In the Russian Federation every 10th marriage is mixed. This is due to demographic reasons and the fashionable trend to enter into an alliance with a foreign citizen. Often, interethnic relations are legalized between Russians and visiting students. But such mixed marriages are often doomed to a short existence. As a result, the owners of a “specific” surname may not always know their true roots, especially if the parents categorically do not want to raise the topic of kinship.
You can find out the nationality by last name. But this is a painstaking and long process that is best left to professionals. However, the origins of origin can be established by general rules.
The history of the surname
In past centuries, only aristocrats had pedigree. Ordinary people were not supposed to know their origin, and therefore, to have a surname. Only during the reign of Vasily the First did peasants begin to receive nicknames that resembled their real name: Semyon Cherny, monk Rublev and others.
The study of the pedigree is of great importance. It doesn'tonly allows you to find out how to determine nationality by last name, but also conveys the historical past.
Since ancient times, the official surname served to identify a person and his family. Many marriages were and are interethnic in nature. The surname allows you to establish the degree of kinship, because it takes into account not only linguistic features, but also a territorial sign with historical factors.
How to analyze?
To determine the nationality of a person by last name, you should remember the school course of the Russian language. The word consists of a root, a suffix and an ending. National origin allows you to calculate the first two points.
- In the surname, you need to highlight the root and suffix.
- Set nationality by suffixes.
- If this is not enough, analyze the root of the word.
- Assess the name according to the degree of belonging to European origins.
Many surnames take into account not only the morphological features of the word, but also the person's belonging to a certain group: by speci alty, personal qualities, the name of an animal or bird.
Establishing nationality by suffixes and the root of the word
Belonging to Ukrainian origins confirms the presence of suffixes:
- enko;
- eyko;
- point;
- ko;
- ovsky.
Tatar surnames contain suffixes:
- s;
- ev;
- in.
Find out nationality by last name from people with Jewish rootsnot so easy. Many factors influence its origin.
The surname can be based on the name of a profession, animal or bird. For example, Bondar, Gonchar are Ukrainian designations for a working speci alty. Gorobets is a sparrow in Ukrainian. Just later this word was transformed into a surname.
You can often see surnames consisting of two words, such as Ryabokon, Krivonos and others. They testify to the presence of Slavic roots: Belarusian, Polish, Ukrainian, Russian.
How to identify Jewish roots
The suffix and the root of a word do not always help to establish nationality by last name. This applies to Jewish origins as well. To establish kinship, 2 large groups are distinguished here:
- Roots "Kohen" and "Levi".
- Male names.
The roots "Kohen" and "Levi" indicate that the owner of the surname belonged to the Jews, whose ancestors had the rank of a priest. Among them you can find the following: Kogan, Kagansky, Kaplan, Levita, Levitin, Levitan.
The second group contains male names. These include the names of Solomon, Moses and others.
The Jewish people have one feature: during prayer, a person is called by the name of his mother. And nationality here is also given on the maternal side. This interesting historical fact led to the formation of surnames that are based on the feminine gender. Sorinson, Rivkin, Tsivyan, Beilis are among them.
Human qualities and working speci alty can answerthe question of how to determine nationality by last name. This also applies to Jewish roots. For example, the surname Fine in Hebrew means "beautiful" and characterizes the appearance of a person. And Rabin means "rabbi", that is, professional activity.
European roots
In Russia, you can often find English, French, German origins. Certain word-formation rules help to find out a specific nationality by last name.
French origin confirms the presence of prefixes De or Le in the surname.
German formed in three ways:
- from personal names - W alter, Peters, Werner, Hartmann;
- from nicknames (eg Klein);
- associated with a specific profession (the most common is Schmidt).
Surnames of English origin also have several ways of formation:
- depending on where you live - Scott, English, Irish, Welsh, Wallace;
- from a person's professional activities - Spooners, Carver, Butler;
- human qualities - Bad, Sweet, Good, Moody, Bragg.
A separate group is formed by Polish surnames: Kowalczyk, Sienkiewicz, Nowak. As a rule, they have suffixes -chik, -vich, -vak.
Lithuanian surnames have suffixes -kas, -kene, -kaite, -chus, -chene, -chite.
Features of the Eastern origins
Several factors influence the formation of a surname:
- territorial affiliation of ancestors;
- occupation;
- personal human features;
- morphological components of the word.
In Eastern countries, to find out whose surname is by nationality, you need to analyze its suffixes and endings.
Chinese and Korean surnames are monosyllabic and short. The most typical of them are Xing, Xiao, Jiu, Layu, Kim, Dam, Chen.
Muslim surnames have suffixes, endings -ov, -ev (Aliev, Aushev, Khasbulatov, Dudayev and others). For the Armenian people, they end in -yan (Shiyan, Bordian, Porkuyan).
Georgian surnames have "incomparable" suffixes and endings: -shvili, -dze, -uri, -uli, -ani(ya), -eti(ya), -eni, -eli(ya).
All of these features allow you to find the true roots. But only a specialist will be able to tell you exactly how to find out nationality by last name. Sometimes this requires a detailed analysis that takes into account many factors. A person is inextricably linked with his name, and it can really tell a lot about him and his pedigree.
