Kovalyov (Russian: Ковалёв), often written as Kovalev, or its feminine variant Kovalyova, Kovaleva (Ковалёва), is a common Russian surname, an equivalent of the English surname Smithson (derived from the Ukrainian word koval' (коваль), which means "blacksmith"). Due to the ambiguous status of the Cyrillic letter yo, the surname may be written with the Cyrillic letter ye (Russian: Ковалев/Ковалева) instead, though literate Russian speakers always pronounce it yo.
Notable people with the surname include:
Aleksandr Sergeyevich Kovalyov (b. 1982), Russian footballer
Aleksandr Vladimirovich Kovalyov (b.
