Why do Russian women's name end in 'a' or 'ova'?

Question

I have noticed that Russian Women name end in 'a' while men's don't.

For example:

Women: Sharapova's

Her father: Sharapov

Women: Dinara Safina

Her Brother: Marat Safin

However, I was watching Olympics gymantics last night and saw a russian girl with last name Kiramenko, shouldn't it be Kiramenkova or something? Then there is also a tennis player named Maria Kirilenko.

Answer 1

Have No clue about anything russian sorry.

Answer 2

Most eastern europen last names there are similar to an "adjective" or a "possessive adjective"- i.e. they describe a person by answering a question "which?" or "whose".  words

Thats why different endings. But this doesnt apply to all words. "Kirilenko"- anything ending with "enko" usually has its roots in Ukrainian. I am not sure what all forms these types of last name had originally...

But any last name ending with "o" doesnt change with gender.

Basically any last name that is NOT similar to an adjective in russian will not change with gender. Like if you take a foreign last name, for example, "Smith" - that will not be changed with gender in Russian.

If you want to make a russian version, you have to make it "Smifov" and "Smifova" if you want it to be similar to native last names. This has been done for many last names, including "Safin"- not sure what the original word was- but it is obviously not rooted in Russian.

Answer 3

Maybe they're common surnames.  

Answer 4

in many slavic languages, the final "a" denotes a woman.  however, a common usage last name for both genders may be used especially with more westernized people or if it is not a traditional russian name. (and it would probably be kiremenka)