What surnames were given in Ukraine to people with a good heart: examples

Isn't it a good reason to give a person a friendly nickname? That's how some Ukrainian surnames were formed 200 years ago and earlier.

Linguist and anthroponymy researcher Yulian Redko wrote about this in his work Modern Ukrainian Surnames. In particular, he collected variants of family names that clearly indicate that the founder of the family was a man of peace, acted fairly, did not wish anyone harm, and was a respected person in the community.

Thus, Ukrainians appreciated the quiet nature of their fellow villagers and called such people accordingly:

• Tychyi,
• Blahyi,
• Tyshko,
• Tykhenkyi,
• Tykhun.

Kindness, the ability to find an approach to everyone, peacefulness, and love for people were also valued. This is reflected in the following surnames:

• Delikatnyi,
• Laskavyi,
• Kohanyi,
• Subtelnyi,
• Myrnyi,
• Liubyj,
• Myrosh,
• Solodkyi,
• Sviatyj,
• Dobriy,
• Dobryi.

Redko also attributes the emergence of such surnames as Shovkovyi or Oksamytnyi to the character of the first speaker. According to the linguist, they were more of a metaphor for a person's kind-hearted character than an indication of what kind of clothes they wore.