The whole life of the Chechens was closely connected with their family relations, so much attention is paid to the connections of their surnames. The decommissioned surnames and names are mainly of Arabic and Persian origin, but there are also Russian roots. Blood ties play an important role in the life of Chechens, all family members are closely related.
One tribe - one surname
Even in ancient times, Chechen surnames were one, and accordingly, all family members were closely related. If someone from the family was offended, the rest of the relatives stood up for him. Such a family connection among the Chechens has its own name "taip" or "taipan" - one clan, tribe or one surname. If Chechens talk about a certain person, they will definitely specify what type he is from. In relation to family kinship, all its members call themselves “vosha” or “vezherey”, i.e. brothers, and “voshalya” means a whole bond of brotherhood.
Origin of Chechen surnames
In primitive times, when there were few family members, they were all together, made up one family. Later they began to divide themselves into branches and lines. When family membersthere were too many and there was not enough place to live, they began to develop new places, thus disconnecting from their family. But this was not the reason for the breakup of brotherly relations, rather the opposite, their bond only intensified when they got to know each other.
Male Chechen names and surnames come from the name of the ancestor. For example, let's take the surname Kutaev. It comes from the name Kutai, which means "holy month" in translation. This name was given to boys who were born in Ramadan - the holy month, the time of mercy, purification, fasting and forgiveness. Of course, today it is difficult to say exactly how the Chechen surnames, in particular Kutaev, were formed, since this process took a long time. But, despite this, the name Kutaev is a wonderful monument of culture and writing of the entire Caucasian people.
Kyiv is both a city and a surname
Chechen surnames for men have an equally interesting history of origin, especially if it is associated with the place of residence of the ancestor or profession. One of the most common surnames is Tsurgan, which means “patchwork” in Chechen. A tailor or a furrier could have such a surname.
The Caucasian people called the clearing tsurgoy, which indicated the place of residence of the ancestor. Some authors cite a number of surnames that were in vogue as early as the 17th century. They are claimed by a large number of strange Russian births.
An interesting fact is that there are Chechen surnames that sound like the names of Russian or Ukrainian cities, for example, Saratov or Kyiv.
Persian, Arabic,Turkic language is the basis for the Chechen name
Chechen languages, like Ingush, are part of the Nakh group. The names of Chechens reflect the specific features of the phonetic system, lexical unit and morphological structure. The main thing that is included in the names of the Chechen people:
- real Chechen names;
- Arabic and Persian names;
- names derived from other languages using Russian.
Chechen surnames for men, as well as names have a long origin. Some are formed from the names of birds and animals: falcon - Lecha, hawk - Kuyra, wolf - Borz. Khokha (pigeon), Chovka (jackdaw) are female.
Some Chechen female surnames are written off from Arabic, Persian and Turkic languages. This also applies to male names. In frequent cases, names become compound. There are some elements that can be attached to both the beginning and the end of a personal name.
Larisa, Louise, Liza, Raisa are names that were taken from the Russian language. In some documents, there are forms of names in a reduced state, for example Zhenya and Sasha.
Sound Features
Dialect differences must be taken into account when pronouncing and writing. The fact is that the same word can differ in its sound. For example, consonants can be stunned at the end of a name: Almahad (Almahat), Abuyazid (Abuyazit), the vowel can also change at the end of a word (Yusup - Yusap, Yunus - Yunas). Regardless of longitude orbrevity, in Chechen names the stress always falls on the first syllable.
Ingush names differ from Chechen ones in spelling features. A characteristic feature of the Chechen language is the frequent use of the sound "ay", in contrast to the Ingush. Certain female names are used with the sound "a", while Ingush will have the sound "ai". For example, the Chechen name of Asia in Ingush will look like this - Aayzi.
Chechen surnames and patronymics appear in a very specific way. The father's name must be put only in the genitive case and must be placed before the name, and not after, as in Russian or Ukrainian. Chechen - Hamidan Baha, Russian - Baha Hamidanovich. For official documents, Chechens write their surname and patronymic in the same way as Russians: Ibragimov Usman Akhmedovich.
Chechen surnames from the reign of Ivan the Terrible
The number of Chechen surnames by origin can be broken down into percentages: 50% - Russian origin, 5% - Ukrainian, 10% - Belarusian, 30% - peoples of Russia, 5% - Bulgarian and Serbian. Any surname is formed from the nickname, name, place of residence, occupation of the male ancestor.
If we talk about such a surname - Chechens, it is very common not only in Russia, but also in the near abroad. Pre-revolutionary letters have survived to this day, which say that the bearers of this surname were honorary persons and were members of the Kiev clergy, while having a huge royal privilege. The surname is mentioned in the census list,during the reign of Ivan the Terrible. The Grand Duke had a special list, which included very bright surnames. They were bestowed upon the courtiers only in some special case. As you can see, the surname has its original origin.
Chechen surnames are very diverse and unique, their list is long and constantly updated. Someone has ancient roots and keeps his surname, while someone constantly introduces something new, thus changing it. It is interesting to find out after many, many years that you are a descendant of some honorable family. This is how you live without suspecting anything, and one day you will know the real story of your ancestors.
