Alexander Palace Forum

Discussions about Russian History => Their World and Culture => Topic started by: carkuczyn on April 05, 2007, 07:31:49 PM

Title: patronyms
Post by: carkuczyn on April 05, 2007, 07:31:49 PM
is there a rule as to whether a russian female's patronym ends in "ovna" or "evna"?  this always confuses me.  thanks for any help. 
Title: Re: patronyms
Post by: Forum Admin on April 05, 2007, 09:52:46 PM
is there a rule as to whether a russian female's patronym ends in "ovna" or "evna"?  this always confuses me.  thanks for any help. 

Generally, the ending is "ovna". However, when the father's name ends in "i" like Nikolai, or Sergei,  the ending is "evna"
Title: Re: patronyms
Post by: Mike on April 06, 2007, 04:22:42 AM
A few Russian male names end with -a: Nikita, Kuz'ma, Savva. In this case the female patronym's ending is -ichna: Nikitichna, Kuz'minichna, Savvichna.
Title: Re: patronyms
Post by: Georgiy on April 08, 2007, 04:56:05 AM
And of course the same rules apply for male patronyms -ovich, -evich, or -ich.
Title: Re: patronyms
Post by: TheAce1918 on April 09, 2007, 11:24:22 PM
Thanks everyone.  I used to go by the idea that girls had the patronym [evna] and boys had [evich], I never knew that a certain letter could change the name's form. 
Title: Re: patronyms
Post by: Yelena Aleksandrovna on October 07, 2009, 08:29:23 PM
The rule of specific ends for patronyms is similar than with the surnames, the majority
of the surnames for women end with "a", of course it depends of the ends of the surnames, like
ov- ova, ev- eva, in-ina... just the ones with nko have the same ending for woman.
Title: Re: patronyms
Post by: Kalafrana on October 08, 2009, 04:14:55 AM
Going slightly off topic, what happens to foundlings and other Russians with unknown fathers? Is there a 'standard' patronymic, rather like Feodorovich/Feodorovna for foreign converts to Orthodoxy whose fathers' names do not have Russian equivalents (St Feodor being the patron saint of converts)?
Title: Re: patronyms
Post by: Yelena Aleksandrovna on October 08, 2009, 02:50:18 PM
A few Russian male names end with -a: Nikita, Kuz'ma, Savva. In this case the female patronym's ending is -ichna: Nikitichna, Kuz'minichna, Savvichna.
And I'll add Ilya... with patronyms like Ilich or Ilinichna. I don't know why they change very much
Title: Re: patronyms
Post by: Yelena Aleksandrovna on October 08, 2009, 02:51:58 PM
Going slightly off topic, what happens to foundlings and other Russians with unknown fathers? Is there a 'standard' patronymic, rather like Feodorovich/Feodorovna for foreign converts to Orthodoxy whose fathers' names do not have Russian equivalents (St Feodor being the patron saint of converts)?
Very good question. But not all the foreign converts took the patronym of Feodorovich/Feodorovna,
there are a couple of Tsarinas without it.
Title: Re: patronyms
Post by: Kalafrana on October 09, 2009, 03:32:03 AM
I did read in Massie's Peter the Great that Catherine I became Ekaterina Alexeyevna when she converted to Orthodoxy, with the Tsarevich Alexei as her godfather. Perhaps other converts got their patronyms from their godfathers.
Title: Re: patronyms
Post by: Olga Maria on October 11, 2009, 12:04:40 AM
A few Russian male names end with -a: Nikita, Kuz'ma, Savva. In this case the female patronym's ending is -ichna: Nikitichna, Kuz'minichna, Savvichna.
And I'll add Ilya... with patronyms like Ilich or Ilinichna. I don't know why they change very much
If the name of the father is Ilya, the patronym will be Ilyich ;-)
Title: Re: patronyms
Post by: Olga Maria on October 13, 2009, 02:07:04 AM
What will be the patronymic for a girl whose father is named Stanislav?
Title: Re: patronyms
Post by: Ally Kumari on October 13, 2009, 03:27:16 AM
Stanislavovna
Title: Re: patronyms
Post by: Yelena Aleksandrovna on October 13, 2009, 06:49:04 PM
If the name of the father is Ilya, the patronym will be Ilyich ;-)
Yes, you're correct.
Title: Re: patronyms
Post by: nena on October 14, 2009, 05:50:32 AM
I think "Ilyich' would be male patronymic.
Title: Re: patronyms
Post by: Yelena Aleksandrovna on October 14, 2009, 07:09:00 PM
I think "Ilyich' would be male patronymic.
Indeed. But the female form is Ilynichna or Ilinishna, i've seen several verssions of it, but I'm not
sure
Title: Re: patronyms
Post by: nena on October 14, 2009, 07:11:11 PM
I would agree for the first form , Ilychina, to Ilishina. I believe here are native Russian speakers, who would solve problem.
Title: Re: patronyms
Post by: Yelena Aleksandrovna on October 14, 2009, 07:43:40 PM
Yes, they know much than us about that things. I 've seen the different verssions in several places
but is obvious that they weren't writtten for native Russian speakers, or perhaps is difficult to translate
it to our alphabet
Title: Re: patronyms
Post by: Svetabel on October 15, 2009, 01:57:20 AM
I think "Ilyich' would be male patronymic.
Indeed. But the female form is Ilynichna or Ilinishna, i've seen several verssions of it, but I'm not
sure

The female form is "Ilynichna" but the spoken version is "Ilinishna" when you soften the sound "ch" and convert it into "sh".
Title: Re: patronyms
Post by: Yelena Aleksandrovna on October 15, 2009, 01:08:52 PM
So... are both correct? Or is better to write "Ilynichna" and pronounce "Ilinishna", because
I've seen written "Ilinishna"
Title: Re: patronyms
Post by: Svetabel on October 16, 2009, 03:33:53 AM
So... are both correct? Or is better to write "Ilynichna" and pronounce "Ilinishna", because
I've seen written "Ilinishna"

Both correct. But when you write - it's correct to write with "ch".
Title: Re: patronyms
Post by: Yelena Aleksandrovna on October 16, 2009, 12:24:25 PM
So... are both correct? Or is better to write "Ilynichna" and pronounce "Ilinishna", because
I've seen written "Ilinishna"

Both correct. But when you write - it's correct to write with "ch".
Thank you very much!!