes that “out of 23 students who graduated from the seven-year school in 1955, there were 17 Nins! Over the past two years, newborn girls in the named village are called either Tanya or Nadya. Exceptions are rare.” At different periods, male names Valery, Gennady, Igor, Gleb, Vsevolod, Vadim were very fashionable. And this is not only in the village. The same thing is written in newspapers in Leningrad and other cities.

Is there a need to blindly follow the example of others with such a wealth of Russian names?

I would like to warn parents about their desire to name their child something special. This leads to the appearance of pretentious names that are unusual for a Russian person and, as a rule, does not subsequently bring joy to their child. It is difficult to recommend names because the choice of name is determined by the taste of the parents. But first of all, old Russian names deserve attention, such as Peter, Alexander, Constantine, Ivan, Maria, etc. Although in the distant past these names were borrowed by us from the Greeks, they have existed on Russian soil for almost a thousand years and have long since become Russified and overgrown big amount derivative forms.

In addition to the so-called canonical names, many old Russian and Slavic names have come into use among us. For example: Borimir, Borislav, Mstislav, Peresvet, Svetozar, Svyatoslav, Dobroslava, Miloslava, Vsemila, Lyubomir, etc.

Finally, some new names, successfully composed, have also caught on and can be recommended. This famous names Vladilen, Vladilena, Ninel and others.

Surnames

Surnames in the Russian nominal formula appeared quite late. Most of them came from patronymics (based on the baptismal or secular name of one of the ancestors), nicknames (based on the type of activity, place of origin, or some other characteristic of the ancestor) or other family names. The first people in the Russian lands to acquire surnames were citizens of Veliky Novgorod, who probably adopted this custom from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Then in the XIV-XV centuries. Moscow appanage princes and boyars acquired surnames. Before late XVIII - mid-19th century centuries, the majority of the population of central Russia did not have surnames. As a rule, Russian surnames were single and passed down only through the male line. In the middle of the 19th century, especially after the abolition of serfdom in 1861, surnames were formed for the majority of peasants. The process of acquiring surnames was basically completed only by the 30s of the 20th century.

For the first time, E.P. Karnovich turned to the study of surnames in Russia, who in the second half of the 19th century. compiled the "Dictionary of Old Russian names and surnames" (St. Petersburg, 1903). But only in the 1980s was the geographic environment of Slavic surnames analyzed for the first time in the posthumous major work of V. A. Nikonov “Geography of Surnames” (M., 1988). Based on a study of the funds of 52 archives, he collected the names of more than 3 million Russian people rural population, and also according to additional sources - more than 1 million people.

The geography of Russian surnames allows us to trace the movement of the population, “migration routes,” and the area of ​​settlement. The origin of such surnames as Ryazantsev, Yaroslavtsev, Tambovtsev is obvious. Surnames ending in -y, -i (Chernykh, Kosykh, Sedykh, etc.) are, as a rule, absent in the Moscow region and are common in Siberia, the Urals, in the interfluve of the Northern Dvina and Sukhona rivers, in the Voronezh - Kursk "triangle" - Eagle. On the contrary, surnames with the suffix ending in -itin were mainly found near Moscow (Borovitinov, Bolkhovitinov) and a little further (Tveritinov).

V. A. Nikonov drew attention to the strict geographical location of the origin of Russian surnames (now mixed). He was the first to divide the European part of Russia according to the most common surnames (surnames-“champions” in the words of V. A. Nikonov), highlighting:

1) Ivanovia, which he associated with the former Novgorod and Pskov lands;

2) Smirnovia, located in the Upper Volga region, on the territory of the Vladimir-Suzdal principality;

3) Popovia, Russian North;

4) Kuznetsoviya, the territory of later (XVI-XVII centuries) Russian settlement to the south and east of Ivanovia and Smirnovia.

V. A. Nikonov also rightly noted some confusion between Popovia and Kuznetsovia. He compiled a map with four outlined arrays - based on the dominant surnames.

Using computer methods, it is possible, figuratively speaking, to “color the map” with a large number of colors, which was used by V. A. Nikonov. In this case, less “pure” but more accessible sources were used.

The main source was not scattered documents from rural registry offices and voter lists, but city telephone directories compiled at the same time, which Nikonov used as auxiliary material. The starting point for the calculations was a table containing the occurrence of one hundred and three of the most “popular” surnames in 516 cities in the USSR. The output table of pairwise correlations of surnames 103x103 was processed manually. Groups of surnames were identified according to a threshold value of the correlation coefficient so that the groups did not overlap (it turned out to be 0.40). As a result, the following groups of surnames were identified (surnames associated with the area by V. A. Nikonov are marked):

1) Vasiliev, Fedorov, Ivanov, Petrov, Nikolaev, Alekseev, Alexandrov, Yakovlev, Mikhailov, Semenov, Andreev, Grigoriev - tied to the Pskov-Novgorod lands;

2) Smirnov, Rumyantsev, Tikhomirov, Sokolov, Lebedev, Tsvetkov, Vinogradov, Belov, Soloviev, Belyaev, Kudryavtsev, Krylov, Orlov - on the territory of the former Vladimir-Suzdal principality.

Three groups of surnames without a specific geographical reference:

3) Popov, Martynov, Medvedev, Melnikov, Chernov, Shcherbakov;

4) Vorobyov, Gusev, Zaitsev, Sorokin;

5) Prokhorov, Frolov, Rodionov, Savelyev;

and 64 surnames that defy either classification or localization.

Analysis of the geography of Russian surnames helps to deeply study demographic processes, the history of the ethnic group, families, various socio-cultural and even socio-economic problems.

Anthroponymy of Russian surnames states that most often surnames are formed from personal names through possessive adjectives. The bulk of Russian surnames have the suffixes -ov/-ev, -in, from the answer to the question “whose?” The difference is purely formal: -ov was added to nicknames or names with a hard consonant (Ignat - Ignatov, Mikhail - Mikhailov), -ev to names or nicknames with a soft consonant (Ignaty - Ignatiev, Golodyay - Golodyaev), -in to stems with a, I (Putya (Putyata) - Putin, Busyga - , Erema - Eremin, Ilya - Ilyin). This also suggests that, for example, the surnames Golodaev and Golodyaev, which have the same root, are related, but the outwardly similar Golodov, Golodnov, Golodny are not at all.

The vast majority of Russian surnames come from dedichestvo, the temporary surname of the father, that is, the name of the grandfather, thus securing the hereditary name in the third generation. This made it easier to designate families of the same root. If the grandfather, whose name formed the basis of the established surname, had two names - one baptismal, the other everyday, then the surname was formed from the second, since baptismal names did not differ in variety.

It should be noted that Russian officials wrote down their grandfather’s name in late XIX- the beginning of the 20th century and surnames for residents of national outskirts, thus the majority of surnames in Transcaucasia and Central Asia arose.

Russian surnames are mainly formed as patronymics from church or non-church personal names or nicknames, for example, Ivan > Ivanov son > Ivanov, Medved > Medvedev son > Medvedev. This also includes surnames derived from nicknames associated with the profession: Goncharov, Melnikov, Krasilnikov.

Much less often - from the names of the area, for example Belozersky from Beloozero. This method of education is especially typical for princely families, however (unlike Western Europe) is not typical for nobles.

The surnames of the clergy are derived from the names of parishes (for example, Kosmodemyansky, Rozhdestvensky) or artificially created in the seminary (Afinsky, Dobrovolsky).

In different social strata, surnames appeared at different times. The first in the Russian lands to acquire surnames were citizens of Veliky Novgorod and its vast possessions in the north, stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Ural Range. Novgorod chroniclers mention many surnames and nicknames already in the 13th century. So in 1240, among the Novgorodians who fell in the Battle of the Neva, the chronicler mentions the names: “Kostyantin Lugotinits, Gyuryata Pineshchinich, Namest, Drochilo Nezdylov, son of a tanner.” In 1268, “having killed the mayor Mikhail, and Tverdislav Chermny, Nikifor Radyatinich, Tverdislav Moisievich, Mikhail Krivtsevich, Ivach, Boris Ildyatinich, his brother Lazor, Ratsha, Vasil Voiborzovich, Osip, Zhiroslav Dorogomilovich, Poroman Podvoisky, Polyud, and many good ъ boyars ". In 1270, “Gavrilo Kyyaninov and his other friends ran to the prince on the Settlement of the Thousand Ratibor.” In the same year, Prince Vasily Yaroslavich “went to the Tatars, taking Petril Rychag and Mikhail Pineshchinich with him.” In 1311, “Kostyantin, Ilyin’s son Stanimirovich, was quickly killed.” In 1315, Prince Mikhail Tverskoy demanded from the Novgorodians: “give me Fyodor Zhrevsky.” In 1316 “Danilko Scribe was killed quickly.” In 1327, “the Novgorodians sent Fyodor the Chariot to the Horde.” In 1329, “I killed the Novgorod ambassador of the honest husband Ivan Syp in Yuryev.” In 1332 “Vastasha rebelled in Novgorod, and took away the posadnichestvo from Fyodor from Akhmyl and gave to Zakharya Mikhailovich, and plundered the courtyard of Smena Sudokov.”

Somewhat later in the XIV-XV centuries. family names appeared among princes and boyars. The princes were nicknamed by the name of their inheritance, and the moment of the emergence of the surname should be considered the moment when the prince, having lost his inheritance, still retained his name as a nickname for himself and his descendants: Shuisky, Vorotynsky, Obolensky, Vyazemsky, etc. A minority of princely surnames originate from nicknames: Gagarins, Humpbacks, Glazatye, Lykovs, etc. Surnames like Lobanov-Rostovsky connect the name of the reign with the nickname. Boyar and noble families were also formed from nicknames or from the names of their ancestors. The process of formation of boyar surnames from hereditary nicknames is well illustrated by the history of the boyar (later royal) family of the Romanovs. Its ancestors were those who lived in the 14th century. Andrey Ivanovich Kobyla and Fyodor Andreevich Koshka Kobylin. The descendants of Fyodor Koshka for several generations bore the nickname-surname Koshkins (however, not all of them: his son Alexander Bezzubets became the ancestor of the Bezzubtsevs, and another son Fyodor Goltyai became the ancestor of the Goltyaevs). The names of his son Ivan and grandson Zakhary Ivanovich were Koshkins. Among the children of the latter, Yakov Zakharovich Koshkin became the founder of the noble family of the Yakovlevs, and Yuri Zakharovich began to be called Zakharyin-Koshkin, while the son of the latter was already called Roman Zakharyin-Yuryev. The surname Zakharyin-Yuryev, or simply Zakharyin, was also borne by Roman’s son, Nikita Romanovich (as well as his sister Anastasia, the first wife of Ivan the Terrible); however, the children and grandchildren of Nikita Romanovich were already called Romanovs, including Fyodor Nikitich (Patriarch Filaret) and Mikhail Fedorovich (Tsar).

At the end of the 15th century. among the Russian nobles the first surnames of foreign origin appear, primarily the surnames of Polish-Lithuanian and Greek (eg. Philosophy) immigrants; in the 17th century to them are added such surnames of Western origin as Fonvizins, Lermontovs. The surnames of the descendants of Tatar immigrants were reminiscent of the names of these immigrants: Yusupov, Akhmatov, Kara-Murza, Karamzin (also from Kara-Murza). However, it should be noted that it is not always eastern origin the surname indicates the eastern origin of its bearers: in some cases, they come from Tatar nicknames that were in fashion in Moscow Rus'. This is the surname Bakhteyarova, which was borne by the branch of the Rostov Rurik princes (from Fyodor Priimkov-Bakhteyar), or the surname Beklemishev, which came from the nickname Beklemish (Turkish - guarding, guarding), which was borne by Fyodor Elizarovich, the boyar of Vasily I.

During this period, peasants usually did not have surnames; their function was performed by nicknames and patronymics, as well as the mention of their owner, since in the 16th century. The peasantry of central Russia was subjected to mass enslavement. For example, in archival documents of that time one can find the following entries: “Ivan Mikitin’s son, and his nickname is Menshik,” entry from 1568; “Onton Mikiforov’s son, and nickname is Zhdan,” document from 1590; “Guba Mikiforov, son of Crooked Cheeks, landowner,” entry from 1495; “Danilo Soplya, peasant”, 1495; “Efimko Sparrow, peasant,” 1495. In these records one can see indications of the status of still free peasants (landowner), as well as the difference between the patronymic and the surname (son of such and such). Peasants northern Russia, former Novgorod possessions, could have real surnames in this era, since serfdom did not apply to these areas. Probably the most famous example This kind of person is Mikhailo Lomonosov. You can also remember Arina Rodionovna Yakovleva, a Novgorod peasant woman and Pushkin’s nanny. Cossacks also had surnames. Surnames were also given to a significant part of the population of the lands that were previously part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - Belarus to Smolensk and Vyazma, Little Russia.

Under Peter the Great, by Senate Decree of June 18, 1719, in connection with the introduction of the poll tax and conscription, the earliest police registration documents were officially introduced - travel documents (passports). The passport contained information: name, surname (or nickname), where he came from, where he was going, place of residence, characteristics of his type of activity, information about family members who were traveling with him, sometimes information about his father and parents.

By decree of January 20, 1797, Emperor Paul I ordered the compilation of a General Arms Book of noble families, which collected more than 3,000 noble family names and coats of arms.

In the XVIII-XIX centuries. surnames began to spread among civil servants and merchants. At first, only the richest - the “eminent merchants” - were awarded the honor of receiving a surname. In the 15th-16th centuries there were few of these, mostly of Northern Russian origin. For example, the merchants Kalinnikovs, who founded the city of Sol Kamskaya in 1430, or the famous Stroganovs. Among the merchant surnames there were many that reflected the “professional specialization” of their bearers. For example, the surname Rybnikov, derived from the word rybnik, that is, “fish merchant.” One can also recall citizen Kuzma Minin, who, as is known, did not belong to the nobility, but had his own surname already at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries.

The clergy began to have surnames only from the middle of the 18th century. Usually they were formed from the names of parishes and churches (Preobrazhensky, Nikolsky, Pokrovsky, Blagoveshchensky, Rozhdestvensky, Uspensky, Kosmodemyansky, etc.). Before this, priests were usually called Father Alexander, Father Vasily, Father or Father Ivan, without any surname being implied. Their children, if necessary, often received the surname Popov.

Some clergy acquired surnames upon graduation from the seminary: Athensky, Dukhososhestvensky, Palmin, Kiparisov, Reformatsky, Pavsky, Golubinsky, Klyuchevsky, Tikhomirov, Myagkov, Liperovsky (from a Greek root meaning “sad”), Gilyarovsky (from a Latin root meaning “cheerful”) "). At the same time, the best students were given the most euphonious surnames and carrying a purely positive meaning, in Russian or Latin: Brilliantov, Dobromyslov, Benemansky, Speransky (Russian analogue: Nadezhdin), Benevolensky (Russian analogue: Dobrovolsky), Dobrolyubov, etc.; on the contrary, bad students were given dissonant surnames, for example Gibraltar, or derived from the names of negative biblical characters (Saul, Pharaoh).

As practice reveals, even among persons born in a legal marriage, there are many people who do not have surnames, that is, bearing so-called patronymic surnames, which causes significant misunderstandings and even sometimes abuses... To be called by a certain surname is not only a right, but it is also the duty of every full-fledged person, and the designation of the surname on some documents is required by law itself.

In central Russia, among the peasantry, surnames until the 19th century. were relatively rare. However, we can recall individual examples - the famous Ivan Susanin, who lived in the 16th-17th centuries. In addition, the names of some peasants are known - participants in certain wars, campaigns, defenses of cities or monasteries and other historical disasters. However, indeed, until the 19th century. mass distribution among peasants Central Russia had no last name. But this is rather due to the fact that in those days there was no need for a complete mention of all peasants, and there are no documents in which peasants were mentioned without exception or in the majority. And for the official document circulation of those years, if a peasant was mentioned in it, it was usually quite enough to mention the village in which he lived, the landowner to whom he belonged, and his personal name, sometimes along with his profession. The majority of peasants in central Russia were officially given surnames, recorded in documents only after the abolition of serfdom in 1861.

Some surnames were formed from the surnames of landowners. Some peasants were given the full or changed surname of their former owner, the landowner - this is how entire villages of the Polivanovs, Gagarins, Vorontsovs, Lvovkins, etc. appeared.

At the root of some surnames were the names of settlements (villages, hamlets) from which these peasants came. Mostly these are surnames ending in -skikh. Brynsky, Lebedevsky, Uspensky

However, most surnames are family nicknames in origin. Which, in turn, came from the “street” nickname of one or another family member. For the majority of peasants, this very “street” nickname was written down in the document, of which another family could have more than one. Nicknames appeared much earlier than universal family names. These same family nicknames, sometimes with roots going back many generations, actually served as surnames among the peasants of Central Russia - in everyday life, even before they were universally consolidated. They were the first to be included in the census forms, and in fact, family registration was simply the recording of these nicknames in documents. Thus, giving a peasant a surname often came down simply to official recognition, legitimization, and assignment of family or personal nicknames to their bearers. This explains the fact that in the era before the mass allocation of surnames to the peasants of Central Russia, we still know individual names and surnames of the peasants who took part in certain important events. When it became necessary to mention a peasant in a chronicle or in a narration about some event in which he was a participant - as his last name, the corresponding nickname - his own, or his family's - was simply indicated. And then, during the general assignment of surnames to the peasants of Central Russia, which occurred after the abolition of serfdom, these same nicknames were for the most part officially recognized and assigned.

Worldly surnames were formed on the basis of the worldly name. Worldly names came from pagan times, when church names did not yet exist or were not accepted into common people. After all, Christianity did not immediately captivate the minds, much less the souls, of the Slavs. Old traditions were preserved for a long time, the covenants of ancestors were revered sacredly. Every family remembered the names of their ancestors up to the 7th generation and even deeper. Legends from the history of the family were passed down from generation to generation. Instructive stories about the past deeds of their ancestors were told at night to the young successors of the family. Many of the worldly ones were proper names (Gorazd, Zhdan, Lyubim), others arose as nicknames, but then became names (Nekras, Dur, Chertan, Zloba, Neustroy). It should be noted here that in the ancient Russian naming system it was also customary to call babies with protective names, amulets - names with negative content - for protection, scaring away evil forces or for the reverse effect of the name. It’s like it’s still customary to scold those taking an exam, or to wish a hunter “no feather, no feather.” It was believed that Dur would grow up smart, Nekras would grow up handsome, and Hunger would always be well-fed. Protective names then became familiar nicknames, and then surnames.

For some, the patronymic was recorded as a surname. The royal decrees on conducting a census usually stated that everyone should be recorded “by first name and nickname,” that is, by first name, patronymic and last name. But in the XVII - first half XVIII centuries The peasants did not have hereditary surnames at all. The peasant family lived only for one life. For example, Procopius was born into the family of Ivan, and in all metric records he is called Procopius Ivanov. When Vasily was born to Procopius, the newborn became Vasily Prokopyev, and not Ivanov at all

The first census of 1897 showed that up to 75% of the population did not have a surname (however, this applied more to residents of the national outskirts than of indigenous Russia). Finally, surnames appeared for the entire population of the USSR only in the 30s of the 20th century during the era of universal passportization.

Russian surnames, as well as surnames created in their image and likeness, are common throughout most of Russia and in many neighboring countries. The ten most common ones look like this (to the right of the last name is the % of the total population of Russia):

1. Smirnov 1.862

2. Ivanov 1.33

3. Kuznetsov 0.998

4. Sokolov 0.856

5. Popov 0.806

6. Lebedev 0.742

7. Kozlov 0.636

8. Novikov 0.61

9. Morozov 0.568

10. Solovyov 0.486

From male Russian surnames in -ov, -ev, -in, inflected according to the paradigm of short possessive adjectives, forms of female surnames with inflection -a are formed, inflected according to the paradigm of short possessive adjectives of the feminine gender (for example, “U Elena Sergeevna Bulgakova”). From surnames starting with -iy, -yy, -oy, inflected according to the paradigm of full adjectives, forms of female surnames with inflection -aya are formed, inflected according to the paradigm of full feminine adjectives (for example, “at Sofia Vasilievna Kovalevskaya”). For the rest (except for Slavic surnames in -а/я, declined according to the paradigm of 1st declension nouns) surnames, the feminine form coincides with the masculine form, and is not declined, even if it is declined in the masculine gender (for example, “at Anna Pavlovna Sherer”) .

In the Russian tradition, women usually take their husband's surname upon marriage, although since 1918 the law has not obligated this

What can a surname tell about its owner? Experts in the field of onomastics - the science of names - were able to identify the connection of family secrets not only with the social roots and professional pedigree of the owner, but even secret societies and religious sects.

Russian, Ukrainian, Tatar, Georgian... - we often note to ourselves, even unconsciously, when meeting a new person and hearing his last name. And we are rarely mistaken, because the surname, as a rule, primarily indicates a person’s nationality. But to a specialist, the surname says much more - both about the person himself and about the people from which he came. It is not for nothing that an entire science is engaged in this - onomastics, and in particular its section - anthroponymy.

Today it has become fashionable to be interested in your ancestors. And this is gratifying: from Ivanov, who do not remember kinship, we are turning into normal people who do not think according to the templates established by official ideologists, but who are trying to understand the world around us in all its diversity, striving to understand our place in this world. And knowing your roots helps a lot: “where did I come from” - who your ancestors were, what they did, how they took part in the history of the country. A surname can tell a lot about this.

Most people have no idea how much information their last name carries. First of all, how it was formed in the first place. There is a naive idea, drawn from historical novels, the authors of which were not strong in onomastics, that surnames were formed either by the father’s name: Peter, Ivanov’s son, hence Ivanov, or by profession: Stepan, Kuznetsov’s son, here you have Kuznetsov. And this supposedly happened in the era of Peter I, when the reformer Tsar, following the example of his Western neighbors, ordered to be written “with the fatherland,” thus making room for another word that defines a person.

Nothing like that,” says Professor, Doctor of Philology Alexandra Superanskaya, leading researcher at the Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences. - Surnames in Rus' took shape already in the 15th century, and trends towards their formation appeared from the very beginning of our written history. In the oldest Russian chronicles, people are called by name and patronymic. In general, in the old days, the first name, patronymic and last name had much higher value than today - they determined a person’s place in society.

True, the word “surname” itself appeared only in the 19th century; it was not used before. And in ancient times it was necessary to call people by their names “from their fathers and nicknames.” To modern ears this sounded somewhat strange. For example, Pushkar Ivan Maksimov Belyakov - this is how it is designated in one ancient document, where the person’s profession comes first, indicating his place in society, which was considered the most important characteristic. And then Ivan is his name, Maksimov is the name of his father, and Belyakov is the family nickname for the head of the family. Or by the founder of the family. From a modern point of view, it seems that he has two surnames - Maksimov and Belyakov; they are the same in form, but have different functions. The last word meant that his great-grandfather, or even great-great-grandfather, was called Belyak.

But this nickname itself has undergone a number of changes. When surnames arose, in Rus', in addition to Christian ones, there were also ancient Russian names that were given to children before baptism. Moreover, they often adhered to, so to speak, thematic selection. The chronicles have brought to us many funny combinations. Let's say in one family a child was named Peas, Cabbage, Radish. And if there was nothing else about him in the chronicle, it would be difficult to determine his gender by name. In another family - Yagnysh Baranov, son of Ovtsyn. This meant that he had three generations in his family and they were all called by different names for sheep. There was also such a name: Pie Oladiev Blinov. Again, by the names that were borne by three generations of the family and which indicate a profession passed on from father to son, which was common in those days. And this happened in the 15th and even 16th centuries. But let’s not forget that in addition to this, people also had godnames. So, according to the documents, the full name sounded like this: Mikhail Yagnysh Baranov - son of Ovtsyn. The last name, as one might assume, eventually became a surname.

Today, many people try to identify the social status of their ancestors by their last name,” says Alexandra Vasilyevna. - Were they nobles, which is what I most want, or philistines, or even, God forbid, serfs. This cannot always be determined. In ancient times, not only this was put at the forefront, surnames carried a wider range of information. There were many different ways to define identity. Up to seven types of naming were used. Some by place of residence, some by father, grandfather, great-grandfather, some by profession - everything depended on how the person was assessed in society and what was more important. So, once in Novgorod they expelled a service man and invited another to the same position only because the first had a “bad” patronymic: he was the son of an unworthy father. And that means from a family that cannot be trusted.

A special place is occupied by the so-called “secret” surnames, denoting concepts familiar only to a narrow circle of people. They arose in certain communities whose members preferred not to disclose the details of their lives. No, we are not talking about criminal structures. But there were people united by a common name - Ofeni. Small traders or artisans. And they took surnames that were completely incomprehensible to the ear, but for the initiates they denoted the secrets of their craft. Some Zhurin is walking on the ground. The surname is like a surname, and only a few know that he makes certain products that “his” people will sell. His descendants were engaged in a completely different business, but the surname remained, the meaning of which is no longer clear to them.

Onomastics destroys many traditional ideas. Remember famous phrase tanker, brilliantly played by Oleg Efremov: “The whole of Russia rests on my name”? And the last name was Ivanov. It was believed that there were more Ivanovs in Rus' than anyone else. There was even a saying: “In Rus', Ivanov is like filthy mushrooms.” But as my interlocutor explained, the popularity of the name “Ivan” increased only during the 19th century, at the end of which a quarter of the male population bore this name. This is easily explained: the church honors this name in the list of saints 64 times a year, and names were given according to the calendar. But this is a name, but the surname “Ivanov” is far from the most common. The most popular is Kuznetsov. This is understandable: the blacksmith in every village was the most necessary and respected person. Therefore, from the western regions came the Kovalevs (from “Koval” - blacksmith), and from the southern Slavs - Kovach, with the same meaning. And not only the “main” surname, but also its numerous derivatives.

Derivatives are a special matter. Many of those who try to determine the social status of their ancestors by their last name do not suspect that the ancestors themselves made their search pointless. They changed the Christian name in their own way when communicating in everyday life, and it eventually became a surname. Scientists call these unofficial variants. For example, a boy Petya grew up in the family, whom his mother affectionately called Petrunya. And the neighbors are used to calling it that way. Or they stuck on a nickname like that, as was the custom. And he himself no longer called himself anything else and went by Petrunya until his old age, and his son Ivan was written down in the documents: “Ivan Petrunin’s son.” And a new surname went across the earth - Petrunin. This is just one of the options, and there are many of them. Petrushin, Petryaev, Pityaev, Petin, Petenkin, Petishchev, Petrishchev, this is still an incomplete list. The same goes for other names - the people's imagination is inexhaustible. In our conversation, Alexandra Superanskaya listed so many variants of the most common names that people in her family or village were called that there was simply not enough space for them in the newspaper.

When they want to emphasize the large number of people involved in some business, says Alexandra Vasilievna, they usually list: Ivanov, Petrov, Sidorov. And this is also a mistake. Because if there are really many Ivanovs and Petrovs, then there are very few Sidorovs. Both this name and surname are not common in Rus'. Sidor's goat is mentioned much more often, although where this expression came from is unknown. So Sidor is not a friend of Ivan and Peter, and how he got into this proverb is still a mystery to researchers.

But the situation has become transparent when families living in the same village have the same surnames, although they are not relatives. The whole point is that when Soviet power the village lived for a long time without passports. In fact, they were in the position of serfs who could not go anywhere without an identity document. Certification of the village began only under Khrushchev, and ended in the 70s. And it turned out that many families simply “lost” their surnames. They got by with nicknames that their neighbors gave them or they were simply called by their place of settlement. Let's say, several families lived behind a dam, and when they were certified, they all became Zaprudskys. They lived at the end of the village - Konechnye. On the shore of the pond - Beregovye. This is such an offensive situation when surnames do not reflect family roots.

Even worse incidents happened precisely because the peasants “lost” their surnames. When the guys were drafted into the army, they used to get confused when filling out the documents. You didn’t know what last name to give, you can’t give it a nickname. And then joining the regiment was simple: they called the surname by the name of where the father was, and where the grandfather was. And returning from the army, siblings found themselves with different surnames, which sometimes led to misunderstandings. However, in those days when a person was considered a cog in a common machine, this was rarely paid attention to.

But there are not very many of them. There are many more ancestral surnames, from our ancestors. And the most common in Rus' are Kuznetsovs, Popovs, Ivanovs, Smirnovs. They divided four zones among themselves - historically separate territories. The Kuznetsovs have the largest distribution area - from Tula, where they are most numerous, to Nizhny Novgorod and Samara. "Ivanovia" is the north-west - Pskov, Novgorod, adjacent lands. "Popovia" - the North, especially the Arkhangelsk region. "Smirnovia" - the center and northern Volga region - Yaroslavl, Vladimir and other regions from Tver to Nizhny Novgorod. And the borders of these four zones collide on Tula and Ryazan land.

We are of the same blood - you and me

It is not by chance that interest in family tree- identifying people who are related to your family to one degree or another.

Let them have different nationalities, let fate scatter them across different countries and continents, a scrupulous analysis of surnames that often change in marriages different generations, sometimes gives surprising discoveries that you can often be proud of.

All people are brothers, says the Bible, all descended from one root. Mathematics partially confirms this. In fact, two parents, four grandparents, and eight great-grandparents took part in your birth. A simple calculation shows that 200 - 250 years ago there were already more than a thousand of your direct ancestors, and 400 - 500 years ago - more than one million. And if we assume that each family had only two children, then somewhere on earth there are at least a million of your blood relatives walking around. So suddenly you are related to the French king and can lay claim to the throne. Do not know? But in the old days, when compiling a family tree, such an opportunity would not have been missed.

It is known that Schelling, Hegel, Schiller and Max Planck were relatives - after a common ancestor, Johann Vanth, who lived in the 15th century. Karl Marx and Heinrich Heine had a common ancestor. And Karl Liebknecht is a descendant of Martin Luther through the female line. So the violent revolutionary blood was passed on to him by inheritance. Just as the famous English Prime Minister Winston Churchill received, on the one hand, the blood of the famous pirate Francis Drake, and on the other, the blood of the Duke of Marlborough, about whom the song “Marlbrooke is about to go” was written.

Belinsky's great-niece was Plekhanov's mother, and Plekhanov's half-sister later became the mother of the organizer of Soviet healthcare N. Semashko. The historian Soloviev was Alexander Blok’s second cousin, and Blok’s mother was related to the Aksakovs and Karamzin, not to mention the fact that she was Mendeleev’s daughter. Miklouho-Maclay was distantly related to Mickiewicz and Goethe, and Marshal Tukhachevsky, through the Arsenyevs, was related to Lermontov. The poet Nikolai Klyuev was a direct descendant of the rebellious archpriest Avvakum.

Pushkin and Leo Tolstoy had a common great-great-great-grandfather, Admiral Golovin. Pushkin and the poet Venevitinov were fourth cousins, and through his children Alexander Sergeevich became related to Gogol, the Benkendorfs and the imperial family.

What is your name?

Alexandra Vasilievna Superanskaya
Doctor of Philologyuk

Let's talk about common Russian names. What do they mean? Where do they come from?

Most modern Russian names were borrowed in the 10th century AD from Byzantium along with Christian religion. These names were legalized, recorded in special books - “saints” and declared “real”, “correct”. After the introduction of Christianity in Rus', it was allowed to give names only through the church (at baptism). The “saints” also included some names of common Slavic origin, which arose long before the baptism of Rus', in an era when the Slavic community did not break up into tribal groups, from which separate groups were subsequently formed. Slavic peoples. These common Slavic names (Vladimir, Yaroslav, Svyatoslav, Vsevolod...) and some Scandinavian names(Igor, Oleg...) were usually not given ordinary people and were considered "princely" names. Only at the end of the last century these names were revived by the Russian intelligentsia. Their use expanded significantly after the revolution. At the same time, such ancient common Slavic names as Stanislav, Mstislav, Bronislav, adopted by other Slavic peoples, came into life.

The names Faith, Hope, and Love occupy a special place in their origin. The Greeks did not have such names. However, in Greek legends there were symbolic figures of Faith (Pistis), Hope (Elpis) and Love (Agape), but they were not given to people as names. Obviously, when compiling the Russian church nomenclature, the names of these symbolic figures served as the basis for creating the names Faith, Hope, Love from the verbal material of the Russian language. This type of borrowing, when a word in another language is created based on the model of one language from its linguistic material, is called tracing paper in linguistics, and the process of such borrowing itself is tracing paper.

Where did the Byzantine names that formed the basis of the Russian “saints” come from? The Byzantine Greeks collected the best, of course, from their point of view, names of all those peoples with whom they maintained trade and cultural relations. Along with names of ancient Greek origin, they used ancient Roman and Hebrew ones. As separate inclusions in the list of Byzantine names there are ancient Persian, ancient Egyptian, Chaldean, Syrian, Babylonian...

If we begin to consider canonical names according to the meaning of the words from which they originate, we will immediately notice our own characteristics in them. For example, almost all names of ancient Greek origin emphasize good moral and physical qualities in people. Here are the meanings of some of them: Andrey - courageous; Nikifor - victorious; Tikhon - happy; Agata - beautiful; Sofia is wise. Most Roman names also celebrate the good in people: Victor - winner; Valentin, Valery - healthy; Pulchernya is wonderful. Ancient Jewish names differ sharply from Greek and Latin. Most of them include an element with the meaning god (il, io): Gabriel - warrior of God; Elijah - the power of God; John - God's grace.

Despite the fact that the names taken from the “saints” have been given to Russians for a whole millennium, they still remain two-thirds alien to the Russian people: after all, they arose on foreign soil and were artificially transplanted into Russia.

The names Evelina or Eleanor among our contemporaries look less strange and unusual than the names Theodora or Aquilina among their distant great-great-grandmothers of the 10th century. The difference is that the names Evelina or Eleanor are familiar to us from literary works; we meet them in newspapers and can easily pronounce them, while the poor illiterate great-great-grandmothers could not even turn their tongues to pronounce the names that they were given at baptism, and they had never heard such outlandish words and, how and why These words came to Rus' and they could not really understand them. However, canonization is canonization, and they diligently pronounced their “outlandish” names, distorting them beyond recognition, turning Aquilina into Akulina, Theodore into Feodor, Dionysius into Denis, Diomede into Demid, Juliania into Ulyana. This is how the process of Russification of non-Russian names took place, the process of turning foreign and difficult to pronounce words into our own, familiar, close and easy to pronounce.

However, despite the fact that all canonical names without exception underwent such changes, many of them remained alien to the Russian people and the Russian language.

"Science and Life", No. 8, 1964.
The article is abbreviated

About the list of names posted on this site

The list shows the different spellings of names ( Adrian - Andrian), their folk forms (Adrian,Andriyan,Andreyan), diminutive and short forms, Church Slavonic variants for names present in Orthodox calendar (Sergey-Sergius), Latinized forms for names included in the Catholic calendar ( Sergius), as well as information about the meaning and origin of the name.

Abbreviations used:
decrease - diminutive
prod. - derivative
medieval - medieval
modern - modern
ancient german - Old Germanic
Old-Hebrew - Hebrew
lat. - Latin
Celtic - Celtic, belonging to the Celtic group of languages
Ancient Greek - ancient Greek
Old Scand. - Old Norse
Norman - Norman
fr. - French
old-fashioned - Old French
Provence - Provençal
Other English - Old English

The origin of names goes back to ancient times and is covered with a layer different legends. The exact time when the group “proper names” began to be identified is not known, but already in the 3rd century BC the philosopher Chrysippus classified them as a separate group of words.

Imagine a time when people lived in caves, farmed together, and knew nothing about medicine and the world outside their settlements. When a person just began to give names to the things around him, he was surprised and studied the nature of existence.

The first names were not invented specifically to designate a specific person; people used various words for this: names of animals, natural phenomena, plants, seasons, celestial bodies, gods, etc. (Willow, River, Wolf, Rain). But ancient mysterious names were quite often given to people based on character traits, appearance, lifestyle, characteristics, behavior, etc. (Nose, Talker, Wanderer). Yes, the most A tall man in the settlement he could be called Rock, and the quietest one could be called Mouse.

Even in ancient times, people began to understand that the name given to a person, can influence his fate in various ways. Then they began to choose names that would stand for something good. In African and Indian tribes, children were named so that the name sounded repulsive, scaring away evil spirits and evil spirits.

Also in history, it was quite common for a child to have two names: one that only he and his parents knew, and the other a common name that everyone could call.

Few people know that in China, a child received his first name at birth, his second when he entered school, and his third (adult) after he came of age.

IN ancient Greece parents named babies after heroes, gods and important figures in history. They believed that then the child would inherit their greatness, strength and the qualities that the heroes possessed. But people, calling the child as one of the gods, often feared the Almighty. Therefore, to address the gods every day, they used various epithets, from which some of the names we know come from: Alexander - “defender”, Victor - “winner”, Laurus - “in honor of Mars”, bearing a laurel branch, or Stefan, in Slavic languages turned into Stepan, which means “crowned”, since many gods wore wreaths.

Sometimes children were named the same as the gods, but not the main ones, but the secondary ones: Aurora, Muse. Superstitious pagans hoped that the best qualities and abilities of these gods would be passed on to their child along with the name. And perhaps they hoped that the gods would even bring a gift to their family in the form of a good harvest or good health.

The history of the origin of names is not always as simple as it seems. We don't always know where a given name came from. Even if we ourselves are its carriers.

Many people think that names such as Maria (Masha), Ivan (Vanya) are originally Russian. This is a misconception, because they, like many others familiar to hearing, came from other languages ​​and peoples.

Among the commonly used names are many that have Greek, Scandinavian, Hebrew, Latin and other roots.

After the adoption of Christianity and the departure of paganism, more and more foreign names with deep meaning began to penetrate into our culture: Nikita - “winner”, Alexey - “defender”, Elena - “bright”, Eugene - “noble” and so on.

Perhaps we consider them originally Russian, since they are often used in folklore, fairy tales and legends that are familiar to us from childhood.

But there is also a wide variety of original Russian names that have survived to this day: Lyudmila - “dear to people”, Yaroslav - “glorifying Yarila”, Vladimir - “owning the world”, Vsevolod - “owning everything”, Zlata - “golden” and a huge number more a number of such examples can be found by studying the history of Rus'. Today these names are gaining popularity again, because many want to return to authenticity family values and the history of their people.

It is interesting and important to know that people with strange or very funny names more often than others suffer from various mental illnesses.

Remember: it will always be useful to find out the origin, meaning and secret meaning nicknames. Knowing historical names may help you understand yourself a little better. You will know what you are capable of, and, most importantly, you will be able to choose a name with a good story for your child. Do not forget that by naming a child, you endow him with certain qualities, so you should carefully choose a name and figure out where it came from.

Luchko Victoria Vladimirovna

1st year student of the State Budgetary Educational Institution of Secondary Professional Education "Gulkevichi Construction College" KK, Russian Federation, Gulkevichi

Luchko Irina Valentinovna

scientific supervisor, teacher of Russian language and literature

GBOU SPO "Gulkevichi Construction College" KK, RF, Gulkevichi

The purpose of my work, which I called “The Etymology of Personal Names,” is to explore the etymology of personal names and suggest ways to choose them .

study the history of the origin of personal names;

consider, using the example of the 20th - early 21st centuries, whether time affects names;

find out what influences the choice of name.

While working on the topic, I used the following methods:

survey;

study of archival documents, reference books, dictionaries;

conversations with ministers of the Holy Trinity Church, with employees of the passport and visa service and employees of the registry office, with bearers of interesting names.

Introduction.

A person is given a name once. It becomes a kind of identification document for a person, his personal name.

All personal names were once common nouns. In ancient times, the Russian people and other peoples had a custom: at the birth of a child, to assign to him the names of various objects, phenomena, and signs as a name. Hence such Old Russian names, like Dobrynya, Druzhina, Kalina.

Before the adoption of Christianity, Russians had names that called a person according to internal or external characteristics (Bolshoi, Ryaboy, Kosoy, Buyan, Mal, Zhdan, Molchan, Kudryash, Nelyub), reflecting the order in which new family members appeared (First, Pervusha, Tretyak, Malyuta , Later). The names reflected social and economic status (Slave, Bobyl, Selyanin), place of origin (Nesvoy, Inozem, Nenash, Kazanets), church relations (Bogomaz, Sin, Bogomol).

Our ancestors also used allegorical names. In the chronicles of the 4th century, the names were preserved: Ram Filippov, Sheep Vladimirov, Spider Ivanov.

There were also names of another kind - princely ones, which arose on common Slavic or Russian soil: Yaroslav, Vsevolod, Vladimir, Budimir, etc.

Sometimes not real, but desired characteristics were taken as names: Svetozar (bright as the dawn), Vladimir (who owns the world), Vsemila (dear to everyone)

Few beautiful female names have survived: Golub, Nesmeyana, Zabava, Lebed, Lyubava, Zhdana. Annoyance, Borislav, Svyatoslav.

The meanings of some names were forgotten. And the common noun turned into a proper name.

Every person living on earth has a name. It is a companion of man from the first to last days life.

Probably everyone has asked themselves at least once: “Why did they call me that?” At the same time, some are happy about their name, others would like to change it.

Growing up, I hear more and more often that a name is not just a set of familiar and familiar sounds, but it is something like a code with which we can decipher fate, find out whether the name given by our parents corresponds to our star sign.

It turns out that there are people who study psychology, philology and astrology of the name.

Of course, I still can’t figure it all out, but it was interesting to find out when the names appeared, how they arose, and why they disappeared forever or temporarily.

History of the origin of names.

The ways in which names were formed among ancient peoples were very diverse. Some, in order to appease the spirits of nature and enlist their support, gave their children names like Tamara /date palm/, Leah /antelope/, Rachel /sheep/ and others. In some tribes, in order to get a name, you had to attack a foreigner and, before killing him, ask him what his name was. Still others, when naming their children, invested in them their best hopes and wishes. Many ancient names have reached us, but we have long forgotten their meaning. I learned that in ancient times European peoples had a popular name translated as Wolf: Vuk /Serbia/, Vilko /Bulgaria/, Rudolf - Red Wolf /Germany/ and simply Wolf. In Uspensky I found evidence that the Russians also had the name Volk (hence the surname Volkovs).

But after the baptism of Rus', people began to seek protection not from the forces of earth, but from the forces of heaven. All children began to receive names during the sacrament of baptism - christian names. The roots of these names can be found in Hebrew, Greek, Latin languages. A person who received the name of some saint found himself in heaven with a powerful “namesake” who was supposed to protect and help.

For some time, people in Rus' could have two names - secular and Christian. So it was with Princess Olga, in holy baptism - Elena. Varangian Olga - light, Greek Elena - light.

Olga's grandson Vladimir, who baptized Rus', received the name Vasily - Tsar's - at baptism.

Names at the beginning of the 20th century.

Name and time! I wonder what happened to the name in the 20th century, what is happening now - in the 21st century?

I started by visiting the archives of the Gulkevich registry office. The records convinced me that at the beginning of the 20th century names were given according to the calendar. So, at the end of August and beginning of September, all the girls turned out to be Natalia (St. Natalia's Day is September 26), and in July, after 24, they turned out to be Olga. Near some names in the registry book there is a note: “It was named in honor of a saint...” or a saint.

The entry for December 1910 is as follows: “December. Born 11, baptized 22. Peter. In honor of the martyr Peter, celebrated by the church on December 28.”

Having written down the names given to children in 1910-1912, I saw that the most popular were: John /not Ivan/ - 19 people, Nikolai /in honor of Nicholas the Winter and Summer/ - 14 people, Alexander - 12 people.

Among female names, the most popular were Anna - 21 people, Maria - 17 people, Claudia - 21 people. It is interesting that now, according to the registry office workers, this name is almost never given.

Only once in two years did the name Maxim, so common now, appear; Arkady, Vitaly, and Yuri each came up once each. It was surprising that only once the boy was given the name Sergei.

Rare female names were Raisa - 1 time, Taisiya - 1 time, Pavla - 1 time, Evgenia - 1 time.

There were names I had never heard of:

So, at the beginning of the century, names were often given based on the Church Saints.

Names in the Soviet period.

After October 1917, people began to change their surnames to euphonious ones, “old regime” ones to “modern ones”. The new name creation was no less striking. Instead of christenings, they came up with the civil rite of October, according to which the child was given a name in a solemn atmosphere, usually corresponding to the new ideology. From 1924 to 1930, such names were printed in calendars as opposed to the calendar.

I found the following expression in L. Uspensky: “Revolutionary calendar” and a mention of the names born of the revolution, industrialization: Marchen, Energy, Zheldora, etc.

A number of names echo the names and surnames of the leaders of the revolution: Buden, Marxin, Marlena, Vilen, Vilor, etc.

I wonder if there were people with such names in the city of Gulkevichi? It turns out that they lived and live. My mother said that at school she was taught physics by Stalina Stefanovna Kasatikova. My great-grandmother had a classmate named Gertrude (her name came from two words - hero of labor); my children's doctor's name is Irina Vladilenovna (her grandfather named his son in honor of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin).

First Soviet years parents tried to give their children euphonious and beautiful names, often giving foreign names: Isolde, Arthur, Eliza, Robert, Edward, Evelina. The names of the ancient Greek and Roman gods were used: Venus, Diana. A lot of names were formed from revolutionary slogans: Noyabrina, Oktyabrina, Svoboda, Ninel (if you read from right to left, you get Lenin), Vilen (Vladimir Ilyich Lenin), Roblen (born to be a Leninist).

Among people who are now about 70 years old, there are many Pavlovs, and therefore among 40-60 year olds the middle names Pavlovna and Pavlovich are often found. Popova Valentina Pavlovna (worked at secondary school No. 1 before retiring) is sure that her father was named after Pavel Korchagin, the hero of the novel “How the Steel Was Tempered” by Ostrovsky.

Teacher primary classes my former school Tamilina Zoya Nikolaevna said that she was named after Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya. Zoya Nikolaevna tries to live in such a way that she is not ashamed of the memory of the one after whom she was named.

Many names have not survived to this day. Today, no one will call their children names like Barricade or Disizara (child, boldly follow the revolution). But many names are still popular: Vladilen, Vladlena, Oktyabrina... Moreover, modern parents often do not know the origin of these names.

In the Gulkevichi registry office, one of the oldest workers remembers that since 1961, the name Yuri (in honor of the first Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin) became one of the most popular male names, and when Valentina Tereshkova flew into space, mothers and fathers remembered the temporarily forgotten name Valentina.

My neighbor Sheremetova L.I. said that she named her daughter Svetlana in honor of cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya. History teacher Irina Dmitrievna Popova got her name because her mother was interested in figure skating and dreamed of seeing my daughter look like Irina Rodnina.

We can conclude that in the 20th century, in its middle, the choice of name began to be influenced by time, its heroes, its values, its beacons.

Names at the end of the 20th - beginning of the 21st century.

The 1980 Olympics gave the name Olympics to many girls born in the late 70s and early 80s of the 20th century.

At the end of the 20th century, the 1980 Olympics gave the name Olympics to many girls born in the late 70s and early 80s. Popular films at the end of the last century also influence the choice of name: after the series “The Rich Also Cry” - Marianne appeared, after the film “Angelique and the King” - Angelica.

Show business also makes its contribution to naming. Fans of Alla Pugacheva are Alla’s daughter, although this name did not exist at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. Many Valerias are named after the singer Valeria. The song with the refrain “Vika, Vika, Victoria” is a possible reason for the appearance of Victoria in Gulkevichi.

Trying to find out how names are given today, I conducted a questionnaire among parents of the 1st grade of MAOU Secondary School No. 3 (year of birth of children - 2013) and parents of students in the senior group of kindergarten No. 13 (year of birth of children - 2008). 56 people took part in the survey.

According to the results of the questionnaire, the most popular names were Dasha and Nastya among girls, and Daniil and Artem among boys.

To the question: “What influenced the choice of name?” - the majority /48%/ answered: “I just liked the name”, 15% named their children in honor of their grandparents, 7% - in honor of their father /Artur Arturovich, Sergey Sergeevich/, 20% found out what the name means and liked the meaning:

Katerina is pure,

Larisa the seagull

Valery is healthy,

Maxim is the biggest

Daria is a gift.

5% could not explain the reason, simply adding a dash.

But among the respondents there were also 5% who chose the name according to the calendar.

Name and church.

I was interested in the question, can the church help in choosing a name and how often does this happen?

I met with the ministers of the Holy Trinity Church. They told me that in Lately the number of people coming to church when choosing a name has increased. They want to give the child the name of the saint on whose day he was born.

In addition, I learned that people of different ages contact the church with a request to change their names from secular to church. It is possible to receive a name or change it during the sacrament of baptism.

From the words of Father Victor, I learned that the sacrament of baptism is a sacred act in which a believer in Christ, through three times immersion of the body in water with the invocation of the name of the Holy Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - is washed from original sin, as well as from all the sins he himself committed before baptism, he is reborn by the grace of the Holy Spirit into a new spiritual life and becomes a member of the church, that is, the grace-filled Kingdom of Christ.

In our church, baptism is held every Saturday and Sunday. My grandmother Svetlana Viktorovna Matrosova told me that in the 50-80s of the 20th century they tried not to talk about the baptism of children: this could have caused big trouble. Now baptism is a holiday. I attended one of them.

On this day, 5 people were baptized. The youngest, Vadim, was ten months old, the oldest, Inna, was 23 years old.

Two brothers also received the sacrament of baptism: Anton and Denis. This is their name in the world, and at baptism they received the names Anthony and Dionysius.

Visiting church on the day of the sacrament of baptism made a great impression on me.

Names and fashion.

The head of the Gulkevich registry office said: “More and more children are now called by their old names: Daniil, Roman, Fedot, Seraphim, Serafima, Ulyana, Evdokia. The names Adam, Eve, Zlata have become fashionable. In 2009, one family gave their son the name Angel.”

My aunt Svetlana Anatolyevna Shramko named her recently born son the now fashionable name Matvey. In general, there is a fashion for the name. Old names are in fashion now.

Fashion for the name... Is it good or bad? I don't think it's particularly good. After all, in the end, in one class there are, for example, 4 Artem and 4 Nastya (1 “A”). In the junior group of kindergarten No. 13, five boys bear the name Daniil. Not a single Dasha studied with my mother at school or at the university, and at the summer camp there were three of them in my squad. But a name like Galina, very popular in the 50-60s, is now forgotten, although it has so many options: Galya, Galochka, Galyusha, etc. Try to find so many options for the name Inga, Angelica, Marina. It seems to me that the diversity of its variants is also an advantage of the name, because behind each there is a feeling, an assessment, our attitude. For example: Nikolai, Kolya, Nikolushka, Nikolenka, Kolka, Kolyan. You don’t even have to try to find something similar to the name Laurus or the name Matvey.

Conclusion

While working on the topic “Etymology of personal names,” I researched the history of the origin of personal names and found out that initially all names were common nouns and only after losing their semantic meaning did they become proper names. Having studied the formation of names during the 20th - early 21st centuries, I came to the conclusion that at the beginning of the 20th century, names were often given based on the Church Saints, and in the middle of the 20th century, the choice of name began to be influenced by time, its heroes, its values, its beacons. At the end of the 20th century, films that were popular at the time influenced the choice of name, and show business also made its contribution. A survey of parents whose children were born at the beginning of the 21st century showed that now the priority in choosing a name is the meaning of the name, its euphony, as well as the name of the saint on whose day the child is born, i.e. the Church Saints.

Bibliography:

1. Gorbanovsky M.V. "100 Russian names". Minsk, 2003

2. Nikonov V.A. "Dictionary of Russian surnames." Moscow, 1993

3.Petrovsky N.A. "Dictionary of Russian personal names." Moscow, 1998

4. Suslova A.V. "About Russian names." Leningrad, 1991

5. Uspensky L.V. "A word about words." Leningrad, 1982

6. Uspensky L.V. "You and your name" Volgograd, 1994

The origin of proper names has deep roots. They have existed since time immemorial. Even when creating man, God called him Adam, that is, “made of clay.” Adam gave names to the animals, and then called his wife Eve, that is, “life.” Since then, the ability of a person to give names to everything, or, as the Russian proverb says, “to call things by their proper names,” has become an integral feature of him.

Therefore, you should not be surprised that a person often bears several names - one official, two or three affectionate ones at home, one is a nickname in a narrow circle of friends, one is a nickname in a team. So, for example, the boy Vanya Nosov can be both Sunny and Masik at home, Nose at school and Vano with friends.

It is now customary to use an official name to identify a person. It is written in the passport or birth certificate. But names and nicknames used to be in circulation along with official names.

In ancient times

In ancient times, people believed that a name carried a magical principle, that it determined character. The meaning of the name was taken very seriously. Being dependent on the forces of nature, harvest and the location of the powers that be - priests, princes, military leaders and similar powers - they were at the same time afraid of falling out of favor with evil spirits. It is clear now why sometimes the true name was hidden by giving the child a nickname. It was intended to ward off evil and was used more often than the true name.

Using their real name, the priests performed initiation ceremonies, marriage, taboos for sins, and others. On behalf of the clan, sacrifices were made to the gods. The rulers gave their child a name whose origin came from the name of the totem or common ancestor.

In the third century BC, the philosopher Chrysippus identified names as a distinct group of words. In fact, he can be called the founder modern science about names - anthroponymics (Greek ἄνθρωπος - person and ὄνομα - name).

How did the word "name" come about?

In dictionaries there is an explanation of this word as a calque from the Latin nōmen or Greek ὄνομα. There are versions that it comes from the special term jm-men, denoting the accepted sign of the tribal system. In general, it is noticeable that Slavic languages have similar pronunciation and spelling of the word.

One version is that it came from the Proto-Slavic imeti - to have, to identify with someone, to take for someone, to consider someone. Another relates it to the concept yuyoti, which means in Sanskrit to separate or distinguish someone from one another. Interestingly, the origins of the English name are the same as the Greek onoma. It turns out that in the Indo-European group of languages, according to this version, there is one source of the word “name” - for both Western and Eastern European languages.

But in general, dictionaries agree that the true etymology of the word “name” is unclear.

In ancient times

Greek names often coincide with the names of mythical characters. Giving a baby the name of a hero was considered to somehow foreshadow his fate. And, on the contrary, they were afraid to call babies by the names of gods. There was an opinion that using the name of God in this way would be regarded by him as familiarity, humiliating his position.

For the everyday designation of gods, there were a lot of epithets, which sometimes became the name of a person. The etymology of names of ancient times goes back to similar titles. These are, for example, such substitutes for the name of Zeus that have survived to this day, such as:

• Victor is the winner.
• Maxim is great.

Or the description of Mars, the god of war, wearing a victorious wreath of laurel leaves:

• Laurel.
• Lavrenty.

Other gods wore a diadem, they were called "Crowned". The names derived from this name are:

• Stephen.
• Stepan.
• Stephanie.

The names are not of the supreme gods, but of the patrons of hunting, various types it was considered not shameful to give art to a person:

• Muse.
• Diana.
• Aurora.

These ancient names are still known today.

Name in Ancient Rus'

The attitude towards the name in Rus' was more reminiscent of ancient pagan ideas. Therefore, only initiates knew the real name - parents, close people and priests. It carried a positive charge and meant happiness, wealth, health and everything that is usually desired for a baby. These are names of Russian origin such as:

• Love.
• Zlata.
• Force.
• Bogdan.
• Zhdan.

An interesting custom is that of the Slavs, after naming a child by its real name, they stage the discovery of the foundling. The baby was wrapped in unusable cloth - matting, for example, and carried out the threshold. For the evil spirits, they pronounced a second name-nickname, a kind of amulet that should direct the evil spirits on the wrong trail. The etymology of amulets names is from imaginary shortcomings that were attributed at that moment:

• Nekras.
• Unexpected.
• Winter.
• Curve
• Chernyak.
• Belyay.

The real name did not sound in everyday life. To the question: “What is your name?” They answered evasively: “They call me Zovutka, they call me a duck.” They did this for fear of damage.

How did the adoption of Christianity affect

From the eleventh century onwards folk life everything Slavic was systematically supplanted: the system of worship, the way to bury the dead, tales and epics. This also includes naming. The Greek form of Christianity came to Rus', so Byzantine culture began to be implanted.

The name recorded in the parish register became official. The etymology of names of this type is Greek and Jewish roots, which is due to the language of church books. The official name was used in rites of baptism, marriage, anathematization and others. The people began to practice the two-name system: now there was no need for a name-amulet, but also Greek names there was no trust. Some were so difficult to pronounce that they were transliterated into what became Russian forms:

• Fedor - Theodore (God's gift).
• Avdotya - Evdokia (favour).
• Aksinya - Ksenia (hospitable).
• Lukeria - Glyceria (sweet).
• Egor - Georgy (farmer).

IN legal documents they began to indicate both names: one by baptism, the other worldly: “By baptism Peter, by worldly Mikula.” When surnames were introduced in Russia, it often became a secular name.

Names in the Saints

Since birth registration was possible only in the church, even in the case of unbelieving parents, everyone went through the rite of baptism. The name was given by the priest, choosing it from the month book. This is a book in which for every day there is a list of saints whom the church should honor. People called it “Saints”. The etymology of names from the monthly book has not only Greek or Hebrew roots. Many saints canonized in Russia bear Latin, Germanic and Scandinavian names.

Some names appear in the monthly word more often than others. This explains that there are so many Ivans in our country: they are commemorated in the Saints 170 times. The origin of female names in the Saints has foreign roots, and therefore is often dissonant for Russians:

• Christodoula.
• Yazdundokta.
• Chionia.
• Filicitata.
• Pulcheria.
• Prepedigna.
• Perpetua.
• Mamika.
• Kazdoya.
• Blast furnace.
• Golinduha.

Parents were offered several names to choose from. If the priest was disposed toward the baby’s parents, he made concessions and allowed them to choose a name from the Saints themselves. But in the event of a disagreement, he could be strict or even give the child an unpronounceable name.

Girl names: origin and meaning

The impossibility of freethinking, which included the independent choice of a name for a daughter that is not listed in the Saints, led to the spread of female names of Slavic or European origin. Many holy women canonized by the church bore beautiful names.

It is therefore clear that mainly in Rus' the female names Maria, Martha, Praskovya, Anna, Tatyana, Natalya, Olga and several more were in use. The names Nadezhda and Lyubov were popular, although they were mentioned in the Saints only once. Vera had two mentions.

After the 1917 revolution, the church registration system was abolished. This influenced the choice of names. There were some excesses: the origin of the girls’ names now depended on the parents’ loyalty to the new government and their admiration technical progress.

Names in the USSR

The origins of some early twentieth-century women's names are astounding. Nevertheless, these names really existed, and they are still recorded in the registry offices. To imagine the scale of what was happening then, just look at the following table.

Fortunately, this was a short period. Afterwards, many changed their names, choosing the usual common Marias and Tatyanas. With the development of the film era, the names of screen heroines and film actresses, often of Western origin, began to spread.

Russian names of foreign origin

Some may be surprised that the name Ivan, considered originally Russian, is actually the Hebrew John. It means "God has mercy." Danila - also an old Russian name - translated from Hebrew means “God is my judge.” And these are not the only Jewish names on the list:

• Sysoy - white marble.
• Fadey is worthy of praise.
• Thomas is a twin.
• Gavrila - my power - God.
• Matvey is a gift from God.

Names with Scandinavian roots:

• Olga is a saint.
• Igor is militant.
• Oleg is a saint.

Statistics show that the distribution of modern names by origin is as follows:

• 50% are Greek, largely due to Christianization and the ban on pagan names, which are not in the Saints.
• 20% are Hebrew, for the same reason.
• 15% are Latin, spread thanks to the development of trade and the Age of Enlightenment.
• 15% - others.

It is sad that history has not preserved many ancient names. But now there is an interesting trend in society that can improve the situation.

Modern names

Old Church Slavonic names are now in fashion, many of which have a beautiful sound and explanation. Girls are called like this:

• Vladislava (famous).
• Lada (favorite).
• Rusalina (brown-haired).
• Yarina (fiery).
• Milana (caring).
• Alina (honest).

Boys have the following names:

• Vsevolod (owner of everything).
• Lubomir (beloved by the world).
• Yaroslav (bright glory).

And parents choose a name to their liking; no one obliges them to name their children according to an approved list. The part -slav, included in the compound name, means the generic name of the Slavs. There is a return to historical roots.

Conclusion

Now you can be called by any name. Of course, extremes should be avoided. In some countries it is forbidden to be called by demonic names, recognized common nouns world criminals or numerals.

Loving parents think about how the child will go through life. And this depends a lot on the name.