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Help[Facts] Russian patronymics
So, let me get this straight: if a name ends in a non-palatal consonant, the ending will be –ovich (male) or –ovna (female).
Ex: Borisovich and Borisovna for Boris
If it ends in a palatal consonant, the ending will be –evich (male) or –evna (female).
Ex: Andreevich and Andreevna for Andrey
And if it ends in a vowel, the ending will be –ich (male) or –ichna (female).
Ex: Kuzmich and Kuzmichna for Kuzma
This is what confuses me the most, but if a name ends with an –a like with Kuzma or –y like with Andrey, the last letter gets removed when the patronimyc comes up, right?
And in terms of surnames, a woman born or married to a family where the surname is –ov or –in has an –a attached to it (ex: Romanova and Pushkina instead of Romonov and Pushkin).
Did I get that right? Anything I might've missed? I realize it's probably a little different in Russian/Cyrillic. Also, where do –sky and –skya come in in terms of these rules?
Ex: Borisovich and Borisovna for Boris
If it ends in a palatal consonant, the ending will be –evich (male) or –evna (female).
Ex: Andreevich and Andreevna for Andrey
And if it ends in a vowel, the ending will be –ich (male) or –ichna (female).
Ex: Kuzmich and Kuzmichna for Kuzma
This is what confuses me the most, but if a name ends with an –a like with Kuzma or –y like with Andrey, the last letter gets removed when the patronimyc comes up, right?
And in terms of surnames, a woman born or married to a family where the surname is –ov or –in has an –a attached to it (ex: Romanova and Pushkina instead of Romonov and Pushkin).
Did I get that right? Anything I might've missed? I realize it's probably a little different in Russian/Cyrillic. Also, where do –sky and –skya come in in terms of these rules?
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Replies
You've got most of the rules down pretty accurately.
There are some Russian surnames that don't change depending on the sex. Names ending in -ko and -chuk (both suffixes are of Ukrainian origin but are frequently found in Russian) and -nik are spelled the same regardless of the bearer's sex.
For -sky names, -skaya is a much more common transcription than -skya.
Note that Russian is written in Cyrillic, there is no one correct way to transcribe it. Some people don't drop the -y in patronymics (such as Andreyevich/Andreyevna instead of Andreevich/Andreevna). Same goes with spelling - for example, Ekaterina and Yekaterina are both acceptable transliterations.
In the past it was common to translate Russian names into their English counterparts, such as Nicholas for Nikolay and Alexis for Aleksey. Sometimes French forms were used when there was no English equivalent, like Anatole for Anatoly and Zenaide for Zinaida. (French was the dominant second language among the Russian aristocracy, and many even preferred speaking French to speaking Russian.) This is much less common today, and nowadays it is usually only used in reference to royalty or well-known historical figures.
There are some Russian surnames that don't change depending on the sex. Names ending in -ko and -chuk (both suffixes are of Ukrainian origin but are frequently found in Russian) and -nik are spelled the same regardless of the bearer's sex.
For -sky names, -skaya is a much more common transcription than -skya.
Note that Russian is written in Cyrillic, there is no one correct way to transcribe it. Some people don't drop the -y in patronymics (such as Andreyevich/Andreyevna instead of Andreevich/Andreevna). Same goes with spelling - for example, Ekaterina and Yekaterina are both acceptable transliterations.
In the past it was common to translate Russian names into their English counterparts, such as Nicholas for Nikolay and Alexis for Aleksey. Sometimes French forms were used when there was no English equivalent, like Anatole for Anatoly and Zenaide for Zinaida. (French was the dominant second language among the Russian aristocracy, and many even preferred speaking French to speaking Russian.) This is much less common today, and nowadays it is usually only used in reference to royalty or well-known historical figures.
This message was edited 10/31/2017, 1:17 PM
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Thanks, Laslow! So exactly when are -ko, -chuk, -nik,and -sky/skaya used? When the name ends in a vowel, consonant, or what?
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