Date
Meaning & History
Jewish (from Belarus): metronymic from Yiddish drabke “loose woman”. Can also be from drabki Belarusian 'light cart' (+ the same suffix -in), an occupational name for a coachman (Alexander Beider).Commonly spelled as DRAPKIN in records from Belarus and DRABKIN in records from Ukraine. According to Alexander Beider: Actually, in Russian (or Belarusian) Drabkin (the original form) is pronounced as Drapkin
because in East Slavic languages every voiced consonant /b/ is replaced (in pronunciation, not in spelling) with its voiceless equivalent /p/ when this consonant stays before a voiceless consonant /k/. It is an example of a more general rule of regressive assimilation of consonants peculiar to East Slavic languages.This means that the surname came almost exclusively from East Belarus. In theory, we cannot exclude that all these people are related and descend from one forefather who took this surname either in Mogilev or Vitebsk guberniyas after the law of 1804. The suffix -in is typical only for Belarusian (and Russian) and almost unknown in Ukrainian.
Not to be confused with DROPKIN.
because in East Slavic languages every voiced consonant /b/ is replaced (in pronunciation, not in spelling) with its voiceless equivalent /p/ when this consonant stays before a voiceless consonant /k/. It is an example of a more general rule of regressive assimilation of consonants peculiar to East Slavic languages.This means that the surname came almost exclusively from East Belarus. In theory, we cannot exclude that all these people are related and descend from one forefather who took this surname either in Mogilev or Vitebsk guberniyas after the law of 1804. The suffix -in is typical only for Belarusian (and Russian) and almost unknown in Ukrainian.
Not to be confused with DROPKIN.