Gender changes in Slavic surnames

#19, mojcek, how about a female doctor with a Serbian or Croatian surname? Dr. Milosevicova? How about a Bulgarian or Russian name? Dr. Gancheva or Dr. Ganchevova?

Slavic surnames behave differently depending on the language.
In Polish, the only gender typical ending is –ski/-ska, like in OP’s example, Skłodowski – Skłodowska.
Interestingly, one form has become obsolete, or archaic, in Polish language in the last 40 years or so. The name mentioned by bjd in #7 post, “Orzeszko”, is a good example.
Eliza Orzeszkowa+ was a famous Polish writer, who lived hundred years ago. The –wa ending emphasised her married status as female. Her husband was +Orzeszko,+ but their daughter (if they had one), still unmarried,would’ve been +Orzeszkówna.
Those endings, -owa, ówna aren’t used anymore. Both Eliza and here daughter would be called Orzeszko, just like their husband/father.
If Eliza Orzeszko were Czech or Slovak, she would be called Orzeszkowa (or Orešková) even today.

And,
The names Roosevelt, Churchill, mentioned by another poster, would have a different form, if they were street names - they would be Roosevelta, Churchilla. It’s a possessive form and it doesn’t relate to the gender of the street (ulica) which is in fact feminine. The equivalent form in English would be Roosevelt’s, Churchill’s street.

#18
I noticed only now (second page) that you've used and explained the same example. Sorry for doubling it.

One more thing - Ukrainian names that end in -iv (the Ukrainian variant of the Russian -ov) don't change with gender.

For example - Mr. Fedoriv's wife would be Mrs. Fedoriv, whereas in Russian Mr. Fedorov's wife would be Mrs. Fedorova.

There are quite a few of such names in the Lviv/Lvov area - Fedoriv, Ivaniv, Romaniv, etc.

#20 - in Slovene we recognize the feminine form in other Slavic languages. Mr. Ganchev and Mrs. Gancheva, Miss Novotná, Pandevska etc. Even when the feminine form isn't the same as it would be expected in Slovene: Mrs. Putina. Serbian&Croatian in general work about the same way, so "Vlašićeva" (won the golden medal) - or "Blanka Vlašić" - the possessive form is only used with stand-alone surnames: "Margaret Thatcher" (said...) or "Thatcherjeva". It sounds really odd to use just the plain surname for a woman, though in Serbian/Croatian it's perfectly normal.

However, we (Slovenes and Serbs and Croats) don't normally change surnames when marrying (or being born to) someone with -ski/-ov surname, unless they are first generation immigrants and/or still aware of the surname's origin: Lazar Udovički's daughter is Lenka Udovički. In Slovene we have to continue ignoring the adjectival form and treat it as a normal noun - Udovičkijeva, but it sounds so strange that we try to avoid it and phrase the sentence differently or use the full name.

Possessive is still used when talking about authors, actresses, WW2 heroines from 50+ years ago, because that's how their names usually appeared in print and on posters in their times. AFAIK the possessive has never been used on official documents, but it was the only form used on posters, in books, newspapers etc.

#21 - in Polish street names seem to be in genitive case, not a possessive adjective, that's why they don't change with gender, same in Russian. In Czech, Slovakian, Slovene, Serbian, Croatian possessive adj. is normally used, except when the full name or a title appears, then it's a geinitive, e.g. Cara Dušana, Kralja Aleksandra, Franca Rozmana Staneta etc. At least in Slovene it's also the case with women: Ulica Rozke Klopčič, often with the surname in the old-fashioned possessive form: Ulica Vide Pregarčeve.

re: thatcherova, spearsova -what happens if a foreign woman's surname ends on a vowel? what would lynn hsu be called in czech republic for example?

Evidently Hsuova .

#24
Ulica Rozke Klopčič

In Polish that would be Ulica Rozkego Klopczicza, if male, or Rozki Klopczicz, if female.
(honestly, I can't tell if Rozke is male or female, in Slovene)

#27, i think it's female - Rozka, so it would be ulica rozki klopczycz in polish

Edited by: NuWon

#25 - it depends on general rules of the language to form possessive adjectives, which are similar but have small variations across Slavic languages, as usual. Raška-Raškova, Ševčenko-Ševčenkova are quite standard I think, other vowels (or stressed A) are usually left intact, like Hsuova above, but e.g. in Slovene the root is most often lengthened with J: Hsujeva. I can give you more details only for Slovene :)

#27 - it's female name, short from Rozalija. For a theoretical guy with that name it would be similar to Polish in Slovene (Ulica Rozke Klopčiča), except that it would be usually just Klopčičeva ulica.