Kovalyov Explained
Kovalyov (Russian: Ковалёв), often written as Kovalev, or its feminine variant Kovalyova, Kovaleva (Russian: Ковалёва), is a common Russian surname, an equivalent of the English surname Smithson (derived from the Ukrainian word koval' (Ukrainian: коваль), which means "blacksmith"). Due to the ambiguous status of the Cyrillic letter yo, the surname may be written with the Cyrillic letter ye (Russian: Ковалев/Russian: Ковалева) instead, though literate Russian speakers always pronounce it yo.
Notable people with the surname include:
- Aleksandr Sergeyevich Kovalyov (b. 1982), Russian footballer
- Aleksandr Vladimirovich Kovalyov (b. 1975), Russian sprint canoer
- Alexei Kovalev (born 1973), Russian professional ice hockey player
- Anton Kovalyov (born 1992), Ukrainian-born Canadian chess grandmaster
- Gennady Kovalev (born 1983), Russian boxer
- Mikhail Kovalyov (1897 - 1967), Soviet military leader
- Nikolay Kovalyov (politician) (1949–2019), Russian politician, Chair of the State Duma's Veterans' Committee, former head of the Federal Security Service (FSB)
- Nikolay Kovalev (fencer) (born 1986), Russian sabre fencer
- Oleksii Kovalov (1989–2022), Ukrainian politician
- Pasha Kovalev (born 1980), Russian professional Latin and ballroom dancer
- Praskovia Kovalyova-Zhemchugova, Russian serf actress and opera singer
- Sergey Kovalev (born 1983), Russian boxer
- Sergei Kovalev (1930–2021), Russian human rights activist and politician, first Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation (1994–95)
- Sergei Nikitich Kovalev (Petrograd, August 15, 1919 - St. Petersburg, February 24, 2011), Russian designer of the U.S.S.R. nuclear submarine
- Valentin Kovalyov (born 1944), Russian politician
- Valery Kovalev (1970–2021), Russian entrepreneur, philanthropist and Wikipedian
- Vladimir Kovalyov (born 1953), Soviet figure skater
- Vladislav Kovalev (born 1994), Belarusian chess grandmaster
In fiction:
Major Kovalyov, protagonist of Nicolai Gogol's The Nose
See also
