The Top 40 Russian Surnames and Meanings

Russian surnames have many origins, including occupation, father's first name, personal nickname or family nickname, geographical location, and even personal surnames given to seminary students based on their good or bad qualities. The following list includes the 40 most popular contemporary Russian surnames, their meanings, and variations.

The Most Popular Russian Surnames and Their Origins

Ivanov (Иванов) remains one of the most popular last names in Russia. This surname comes from the first name Ivan, which was for centuries a very common name, especially among the peasant class. There are almost 100,000 Ivanovs just in Moscow, despite the fact that the majority of Ivanovs live in Russian regions. Russians often use the expression 'Иванов, Петров, Сидоров' (Ivanov, Petrov, Sidorov) when talking about the average Russian. Ivan Ivanych Ivanov is equivalent to the English John Smith.

While the surname Ivanov came from a first name, another popular Russian surname, Smirnov, originated from a nickname that means 'the quiet one' (смирный). It is thought to have appeared in peasant families that had many children and considered having a child who was quiet and calm to be a blessing. The surname Smirnov is typical for the Northern Volga region (Povolzhye) and the central parts of Russia (Kostromskaya Oblast, Ivanovskaya Oblast, and Yaroslavskaya Oblast). It is the 9th most popular name in the world, with over 2.5 million people called Smirnov.

Changes in Russian Surnames Over the Centuries

Russian surnames appeared at different times in different classes of Russian society. For example, citizens of the Novgorod Republic, or the Novgorodian Rus', already had surnames in the 13th century, while many peasants, especially those who lived in less central parts of Russia, did not receive official records of their surnames until the 1930s.

The first Russian surnames were Slavic pagan names that described the person's character or a particular trait, and, less often, occupation. These appeared long before the first official surnames were recorded, and continued to be used alongside Christian names for many centuries. While some of them were nicknames bestowed on a person during their life, others were names that newborn babies were given as an intention for the kind of character or life they would have, or to describe the conditions surrounding the baby's birth, such as particularly cold weather. For example, Nekras - Некрас (nyeKRAS) - was often a name given in the hope that the child would be beautiful. Некрас means 'not beautiful', and the opposite meaning of the name was meant to ward off bad spirits and guarantee the realization of the parents' intention for their child. These names eventually transformed into surnames, creating such names as, in this example, Некрасов (nyeKRAsuff).