A person's surname can tell a lot about who his ancestors were. It did not always happen that the relatives were all nobles and "blue blood". Many people have been referring to the Urals and Siberia for centuries to settle these vast lands. Hard work and physical punishment could not affect their names and nicknames.

To the Urals and Siberia Historically, the Trans-Urals was settled mainly by convicts and exiles, Old Believers, dissenters, as well as Cossacks and peasants who went to these lands in search of a better life. Many of them, having found themselves in a new place, preferred for one reason or another to forget their former surnames in order to start life from scratch. And some free migrants in the XVI-XVII centuries did not yet have officially recorded anthroponyms.

Stanislav Kuzmin, Doctor of Law, noted that at first only those sentenced to death were sent to Siberia, and then almost all troublemakers and robbers, sometimes together with their wives and children. The scientist wrote about this in the article "Penal servitude and exile of the Russian state: the beginning of the XVIII – middle of the XIX century", which was published in the journal "Vedomosti of the penal system" (No. 8 for 2018).

Most of the sentenced men ended up at the Nerchinsk factories, the Kara gold mines, the Irkutsk saltworks, the Ural mines, etc.

They were deprived of their last name The process of formalizing surnames for representatives of the lower social strata in Siberia and the Urals had its own peculiarities. For example, most convicts, in general, were deprived of their former anthroponyms. Passing into the status of people rejected by society and the state, they lost all connection with their past. Relatives forgot about them, because the exiled criminal was, as it were, dying socially. And practically no one came back from hard labor.

In this regard, the fate of the famous Russian hydrographer and navigator Fyodor Soymonov (1692-1780) is truly unique. He managed to return from the Okhotsk salt mines, where Empress Anna Ioannovna exiled him, because Elizabeth Petrovna remembered her father's faithful colleague, and soon after ascending the Russian throne, she ordered to find F.I. Soymonov and announce his highest pardon.

Finding the exiled admiral turned out to be a difficult task, because convicts lost their surnames, being on the spot from

Colorful nicknames The names of the exiles often became their nicknames, which today we would call thug nicknames. For example, a robber could be called Kistenev, Tesakov, Gasilov, Molotilov, Solovyov, and a thief – Kopeikin, Groshin, Rublev. The killer could be nicknamed Dushilov, Davilin, Rezakov, etc.

Sometimes the Uralians and Siberians gave convicts nicknames that are not quite clear to the inhabitants of the European part of Russia. For example, Koshovkin (koshovka is a small sleigh), Kulemin (kulema is a trap for sable), Khokhoryashkin (khokhoryashki is a household trifle), Untaykin (untayki is the same as unts), Shubenkin (shubenka is a fur glove), etc.

There are many similar characteristic surnames beyond the Urals. These are Teplyakov (teplyak – women's fur coat), and Teplushnikov (teplushnik – grass for making bath washcloths), and Sniskin (sniska – fishing device), and Obechaykin (obechayka – wooden covering of the roof of the house), and Cats (cats – leather shoes).

Of course, not all people with such colorful surnames had ancestors who were exiles or convicts, but most often this is exactly the case.

Surnames with geography A well-known linguist, specialist in onomastics Vladimir Nikonov, traveled a lot, studying the vocabulary of different regions of Russia. In his book "Geography of Surnames" (Moscow, 1988), the researcher noted that on the basis of anthroponyms alone, it is possible to trace the history of colonization of the Trans-Urals.

Many exiles, once on novaya zemlya, received nicknames by the name of the places where they were from. This is how the Astrakhantsevs, Vyatkins, Vologzhanins, Kalugins, Kolmogorovs, Novgorodtsevs, Ladogins, Moskvitins, Cherkashins, etc. appeared.

In addition to people who have committed criminal offenses and politically objectionable persons, prisoners of war were often sent to the Urals and Siberia. Since they were foreigners, their surnames preserved the memory of their ancestral homeland. Therefore, Litvinovs, Chudinovs, Nemchinovs, Valakhins, Shvedovs, etc. are quite common in the Trans-Urals.

In addition, many convicts took surnames associated with the place of serving their sentence or the type of activity they were forced to engage in. These are Nerchinsky, Irkutsk, Nevyansky, Solevarov, Rudokopov, Ostrovsky (in honor of Sakhalin), Ugolshchikov, Zolotomoyev, Kamnerezov and many others.

By type of punishment As noted by the Doctor of Historical Sciences S.I. Kuzmin in his above-mentioned article, before being sent to hard labor, many prisoners convicted of serious crimes were subjected to cruel, crippling punishments. All this was done so that exiles could be easily distinguished from other citizens by their appearance. Thus, the risk of mass escapes from places of detention was reduced: wherever a person went with his nostrils torn out, he could not hide the fact that he was a convict. In the XVIII century, these crippling punishments were replaced by branding. Usually the letter "K" (convict) or sometimes "V" (thief) was burned on the forehead or on the cheek of people.

On the basis of such external signs that catch the eye, people received nicknames, which later became surnames. This is how the Bespalykhs, Kleimenovs, Karnaukhins, Beznosovs, Sleptsovs, Bezbeglovs appeared...

Some surnames arose from other punishments. These are Dybiny, Rozginy, Batogovy, Koshkiny (cat – whip with metal hooks).

If only not the Demidovs The surnames of convicts differ from peasant ones also in that the exiled people were never named after the owner of the enterprise on which they had to work. If in the European part of Russia serfs were often recorded under one common surname of their landowner, then in the Urals and Siberia everything happened the other way around. For example, if there were Demidovs among the convicts, they refused such an anthroponym in order to have nothing to do with a well-known clan.

Candidate of Philological Sciences Elena Ivanova devoted her article "The names of the founders of the Ural industry on the map of the Urals" to this topic, which was published in the journal "Philological Class" (No. 2 for 2019). The researcher noted that in the middle of the XVIII century the Demidov clan owned 34 factories located in the Middle Urals. It was a whole department, which included settlements, mines and mines, river piers and roads along which products were transported.

"Judging by the available historical sources, the Demidov boys were not called by the name Demid in the territory. Ordinary people, especially factory workers, hated the Demidovs and did not want analogies with the surname of the factory owners," wrote E.E. Ivanova.

Despite the fact that famous industrialists often hired fugitives of all stripes who hid their real surnames, none of them began to be named after the owners. This is evidenced by the lists of workers and residents of settlements in the Middle Urals, among whom there was not a single Demid, not a single Demidov until the twentieth century.

The reason for the rejection of such a surname is the cruelty of the founders of the dynasty of industrialists, who caused only negative emotions in people. The same can be attributed to other well-known Ural clans, such as the Yakovlevs, Luginins, Stroganovs, Turchaninovs, Mosolovs and Osokins.

A person's surname can tell a lot about who his ancestors were. It did not always happen that the relatives were all nobles and "blue blood". Many people have been referring to the Urals and Siberia for centuries to settle these vast lands. Hard work and physical punishment could not affect their names and nicknames.

To the Urals and Siberia Historically, the Trans-Urals was settled mainly by convicts and exiles, Old Believers, dissenters, as well as Cossacks and peasants who went to these lands in search of a better life. Many of them, having found themselves in a new place, preferred for one reason or another to forget their former surnames in order to start life from scratch. And some free migrants in the XVI-XVII centuries did not yet have officially recorded anthroponyms.

Stanislav Kuzmin, Doctor of Law, noted that at first only those sentenced to death were sent to Siberia, and then almost all troublemakers and robbers, sometimes together with their wives and children. The scientist wrote about this in the article "Penal servitude and exile of the Russian state: the beginning of the XVIII – middle of the XIX century", which was published in the journal "Vedomosti of the penal system" (No. 8 for 2018).

Most of the sentenced men ended up at the Nerchinsk factories, the Kara gold mines, the Irkutsk saltworks, the Ural mines, etc.

They were deprived of their last name The process of formalizing surnames for representatives of the lower social strata in Siberia and the Urals had its own peculiarities. For example, most convicts, in general, were deprived of their former anthroponyms. Passing into the status of people rejected by society and the state, they lost all connection with their past. Relatives forgot about them, because the exiled criminal was, as it were, dying socially. And practically no one came back from hard labor.

In this regard, the fate of the famous Russian hydrographer and navigator Fyodor Soymonov (1692-1780) is truly unique. He managed to return from the Okhotsk salt mines, where Empress Anna Ioannovna exiled him, because Elizabeth Petrovna remembered her father's faithful colleague, and soon after ascending the Russian throne, she ordered to find F.I. Soymonov and announce his highest pardon.

Finding the exiled admiral turned out to be a difficult task, because convicts lost their surnames, being on the spot from

Colorful nicknames The names of the exiles often became their nicknames, which today we would call thug nicknames. For example, a robber could be called Kistenev, Tesakov, Gasilov, Molotilov, Solovyov, and a thief – Kopeikin, Groshin, Rublev. The killer could be nicknamed Dushilov, Davilin, Rezakov, etc.

Sometimes the Uralians and Siberians gave convicts nicknames that are not quite clear to the inhabitants of the European part of Russia. For example, Koshovkin (koshovka is a small sleigh), Kulemin (kulema is a trap for sable), Khokhoryashkin (khokhoryashki is a household trifle), Untaykin (untayki is the same as unts), Shubenkin (shubenka is a fur glove), etc.

There are many similar characteristic surnames beyond the Urals. These are Teplyakov (teplyak – women's fur coat), and Teplushnikov (teplushnik – grass for making bath washcloths), and Sniskin (sniska – fishing device), and Obechaykin (obechayka – wooden covering of the roof of the house), and Cats (cats – leather shoes).

Of course, not all people with such colorful surnames had ancestors who were exiles or convicts, but most often this is exactly the case.

Surnames with geography A well-known linguist, specialist in onomastics Vladimir Nikonov, traveled a lot, studying the vocabulary of different regions of Russia. In his book "Geography of Surnames" (Moscow, 1988), the researcher noted that on the basis of anthroponyms alone, it is possible to trace the history of colonization of the Trans-Urals.

Many exiles, once on novaya zemlya, received nicknames by the name of the places where they were from. This is how the Astrakhantsevs, Vyatkins, Vologzhanins, Kalugins, Kolmogorovs, Novgorodtsevs, Ladogins, Moskvitins, Cherkashins, etc. appeared.

In addition to people who have committed criminal offenses and politically objectionable persons, prisoners of war were often sent to the Urals and Siberia. Since they were foreigners, their surnames preserved the memory of their ancestral homeland. Therefore, Litvinovs, Chudinovs, Nemchinovs, Valakhins, Shvedovs, etc. are quite common in the Trans-Urals.

In addition, many convicts took surnames associated with the place of serving their sentence or the type of activity they were forced to engage in. These are Nerchinsky, Irkutsk, Nevyansky, Solevarov, Rudokopov, Ostrovsky (in honor of Sakhalin), Ugolshchikov, Zolotomoyev, Kamnerezov and many others.

By type of punishment As noted by the Doctor of Historical Sciences S.I. Kuzmin in his above-mentioned article, before being sent to hard labor, many prisoners convicted of serious crimes were subjected to cruel, crippling punishments. All this was done so that exiles could be easily distinguished from other citizens by their appearance. Thus, the risk of mass escapes from places of detention was reduced: wherever a person went with his nostrils torn out, he could not hide the fact that he was a convict. In the XVIII century, these crippling punishments were replaced by branding. Usually the letter "K" (convict) or sometimes "V" (thief) was burned on the forehead or on the cheek of people.

On the basis of such external signs that catch the eye, people received nicknames, which later became surnames. This is how the Bespalykhs, Kleimenovs, Karnaukhins, Beznosovs, Sleptsovs, Bezbeglovs appeared...

Some surnames arose from other punishments. These are Dybiny, Rozginy, Batogovy, Koshkiny (cat – whip with metal hooks).

If only not the Demidovs The surnames of convicts differ from peasant ones also in that the exiled people were never named after the owner of the enterprise on which they had to work. If in the European part of Russia serfs were often recorded under one common surname of their landowner, then in the Urals and Siberia everything happened the other way around. For example, if there were Demidovs among the convicts, they refused such an anthroponym in order to have nothing to do with a well-known clan.

Candidate of Philological Sciences Elena Ivanova devoted her article "The names of the founders of the Ural industry on the map of the Urals" to this topic, which was published in the journal "Philological Class" (No. 2 for 2019). The researcher noted that in the middle of the XVIII century the Demidov clan owned 34 factories located in the Middle Urals. It was a whole department, which included settlements, mines and mines, river piers and roads along which products were transported.

"Judging by the available historical sources, the Demidov boys were not called by the name Demid in the territory. Ordinary people, especially factory workers, hated the Demidovs and did not want analogies with the surname of the factory owners," wrote E.E. Ivanova.

Despite the fact that famous industrialists often hired fugitives of all stripes who hid their real surnames, none of them began to be named after the owners. This is evidenced by the lists of workers and residents of settlements in the Middle Urals, among whom there was not a single Demid, not a single Demidov until the twentieth century.

The reason for the rejection of such a surname is the cruelty of the founders of the dynasty of industrialists, who caused only negative emotions in people. The same can be attributed to other well-known Ural clans, such as the Yakovlevs, Luginins, Stroganovs, Turchaninovs, Mosolovs and Osokins.