OneTaskBy Tim King · Updated
Ukrainian Name Generator
Ukrainian Names With -enko Surnames, Patronymics and Spellings
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How the Ukrainian Name Generator works
This Ukrainian name generator makes Ukrainian names in Ukrainian, not Russian, spelling: Solomiya Andriivna Shevchenko, Ostap Bohdanovych Kovalenko, with the -enko, -chuk and -uk surnames that mark a name as Ukrainian and the patronymics that Ukrainians share with their neighbours. Choose full or short form, female, male or either, and generate up to a hundred.
How the Ukrainian name generator works
Ukrainian names have the same three-part structure as Russian ones, given name, patronymic, surname, but every part differs, and a generator that produces Russian forms with a Ukrainian surname is wrong. The given names are the Ukrainian forms of the shared Orthodox stock: Oleksandr not Alexander, Andriy not Andrei, Mykola not Nikolai, Dmytro not Dmitri, Olena not Elena, Kateryna not Ekaterina, Halyna not Galina. Since 1991 the old Ukrainian names have returned in force, Bohdan, Taras, Ostap, Nazar, Solomiya, Zoriana, Daryna, and Ukrainian children born since 2014 carry them in large numbers. The Ukrainian transliteration also differs: h where Russian has g, i where Russian has i or y, y where Russian has i, so Volodymyr, Serhiy, Hryhoriy.
Patronymics are formed with -ovych or -yovych for a son and -ivna or -ivna for a daughter, so the children of Andriy are Andriyovych and Andriivna, of Ivan Ivanovych and Ivanivna. They are used exactly as in Russia, with the first name as polite address, though younger Ukrainians use them less than their parents did.
The surnames are the distinctive part. The commonest Ukrainian ending is -enko, originally a diminutive, son of: Shevchenko from the cobbler, Kovalenko from the smith, Bondarenko from the cooper, Tkachenko from the weaver, Kravchenko from the tailor. Then come -uk and -chuk in the west, Shevchuk, Polishchuk, Tkachuk, Hnatiuk, and the bare trade names, Koval, Bondar, Melnyk the miller, Honchar the potter, Kushnir the furrier. Unlike Russian surnames, these do not change for women: Oksana Shevchenko, not Shevchenka. Only the adjectival surnames in -sky and -ska, a minority, agree with the bearer, and the generator handles those with a separate list, Kovalsky and Kovalska. A few Cossack surnames, Sirko, Kryvonis, Nalyvaiko, Zaliznyak, appear in that list too and give a name a historical ring.
For the Russian system with its gendered surnames, the Russian page; for the Polish names that share the western Ukrainian stock, the Polish page.
FAQ
How is a Ukrainian name different from a Russian one?
In spelling and in surname. Ukrainian uses Oleksandr, Mykola, Olena and Kateryna where Russian uses Alexander, Nikolai, Elena and Ekaterina, and Ukrainian surnames end in -enko, -uk and -chuk rather than -ov and -ev. Using the Russian forms for a Ukrainian character is a mistake that Ukrainian readers notice at once.
Do Ukrainian surnames change for women?
Mostly not. Shevchenko, Kovalenko and Melnyk are the same for men and women. Only adjectival surnames in -sky change to -ska, Kovalsky, Kovalska, and the generator handles those automatically.
What does -enko mean?
It was a diminutive suffix meaning son of or little, attached to a father's trade or nickname. Kovalenko is the smith's son, Shevchenko the cobbler's son, Bondarenko the cooper's son. It is the commonest Ukrainian surname ending and is found across the whole country.
Why Kyiv spelling and not Kiev?
Because Ukrainian is a separate language with its own transliteration, and since 1991 Ukrainian names are written from Ukrainian, not Russian. Kyiv, Kharkiv, Volodymyr and Serhiy are the Ukrainian forms; Kiev, Kharkov, Vladimir and Sergei are the Russian ones.
Can I use these names for fiction or test data?
Yes. They are combinations of ordinary names and cannot be owned. Shevchenko and Kovalenko are carried by hundreds of thousands of people, so a common combination will coincide with real people; a name that will be attached to something public deserves a quick search.
See also: all Culture & Language tools, People, Fantasy & RPG, Sci-fi, Online & Social, Business & Brand, Places & Things.
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