Middle Name - East Slavic Names

East Slavic Names

The East Slavic naming system uses a patronymic name system in which the middle name, or patronymic, is based on the name of one's father or a male ancestor, while the first name is a given name and the last name is the family surname. In Russia, Belarus and Ukraine the patronymic is composed of the father's first name followed by the suffix "-ovich"; or if the name ends with a "y" or a vowel, then it would be "-evich". For example, if Vladislav Petrov had a son named Georgy, then the full name would be something like Georgy Vladislavovich Petrov. If Georgy Petrov had a son named Nikolai, then the son's full name would be Nikolai Georgyevich Petrov. For women, the suffix ends with "-ovna" and "-evna". So if Georgy Petrov had a sister, named Lyudmilla, her full name would be Lyudmilla Vladislavovna Petrova. If Georgy Petrov had a daughter the patronymic would be Georgyevna. Non-Slavic countries that were former Soviet states, such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgystan, also use this naming system. In Kyrgystan, Russian is the official language. In Ukraine, the patronymic ends with "-ovych" for males and "-ivna" for females. In Bulgaria, the naming system is similar, but the patronymic ends with "-ov" or "-ev" for men and "-ova" and "-eva" for women. In Russia, such names would end with "-ich" as explained above. Some Russian patronymics are transliterated in English as "-ovitch" or "-evitch", with a "t": e.g. the famous Russian arachnologist, Alexander Ivanovitch Petrunkevitch: his father's name is Ivan. The most formal way to address a person is by first name and patronymic, not by surname.

The patronymic system was also imposed on people of other descent, both in the Russian Empire (e.g. Adam Johann von Krusenstern is known in Russia as "Ivan Fyodorovich Kruzenshtern") and in the Soviet Union (with certain exceptions). The patronymic in such names is sometimes mistaken for a middle name, especially as it is often rendered with the middle initial (e.g. Vladimir V. Putin).

There are no formal conventions that forbid the first name from corresponding with the patronymic. A son named after a father is permissible and relatively common, making for names like Sergey Sergeyevich Ivanov. Although not a rule, the unwritten convention is to avoid giving children names that match their surname, so Sergey Ivanovich Sergeyev would be a less common name, and matching all three of first name, father's name, and surname is almost unheard of, thus a name such as Sergey Sergeyevich Sergeyev would most certainly be considered quaint.

Illegitimacy, adoption, and estrangement from the father are sometimes reasons for unconventionally formed patronymics. Unwed mothers who do not list the father on their children's birth certificates are commonly asked either to provide or to make up a male first name, to be used as the legal patronymic. Legally adopted stepchildren sometimes change their patronymics officially or informally use a non-legal patronymic occasionally or interchangeably. Adults may change their patronymic legally while keeping their first name and surname. This is often done to honor a stepfather or to distance oneself from an absent or disliked biological father; or to avoid an odd-sounding patronymic; or to erase one's visible connection to a different culture or ethnicity, perhaps to conform in order to avoid discrimination, or to sever a tie with a culture with which one does not identify. Foreign patronymics may also be Russianised, either legally or informally, for simplicity's sake (such as Andrew'vich → Andreyevich, or Andriyovych → Andreyevich).