If you are interested in the origin of your or someone else's last name, you need to conduct its full analysis and analysis. The question is how to do it right so that no one accuses you of unprofessionalism and does not make fun of you.
Instruction manual
1
Calculate the end of the last name. The last letters of a surname often mean belonging to a certain nationality. For example, for Russians, and other Russified peoples of Russia, the endings -s, -ev, -in are characteristic. Ukrainians are characterized by such endings of surnames as -enko, -chuk, etc. For Poles, skiing, Belarusians -ich. The meaning of the surname may not explain the meaning of the surname, but it will give direction to the train of thought. Firstly, you will know which country your ancestors are from, and secondly, you will understand what language you should pay attention to in order to better understand the meaning of the surname.
2
Define the basis of the surname. We have already talked about Russian surnames and surnames of Russified peoples. To distinguish whether your surname is Russian or not, provided that the ending of the surname is like that of Russians, in one simple way. If your surname without an end consists of the native Russian, in the extreme case, Slavic word, then your surname is Russian. If, however, dropping a surname results in a word of Turkic, Finno-Ugric, Germanic, Semitic or other origin, then you most likely will need a translator from this language to understand the meaning of your surname.
3
Analyze the base of the surname. The easiest way is with surnames that came from the name. For example, the name Ivanov means that one of your ancestors was the son of Ivan. It’s also easy to sort out surnames that come from different professions. Example: Kuznetsov, your ancestor is the son of a blacksmith. Now, for example, how to parse the surname of non-Russian origin. Surname - Kuyanov. The ending is definitely Russian, but now let's think about whether the word Kuyan is in the Russian language. First of all, the thought of blacksmiths comes to mind. But if you know your roots a little, you can determine that the surname is of Turkic origin. Kuyan in Tatar means "hare", therefore, the surname would literally be translated as Zaitsev. Well, but here we can already conclude that one of your ancestors had common features (external or character) with this beast.
