These Russian surnames are actually Jewish, but no one even knows about it

Few people know, but some popular supposedly Russian surnames are actually Jewish. And we are not talking about the Abramovichs, Rabinovichs and Levins at all. The "nationalities" of these surnames can be easily determined by almost every person.

But what about the Novikovs, Yakovlevs and Yusupovs? Do you really think that these surnames are Russian? The answer to this question and the refutation of the most common myths associated with "native Russian" surnames, you will find in our material.

Let's try to debunk several common myths about Jewish surnames.

Myth 1. Surnames with the endings "-ski" and "-ich" are Jewish

From time immemorial, surnames ending in "-ich" or "-skyy" are considered "Jewish" in Russia. However, these are usually Ukrainian, Polish or Belarusian surnames. Once they were used to indicate the name of the area where the ancestors of man lived.

But surnames like Preobrazhensky or Rozhdestvensky, in which there is also a "Jewish" ending "-ski", were previously issued to graduates of seminaries and were purely religious in nature.

Myth 2. Surnames with endings "-in" and "-ov" are Russian

For some reason, most people are sure that all surnames ending in "-s" and "-in" are Russian. In fact, such surnames have different origins. Some were assigned to people depending on their professions, others — by nicknames, some — by the names of their parents. Therefore, the ending "-s" is not a guarantee that the surname is Russian.

For example, the composer Sergei Rachmaninov, as it turned out, has Jewish roots, and he received his surname from the male name Rahman, which means "merciful" in Russian.

Myth 3. Russian "Jews"

So who of the Russians has Jewish surnames? Let's figure it out.

Let's start with a little background. Jews poured into Russia en masse during the reign of Catherine II. In order to "merge" with the local population, they took other surnames, for example, Kaganovich, Novik or Medinsky. So they managed to impersonate Russians or Poles.

Jews who arrived from Germany were usually given the surname Nemtsov, those who arrived from Poland became Poles.

In the mid-1860s, some Jews received surnames with the endings "-ev" and "-ov". For example, Yusupov, Ibragimov and Hundiev. The same list includes some Novikov, Yakovlev, Zakharov and Kazakov. Most people believe that these surnames are originally Russian, but historically they are mostly worn by Jews.

As for the surname Abramov, it may well be considered Russian. Previously, the name Abram was quite popular in Russia, and this surname appeared thanks to him.

Russian Russian Myth 4. "Russian", but not Russian

In pre-revolutionary Russia, Jews were given surnames according to their profession (or the profession of their parents). For example, a minister of the Orthodox Church, who was popularly called "schoolchildren", could get the surname of Schoolchildren. Shoe repair specialists became Shoemakers, painters — Dyers.

Also, many Jewish surnames came from nicknames. Therefore, surnames like Tryapkin, Sechin, Galkin, Dolina, Shokhin and so on can be safely considered Jewish.

As you can see, a person's last name alone is not enough to determine which nationality he belongs to.