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Ukrainian surnames

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ukrainian surnames have a wide variety of origins, and have been historically derived from placenames, patronymics or matronymics, physical and personality features etc.[1] By the 18th century, almost all Ukrainians had family names. Just like in other Slavic languages, most Ukrainian surnames are formed by adding possessive and other suffixes to given names, place names, professions and other words.

History

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Surnames were developed for official documents or business record keeping to differentiate the parties who might have the same first name. By the 15th century, surnames were used by the upper class, nobles and large land owners. In cities and towns, surnames became necessary in the 15th and 16th centuries. In 1632, Orthodox Metropolitan Petro Mohyla ordered priests to include a surname in all records of birth, marriage and death.

Early historical examples of Ukrainian surnames derive from both native and foreign vocabulary, for example Vyshenskyi (from the city of Vyshnia), Khmelnytskyi, Zyzaniy (translation of native Ukrainian surname Kukil), Berynda etc.[1]

After the partitions of Poland (1772–1795), Western Ukraine came under the Austrian Empire, where peasants needed surnames for taxation purposes and military service and churches were required to keep records of all births, deaths and marriages.

The surnames with the suffix -enko are the most known and common Ukrainian surnames. Due to migration and deportations of Ukrainians during the history, they are also present in Belarus and Russia, especially in the Kuban region, where many ethnic Ukrainians historically lived.

Suffixes

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Most widespread types of Ukrainian surnames
(% by locality)
Surnames with the suffix -enko
Surnames with the suffix -uk
Surnames with the suffix -ov(a), -ev(a)
Surnames with the suffix -s'k(yi/a), -z'k(yi/a)
Surnames with the suffix -yn(a), -in(a)
Surnames with suffix -ko
Surnames with suffix -yk, -ik
Adjective surnames
Surnames with suffix -ak
Surnames with suffix -ich, -ych

Common suffixes in Ukrainian names are:

Some names have differing masculine and feminine forms, meaning a brother and sister's surname will be inflected with different suffixes (such as Zelenskyi/Зеленський and Zelenska/Зеленська). Others (such as the distinctively Ukrainian names ending in -enko) do not change with grammatical gender.

First elements

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The first elements of Ukrainian surnames are most commonly given names (patronymics and matronymics), place names (toponyms), and professions.

Patronymic surnames

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From the first name Ivan (John in English), over 100 different surnames can be formed. The most common variations of Ivan in Ukrainian are Ivas, Jan, Vakhno, and Vanko. Among surnames based on the name Ivan are Ivanenko,[1] Ivaniv, Ivankiv, Ivasiv, Ivashchenko, Ivanyshyn, Ivakhiv, Janiv, Jankiv, and Ivaniuk. More examples of surnames based on a first name:

Less common are Ukrainian patronymic surnames ending with -ich, -ych (Voyislavych, Radovych, Andrukhovych) and -at (Shchurat, Khronovyat).[1]

Matronymic surnames

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When a woman was married, she was known by a form of her husband's first name or her father's, if she was not. From the name Petro, she was Petrykha (wife of Petro). From these forms, matronymic surnames ending in -yshyn were created. Petryshyn came from Petrykha, Romanyshyn from Romanykha and Ivanyshyn from Ivanykha. Surnames based on women's names exist (from variants of Maria: Marunchak from Marunia, Marusiak, Marushchak, from "Marusia").[citation needed]. Sofiya->Софієнко (Sofiyenko), Halya-> Halenko, Halenkov.[3]

Other examples of Ukrainian matronymic surnames are Olenych (from Olena), Malaniuk (from Malania), Dotsenko (from Dotsia), Havrylyshyn (from Havrylykha - wife of Havrylo) etc.[1]

Toponymic surnames

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Some Ukrainian toponymic surnames can be identified as stemming from the Galicia region. Those surnames often contain the suffixes -ets or -iets (Kolomiyets, Pereyaslavets, Tershakovets).[1]

The surnames ending with -skyi were originally aristocratic and indicated the principal manor (similar to the European "von ...", "de ..." etc.) but from the late Middle Ages they became increasingly common and simply denoted the bearer's origin from a specific town or village, e.g. Khmelnytskyi = "of/from Khmilnyk" (historically Khmelnyk), Vyshenskyi (from [Sudova] Vyshnia), Turivskyi (Turiv), Stryiskyi (Stryi) etc.[1]

Ukrainian toponymic surnames can also take other forms, for example Voloshchak (from Wallachia).[1]

Occupational surnames

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Ethnonymic surnames

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Names that show ethnic, national or tribal origins other than Ukrainian.

  • Nimets, "German person"
  • Tataryn, from Tatar, the Turkic people of the "Golden Horde".
  • Voloshyn, from Volokh, a medieval generic name for Romanians and Moldovans.

Personal features as source for surnames

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Physical features: Kryvyi ("crooked"), Syvenkyi ("grey-haired"), Chornenkyi ("black"), Bezpalko ("fingerless"), Kryvonis ("crooked nose"), Lysyi ("bald").[1]

Personality features: Osmomysl ("eight-minded"), Nechai ("unexpected"), Sviatyi ("saint"), Bezhrishnyi ("sinless"), Mnohohrishnyi ("of many sins"), Samokhval ("boastful").[1]

Animal names (euphemistic): Vovk ("wolf"), Lys ("fox"), Zayats ("hare"), Chaplia ("heron"), Kohut ("rooster"), Kit ("cat") etc.[1]

Nicknames: Khotyliub ("ladies' man"), Vertyporokh ("easy going"), Durniaha ("fool"), Patyk ("stick"), Nedovarenyi ("undercooked"), Napuda ("fearful") etc.[1]

Cossack names

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There are also old Cossack names that derive from military occupations, such as Kompaniiets or Kompanichenko. There are also surnames derived from monikers based on personal characteristics. Those are considered to derive directly from the usage of monikers instead of actual names due to nature of occupation. These compounds, usually consisting of a second person-singular-addressed imperative verb or an adjective coupled with a noun, can often be somewhat comical such as:

NameLiteral meaning
ChornovilBlack ox
ChornyiBlack (adj.)
HolodryhaNude twitch
KandybaUseless (crippled)[a] horse
KryvonisCurved nose
LomachenkoBreaker (Lomaka) [+enko]
Nebaba[Is] not a woman
NeizhpapaDo not eat bread[4] (2nd pers. imp.)
OtchenashOur Father! (voc.)
PerebyinisBreak the nose (2nd pers. imp.)
Salohub / SologubSalo lips
VernydubTwist the oak (2nd pers. imp.)
VernyhoraTwist the mountain (2nd pers. imp.)

Such surnames are primarily derived from a funny memorable situation or a phrase coined by the person, who eventually received such a name, and supposedly originated in the 15th–16th centuries with the start of the Cossack movement.

Among Cossacks were also much simplified nature-derived last names such as Hohol (topknot), Orel (eagle), Bakai/Bakay/Bakaj (pothole), Horobets (sparrow), Vedmid (bear), Moroz (frost), Kulish (Cossack soup), Skovoroda (frying pan), Harbuz (pumpkin), Vovk (wolf), and many more that are common nouns of the Ukrainian language. Other Cossack last names were based on personality characteristics, e.g. Babii (womanizer), Dovhopiat (long foot), Dryhalo (twitchy person), Kovtun (mopheaded person), Malyuk (tiny or baby-faced individual), Nechuy (deaf person), Nudylo (tedious person), Plaksa (crybaby), Pribluda (bastard), Prylypko (sticky person), Sverbylo (itchy person), Vereshchaka (shrieking person/name of a traditional dish), Vytrishchaka (goggling person), etc.

An important source on Ukrainian Cossack surnames is the 1649 Registry of the Zaporozhian Host, which includes the name of over 40,000 Registered Cossacks.[5]

Most common surnames in Ukraine

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The table below is provided by "Ridni.org" Ukrainian genealogical portal (data for 2011–2013).[6]

#NameUkrainianMeaningNumberPredominant in regions
1MelnykМельникMiller107878Ivano-Frankivsk, Khmelnytskyi, Lviv, Vinnytsia
2ShevchenkoШевченкоShoemaker's son106340Cherkasy, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Kirovohrad, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Sumy, Zaporizhia
3KovalenkoКоваленкоSmith's son88632Chernihiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, Kyiv, Poltava, Cherkasy
4BondarenkoБондаренкоCooper's son88133Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Luhansk, Odesa, Poltava, Zaporizhia
5Ivanov(a)ІвановJohn's84096Crimea, Donetsk, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Sevastopol, Zaporizhia
6BoykoБойкоBoyko or from бій (fight, combat)83195Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil
7TkachenkoТкаченкоWeaver's son82270Cherkasy, Kharkiv, Kirovohrad, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Sumy
8KravchenkoКравченкоTailor's son75456Chernihiv, Kherson
9KovalchukКовальчукSmith's son70410Khmelnytskyi, Rivne, Volyn, Zhytomyr
10KovalКовальSmith62232Lviv

See also

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Notes

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  1. ↑ In Ukrainian Kandyba has a verbal form (kandybaty) which means physical limitations when moving on foot.

References

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  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Енциклопедія українознавства. Загальна частина (ЕУ-I). 1994–95. p. 367.
  2. ↑ Slavutych, Yar (1962-09-01). "Ukrainian Surnames in -enko". Names. 10 (3): 181–186. doi:10.1179/nam.1962.10.3.181. ISSN 0027-7738.
  3. ↑ Yulian Redko [ru], Довідник українських прізвищ Archived 2018-01-17 at the Wayback Machine — Київ: Наукова думка, 1968, p. 14.
  4. ↑ "папа". Retrieved 2026-02-17. ПАПА2, и, ж., дит. Хліб.
  5. ↑ Реєстр Війська Запорозького 1649 року. Naukova Dumka. 1995. p. 5.
  6. ↑ "Карта поширення прізвищ України" [Map of the distribution of surnames in Ukraine]. ridni.org. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
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