VernikovmRussian From Russian верник (vernik), meaning "believer", usually in the context of religion due to the term вера (vera) "faith, belief, trust" which is often associated with religion.
VoinovRussian Derived from the word "voin," which means "warrior" or "soldier" in English. It is a common surname among Russian families and may have originally been used to denote someone who worked as a soldier or was associated with the military in some way.
VolkonskyRussian This indicates familial origin within the vicinity of the Volkona river south of Moscow. This was the name of a Russian family of nobility.
VoytsekhovskyPolish, Russian, Belarusian, Kazakh, Ukrainian One of the most common Polish surnames goes back to toponyms which were named from the short form Voitsekh (Wojciech) of the male name Voitseslav (Wojciesław), consisting of two common Slavic roots «warrior» and «glory.» The popularity of the name arose with Bishop Wojciech, the baptist of Poland and the Western Slavic lands (10th century)... [more]
VtorakUkrainian, Russian Derived either from Russian второй (vtoroy) meaning "second, other" or directly from dialectal Ukrainian вторак (vtorak) meaning "secondborn".
YefimovichRussian Grigori Yefimovich who is best known as "Rasputin" was a Russian peasant, mystic and private adviser to the Romanovs (Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Tsarina Alexandra in the early 20th century).
YezhovmRussian Derived from Russian word "ёж (yozh)" meaning hedgehog. Yezhov was the last name of Nikolay Yezhov, the leader of the Soviet NKVD from 1936-38 who is known for Yezhovshchina.
YurovskiymRussian, Polish (Russified) Alternate transcription of Yurovsky. This was the last name of Yakov Yurovskiy, a notable Bolshevik. He led the execution of the Romanovs.
ZabolotskymRussian From заболотье (zabolote) meaning "from a swampland".
ZacharJewish, Hungarian, Russian, Slovak, Belarusian Derived from the Hebrew word זָכַר (zakhar) meaning "to remember". As a surname it can also derive from the given name Zakhar (Zechariah) that shares this etymology.
ZakhaevRussian Russian surname, likely a derivative of the given name Zakhey combined with the Russian suffix "-ev" ("of"), therefore meaning "of Zakhey."... [more]
ZangievOssetian, Soviet, Russian, Popular Culture The Russified Soviet and Modern Russian form of the Ossetian surname Зæнджиаты Zændžiaty. A famous user of it is wrestler Victor Zangiev, himself the inspiration for Zangief of Street Fighter fame.