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Akhmatova is a patronymic coming from Akhmat, which is a Tatar name. Akhmat is a form of Ahmad.

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It is possible that Anna Akhmatova's family were Keräşen Tatars. Keräşens are a subgroup of Tatars - they are the descendants of Tatars that converted from Islam to Christianity after Russia conquered the Tatar khanates. (The Tatar people are fairly obscure outside of Russia, but they are actually the largest non-Russian group in Russia. Most of them are Muslim. They tend to use different names - a lot of feminine Tatar names end in consonants, whereas Russian girls' names almost always end in A.) Other Keräşen Tatars include the House of Yusupov.

This message was edited 9/27/2012, 3:04 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Akhmatova

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Anna Akhmatova believed that her mother was a descendent of:

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Khan_bin_K%C3%BCch%C3%BCk

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also known as Akhmat in Russia.

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Hence, she picked up her name upon that Akhmat.

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