Which makes the question wrong. As there are more women than men in Russia, it is very likely that the right answer is that most popular surnames end with A. I would encourage the author to remove answer "A", or specify "male surname" in the question
Yes, and am I right in thinking that most or all surnames which don't end in V end in A for women (eg. Yeltsina)? In which case there would be considerably more surnames ending in A than in V. It smacks a bit of the bolted horse, but perhaps A should be taken away as an option. Having realised this I feel like my first 10 of 2026 should really be a 9
I would assume that the "a"s attached to female surnames are merely different forms of the same last name, rather than entirely new surnames themselves.
But long story short, omtom was a daily commenter of the utmost pedigree, until one day he could comment no more. No warning, no notice, just gone at the snap of Quizmasters fingers.
I think you should reword that last question, or remove the option for A. As said, all (or virtually all) Russian female last names end with A. Because of this, A is the most common ending letter for Russian surnames as it applies to every surname regardless of ending.
I agree it's a bit confusing and I also hesitated with A.
However, the question isn't what is the most common ending of Russian last names but what letter ends all of the ten most common Russian names.
If female and male names would be counted separately you would expect that there would be both some female names and some male names in the top 10 and thus they wouldn't all end with the same letter - so it means the question doesn't count them separately and you shouldn't pick A.
Not necessarily. The problem with the question is that if a male Russian surname ends in V, the female version ends in A. Every single surname on that list has an equally as common female version, so the question is inherently flawed. If you're asking what are the top 10 most common endings to Russian surnames, the answer of A is as equally valid as V. You can't count male and female surnames separately because that's not how Russian surnames work, a family doesn't share a single male or female surname. If a father's last name is Pavlov, his wife's last name is Pavlova, and this same gendering applies to any children they may have. At that point you'd have to research the gender demographics of each surname, which far more complicated, unnecessary and confusing compared to just simplifying the question or answer.
10/10, at a fairly sluggish 9,866. Spent a long time agonising over question 1 wondering if it was a trap 😂 Also got a fairly lucky educated guess with Cohen
10/10 with a speedy roadrunner of 9,751....Q6 slowed me down, I knew it wasn't baker or farmer, then remembered the huntsmen in Snow White and the deer on the Jaegermeister label
Noted
Whether you remember him for his wit or eloquence, he never failed to speak from the heart, and for that, omtom, I thank you.
Please look after yourselves during this difficult time.
But long story short, omtom was a daily commenter of the utmost pedigree, until one day he could comment no more. No warning, no notice, just gone at the snap of Quizmasters fingers.
However, the question isn't what is the most common ending of Russian last names but what letter ends all of the ten most common Russian names.
If female and male names would be counted separately you would expect that there would be both some female names and some male names in the top 10 and thus they wouldn't all end with the same letter - so it means the question doesn't count them separately and you shouldn't pick A.
Letter V in Cyrillic looks exactly like "B".