For the full name of citizens in Russia are three words: last name, first name and patronymic. The first is transmitted through the male line and can exist for many generations of the family. You can also understand who the ancestors of the family were, what they did and where they lived.
Conditions of assignment
Surnames began to be assigned to people only after the Decree of Peter I. This was done so that citizens could pay taxes. Surnames were formed from the name of the father or the nickname of the person. By the 17th century, all the upper strata of society, as well as merchants, traders already had surnames. Some state peasants also received them. By the 18th and 19th centuries, all citizens had already received surnames. But there were also such peasants who did not have it by the 19th century.
The origin of surnames is a whole science
There is a special science that studies the origin of surnames - etymology. Its experts have identified several classifications based on origin. The main classifications by which the origin of the surname is determined:
1. Baptismal names and their forms. As you know, at baptism everyone is given a name from the church calendar, and since there were few of them, many had the same names. Surnames were formed from the name given at baptism: Ivanov, Petrov, etc.
2. Derived from nicknames. Some people received surnames formed from nicknames (as others called them). There were parents who, in order to protect their children from evil spirits, gave them surnames with a negative meaning: Gryaznov, Unlucky and others. The education of some of them was influenced by the features of the child's appearance or the attitude of the parents to his appearance.
3. Surnames formed from the type of activity. By such surnames you can find out who your distant ancestors were. This principle owes the origin of such surnames as Kolesnikov, Plotnikov, Goncharov, Kuznetsov and many others.
4. Surnames according to place of origin. It was assigned to a person at the place of his birth or residence: Khovansky, Litvinov, Kyiv and others. If you have such a surname, you can know exactly where your ancestors lived. Usually, according to this principle, representatives of noble families received surnames.
5. Artificial. These were most often found among people associated with the church. Before the revolution, everyone who came to study in the clergy was given new surnames. They came from the names of saints, from the place of origin of the disciple of the clergy, from holidays, stones, plants and other things. Surnames given to illegitimate babies fall into the same group.
Each last name is unique. Even among namesakes, its meaning can vary.
Origin of the surnameKolesnikov
Let's deal with this particular case. There are several variants of the history of the origin of the name Kolesnikov. This may be a native Russian surname, formed from the nickname Kolesnik, to which suffixes were added: “-ov”, “-nick”, “-nick”. Usually such suffixes were added to those surnames that came from professions. Therefore, it is easy to determine that this is most likely a wheel master, akin to surnames: Myasnikov, Konyukhov, Reshetnikov, Shaposhnikov. The man was a wheelwright.
The second version of the origin of the name Kolesnik is Ukrainian. There is an opinion that it was Russified later, and first appeared in Ukraine.
The word "wheeler" has several meanings:
- master of cart and driving wheels;
- a person who wears pince-nez or glasses (a playful nickname);
- a person who has his head in the clouds (carrying nonsense).
Kolesnikovs in history
Among Russian surnames there are many Kolesnikovs - this surname is one of the hundred most common. However, it is common not only in the territory of modern Russia, the Kolesnikovs can be found in Belarus and Ukraine. A striking example of prevalence is the city of Voronezh, in which about 2,500 Kolesnikovs were registered in 2003 alone.
Naturally, all modern Kolesnikovs are not descendants of one person. Given the high probability of receiving it by people involved inmaking wheels, it is easy to explain its prevalence, since on the territory of the Moscow State, and later the Russian Empire, many peasants were involved in this craft. The first mention of people with such a surname can be found at the beginning of the 17th century.
The first Kolesnikovs
Historians managed to find the first mention of the origin of the name Kolesnikov. They date back to 1610. Kondrashko Kolesnikov is the first to have official records. Sagittarius from Smolensk was honored with such an honor thanks to his extraordinary courage. Then other references began to appear. Record about Ivan Kolesnikov - in 1624.
The famous explorer of the Baikal region Kolesnikov Vasily Ivanovich belongs to the first Kolesnikovs, records of which date back to 1632.
After that, the surname Kolesnikov became more and more popular, and references to it began to appear more and more often in all corners of the Russian Empire. Therefore, scientists and historians give an unequivocal conclusion that the Kolesnikovs are namesakes, and not the ancestors of one person.
