The origin of the name Nechaev: history, versions, meaning

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

Today it is difficult to imagine that a few centuries ago not every person had a family name. Our generation takes the generic name as something ordinary and self-evident. We do not think about where our surname came from, what is its history, how it was formed. And she can tell a lot about our distant ancestors: these are customs, culture, place of residence, nickname, character traits. Each generic name has its own interesting, amazing and unique story. The article will reveal the secrets of the origin of the surname Nechaev.

Origin of family name

The origin of the surname Nechaev is connected with the secular Slavic name Nechay. Names of this kind were added to baptismal names; as a rule, they were used more often and were assigned to the child for his entire life. The worldly name was a tribute to the ancient tradition among the Slavs - dual names. The main purpose of this method and form of naming was to hide from evil spirits and the demonchild's church name.

Secular names were substituted for church Orthodox ones even in official documents. For example, in the annals there are records: "the son Fedor was born to the prince, who was nicknamed Yaroslav." The surname Nechaev is formed from the worldly male name Nechay, which arose from the verb - “did not expect”, that is, “did not wait.”

In ancient Russia, there were a huge number of names that were associated with the circumstances of the birth of a baby. For example, children were numbered in order, called Old Russian or Latin terms. There were names that were formed from the names of the days of the week. But a special group was made up of names that were formed directly from the conditions and reasons for the birth of a child. For example, Nenarok, Bogdan, Pozdneev, Nechay. That is, the origin of the name Nechaev is also associated with this group of names.

Thus, a random, unexpected child in the family could get the nickname Nechay. His birth parents did not cherish (did not expect). The nickname later formed the basis of the family name.

Noble family

The family name is formed from the so-called protective name among the people, which was supposed to hide the true baptismal naming from evil spirits. According to a superstitious custom, in order not to tempt fate, parents gave their children names with the exact opposite meaning of what they wanted for their children. Hoping to have a he althy and beautiful baby, many parents called him Nechay.

Some representatives of the Nechaev surname were un titled Russian nobles who descended from the Moskotinevs and Pleshcheevs. The Nechaev family is included in parts 4, 2, 3 of the genealogical book of the Saratov, Moscow, Kostroma and Simbirsk provinces. There are several more generic branches of the Nechaevs, the origin of which is attributed to the 17th century, and 33 genera of a later origin.

Toponymic version

There is another version of the origin of the name Nechaev - toponymic, that is, associated with the name of a geographical object. For example, in the Orichevsky district there is the village of Nechaev, in the Kirov region - the village of Nechaevshchina. The family name is quite common and is found everywhere throughout Russia.

Sergey Nechaev: revolutionary and nihilist

He was the leader of the "People's Reprisal" group, a representative of revolutionary terrorism. Sergey was born in 1847 in a poor family. His mother died when he was 8 years old, his father remarried, and Sergei soon had brothers. From an early age, he knew what social injustice and inequality were. At the age of 18, Nechaev moved to the capital, where he got a job as an assistant to the historian Mikhail Pogodin. A year later, he takes the exam and begins teaching at the parochial school. Three years later, he becomes a free student at St. Petersburg University, where he gets acquainted with the literature of a revolutionary nature. He learns about the Decembrists, Petrashevists. A year later, he fully formed his goal - a social and political revolution.

It is known that people follow the leader, therefore, he needed to gain authority, and for this it was necessary to serve time in prison, as he believed. In 1869, he organized the murder of his friend and colleague, student Ivanov I. I., the reason was Ivanov's refusal to carry out his order. The crime was solved in a few months, all the perpetrators were arrested and put on trial, but the main culprit, Nechaev, managed to escape abroad. But on a denunciation, he was arrested and sent to Russia, where he was sentenced to 20 years of hard labor and a civil death pen alty. However, Nicholas II canceled the punishment and sentenced him to life imprisonment in the fortress. After 13 years, the revolutionary died in prison from illness, loneliness and malnutrition.

Instead of a conclusion

The history of the Nechaev family is interesting and amazing. It was assigned to the first ancestors around the 15th century and was passed down from generation to generation. Now it is difficult to say who was its first owner, since the worldly name Nechay was quite common on the territory of the state. It is also difficult to establish the original place where this generic name originated, since the history of the formation of surnames, and this one in particular, has been going on for more than one century.