What is indicated by the Eastern Slavic name suffix 'ovich'?
Eastern Slavic naming customs of the father's name and suffixes. The suffix is -"ович" (-ovich) for a son, -"овна" (-ovna) - for a daughter. For example, if the father's name was "Иван" (Ivan), the patronymic will be "Иванович" (Ivanovich) for a son and "Ивановна" (Ivanovna) for a daughter. The standard rules for the suffix have some exceptions like the following: Historical Russian naming conventions did not include surnames. A person's name included that of his father: e.g. "Иван Петров сын" (Ivan Petrov syn) which means "Ivan, son of Peter". That is the origin of most Russian -ov surnames. Modern -ovich- patronyms were originally a
Eastern Slavic naming customs feature of the royal dynasty (Рюриковичи, Ruerikovichi, Rurikids), which makes the Russian patronym in its original meaning being similar to German "von". From the 17th century, the second name with suffix -"ович" (-"ovich") was the privilege given by tsar to commoners. For example, in 1610, Tsar Vasili IV gave to the Stroganovs, who were merchants, the privilege to use patronyms. As a tribute for developing the salt industry in Siberia, Pyotr Stroganov and all his issue were allowed to have a name with -"ovich". The tsar wrote in the chart dated on May 29, "... "to write him with "ovich",