Tracking which is the most common surname in Russia is a rather difficult task, and all because there is simply no strictly defined algorithm for calculating such data. The main difficulty is presented by women who change their maiden name after marriage and actually become owners of not one, but two surnames. A divorce is possible with a return to the previous surname or a second marriage with a transition to a third surname. And then the confusion begins!
The most common surname in Russia
However, despite all the difficulties, experts do not stop trying to determine what is the most common surname in Russia, and make their own ratings. As a rule, their lists include the 100 most common surnames in Russia, although some scientists limit themselves to five, while others are interested in deeper and more voluminous data. These rankings show someslight differences, but they all agree that the first place in Russia belongs to the Smirnovs. The Smirnovs owe the origin of their surname to meek and obedient children, whose appearance, as a rule, in large families brought great joy to parents. It was humility that formed the basis of the most famous and popular Russian surname. The Smirnovs are followed by the Ivanovs, Kuznetsovs, Popovs and Sokolovs in the top five.
Signs of the formation of Russian surnames
Considering and studying the most common surnames in Russia, we can identify some of the features that formed the basis of a particular surname, and thus classify them. The most common basis for the formation of a surname was a given name. For example, Ivan - Ivanov, Peter - Petrov, Sidor - Sidorov, etc. A huge number of surnames owe their origin to the professional activity of the owner, his nickname. An example is Plotnikov, Melnikov, Goncharov, Kuznetsov. The names of birds and animals were quite common for the formation of surnames: Sokolov, Volkov, Vorobyov, Medvedev, Lebedev, Kozlov, Gusev, Orlov, etc.
Formation of Russian surnames
Without a surname today it is impossible to imagine our ordinary life, but once, just a couple of centuries ago, the presence of a surname was the exception rather than the norm. Only after the complete abolition of serfdom in 1861, among the peasantry, surnames began to form and be assigned, and the nicknames that existed before thatPeter Strong Hands or Ivan the Quick have sunk into oblivion forever. Observing the formation of Russian surnames, it should be noted that the princes and boyars were the first to acquire them, and this began as early as the 16th century. Servants and merchants secured the right to bear surnames only by the 18-19th century, then the clergy joined them. The peasants, however, felt the need for this only when they became free and ceased to belong to anyone.
Popular surnames of the world
Having learned what is the most common surname in Russia, let's ask, what is the first surname in the world? More than a hundred million people on Earth have the most common surname in China - Li and about the same - Zhang. Another popular Chinese surname Wang is 93 million people. Vietnamese Nguyen - 36 million, Spanish Garcia and Gonzalez - 10 million each. The Spanish-Portuguese surname Hernandez belongs to 8 million people. English Smiths - 4 million, German Millers - one million. For comparison: there are 2.5 million Russian Smirnovs in the world.
