"Like Goncharov, the Russian author, whose name just happens to mean Potter."

Although I feel compelled to say, lest someone catch me out on this first, it really means Potters. The singular noun meaning potter is gonchar, and goncharov is the genitive plural.

And that reminds me of Rachmaninov. That's not a profession surname, but "Al Rahman" is one of the 99 Arabic names of God. It means "the merciful one", I happen to know by way of one of my co-workers who is Iraqi. His name, Hikmat, means wisdom, and Al Hakim, the wise one, is another of the 99 names. I have wondered many times, but can't figure out how to prove it, whether the composer had some kind of Arabic origins. It wouldn't be surprising for a Russian.