The Azerbaijan parliament is considering the de-Russification of Azerbaijani surnames.

A parliamentary committee is preparing a law that will afford Azerbaijanis' the ability to change the endings of last names to remove the Russian sounds.

Under the law, the president will be able to decree obligatory changes for all newborns and encouragement for adults to alter their names.

As a legacy from the decades under which Azerbaijan was ruled by the Soviet Union, most local surnames currently have a Russian ending of 'ov' or 'ev' for males and 'ova' or 'eva' for females,

Azerbaijan gained independence in 1991 and many Azerbaijanis have already removed the Russian endings to their names.

Many names have either been shortened or changed to end with 'ly.'