Surnames in the Russian language also have female forms that end with -ova, just like most female nouns (babushka, matryoshka, balalaika). So, Ivanova was originally a daughter of Ivan.

Many modern last names contain first names that have fallen from wide use, for example Makarov (Makar) or Lukin (Luka). The most typical Russian surname is considered to be Ivanov, although the ...

"What Can We Learn about Our Ancestors from Jewish Surnames Adopted in the Russian Empire?" will be the topic of a presentation by scholar and author Alexander Beider for the 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb ...

In Kyrgyzstan, where many still use Russian-style last names, parliament has adopted a bill that promotes traditional Kyrgyz surnames. The move comes amid a renewed de-Russification drive in ...

There’s a strange phenomenon that pops up surrounding the last names of Jews in the Russian Empire during the 19th century. A lot of them were derived from women’s first names, which is known ...

The most common surname in Russia is Smirnov, meaning "quiet" or "still." Sergey Rodovnichenko/Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0 Alexey Mikheev for Russia Beyond translated the Russian "smirny" to "meek." ...

Just a few years ago Tajik President Emomali Rahmonov led a de-Russification trend when he lopped the '-ov' from his surname. Now Tajik officials are complaining that Russian-style names are back ...

Russian surnames depended on the head of the family (Fëdor-Fëdorov), and the Soviets insisted on the ‘unification of nationalities and languages’, as the Kazakh journalist Gaziza Uzak, ...

FILE image of Tajik children in Murghab village, Tajikistan. The ex-Soviet country passed a new law in March imposing a legal ban on giving newborn babies surnames with Russian-style endings.