Your last name can tell much more than just about origin. In the Ukrainian tradition, names were often born from life - from life, status, conditions of existence. And among them is a special category of names that testified to the extreme need. These "poverty names" were not a joke or insulting - they were a reality recorded in the documents and the memory of generations.
The publication of the telegraph together with the Vasyl Maslov Local Lore Society in Pryluky gathered a selection of names that directly indicate the poverty of their carriers. Many of them are still found in Ukraine.
Surnames without boots and roof over head
-
Bosius, Bosak, Bosenko - from the word "barefoot", that is, a person without shoes. Such a name could appear in the one who went on the earth not from faith, but from poverty.
-
Burlak - nomad, homeless, mercenary. Last name for those who had neither land nor home.
-
Geta, Getalo, Hetenko - "geta" meant an old horse. This may have been the only property of the family or their only luxury.
-
Golik, Golysh, Golyak - all these names come from "naked", that is, not just without clothes, but without any property, without everything.
-
Turf is a surname that probably got a man who lived in a hut covered with turf. It was the most primitive form of housing - in fact, a dugout.
Surnames of marsh yards and empty pockets
-
Kalyuzhny - according to local historians, the name points to a poorly equipped house where the puddles were constantly stood. It is a sign of poverty, lack of improvement.
-
Karapara - from the verb to "pick" - to live in poverty, to live. The word is almost forgotten, and the name remained.
-
Kubrak, Kubrakov is the popular name of the poor, people with a difficult fate and a hard life.
-
Non -way is literally "one that does not pull life." The name for a needy traveler, often from a circle of Cossack poor.
-
Nechalod is a tragic name that could have arisen after the loss of property, land or social status. A person who once "owned" but no more.
-
Nuzhnko is a symbol of total need. This name directly speaks of life in constant shortages.
Last name is not a shame but a memory
At a time when people did not have passports, resumes or social networks, the name was a biography. The history of the family was often put into a single word. Today, these names are no longer surprised, but they are evidence of the past.
If your family has a similar name is not a reason for shame, but a reason to be proud of ancestral endurance. They survived what few would withstand, and left the name - simple, honest and real.
