http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%A9e
Russia and some Slavic countries
During the wedding, the young couple has to declare what surname they are going to use. Both have the option to keep their original surnames or to adopt the other one's surname. Most often the bride adopts her husband's surname in its feminine version. In most Slavic languages there are two ways to create the feminine surname version. First and most prevalent is by adding "-ova" (for example: Kumkov → Kumkova, Ivanov → Ivanova, Lashkonov → Lashkonova), "-eva" (for example: Dostonev → Dostoneva, Nikolaev → Nikolaeva, Porokastev → Porokasteva), "-ina" (for example: Galkin → Galkina, Sartejin → Sartejina, Ardirsin → Ardirsina) or "-aya" (for example:
Stronsky → Stronskaya, Merdonsky → Merdonskaya, Putanesky → Putaneskaya) to the masculine form (in Russian surnames ending with "-ov", only "-a" is added). Navratilov's wife will be called Navratilova, Gorbachev's wife will become Gorbacheva. Sometimes, to ease pronunciation, the root of the husband's name may be slightly modified - e.g. Havel's wife will become Havlová, or the husband's surname may be shortened before adding the suffix, especially when the surname ends in a vowel, so Čábela's wife will be Čábelová.
The second grammatical way of creating the feminine version of the husband's surname concerns names that are or resemble adjectives and end with "-y" or "-i". In that case the feminine version follows the rules for adjectives and "y" or "i" is replaced with "a" (in Russian "-aya"). So Sklodowskiy's wife will become Sklodovskaya, Ostrovskiy's wife will become Ostrovskaya. There is one further option - some surnames do not change and do not follow any grammatical rules at all, as for example the names in Ukrainian and Polish ending with "-ko", or in Serbian the surnames ending with "-ić". Bondarenko's wife will remain Bondarenko, and Milošević will remain Milošević. In Czech these are the surnames ending with "-u" or "-í". Martinů's wife will remain Martinů and Kočí's wife will be Kočí.
In fact, in most cases the wife and the husband never have identical surnames, which sometimes creates translation problems into most western languages. While Putin's wife is Putina, it is normal to refer to the couple as "Mr and Mrs Putin", or "the Putins". On the other hand, the surname makes clear whether the person is a man or a woman. Another case in point is Anna Karenina. Karenina was her own surname, and her husband's was Karenin. Because the novel is principally about her, her surname has traditionally been used in the translation of the title. Recent editions, however, have rendered it as Anna Karenin.
Usually, female surnames of foreign origin are not modified. One exception is the Slovak Republic, where modification of foreign female surnames is required by language laws. For instance, Nicole Kidman would become Nicole Kidmanová in Slovak. This practice is also common in the Czech Republic. More recently, this controversial regulation is being abandoned, as many celebrities with a surname of foreign origin are using it in original form.
