Фамилии на -ин, -ын, -ов, -ев, -ёв
Фамилия means last name or surname. It does not mean family. Native Russian last names often end in -ов, -ёв, -ин or -ын for men; the feminine forms add -а. Thus when a husband and wife share a last name, the husband could say his last name is Смирнов and his wife will say her last name is Смирнова, and they are not lying, even though the names actually are a bit different. When Russians come to the US, the masculine form of the last name is usually made the official one, so the name Анна Смирнова might be transliterated as “Anna Smirnov.” That's not an error; it's just standard administrative practice.
(Здесь отвечает муж.) — Как ваша фамилия? Моя фамилия — Смирнов. |
(Here the husband is answering.) “What is your last name?” “My last name is Smirnov.” |
(Здесь отвечает жена.) — Как ваша фамилия? Моя фамилия — Смирнова. |
(Here the wife is answering.) “What is your last name?” “My last name is Smirnov.” |
To my observation, Russian women take their husbands last names rather less often than American women do, so it's not at all uncommon to find husbands and wives whose last names don't match. When children are born, however, they are always assigned a last name that matches the father's last name if the husband and wife are married.
Russian last names -ов, -ёв, -ин or -ын are not declined like standard nouns. They are declined like short-form adjectives. In the following table you will see a complete declension. Notice the endings with the light yellow background differ from standard first- and second-declension noun endings:
Masculine | Feminine | Plural | |
Nom Acc Gen Pre Dat Ins |
Смирнов Смирнова Смирнова Смирнове Смирнову Смирновым |
Смирнова Смирнову Смирновой Смирновой Смирновой Смирновой |
Смирновы Смирновых Смирновых Смирновых Смирновым Смирновыми |
Here are some example sentences where you can see how the endings of the first name and last name sometimes match and sometimes don't. First some masculine examples:
Nom | Это мой друг Борис Смирнов. | This is my friend Boris Smirnov. |
Acc | Я хорошо знаю Бориса Смирнова. | I know Boris Smirnov well. |
Gen | Это брат Бориса Смирнова. | This is Boris Smirnov's brother. |
Pre | Мы поговорили о Борисе Смирнове. | We talked about Boris Smirnov. |
Dat | Я передал твоё сообщение Борису Смирнову. | I gave your message to Boris Smirnov. |
Ins | Я раньше работал с Борисом Смирновым. | I used to work with Boris Smirnov. |
And now some feminine examples:
Nom | Это мой друг Анна Смирнова. | This is my friend Anna Smirnov. |
Acc | Я хорошо знаю Анну Смирнову. | I know Anna Smirnov well. |
Gen | Это брат Анны Смирновой. | This is Anna Smirnov's brother. |
Pre | Мы поговорили о Анне Смирновой. | We talked about Anna Smirnov. |
Dat | Я передал твоё сообщение Анне Смирновой. | I gave your message to Anna Smirnov. |
Ins | Я раньше работал с Анной Смирновой. | I used to work with Anna Smirnov. |
And now some plural examples:
Nom | Это мои друзья Смирновы. | These are my friends, the Smirnovs. |
Acc | Я хорошо знаю Смирновых. | I know the Smirnovs well. |
Gen | Это брат Смирновых. | This is the Smirnovs' brother. |
Pre | Мы поговорили о Смирновых. | We talked about the Smirnovs. |
Dat | Я передал твоё сообщение Смирновым. | I gave your message to the Smirnovs. |
Ins | Я раньше работал с Смирновыми. | I used to work with the Smirnovs. |
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