Where does the Ukrainian surname Ustymenko come from: in which region are there the most carriers?

The surname Ustymenko is quite common in Ukraine. And, as it turns out, it is an ancient one with a glorious history.

According to the database of the Ridni genealogical society, it was known back in Cossack times and now has almost 7,000 bearers and is 461st most common in Ukraine. Most often a person with the surname Ustymenko can be found in Sivershchyna. (To see the map, read the news to the end)

Where does it come from

This surname was formed from the name Ustym. It is Latin and means "just". By the way, the name has a common root with the word "justice", which is also a borrowing from Latin.

The family name Ustymenko was formed by adding the typical Ukrainian suffix -enko. This suffix indicates a descendant. That is, the first to bear it were the children of a man named Ustym, and then it stuck.

It is known that there were 15 Cossacks with this surname in the Zaporizhzhia army, as evidenced by the Cossack register of 1649. Archival documents also mention Mykhailo Ustymenko, a centurion of the 46th Riflemen's Kuren of the 6th Sich Rifle Division of the Active Army of the Ukrainian People's Republic. We can also find bearers of the family name in the lists of repressed people, lists of Hetmanate elders, Orthodox clergy, as well as the leadership of the Ukrainian SSR and deputies of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

Distribution of the surname

The map of the distribution of the Ustymenko surname shows that it is most commonly found in the north and northeast of Ukraine. There are also quite a few of its bearers in the east, south, and center. In the western regions, however, there are very few Ustymenkos.

According to the Ridni database, the place with the highest concentration of people with this surname is Kyiv, where as many as 529 lived at the time of compiling the data. In general, most Ustymenkos can be found in the following regions:

• Kyiv - 529;
• Dnipro - 217;
• Kryvyi Rih - 166;
• Sumy - 159;
• Donetsk - 132;
• Mariupol - 130;
• Zaporizhzhia - 129;
• Bila Tserkva - 113;
• Khorol district of Poltava region - 106.

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