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This article gives the general understanding of naming convention in the Russian language as well as in languages (countries) affected by Russian linguistic tradition. First of all, this regards modern Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. For exact rules, differences and historical changes, see respective languages and linguistics-related articles.
It is obligatory for people to have three names: a given name, a patronymic, and a family name (surname). They are generally presented in that order, although the patronymic (like an English middle name) is sometimes omitted.
Given first name
As with most Western cultures, a person has a first name chosen by his or her parents. The first name is used before the last name (surname) in most cases and translated so into the main European languages. E.g. "Vladimir Putin", where "Vladimir" is a first name and "Putin" is a family name. (Compare reverse order in Hungarian or Korean names.) In listing cases (such as a persons' list or a library catalogue), the naming order is reversed like in English, e.g. Bush J.W., Putin V. Such order is sometimes used in cases of formal or command language.
First names in East-Slavic languages mostly origin from two sources: Orthodox church tradition and native pre-Christian (pagan) lexics.
Common male first names
- Nikolay (equivalent of Nicholas)
- Boris
- Vladimir (a pre-Christian Slav name meaning "the Lord of the World")
- Pyotr (equivalent of Peter)
- Andrey (equivalent of Andrew)
- Alexandr (equivalent of Alexander)
Common female first names
- Olga (a pre-Christian name derived from Varangian Helga)
- Alexandra
- Oksana (the most widespread Ukrainian female name, also of pre-Christian origin)
- Kseniya (a Russian equivalent of Oksana)
- Yekaterina (equivalent of Catherine)
Patronymic
The patronymic of a person is based on the first name of his or her father and is written in all documents. It always succeeds the first name. A suffix (meaning either "son of" or "daughter of") is added to the father's given name—males generally use -ovich, while females generally use -ovna. If the suffix is being appended to a name ending in a soft consonant, the initial o becomes a ye (-yevich and -yevna). Suffix pronunciation varies with the ending of the name and the exact language.
As an example, the patronymic name of Soviet leader Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev indicates that his father was named Sergey. Similarly, the patronymic name of Svetlana Iosifovna Stalina indicates that her father was named Iosif (in this case, Iosif (Joseph) Stalin).
The first name followed by the patronymic is usually used in formal or respective forms of address. In the media, the respected persons (e.g. leaders of the Soviet Union and Russia) are sometimes mentioned using their full names (first name + patronymic + family name).
In most cases of local-to-English translation, using the patronymic is unnecessary and the best decision would be shortening it to letter. E.g. "Victor A. Yuschenko".
Family name (surname)
Surnames, like Putin, Yeltsin or Gorbachev, generally function in the same way that English surnames do. They are generally inherited from one's parents, although (as with English names) women may adopt the surname of their husband. Most Russian surnames have different forms depending on gender—for example, the wife of Boris Yeltsin is Naina Yeltsina (with an a). Note that this grammatical rule is official and is not considered as a changing of a name received from a woman's father/husband. (Compare the same rule in Czech.) The correct translation of such feminine names in English would be transliterating it exactly.
A comparison between Russian and other names
In the Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian languages, non-Slavic patronymics and surnames may also be changed according to the above-mentioned rules. This is widespread in naming people of ethnic minorities and citizens of Central Asian or Caucasian republics of the former Soviet Union, especially if a person is a permanent resident and speaks the local language. E.g. Irina Hakamada, a popular Russian politician of Japanese background, has a patronymic "Mitsuovna" (strangely-sounding in Russian) since her father's name was Mitsuo. If a (Dutch) person named Nicolaas Kraft van Ermel, with a father named Alexander, was to Russify his name, here is the result:
- The first name (Nicolaas) will be changed in its Russian form: Nikolay
- A patronymic would be created from the stem Alexandr: Alexandrovich
- Generally, the surname is not changed (Kraft van Ermel)
The full name would be: Nikolay Alexandrovich Kraft van Ermel, meaning "Nicolay, son of Alexandr, Kraft van Ermel".
(A daughter would have the patronymic Alexandrovna instead of Alexandrovich).
However, such conversion of foreign names is unofficial and optional in many cases of communication and translation.
Exceptions for some post-Soviet countries
In local languages of the non-Slavic CIS countries, Russian rules for patronymics are either never used or abandoned after gaining independence. However, surnames in all those languages have been Russified since the 19th century and remain so (see Russification). E.g. the surname of Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev has a Russian "-yev" suffix, which literally means "son of Nazar-bay" (where "bay" is an archaic native noble rank).
Also note that foreign information regarding CIS states comes mostly in Russian (and translated from it to English) using the above-mentioned rules.
See also
Grammatical gender
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