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Surname Konkovskaya formed from the nickname Konek or конь(horse). The nickname Horse was very common among Russians. Usually horses were called people who were strong, hardy, and hardworking, or those who looked after horses. Thus, the nickname Konek could also indicate the professional occupation of the ancestor, a former roofer or shoemaker. According to another, less plausible version, the basis of the name of Konkovskaya is the mundane name Konyok. In some Russian dialects, the insect called a grasshopper or a type of edible mushroom. The fact is that before the introduction of Christianity in Russia ,naming a child by the name representing the name of an animal or plant was a very common tradition. Old Russian man, living according to the laws of nature, represented himself as part of it. Giving the baby such names as, for example, Wolf, Squirrel, Nightingale, Horse, Kalina, parents wanted nature to perceive the child as their own, so that the useful qualities of the chosen representative of the animal or plant would pass to him. Konek, eventually got the surname Konkovskaya.