<Li> - ac / - ec: Slovenia and Croatia (both versions), Serbia (only - ac), Czech Republic and Slovakia (only - ec), Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine (as ец, - ets). </Li> <P> An example using an occupation is kovač, koval or kowal, which means blacksmith . It is the root of the names Kovačević, Kovačić, Kowalski, Kowalchuk, Kowalczyk, Kovalenko, Kovalyov, and Kovalev . All mean "descendant of a blacksmith". </P> <P> The given name Petr or Petro (equivalent to Peter) can become Petrov, Petriv, Petriw, Petrovsky, Petrovich, and Petric . All mean "descendant of Peter". This is similar to the use of "- son" or "- sen" in Germanic languages . </P> <P> In East Slavic languages (Belarusian, Russian, Rusyn, and Ukrainian) the same system of name suffixes can be used to express several meanings . One of the most common is the patronymic . Instead of a secondary "middle" given name, people identify themselves with their given and family name and patronymic, a name based on their father's given name . If a man gives his full name as Boris Vladimirovich Kuznetsov, then his father's name must have been Vladimir: Vladimirovich in this case literally means "Vladimir's son". </P>

Why do so many eastern european names end in ic