Hi Arthur!

Do you have records with these names on them listing them as children of the said parents? These names don't fit with usual Russian naming conventions.

Patronymics are derived from the father's given name. Female patronymics typically end in "-ovna" while male patronymics end in "-ovich," "-evich" or "-ev." These endings mean "son of" or "daughter of." So for example, with your ancestor Grigory Ivanovich Popov, Ivanovich is his patronymic, meaning son of Ivan (Grigory's father would have been named Ivan.)

Surnames are the same for males and females except for the endings. Male surnames typically end in a consonant while female versions of the same surname have a vowel ending, usually an "a" or "skya" einding.

Hmm, that's very interesting that the information with the strange surname structure is coming from your ancestor's own hand! Oftentimes confusion comes from people building public member family trees. Would you mind sending me the whole document? I'd like to take a closer look at this if I can!