How to Create a Russian Patronymic
As I stated last week, Russians have three names, similar to Americans; they have a given name, a patronymic, and a family name, or surname.
The patronymic is formed by taking the father’s first name and adding a -vich if one is male and -yevna, -ovna or -ichna if one is female. For masculine names ending in a vowel, the ending changes to -ich or -inichna. The patronymic is the official part of the name.
For example, if a father’s name is Viktor, the son’s patronymic will be Viktorevich and I believe that the daughter’s name will be Viktoryevna (but correct me if I am wrong, please).
According to this format my patronymic would be Jamesovna.
What is yours?
Tags: , Adoption, create a patronymic, russianRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Countries and Domestic, Russia
1 opinion for How to Create a Russian Patronymic
Hevel
Apr 27, 2008 at 2:33 am
To be correct, it would be Iakovevna (or using traditional substitutions, Dimitrievna).
I always wondered where my baby brother got his patronymic, with no known father in sight.
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