-ova (or in some languages -owa): In most Slavic languages the ending of a woman's last name.
For example, if a man's last name is Novak (which, incidentally can be translated as Newman), his wife's and unmarried daughters' last names would be Novakova.
In Russian, if a man's name ends in "ov" (e.g., Ivanov), only the final 'a' is appended to produce a female name (i.e., Ivanova), however, in many other Slavic languages such is not the case, so for example if a Slovak was Ivanov, his wife would be Ivanovova.
The exception is names ending with -sky or -ski (depending on the language), which are made into a female name by changing it to -ska (and I think in Russian to -skaya, though I am not absolutely sure on this, perhaps a Russian noder can clarify). For example, if a man's last name is Smrecansky, his wife/daughters would be Smrecanska.
Though this practice may seem unusual, perhaps even "politically incorrect", to people from other parts of the world, people who have grown up in Slavic countries and see American (etc) names find it confusing that they cannot determine whether the name pertains to a man or a woman, particularly with English names where often the same first name can be given to male and female persons.