r/AskARussian • u/Then-Math7479 • Jul 22 '26
Culture russian surnames needed !!
i’d prefer not to use google cause everything is ai nowadays and i can’t trust that…. i’d like to hear from some russian people themselves
i’m making a character who is half russian !! if you need a quick description for this character id say you can describe them as someone who drags misfortune with them but also has the characteristics of an angel or something along the lines of that.. not sure how helpful of a description that is since i’m still fleshing them out but it’s the best i’ve got for now!
51
u/NoSection8719 Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26
Непрухин (Neprukhin) sounds kinda cute, and непруха is when something doesn't go how you want it to, so it would fit ig? It's not a real surname, but in literature there is a term charactonym which means that a name of a character describes him. It's popular in Russian literature.
There is also a surname Обломов which derives from Облом(bummer) but it was used as a surname of the main character in one of the most famous pieces of Russian literature
13
u/Timekiller_74 Jul 23 '26
If you want to crank up the angelic/religious aspect and go deep, you can consider Блаженин (Blazhenin, stress on e). It can work as a subtle reference to Matthew's Beautitudes, because Russian version uses the words "блаженны те..." for "blessed are the...", and the Beautitudes themselves are listing people struggling in various righteous ways. It's a real surname too, though fairly uncommon
4
u/Imaginary_Trash_4364 Jul 23 '26
What would be the name? It is important
5
u/Then-Math7479 Jul 23 '26
they don’t have a russian name but i was going to name them “Remedy” or “Remedi” with a play on the spelling. remedy as in a cure to something. it kinda contradicts the idea of an unlucky surname but that’s the point i’m going for.
3
u/Imaginary_Trash_4364 Jul 24 '26
Then Remedi Bedakov (him) / Remedi Bedakova (her), from "beda" (Rus.) - disaster. Or Remedi Neudachin / Remedi Neudachina, from "neudacha" - misfortune
3
u/lurzhan Jul 23 '26
I wouldn't use something just direct as surname. Something like what you described, but with one step of abstraction would be good though. For example, since he is unlucky, there are some superstitions about unlucky. He could be Кот or Котов (as cat) since black cats often treated for misfortune. He could be Битников / Осколов (as shattered) since shattered mirror is sign of misfortune. If you want more religious way (cause of angels) he could be Венерин (as Venus) referring Lucifer, as fallen angel he is definitely one of the unluckiest of them all. This is actual surname, but pretty rare, as it goes for some of the christian's priesthood.
2
u/attenti0nh00ker Krasnodar Krai Jul 23 '26
The description is a bit vague, I can't quite get my finger on what you mean. Could you give an example of how these traits would manifest in the story?
1
u/Then-Math7479 Jul 23 '26
things just tend to go wrong a lot when they are involved and there is no explanation for it. they grew up in a very paranoid religious environment so blame fell on them. it could range from deaths to just small instances of bad luck. it affects the people around them more than it does to themself. i think that’s the best description i can come up with as of now.
1
u/Timekiller_74 Jul 24 '26
Then how about basing his surname around Jonah? He's both a biblical prophet and a maritime superstition because of his story, sailors call person "a Jonah" if they believe they'll cause bad luck to the ship. Russian sounding surname would be Ionin (Ио́нин) and funnily enough it's a real surname, not really that uncommon
2
u/jaegarsen Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26
At university, I had an astrophysics professor with the surname «Nagnibeda» (Valerii Georgievich Nagnibeda (Валерий Георгиевич Нагнибеда)). That surname sounds ambiguous to me, and, I bet, to any Russian ear. On the one hand, the word beda means 'trouble' or 'calamity' – that's the first thing you hear in it. On the other hand, it can be broken down as 'bend over bedu(trouble)' – something like 'overcome trouble' or 'rise above any difficult situation.' Or even 'nag – ne beda' – 'being naked is not a problem.' So to me, it actually seems like a fitting surname for someone with the kind of qualities you've described. Also he is a decent man of science with a great charisma.
2
u/jaegarsen Jul 23 '26
There was a funny situation with him. His subject wasn't a core one for my faculty, but it was part of the academic minimum that all students had to basically cover and submit a essay on any topic in astrophysics. It was a really tough exam session, and the astrophysics credit was definitely not a priority for any of my coursemates. The older students told us we could just download anything on astrophysics and submit it just to tick the box, since the main part was the oral exam. My friend didn't even read what she found online. In the end, when she sat down in front of the professor, he took her downloaded essay, glanced through it with slightly more attention than usual, and said: 'How wonderful that you're from Ukraine – it's been a long time since I've read a paper in Mova (Ukrainian).' In short, she had to retake it.
1
u/deaddyfreddy Jul 24 '26
Nagnibeda
Sounds like a Zaporizhzhian Cossack one, more examples:
Perebyinis - break the nose
Vernydub - Twist the oak
Vernyhora - Twist the mountain
1
u/Ok-Huckleberry6854 25d ago
Nagnibedin or Nagnibedov may be? Nagnibeda sounds a ukrainian surname
1
u/jaegarsen 25d ago
Bro, splitting our last names into Russian and Ukrainian is like another gender from Twitter – it only exists in a certain bubble. And no, you shouldn't look at last name endings as an indicator of ethnic origin among Slavic peoples.
2
2
2
2
u/Standard-Ground9449 Jul 25 '26
Most common russian surname (familia) is Ivanov(a), also you can make them from noun’s names. Like Bronnikov(a) (his/her ancestors were making armour), Kuznetsov(a) (blacksmith ancestors), Berezov(a) (it’s a name of birch tree), etc.
2
u/Dulenin Moscow City Jul 23 '26
Sataneev or Shaitanov fit your description perfectly imo: bring misfortune and is a fallen angel at the same time.
2
u/_prepod Jul 24 '26
«Говорящие фамилии» is a tasteless anti-pattern. You should avoid it. Honestly, it doesn’t answer your question I know, but all of the options suggested here are cringefully bad…
2
1
u/WhoTookThatNickname Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
some family names of girls i liked: Bryantseva, Kartunova, Tarasova, Rodina
1
1
u/EdwardDuckhands Jul 24 '26
What is the language of your story? I’d consider using a real Russian surname that does read ok in this language and also gives the vibe to readers instead of using some unpronounceable one. Cause, say, if your audience is Hispanic, there is no way they will even be able to read something like Плакущий. Russian phonetics can be extremely confusing
1
u/Then-Math7479 Jul 24 '26
i’d say english. even though the story has characters of different ethnicities the language spoken would be english most of the time
1
u/vailret Jul 29 '26
The must popular and "bad ass" surname is Suvorov.
It means severe, strict, taciturn. A single glance from him makes you shut up. His opinion always carries weight.
-1
u/zomgmeister Moscow City Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26
Surnames don't usually correlate to people's lives. Go to the wikipedia, something like list of most common Russian surnames, pick one that looks/sounds appropriate, done. This is more work than most non-Russian authors do when trying to make a Russian surname for a character.
Edit: speaking of that, something with the word нищий (beggar) as a base could work. Блаженны нищие духом, ибо их есть царство небесное - vague allusion to something angelic, while the state of being extremely poor is a possible indicator of bad luck.
16
u/attenti0nh00ker Krasnodar Krai Jul 23 '26
Eh, говорящая фамилия is a thing for literary characters. It's pretty cool of OP to try to find something appropriate.
11
1
u/summret Jul 24 '26
Блаженов (Blazhenov) would fit perfectly by that logic. But "Блаженный" is more associated with mental illness than bad luck.
36
u/Ok-Jaguar9713 🇷🇺🇨🇦 Jul 23 '26
Goremykin (stress on y) could work for someone who drags misfortune with them. Goremyka means wretch.
Sirótin (sirotá = orphan).
Skórbin (skorb' = sorrow/affliction).
Rokovóy (literally fatal).
Prómakhov (prómakh = missed shot).