Re: surname Shevchenko or Shewcenko
by James Young (guest)
11/14/2004, 5:26 PM
Shevchenko denotes the descendant of a shoemaker (shevts). -enko is a common Ukrainian surname ending. The literal meaning is "little", but as a surname ending it indicates descent, i.e., Matyushenko, "descendant of Little Matthew",(Have you seen Battleship Potyomkin?). Kravchenko means "descendant of the tailor", as does Kravchuk. The ending -chuk has the same meaning(s) as -enko.