Declension of Russian surname, given name and patronymic

Online tool for declining a Russian surname, given name and patronymic through the six grammatical cases. Gender is detected automatically from the patronymic or the given name, and the result covers exactly what most sources get wrong: female surnames ending in a consonant never decline, a fleeting vowel is preserved in surnames (Заяц — Заяца, not Зайца), and surnames in -ко, -ых or -аго stay unchanged. Besides the case table the tool answers whether a surname declines at all and why, builds the patronymic from a father's name and prepares document header lines.

How to use

1
Enter the name

Fill in surname, given name and patronymic, or paste the whole name on one line — the word order is recognised automatically.

2
Check the gender

The detected gender and its source are printed under the result. For a rare surname you can switch the gender manually.

3
Pick a case

Tap the case you need — the answer appears as one large line ready to copy. The full table of all six cases sits right below.

4
Take the result

Copy a single form, the whole table or a ready document line. For a staff list open the batch block.

Decline a Russian full name with the right gender and exceptions

Gender:
Examples:
A whole list of names

Paste a list — one full name per line. Gender is detected separately for every line from its patronymic or given name.

Case:

Features

All six cases, gender-aware
Surname, given name and patronymic are declined separately and as one line. Gender comes from the patronymic (Сергеевич / Сергеевна) — the most reliable signal — and falls back to the given name and surname.
A “declines or not” verdict with the rule
Every part shows whether it declines and quotes the rule: female surnames in a consonant are invariable, -ко and -ых surnames never decline, -ия surnames do while -иа surnames do not.
Patronymic from the father's name
Both forms are produced: Никита — Никитич and Никитична, Илья — Ильич and Ильинична, Лев — Львович and Львовна. Traditional variants are shown where they exist.
Document lines and initials
Ready “to whom” in the dative and “from whom” in the genitive for an application header, plus initials in both orders — Иванову И. И. and И. И. Иванова.
Whole lists at once
Paste a staff list — each line is declined into the chosen case with its own gender, and the result copies out in one click into a spreadsheet or a document.
Disputable cases are not hidden
Where the form depends on stress (Ква́шей or Квашо́й), both variants are shown with an explanation instead of one guessed spelling.

FAQ

Does my surname decline?

The tool answers this for every surname you enter and shows the rule. In short: male surnames ending in a consonant decline (Бондарь — Бондаря), female ones spelled the same way do not (Ольге Бондарь). Surnames in -ко and -енко, in -ых and -их, in -аго, -яго, -ово, and those ending in a vowel never decline: Петренко, Черных, Живаго, Кикабидзе, Гюго.

My surname is never declined in real life — why does the tool decline it?

Surnames ending in an unstressed -а after a consonant decline regardless of origin, for men and women alike: Глинка — Глинки, Кафка — Кафки, Сметана — Сметаны, Ольга Сорока — Ольги Сороки. Leaving such a surname unchanged is a widespread habit, but the literary norm does not support it: in documents the nominative is taken from the passport, while the other cases are formed by the rules of the language. The types that genuinely never decline are different ones: -ко and -енко, -ых and -их, -аго and -ово, endings in a vowel, and female surnames ending in a consonant.

Why “Заяца” and not “Зайца”?

In surnames that coincide with common nouns the fleeting vowel is preserved — that is what tells the surname apart from the ordinary word: у Ивана Заяца, but поймать зайца. The same applies to Гребень (Гребеня), Ремень, Палец. Many services decline such surnames as ordinary words and drop the vowel.

How is gender determined?

From the patronymic first: the endings -ович, -евич, -ич are masculine, -овна, -евна, -ична are feminine. This is the most reliable signal. Without a patronymic the given name and the surname ending are used. The detection is always printed under the result and can be overridden — useful for rare and non-Russian names.

How is a patronymic formed?

Names ending in a hard consonant take -ович and -овна (Александр — Александрович, Александровна); names ending in a soft consonant or -й take -евич and -евна (Игорь — Игоревич, Игоревна). A number of names keep traditional forms: Никита — Никитич and Никитична, Илья — Ильич and Ильинична, Лука — Лукич and Лукинична, Лев — Львович and Львовна.

What goes into a Russian application header?

The addressee is put in the dative case (кому: Иванову Ивану Ивановичу) and the applicant in the genitive (от кого: Иванова Ивана Ивановича). The tool outputs both lines ready to paste, together with initial variants.

Can I decline a whole staff list?

Yes, in the “A whole list of names” block. Every line is processed on its own, gender is detected independently for each, and the result copies out in one click into a spreadsheet or a document.

Where do the rules come from?

The base is the open petrovich rule set for Russian personal names (MIT licence), with our own layer on top: preservation of the fleeting vowel in surnames, the instrumental ending after sibilants chosen by stress, the split between -ия and -иа surnames, and patronymic formation as recorded by civil registry offices. Accuracy is verified against a gold set of 305 forms.

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🎓 Students 📚 Educators & Teachers 🗣️ Language Learners
Published Updated Thanks: Mr.Sanktum Author: