Each person is unique. One has an unusual appearance, the other has a beautiful voice, and the third has an interesting surname. Each distinguishing feature of a person is a part of his life and a colorful feature. Surname is no exception. It can cause admiration among others, or become an occasion for ridicule.
It is by the surname that one can easily determine the origin, nationality of a person. To do this, just hear the ending. In ancient times, our ancestors were given a variety of nicknames (by profession, occupation, appearance or character), which were so strong that they were transformed into generic names.
Each nation has its own special features of national culture, which is reflected in the surnames. For example, Russian generic names have endings in –ev, –ov, –in; Ukrainian - -enko, -uk, -yuk; Belorussian - -co, -ov, -ich.
At the same time, many Slavic surnames can have the same endings, but sound different. The article will discuss the features of Ukrainian surnames, the history of their formation and origin, beautiful female Ukrainian surnames and unique generic names of men. So what is magic and uniqueness?
The history of the origin of Ukrainian generic names
The origin of Ukrainian surnames is a long story that began several centuries ago. It should be noted that they are more ancient than Russian and even English. The first patrimonial names of Ukrainians ended in –enko. This suffix is now familiar and known, but few people know that it is ancient and appeared in the XVI century. For example, the beautiful Ukrainian surname - Maistrenko, appeared around the beginning of the 16th century, and its root means “freedom”.
Now family names ending in –enko are considered typical for Ukrainians and are almost never found in other Slavic peoples. This suffix is diminutive and emphasizes the connection with the father, that is, literally means “son”, “young man”, “small”. For example, Yushchenko is the son of Yusik (Yuska). Later, this value was lost and was used only as a family component, that is, it became an addition to nicknames and professions. So there was a second large group of beautiful Ukrainian surnames that were formed from nicknames and names of professions: Melnichenko, Zubchenko, Kurnosenko, Shinkarenko.
Male generic names
The most important indicator of the construction of male surnames is a suffix and an ending. They formed for a long time, relying on the root basis of the nickname, occupation, appearance, region of residence. The most common suffixes are: -nick, -shin, -ar, -point, -co, -ake, -ba. Currently, such beautiful Ukrainian surnames for men are widespread as:
- Pasichnik, Berdnik, Kolesnik, Linnik, Copper;
- Fedorishin, Yatsishin;
- Zhytar, Tokar, Kobzar, Potter, Rymar;
- Thrust, Semochko, Marochko;
- Bateiko, Andruseyko, Pilipeiko, Shumeyko;
- Andreiko, Sasko, Butko, Sirko, Zabuzhko, Tsushko, Klitschko;
- Kulibaba, Chikolba, Shkraba, Dziuba, Zhelyba.
Female family names
Female generic names were formed in the same way as male ones. The endings changed a little in them, but they could be inclined. But at present, there are also such names that sound the same for both men and women, for example, Pilipenko, Goncharuk, Serdyuk. Recently, however, the birth endings in –yuk have acquired a female form — for example, Serdyuk – Serdyuchka, Goncharuk – Goncharuchka. The most beautiful Ukrainian last names for girls are considered to be names that end in -sky: Kaminsky, Pototskaya, Mikhailovskaya.
Polish trace
For quite a long time, part of the modern territory of Ukraine was part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which affected the process of forming generic names, as a rule, they end in -sky, -sky. They are based on toponyms - the names of settlements, water geographic features, territories. For example, Zamoysky, Pototsky, Khmelnitsky, Artemovsky.
In Western Ukraine, surnames appeared with the endings -uk, -yuk, -chuk, -ak. Their basis was baptismal names: Ivanyuk, Gavrilyuk, Kostelnyuk, Zakharchuk, Kondratyuk, Popelnyuk.
Eastern influence
Scientists linguists have found that in the Ukrainian language about 4 thousand words of Turkic origin. This is due to the resettlement of Turkic peoples in Transnistria and the Black Sea region. This phenomenon was reflected in the formation of Ukrainian generic names, for example, the common ending -co comes from the Adyghe-kyo, which means “son”, “descendant”.
A curious fact is that family names with an ending - both now and are found in some peoples of the Caucasus and Tatars, and some are very similar to Ukrainian. For example, Zanko, Hatko, Kushko, Gerko.
Cossack trace in the history of the formation of generic names
Among the Zaporozhye Cossacks there was a tradition of taking the most diverse nicknames for themselves, behind which they hid their true origin. Many colorful and vivid nicknames consisted of two parts. Over time, without suffixes, they turned into beautiful Ukrainian surnames: Zhuyboroda, Zaderikhvist, Nediyminoga, Lupybatko. Some of them can be found at present. For example, Magpie, Tyagnibok, Krivonos.
Funny generic names
Some Ukrainian family names are unusual and funny. Some of them are really funny, but in national culture they are considered beautiful Ukrainian surnames. The list of such generic names goes on and on. Here are the most common of them: Golka, Bucket, Nestrelay, Grivul, Khudoba, Surdul, Nedaihleb, Zhovna, Kuropiatnik, Pipko-Frenzy, Fear, Mosh, Kochmarik, Gurragcha, Boshara.
Beautiful Ukrainian family names
Scientists linguists identified a number of interesting, well-known beautiful Ukrainian surnames. The list includes such generic names as Stepanenko, Tkachenko, Leshchenko, Onishchenko, Romanyuk, Plushenko, Skripko, Vinnichenko, Goncharenko, Sobchak, Skripko, Guzenko, Tishchenko, Tymoshenko.
