The professor named the reasons for the change of surnames by Russian women in the United States.

Russians in the United States sometimes abandon the traditional feminine endings of surnames in order to avoid difficulties when applying for immigration documents. The American system perceives the masculine and feminine forms of the same Russian surname as different, Irina Dubinina, a professor at Brandeis University, said on October 30.

When moving in with relatives, applicants need to confirm family ties. If the surname in the documents differs from the current one due to its change, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services requires to provide appropriate confirmation, she said in an interview with RIA Novosti.

"As far as I understand, the rejection of the final letter "a" in female surnames is solely due to linguistic differences and the specifics of the work of the US immigration service," Dubinina explained.

According to the professor, the American system does not take into account the peculiarities of surname formation in other cultures. Therefore, the forms "Ivanov" and "Ivanova" in the documents are considered as independent surnames. This can lead to the establishment of separate cases and delay the paperwork, and in some cases, complicate the immigration process.

"From the point of view of the immigration service, Ivanov or Levitsky is one surname, and Ivanova or Levitskaya is another. If the surnames differ, the immigration service opens separate cases for each surname, which creates difficulties for families, as it slows down and can potentially disrupt the immigration process," the agency's interlocutor noted.

At the same time, the change of last name is not always dictated by the requirements of the department. Some immigrants are trying to adapt to life in the United States faster and independently change the spelling or shorten their first and last names. In particular, they can simplify complex combinations of consonants and choose Americanized variants of names — for example, Stan instead of Stanislav.

Dubinina directs the Russian language program at Brandeis University in Massachusetts. Her research interests include bilingualism, learning Russian in immigrant families, and learning foreign languages.

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