Ossetian names are strongly influenced by Caucasian languages. At the same time, being an Indo-European language, the Ossetian language still retains linguistic features that make it similar to the Russian language. Personal Ossetian names can be divided into three groups.

The first group usually includes native Ossetian names. Such names differ from others in that they contain components that are connected with words in the modern Ossetian language. For example, Saukidze - “black dog”, zarete - “sing”.

A number of names come from ethnonyms, since in ancient times Ossetians considered magical meaning names of localities and tribes. Another category of names originated from the ancient totemic beliefs of the Ossetians. Also, a number of names originate from toponyms.

At the same time, most native Ossetian names have a meaning that is difficult to distinguish. For some names, based on the modern Ossetian language, it is no longer possible to determine the meaning. Such names include the names Aseh, Gabo and others.

There is an assumption that such names were inherited from the languages ​​of those peoples with whom the Ossetians communicated in the distant past. Moreover, in ancient times these names could sound differently. Old names, which are gradually falling out of use, are being replaced by new names. Thus, thanks to the existing difference between the two Ossetian dialects, several variants of some names have appeared. For example, Chermen - Kermen, Chabekhan - Kiabekhan and others.

Some social terms have become names. For example, Barine comes from the Russian word for "lady"; Bibi - from the Turkic “bibi” (“mistress”). Many female names originate from the names precious stones and metals.

The second group of Ossetian names consists of names associated with Christianity. Both Russian and Georgian missionaries baptized Ossetians. Thus, the canonical christian names spread in Ossetia in both Russian and Georgian form. This is how the names Vano, Vaso, Nino and others were established in the Georgian form. The names Zurap, Vakhtang, etc. were also borrowed from Georgian. Most Georgian names can be found among South Ossetians.

The names Alyksandyr, Geor, Ire, Lezinka and others were borrowed from the Russian language and then modified.

The third group includes names that are related in origin to the Muslim religion. Islam spread in the Caucasus in the 14th and 15th centuries and embraced part of the North Ossetians. Thus, a significant part of the personal names that became traditionally Ossetian came to the Ossetians from the Arabic language. Such names include the names Alikhan, Ilas, Murat and others.

A characteristic feature of this group is that many of the names of the group came to the Ossetians through the languages ​​of neighboring peoples - Chechens, Ingush, Circassians and others. From this, traces of their origin have been preserved in a number of names. For example, the names Afekhyo and Sozyrykhyo have a final element that in Kabardian-Circassian naming means “son”.

A large number of names have the ending “-khan”, which have Turkic roots and mean “lord”. This ending is often attached not only to Muslim names, but also to other names, both male and female. Another Turkic word “bek”, which is part of many male names, has a similar meaning.

Male names of Muslim origin often contain another Turkic element - “bolat”, meaning “steel”. For example, Akhbolat, Dzambolat and others.

For female names that have retained their original Arabic sound, the ending “-et” is characteristic. For example, Aminet, Zamiret, Afinet and others.

Names of Muslim origin usually include Turkic and Mongolian names(Abay, Dengiz, Uzbek, etc.), Arabic names(Ali, Muslim, Amina, etc.), Persian names(Ziba, Iran, Rustem, etc.).

Just as in other languages, along with official names in the speech of Ossetians, there are also their diminutive forms, nicknames and pseudonyms. Diminutive names were most often given to their children by mothers. This is why such names are called “mady nom” or “mother’s name”. Most of these names are formed by shortening official names. However, their reduction is free. You can often find different abbreviations for the same names. For example, the affectionate diminutive forms Baegi, Bri and Ibri refer to one name - Ibrahim.

Diminutive names are not always associated with full official names. In some cases they are formed from common nouns. So, they can be formed from words that appear in children's speech. Modern diminutive names are formed by means of the Russian language, namely the suffixes “–ka”, “–ochka” and others.

In the Ossetian language there is no clear division of names into male and female. Some names are allocated to one or another category based on their semantics. For example, Shaukuydz or Almakhshit are considered male names, and Ashi or Zalinae are considered female names. Big amount names are given to both boys and girls.

Due to the influence of the Russian language, women's names began to be formed from men's names using the ending “–a” or “–ae.” For example, Alan-Alanae, Kim-Kimae and others.

The patronymic name, common among Russians and a number of other peoples, is not common among Ossetians. IN family circle Even very old people are not called by name and patronymic. Old people are usually called “dada” or “baba”. It is customary to address men of the older generation by name, and when addressing unknown men“noe fydy hai lith” is added to the name, which means “part of our father.” Old women are addressed as “nana” or “dazzi”, and when addressing an unfamiliar elderly woman, it is customary to add “nae mada hai letters” (“part of our mother”).

On special occasions, the patronymic can be expressed in two ways. In the first case, the father's name is taken in the genitive case, followed by the word "firt" (son) or "chyzg" (daughter), and then the name of the person about whom we're talking about. For example, “Daebusy firt Soltan” should be understood as “Soltan son of Dabush.”

In the second version, first the name of the person in question is called, then in the genitive case the name of his father, and only after the word “firt” or “chyzg”. For example, Soltan Daebusy firt.

List of Ossetian names

The names that the peoples of the North Caucasus bear are considered homogeneous. They are formed on the basis of the same for all mountain peoples principles and have a lot in common. At the same time, each Caucasian nation has its own naming traditions. In our article we will look at the origin and meaning of Ossetian names: female and male. Here we will tell you which of them are the most popular and modern for boys and girls in Ossetia.

Origin of Ossetian names

All names of the Ossetian people can be divided into three large groups. Their formation was influenced by various factors, such as religion or conquest by other peoples.

The first group includes the original or national names, associated with the heroes and characters of the Nart epic. In the tales about the adventures of the Narts, the heroes-heroes have unprecedented strength and courage. Famous Narts from legends were called: Atsamaz, Soslan, Akhsar, Akhsartag, Warkhag and others. Therefore, it is no coincidence that parents give their children exactly these Ossetian names: male or female.

The second group includes names whose appearance is associated with the development of Christianity. Moreover, during their formation, two forms were formed at once: Russian and Georgian. These are the names: Michal, Dimitar, Vano, Vaso, Ilia and others. Most of them remain popular today.

The third group includes names that were formed under the influence of the Muslim religion. Most of them had Arab origin(Murat, Alikhan, Amina, Muslim) and Turkic (Dengiz, Uzbek, Abay). Many Ossetian names came from the Iranian peoples, who are considered the ancestors of the Ossetians Roksolan, Roksolana, Sarmat).

List of Ossetian names of the Nart epic

Today the following Ossetian names for boys are popular:

• Aslan is a lion.
• Alan is the most significant.
• Soslan is a hero, a hero of the Nart epic.
• Azamat is great.
• Atsamaz is a character in the Nart epic, a singer and musician.
• Rustam is a giant, a giant, a hero of the Persian folk epic.
• Murat is desirable.
• Timar - iron.
• Tamerlane is the iron lion.
• Zaur - lord, chief.
• Islam is good, healthy, correct.
• Kazbek is a fair judge.

The list contains exactly the names that, according to statistics, are most often used to call newborn children in Ossetia. But in Lately parents began to pay attention to the original and national ones worn by the ancient Narts.

Modern Ossetian female names

Many female names among the Ossetian peoples are associated with the names of precious stones or emphasize certain character traits of its owner.

Popular Ossetian names (female):

• Zarina is gold.
• Sati is real, sensual.
• Alana - divine, noble. This female uniform from the masculine Alan, formed by adding the ending -a.
• Zarema is rich.
• Madina - translated from Arabic " Big city". Derived from the name of the city of Medina.
• Zemfira is rebellious.
• Tamara - " comes from the masculine Tamar and means "date palm".

The beautiful names of the Ossetian people are called not only by those children who were born on the territory of these republics. Throughout Russia, you can increasingly meet children whose names are Timur, Tamerlan, Rustam, Sati, Alana, Zarina, etc.

The Ossetian language belongs to the Iranian branch of Indo-European languages. While retaining linguistic features that make it similar to these languages, including Russian, it was influenced by Caucasian languages. This was also reflected in Ossetian proper names.

Ossetian proper names according to their origin can be divided into three groups.

The first group consists of native Ossetian names. Some of them are easy to identify, since they have retained connections with individual words in modern language: Akhsar"courage", Saukidze"black Dog", 3arete"sing" Cafe"dance" 3elune, Zerine"gold", Avdan"there are seven of us" Saukizge"black girl"

However, the meaning of most of the original Ossetian names is difficult or impossible to explain from modern language Ossetian. These names include: Acеx , Gabo, De6e, Dekka, Hazbi, Xetag, Pese and etc.

It is possible that the bulk of them were inherited from the languages ​​of those peoples with whom the ancestors of the Ossetians communicated in ancient times. It is also likely that some of these words once sounded somewhat differently.

However, it is not so much the sound of names that changes, but their composition. Many names cease to be used with the passing of generations. Others appear with the arrival of new generations.

The differences between the Ossetian dialects - Iron and Digor - were also reflected in proper names, which led to the appearance of two variants of some names. For example, Ironsk. Chermen, Chabekhan, Bacce and Digorsk. Kermen, Kiabekhan, Bakke etc. Some of these names are included in the list in both versions.

The second group consists of names associated with Christian religion. Christianity, apparently, spread among the ancestors of the Ossetians since the 10th century. However, the mass introduction of Ossetians to Christianity was observed at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries.

Georgian and Russian missionaries baptized Ossetians. And therefore, Christian canonical names spread in Ossetia in two forms: Georgian and Russian.

In the Georgian linguistic form, such names as Vano(Ivan), Vaso(Basil), Nino(Nina), etc. Names are also borrowed from Georgian Zurap, Vakhtang, Taimuraz, Koosta etc. Especially many Georgian names can be found among the South Ossetians.

An example of Christian proper names adopted by Ossetians through the Russian language could be Alyksandyr(Alexander), Geor(George), Kharityon(Khariton), Ire(Irina), Ksenya(Ksenia), Lezinka(Elizabeth), Nadia(Hope), Rimme(Rimma), Serafin(Seraphim), Welinka(Olga), etc.

The third large group of Ossetian names is associated in origin with the Muslim religion, which spread in the North Caucasus in the 14th-15th centuries. and also covered part of the North Ossetians.

A significant portion of Ossetian proper names are Muslim in origin (i.e., from the Arabic language): Alikhan, Amyrkhan, Ilas, Islam, Mayrem, Makhamet, Murat, Mycse, Umar, Khadzymet, Hadzhumar, Aminem, Zamiret, Madinet, Meretkhan, Raziat. Farizet. Famimet, Hadizet and etc.

What is characteristic of this group of names is that many of them entered the Ossetian language through a number of neighboring languages ​​(mainly Ka6ardino-Circassian, Karachay-Balkar, Chechen, Ingush, etc.). Traces of this in some names have survived to this day. Yes, in names Afekhyo, Dekhtsykhyo, Sozyrykhyo etc. the final element was taken from Kabardian-Circassian, where it means “son”. In many others ( Alikhan, Amyrkhan, Khanjeri, Dauhan, Di6ehan, Dunethan, Zenethan, 3elimkhan, Koserkhan, Zalikhan) we have an element - khan– a widely known Turkic word with the meaning “lord”, “feudal lord”, “prince”. This word is attached to both Muslim and other names (male and female).

Another Turkic word bek, having approximately the same meaning as khan, is part of many male names: Zauyrbeg, Mairbeg, Hadzybechir, Khazybeg, Khaauyrbeg and etc.

In male names associated in origin with the Muslim world, another Turkic element is quite often found - bolat"steel": Ahbolat, Bimbolam; Bolam, Dzambolat, Khasbolat, Khambolat and etc.

Most indicative of female names that have retained their original Arabic sound. is the ending - this: Aminet, Asiet, Afinet, Zamiret, Misuret, Fatimet and etc.

Our task is to select the most common, most euphonious ones from a large number of Ossetian names and recommend them to the Ossetian people.

Ossetian names. Male names

Ossetian names. Female names

The names of Ossetians, like those of many nationalities, are replete with diversity and richness of sound; their deep meaning is distinguished by a special meaning. And due to the fact that the Ossetian language also has dialects, male Ossetian names can be found in two or three versions, and they have the same interpretation. For example, the names Chermen and Chabahan (good-natured) are pronounced differently, but interpreted the same. And if you consider that many beautiful Ossetian male names came from Russian, Arabic, Iranian, Turkic and Georgian names, then it is not surprising that this influenced their sound.

Origin of Ossetian male names

For parents who want to name their sons according to Ossetian traditions, it is important to understand that not all the names of this people are traditional, many of them are also associated with Islam and Christianity. Therefore, when looking through Ossetian names for boys, you need to focus not only on the beautiful sound, but also find out what exactly a specific name means. Otherwise, incidents may arise. For example, male old name Aguz is translated as “loafer”, and Khatag is translated as “tramp”. And in order to make a favorable choice, it is better to find out first exact value Ossetian names for boys.

The Ossetian people have always treated animals and birds with reverence, believing that they have magical power. And many called their sons totemic names, believing that this will serve as a talisman for them. And today, parents give beautiful Ossetian names for boys in honor of animals and birds. Examples include: Aslan (lion), Tsargas (eagle), Ruvash (fox), Kudza (dog) and Digis (cat). Toponymic names were also in use, many of them are still in use (Elbrus, Kazbek, Altai). Today the list of Ossetian male names is so extensive that it is sometimes very difficult to make a choice.

New Ossetian male names

Many names arose during the spread of Christianity in the Caucasus, which is how modern Ossetian names for boys appeared. For example, Vaso (Vasily) and Geor (George). To popular male names include such as Azamat (great), Rustam (giant), Murat (desired) and others. In addition, the tradition of using the prefixes “khan” and “bek” (Alikhan, Zaurbek), indicating that the owner of the name is a noble person, has been preserved to this day. You can also quite often find the element “bolt” - an element that came from the Turks and means “steel” (Dzambolat, Kasbolat).

Modern male and female Ossetian names are simply amazing in their diversity. The richness of their sound leaves few people indifferent. Due to the presence of several dialects in the Ossetian language, many names exist in several versions at once. For example, Chabekhan can be pronounced as Kiebekhan and still retain its original meaning.

The increase in diversity of the national naming system was also facilitated by the fact that Ossetians for a long time were influenced by other cultures. This caused the dominance foreign traditions naming name. As a result, many beautiful Ossetian names for girls and boys have Russian, Georgian, Mongolian, Caucasian and Arabic roots, which has a significant impact on their sound and interpretation.

How to choose an Ossetian name for a boy or girl

When choosing Ossetian names for boys and girls, you need to focus not only on their sound, but also on the peculiarities of interpretation. One thing to remember here important nuance. The thing is that it is simply impossible to determine the meaning of common Ossetian names. They occur that were long forgotten and have no analogues in modern world. In this regard, some names simply have no interpretation.

Parents interested in Ossetian naming traditions need to remember one more important circumstance. Some Ossetian names are closely associated with Christianity, while others are closely associated with the Muslim religion. That is why it is very important to first find out their meaning. In addition, it will not be superfluous to determine the compatibility of the female or male Ossetian name you like and the child’s zodiac sign. This will allow you to make the most favorable and informed choice.

List of original Ossetian names for boys

• Aslan. Translated into Russian it means “lion”
• Azamat. From Arabic "great"
• Albert. Male Ossetian name meaning “brilliant”
• Arthur. Name of Celtic origin, meaning = "bear"
• Vano. Variant of the name John = "God is merciful"
• Gerikhan. Male Ossetian name meaning = "mighty khan"
• Danil. The name is of biblical origin. Interpreted as "God is my judge"
• Zaur. Translated into Russian it means “black-handed” or “famous”
• Murat. Ossetian name for a boy, meaning “desired”
• Soltan. Ossetian version of the name Sultan = "ruler"
• Shamil. Male Ossetian name meaning = “one who has absorbed all the positive qualities”
  

Top most beautiful Ossetian names for girls

• Anise. From Arabic "friendly"
• Venus. Translated into Russian it means “beauty”
• Zalina. Ossetian female name meaning “golden”
• Zarina. From Arabic Zara = "golden"
• Zemfira. Interpreted as "rebellious"
• Madina. Female Ossetian name meaning = "big city"
• Nino. According to one version, a variant of the name Nina = “Queen”
• Rimme. Translated into Russian it means “apple”
• Tamara. Ossetian name for a girl, meaning “date palm”
• Theresa. Interpreted as “protector”/“huntress”

Options for male and female Ossetian names

Many lucky female and male Ossetian names have diminutive variants. They are usually called maternal. This name is not accidental. It arose due to the fact that pet names most often used by mothers. The latter, when naming their children, abbreviated them full name. Thus Ibrahim became Ibri or Baegia. Today, to create endearing Ossetian names for boys and girls, the suffixes “ka”, “ochka”, etc. are more often used.