Russian surnames meanings: goats, smiths and priests. 20 most common Russian surnames

Hello guys, this time we are going to talk about Russian surnames meanings. I prepaid a list of 20 most common Russian surnames. They have existed for centuries, but still it’s easy to define what they mean. They rooted from personal names, occupation and trades, animal names, and so on.

Ok, let’s have a look at the Russian surnames and Russian surnames meanings.

Here is the list of the surnames and the words that they come from. Let’s go.

Голубев is one of the most popular Russian surnames. The origin of this surname is the word ‘a pigeon’ — голубь. Pigeons can look really different, as you see on this pic.

1. Смирнов. Not obviously, but I think this surname comes from the word «смирный», which means quiet, gentle, mild, obedient.

2. Иванов. This surname definitely comes from a male name – Иван. Here you can check out the list of Most popular Russian male names. Later we will see other surnames deriving from names, and all of them derive from male names. I can’t think of a surname deriving from a female name, I have never come across with any.

3. Кузнецов. This is a trade surname, obviously. The surname comes from «кузнец» — a smith in Russian. Many Russian surname meanings are connected to trades and animals as you will see later.

4. Попов. Comes from the word «поп» — a priest in Russian. From my experience this specific surname is much more common than Смирнов and Иванов.

5. Соколов. This surname derives from the word «сокол» — a falcon in Russian. Probably, this surname is popular, because of the popularity of falconry in the previous centuries.

6. Лебедев. Comes from a «лебедь» — a swan in Russian.

7. Козлов. Comes from the word for ‘goat’ in Russian – «козёл». I wonder why this surname is still popular. The exclamation «Козёл!» is a very common abuse in Russian.

8. Новиков. The surname comes from the word «новый», which stands for ‘new’ in Russian.

9. Морозов. Comes from the word for ‘frost’ in Russian – «мороз». That is the surname that should be number one in this list, I tell you!

One of the most common Russian surname is Морозов, which is related to ‘FROST’. I wonder why not every other Russian surname comes from this word.

10. Петров. Comes from the name Пётр. It’s like Peter. It used to be an extremely popular name, but now it sounds sort of old-fashioned.

11. Волков. Comes from the word for ‘wolf’ in Russian – «волк». I think some people used to do wolf hunting. But if they were a minority, which is obvious, why the surname became this popular then?

12. Соловьёв. Comes from «соловей» — a nightingale in Russian.

13. Васильев. Comes from the name Василий. You might have heard about the St Basil Cathedral in Moscow, so that’s the same name.

14. Зайцев. Comes from the word for ‘hare’ in Russian – «заяц». Again, I think it has something to do with hunting.

15. Павлов. This surname derives from the male name Павел.

16. Семёнов. Names again – this one derives from Семён. This name is also old-fashioned nowadays.

Another popular Russian surname is Воробьёв. The origin of this surname is the word воробей — a sparrow.

17. Голубев. Comes from the word for pigeon in Russian – «голубь». Nowadays this word also sort of resembles the Russian word for gays – «голубые».

18. Виноградов. Comes from the word for grapes in Russian – «виноград». Obviously, that has something to do with grape gathering and viticulture.

19. Богданов. Comes from the name Богдан. This name is hardly used these days.

20. Воробьёв. Comes from a Russian word «воробей» — a sparrow.

Well, the Russian surnames meanings made a great deal of an article, huh? I’d like to add that many surnames have one root but different variations. For example, the surname Павлов has such variations as Павленко, Павлюченко and so on. Keep this in mind for better understanding of Russian surnames meanings.

Ok, that’s all for now. Take care!

Listen to Russian surnames meanings and origin. 20 most common Russian surnames