You'll never guess what name the Yarosh surname actually comes from: an interesting story

Ukrainian surnames always have a meaning. Some of them are formed from external characteristics and behavioral traits. Some are based on professions and status, etc. Therefore, researching surnames, you can get a lot of information about the past of your ancestors.

Most Ukrainian surnames are derived from first names. For example, in the old days, a man's child named Ivan could be called Ivanenko, Petro's son Petrenko, and so on. However, there are some surnames that originated from something higher than a craft or the names of ordinary people. One of them is the name Yarosh. Linguists have told us about its origin.

The Yarosh surname, which is still found in Ukraine and other Slavic countries, has a rich and interesting history that goes back centuries.

With the adoption of Christianity in Russia, it became customary to name children in honor of a saint revered by the Orthodox Church. Because this religion came to Ukraine from Byzantium, to Byzantium from the Roman Empire, and from the Middle East, most Christian names were borrowed from other languages and adapted to Slavic sound.

For example, the name Hierotheus, which means "Holy God" in ancient Greek, was changed in this way. It became popular in ancient times thanks to the holy martyr Hierotheus. He was a disciple of the Apostle Paul and a bishop of Athens who suffered for his faith in the first century.

Over time, the name Hierotheus was transformed into forms more familiar to the Slavic sounding: Yerofiy, Yarofey, Yaroshko. It is from the pet form "Yaroshko" that the surname Yarosh comes from.

In Ukraine, family names were formed with the suffixes -uk, -yuk, -enko, -ych. Sometimes the name was fixed as a surname without any changes, so today we have such variants of surnames as Yarosh, Yaroshenko, etc.

Among the well-known bearers of this surname are the Ukrainian public and political figure Dmytro Yarosh, as well as many other talented people in various fields.

Studying the origin of surnames gives us the opportunity to better understand the history and culture of our people. The Yarosh surname, like many other Ukrainian surnames, is part of this heritage and testifies to the rich and distinctive way of development of Ukrainians.