What does the surname mean: from the sources to the present

Most people often think about what the name means. Some are just out of curiosity, while others want to find a connection with their ancestors and important historical events. The surname of each person indicates his belonging to a particular family, the family is a historically formed generic name. However, not always and not all had a similar name - it all started a little differently.

In Russia, the process of the emergence of surnames took quite a decent period of time - from the end of the XIV to the XIX century. This is due to the fact that at that time only the representatives of the upper class had the privilege of treating a well-known family, the specific princes and boyars were given names according to the names of those volosts with which they owned (for example, Vitebsk and Smolensk). Here it becomes clear what the name means. The princes were very proud of this, they defended and won their lands.

The next owners of patrimonial names were rich, well-known merchants and noblemen, who somehow deserved, and often just bought this right. They were called by their kind of activity or by the available nicknames (Tkach, Rybnik, Likhachev). The merchants intended to expand the client base with the help of the obtained name , customers preferred to work with registered houses that had their own trademark. The clergy had special rights. By the name of the clergyman, it was possible to determine in which parish he served (Nikolsky, Kazan, etc.).

The rest of the population are commoners. They were not filthy, they had only a first name and a patronymic. In the archives there are often records: "Peter, Ivanov's son." Obviously, on The basis for such differentiation was a modern surname, the origin of which goes far into the past. In addition, ordinary people also had nicknames, which were given to them for professional use or for some individual characteristics. Such a name could easily be lost by changing your craft or character traits, because of which a nickname was obtained.

Later they gave names to the former serf. At first glance, it is not entirely clear what the name means in this case. But, having understood, it becomes clear that they were given the surname of the former owner, because of what in one region there could be many namesakes who did not have any kinship ties at all . In 1888, a decree was issued, which obliged everyone to have a surname, to be included in the documents. To many peasants, as a last entered a patronymic.

What does the name mean? It has ambiguous meaning. Someone could get it because of ownership of the territory or because of their craft, and someone - because of their low growth, clubfoot or other external signs. Then her informativeness was much greater than now, because the available surname could tell a lot about a man. Today, this is not enough for us. Some carriers themselves do not know what the name of their kind means, how it was received, who their grandparents are. Although there are those who immerse themselves in the search for information in the depths of genealogy, trying to find their roots.