At school literature lessons, schoolchildren study heroes who have very "talking" names, one way or another characterizing their owners. So why do the authors resort to such a technique and how important is it to emphasize with the help of a surname certain features of their characters?
Surname history
Surnames in Russia appeared only in the 19th century - earlier the majority of the population did well without them. The feudal lords began to use the first surnames, who took hereditary names according to their hereditary holdings - so, most of the feudal surnames pointed to the lands belonging to them. It was in this way that the names Vyazemsky, Shuisky, Yeletsky and so on arose.
Despite the fact that the first Russian surnames can be found in documents of the 15th century, the bulk of the people of Russia did not have them.
After the fall of serfdom, the government began to give the former serfs the full or changed names of their former owners. Some of the surnames were redone from patronymics, and some from nicknames. However, this process was rather slow, and people continued to live without a surname until 1888. It was then that a decree was issued on the mandatory receipt of the surname by all full persons at the request of the law.
