Russian names: why they are like that. "real Russian" names

From Masterweb

30.06.2018 22:00

Many are sure that the names Nikolai, Anna, Peter, Alexander, Dmitry are Old Russian. But studying the origins of Russian history can lead to completely unexpected discoveries - our ancient ancestors, the ancient Slavs, had completely different names. With the adoption of Christianity, many historical ethnic names were lost. They were replaced by Greek, Latin and Hebrew names. For example, the name Paul is of Latin origin, Catherine is of Greek origin, Maria is of Hebrew origin. But some Russian names remained in circulation and found a second life with the return of fashion for Slavic names. So, what names are originally Russian? What are they? What do they mean? What is their story?

Joyful meaning

Most of the original Russian names can be recognized by three main features.

Firstly, their meaning can still be understood today. For example, Bogdan is given by God.
Secondly, most of the names of our ancestors had a bright, joyful, good meaning. They believed that a name could determine a person’s fate, so they chose happy names for babies. For example, Lubomir is the one who loves peace.
Thirdly, most names Slavic origin, consisted of two base roots. For example, Lyudmila, Miroslava, Dobronrav.

These are the three main features by which you can distinguish Slavic names from foreign ones.

"Light", "glory", "yar"

Some Slavic names have the stem “yar”. It comes from the name of the ancient Russian sun god - Yarilo, who personified life, joy, and prosperity among the ancient Slavs.

Our distant ancestors were sure that the appearance of a particle of the name of God in the name of a child would bring him good luck, joy and good fortune. Today such names are again very popular. For example, Yaroslav has not left the top thirty most popular names in our country for the last 10 years.

The same applies to the name Vladislav. This is an ancient Slavic name. Many names in Rus' had the root “slav” in them, for example, Svyatoslav, Miroslava. The presence of this root in the word was supposed to provide the child with fame and glory.

For many native Russian names, another common root is “light”, for example, Svetopolk, Svetoslava, Svetogor, Svetlana. The root means life, prosperity, rebirth.

"Peace", "God", "Love" and "Mil"

Many Russian Slavic names were based on the word “god” or “bozh”. Most likely, our distant ancestors called their children this way in the hope that God would always be with them and protect them.

For example, Bohumil, Bogolyub, Bozhedar, Bozhen. The name Bogdan, which is currently very popular, belongs to this group of names.

The Slavs could not do without the kind and bright word “peace”; with its help, native Russian male names were formed: Jaromir, Dobromir, Velimir and others.

Forgotten names

In Rus', according to tradition, when a baby was born he was not given a name. He was called by some nickname: Fool, Hare, Fox, Pyatak, Boy, and so on. Over time, when the child showed his character, he was given a name that was appropriate and suitable for him.

It was quite common for children to be called after animals or plants: Grass, Hare, Wolf, Birch, Linden. In some families, children were named in order: First, Tretyak, Semak, Nine.

As you know, all native Russian names in the distant past were imbued with the features of ancient paganism and people’s faith in the forces of fate and nature. It was paganism that gave life to many names that were dedicated to the ancient Slavic gods: Jaromil, Lada, Veleslav, Yaroslav. Of course, most of these names have now sunk into oblivion and are forgotten. For example, Vyshan, Istr, Zvenets, Dorozh, Khrabr and others.

History of Russian names

Paganism gave way to Christianity and new names came to Ancient Rus': Scandinavian, Latin, Greek, Jewish.

For example, the great Prince of Kiev Vladimir became Vasily after baptism. Many of us consider this name to be originally Russian. male name, however, it came to us from Byzantium.

With planting Christian religion and the suppression of paganism, names came into Slavic culture that had a deep meaning: Elena (bright), George (farmer), Victor (winner), Tatyana (organizer), Alexey (defender), Nikita (winner), Eugene (noble), Sophia (wise), Andrey (courageous).

Thus, the Russian names Peter, Tatyana, Nikolai, Alexander, Yulia, familiar to our ears, are not originally Russian, they were introduced into our culture from other languages.

Some ancient Slavic names have been fanned Orthodox tradition and were given to the child at baptism, so they were given a second birth, and they did not sink into oblivion: Yaropolk, Yaroslav, Lyubov, Svyatoslav, Lyudmila. It should be noted that they are very popular these days.

All original Russian names that originated in Slavic culture have a good meaning and are understandable to us even today:

Vladimir is the one who owns the world;
Svyatoslav - possessing sacred glory;
Lyudmila is dear to all people;
Yaroslav - glorifying Yarila ( Slavic god Sun);
Vsevolod - owner of everything;
Zlata is golden.

List of native Russian names

Many modern parents turn to the origins of Russian, or rather, Slavic culture, remembering interesting, euphonious and wonderful names. Parents call their children old Slavic names, which are filled deep meaning and meaning. Here, for example, is a list of Slavic male names that are still popular today: Borislav, Branislav, Velislav, Vladimir, Vladislav, Vsevolod, Vseslav, Dobromir, Dobromil, Ivan, Igor, Lyubomir, Miloslav, Miroslav, Mlad, Mstislav, Oleg, Radoslav, Rostislav, Rus, Svetozar, Svyatoslav, Stanislav, Yaroslav.

Originally Russian female names: Blagoslava, Branislava, Varvara, Velislava, Vera, Vlada, Vladislava, Vlasta, Vyacheslava, Darina, Dobromila, Dobroslava, Zabava, Zarina, Kupava, Lada, Lelya, Lyubov, Zvenislava, Zlata, Lyudmila, Marya, Miloslava, Miroslava, Mlada , Mstislava, Nadezhda, Rada, Radoslava, Rosava, Rostislava, Svetlana, Snezhana, Stanislava, Yaroslava.

Instead of a conclusion

Due to complex historical processes It's hard to give at the moment precise definition, what are “original Russian names”. We consider many names to be Russian, but they are not such, since they came to us along with Christianity.

The history of names, like the history of the country, began much earlier. In those ancient times, a person’s name was a sign, his characteristic and a talisman. It could tell a lot about the owner, characterizing his status, level of position in society, character traits, his external characteristics and even occupation. Most likely, the names of our ancestors would be perceived in our time as nicknames. They are unusual for our hearing. For example, Chernysh, Brave, Curly, Annoyance, Beautiful, Frost, Winter, Loved, Fool, but at the same time, they can tell a lot about their owners.

But there are also such ancient names that are popular today. In addition, with the emergence of fashion for ancient names and traditions, Slavic and original Russian names are heard more and more often in our time.

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), as well as among Bulgarians, Greeks and Icelanders (the latter have practically no surnames). The adaptation by Russians of names of other peoples is usually accompanied by one or another phonetic changes, and often by the appearance of a patronymic.

First names, patronymics and nicknames have been known since ancient times. At the same time, ancient sources do not always help to clearly distinguish between pre-Christian names (given from birth) and nicknames (acquired at a later age). Surnames appeared in Rus' quite late and, as a rule, they were formed from the names and nicknames of their ancestors. The first in the XIV-XV centuries. Princes and boyars acquired surnames. However, even in the 16th century, the inheritance of non-princely boyar families was very unstable. Then merchants and clergy began to acquire surnames. In the middle of the 19th century, especially after the abolition of serfdom in the city, peasant surnames were formed. The process of acquiring surnames was basically completed by the 30s of the 20th century.

Nominal formula

Compound

There are the following traditionally used components of the Russian anthroponym, from which various models of naming a person can be formed:

Name- a personal name given at birth, usually one, but in ancient times several names could be given. Diminutive (hypocoristic) name - an unofficial form of a name, formed from a personal name using certain suffixes or truncation (Maria - Masha - Masha - Manya - Musya, etc., Alexander - Sasha - Sashka - Shura - Sanya - Shurik - Sanyok; Nikolai - Kolya - Kolyusik - Kolyan, etc.). In modern times, similar formations, bordering on nicknames, are also derived from surnames (Kislov - Kisly, Panov - Pan), which is a process historically reverse to the formation of surnames.
Surname- patronymic, an indication of the father's name. Has the ending -(v)ich, -(v)na; in ancient times also -ov, -in similarly modern surnames(this is preserved in the Bulgarian language).
Surname- inherited from generation to generation male line(or according to women's). Usually the original Russian surname ends in -ov/-ev/-ev (from the bases of the second declension: Petrov, Konev, Zhuravlev) or -in/-yn (from the bases of the first declension: Fomin, Sinitsyn); -sky/-tsky (Rozhdestvensky, Vysotsky); -oh (Tolstoy, Yarovoy, Lanovoy); less often - them/-s (Russians, Petrovs); less typical for Russians (unlike other Eastern Slavs) surnames with a zero ending (Beaver, Sparrow, etc.).
Nickname- an individual name that is not given at birth and is associated with certain characteristic features or events. Ancient times are characterized by a very stable and almost official use of many nicknames (for example, Ivan Kalita, Vasily Esifovich Nos - Novgorod mayor), but even now nicknames are informally widely used, especially among youth social groups, where they can actually act as the main means of nominating a person.

Models

In the most complete form (full name) Russian name, as well as full names other nations, not used in oral speech, but is used in official documents. In Russia, for its citizens (not only ethnic Russians), these three elements of the anthroponym are required to be indicated in official documents. For residents, the patronymic name is not indicated (if there is none), but in the column Name both personal and middle names are indicated. In most cases, a two-component model is used. Different shapes show different degrees of respect when communicating:

The previous options refer to people you know (excluding pseudonyms, e.g. Dima Bilan, Natasha Koroleva). The following are most often used when we're talking about about third parties:

first name + nickname + last name - American version, popularized by the Comedy Club show and the way of writing the nickname on VKontakte ( Timur Kashtan Batrudinov, Dmitry Goblin Puchkov)
first name + patronymic + last name- respectfully names a person who has not been mentioned before (for example, introduces him to the audience) ( Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn, Sergei Yurievich Belyakov)
surname + first name + patronymic- similar to the previous version, but sounds more formal and is used mainly in official documents and alphabetical lists (for example, telephone directories or encyclopedias)

Personal name

The name given to a person at birth and by which he is known in society. IN ancient Rus' distinguished between canonical and non-canonical names.

In the pre-Christian era, that is, almost until the end of the 10th century, among the Eastern Slavs (the ancestors of modern Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians) only personal names were used, which were given to children at birth.

Correct naming was given great importance. Spelling “someone’s name or nickname” incorrectly or in a derogatory manner could result in a charge of causing “dishonor.” In 1675, a royal decree clarified that an error in the spelling of names due to ignorance of “the nature of those peoples in which one was born” is not a crime, and therefore “trials should not be given or sought for this,” but the offenders could not avoid punishment: for this they were subjected to “trade execution”.

Surname

The patronymic as part of the nominal formula performed a triple function: it complemented the name, distinguishing its owner (in addition to the surname) from the namesake, clarified the relationship within the family (father - son) and expressed respect (a form of politeness).

The first name and patronymic arose as a sign of respect, veneration of the worthy; first in relation to princes (in chronicles from the 11th century), then to eminent boyars, nobles, and under Peter I - distinguished merchants. In the 19th century, representatives upper strata societies acquired a form on -vich. Middle names with “ev”, “ov”, “in” were given to merchants, and “ets” was given to the youngest in the family. Along with this, there are entries like: “gunner Timoshka Kuzmin son Strelkin”, “sidekick Ivashka Grigoriev”, “walking Timoshka Ivanov”; where are the forms Grigoriev And Ivanov- not yet surnames (so-called half-patronymic).

Patronymics formed from both Russian and non-Russian names were found in the most ancient Russian written monuments- Wed Burchevich." During numerous population censuses, it was necessary to record everyone “by name, fathers and nicknames.”

Historically, patronymics were divided into several categories. The slaves did not have it at all. Simply, noble people received a semi-patronymic name: “Peter Osipov Vasiliev.” As for the patronymic name in -ich, it became, as it were, a sign that the person wearing it belonged to the class, aristocratic elite. Thus, -ich stood out from the patronymic, ceased to be a suffix in full and began to be used independently, turning into a special term of privilege, birth of persons or classes. -ich began to be perceived as a title, as indicating the birth of the words “de” (in French), “von” (in German), “van” (in Dutch). In accordance with this situation, it was possible to award -vich, which is what the Russian tsars did.

Starting from the reign of Peter I - Count, "Patronymic" becomes mandatory in all documents.

However, patronymic forms in -ov/-ev in the 19th century were used only in clerical speech and in official documents. In unofficial situations, in everyday life, Russian people called each other by first names and patronymics in a form that is familiar to us now: dignification with -ovich, -evich, -ovna, -evna, -ych, -ich, -inichna not limited. Sometimes it was even used instead of a name (as sometimes now), when the speaker wanted to emphasize special respect for a person, to show a shade of affection, love.

An archaic feature that persists to this day is patronymics formed by directly adding the suffix -ych/-ich ( Silych, Titych etc.). The same form is present in the colloquial simplified version ( Nikolaich, Mikhalych). Similarly, in a conversational version they can simplify female middle names: Nikolavna, And bath (Mary Ivanna).

Surname

Russian surnames are inherited official names indicating a person’s belonging to a certain clan.

The surname, undoubtedly, was the main component of the nominal formula, since it served, in particular, for a clearer awareness of clan affiliation and its expression. As a rule, Russian surnames were single and passed down only through the male line (although there were exceptions).

Surnames were usually formed using suffixes from proper and common nouns, with the majority from possessive adjectives with the suffixes -ov (-ev, -ev), -in (Ivan - Ivanov, Sergey - Sergeev, Kuzma - Kuzmin and so on.).

In Rus', surnames were formed from the name of the ancestor and patronymic (Ivanov, Petrov); from a place or from an epithet at the place of residence of an ancestor ( Zadorozhny, Zarechny); from the name of the city or locality from which the person came ( Moskvitin, Tveritin, Permitin); from the occupation or position of the ancestor ( Sapozhnikov, Laptev, Clerks, Bondarev); from the birth order of the ancestor ( Druzhinin , Tretyakov, Shestakov); from ethnic origin ancestor ( Khokhlov, Litvinov, Polyakov, Tatarinov, Moskalev). Most often, surnames were based on the nickname or patronymic of some member of the family who distinguished himself in some way, moved to another area, became the owner of an estate or the head of a particularly large family.

In various social strata, surnames appeared in different time. Princes and boyars were the first to acquire surnames in the 14th and 15th centuries. They were usually given by the names of their patrimonial possessions: Tverskaya, Zvenigorodsky, Vyazemsky. Among them there are many foreign names, especially eastern origin, since many nobles came to serve the king from foreign lands. Ways of education noble families(surnames of ancient noble families and families that served the nobility with ranks after the introduction of the Table of Ranks) were diverse. A small group consisted of the names of ancient princely families, derived from the names of their reigns. Before late XIX century, of the number of such clans that traced their origins to Rurik, five have survived: Mosalsky, Eletsky, Zvenigorod, Rostov (the latter usually had double surnames) and Vyazemsky. From the name of the estates came the surnames of Baryatinsky, Beloselsky, Volkonsky, Obolensky, Prozorovsky, Ukhtomsky and some others.

IN XVIII-XIX centuries surnames began to appear among servicemen and trade people. They often reflected geographical concepts based on the fact of birth. The clergy began to acquire surnames only with mid-18th century centuries, usually derived from the names of parishes ( Preobrazhensky, Nikolsky, Pokrovsky and so on.).

However, in currently people can receive a semi-official nickname, or come up with one for themselves.

Sometimes the nickname is still used officially today, becoming a surname (for example, Alexander Pankratov-Bely and Alexander Pankratov-Cherny).

Literature

Bondaletov V.D. Russian name book, its composition, statistical structure and features of change (male and female names) / V. D. Bondaletov // Onomastics and norm. - M.: Nauka, 1976. - P. 12-46.
Yu. A. Rylov. Roman and Russian anthroponymy
N. I. Sheiko. Russian names and surnames
V. P. Berkov. 2005. Russian names, patronymics and surnames. Rules of use.
N. I. Formanovskaya. Sociocultural space of the Russian personal name and modern means mass media.
N. M. Tupikov.// Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
N. M. Tupikov. Dictionary of Old Russian proper names. - St. Petersburg, 1903.
A. V. Superanskaya. Dictionary of Russian names.
M. Moroshkin. Slavic name book or collection of Slavic personal names in alphabetical order. - St. Petersburg, 1867.
B. O. Unbegaun. Russian surnames / Transl. from English / General ed. B. A. Uspensky. - M., 1989; 2nd ed. 1995; the same: Unbegaun B. O. Russian surnames. Oxford, 1972.

"REAL RUSSIAN" NAMES

V. Fainberg

Soviet Jews had some problems with personal names (and for those who remained in the CIS, they continue to this day). Not very big, there were also more serious ones - but still...

Really, what to name the child? Traditional names like Sarah and Abram, which have been used for millennia, began to sound “off topic”, or rather, sound like teasers. I had to adapt to Russian names, but this was not easy either. They did not always combine successfully with the biblical patronymic and treacherous surname.

However, as always, the Jews adapted. They began to prefer generally accepted names, therefore, “Russian”, “like everyone else”, but at the same time not quite, with a slight touch of foreignness: Albert, Mark, Arkady, Eduard, Zhanna, Ella... Or they resorted to sometimes to a small acoustic deception: the child was named Misha instead of Moshe, Boris instead of Baruch, Rita instead of Rivka... Ordinary Russian names. And at the same time - almost Jewish. No problem.

But what are ordinary Russian names? Let's not engage in onomastics, just remember known facts.

In most cases, Russian names originate from the Greek language (Nicholas - “winner”, Vasily - “tsar”, etc.) or - much less often - from Latin (Valentin - “strong”, Innocent - “innocent”). Russians have so few truly Slavic names that they can be counted on one hand: Vladimir, Svetlana, Lyudmila, all kinds of “glories” - Svyatoslav, Yaroslav, etc. That’s probably all. The Slavic origin of other names is already doubtful. Oleg (Olga), Gleb, Igor probably came to Russia along with the Varangians. Vadim (“the last Russian Slav,” as Lermontov says) is a Persian name.

The non-Russian origin of Russian names is quite understandable: children were named by the church at baptism, religion came to Rus' from the Greeks, and, of course, the previous, “pagan” names were eradicated and replaced by Philippi and Alexander. With time alien names They have become so Russified that no one now thinks about their origin and meaning.

Among the many names currently used in Russia, we single out “real Russians.” In our minds, these are names coming from the outback, from the depths, homespun, simple, Orthodox, folk, not spoiled by fashion, education and foreignness, those that were worn, for example, by the characters in Ostrovsky’s plays: Avdey, Agey, Savely, Ivan, Gavrila ... Let's take a closer look at them.

Gave names Orthodox Church- It's right. But she named her children in honor of the ancient biblical righteous people or saints and martyrs. And these saints, in turn, often received names, again, in honor of biblical heroes and prophets. The latter, as you might guess, were Jews, and therefore Jewish names penetrated into the Russian (and, of course, not only Russian) language and were firmly entrenched there. Russia accepted some of them almost without changes, while others are not always easy to recognize: first they were changed into the Greek style, then into the Slavic one. However, if you look closely, you can guess the prophet Jeremiah in Erem, and it is much easier to identify Isaiah in Isaiah.

Due to the dissimilarity of languages and imperfect translation, biblical names often sound in Greek, and then in Russian, differently than in Hebrew.

The sound “b” usually turns into “v” (Bartholomew, Benjamin); however, in Hebrew there is the same alternation of sounds. The sound “x”, conveyed by the letters “het” and “hey”, in the Greek-Russian version disappears completely or (as sometimes in Hebrew) is conveyed by the sound “a” (“ya”). So, instead of the prophet Eliyahu, Elijah the prophet appears. "F" sometimes turns into "t" or "v". The Greeks did not know how to pronounce the sounds “sh” and “ts”, so instead of Moshe they said Moses, instead of Shlomo - Solomon.

For the same reason, the Russians used Susanna instead of Shoshana (in other languages - Suzanna). In Hebrew, this name comes from the word “shesh” - six (it also found its way into the Russian language) and means a lovely, pure, white six-petalled lily. When I was studying at the institute, there was a girl in our group with this name, and she was very ashamed of it... With the beginning of emancipation, Jews began to replace the lily with the “international” sounding Rose; that's why this name was so common somewhere in Odessa.

Now we understand how the name Elisha (“salvation in God”) turned into the Russian Elisha, familiar to everyone from Pushkin’s fairy tale about dead princess and seven heroes.

Here, by the way, let’s talk about the combination of letters “el”, which is often found both at the beginning and at the end of the name. It means "God". For example, Raphael is “God’s healing.” In the Russian-Greek tradition, the ending “el” sounds like “il”: Michael (“who is like God”; the name Micah has the same meaning), Gabriel (i.e. Gabriel), etc. The latter has at its root the word “Gever” is a “man” and means “man of God.” So the famous lines “Gavrila served as a baker, Gavrila baked rolls” clearly do not suit this name.

The name Daniel (Danila) - “the judge of God” (the word “dan” means “judged”) belongs to this group. Bible scholars remember how Daniel masterfully judged the incident with Susanna (Shoshana) and the elders, which became the subject of paintings by many first-class painters, including Russians (a rare case when biblical story gives an excuse to depict nudes female body). Lazarus also belongs to the “el” family (Eliazar - “helping God”).

The unpronounceable name of God is also conveyed by the letter “Hey,” which is sometimes preceded by the letter “Yud.” In Russian, these letters are really not pronounced or they sound like the ending “iya” or “ya”: Zechariah (Zakhar) - “remembering God”, Jeremiah (Eremey) - “exalted by God” (the letters “r” and “m” make up the root of the word “to raise”; for example, “frame” is “height”). The name Isaiah (Isaiah) means “God’s salvation” (does Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn know about this?), and Avdey means “God’s servant” (in Hebrew he corresponds to the name Obadia). "Awad" is a slave; It is related to the word “avodah” - work; However, who in Israel does not know this word?

As they say, where Avdey is, Matvey is there. What does Matvey have in common with scrambled eggs? Nothing. The proverb says so directly: “Don’t confuse God’s gift with scrambled eggs.” Matthew is called Matthew in Greek (for example, “Gospel of Matthew”). The "F" in Matthew is not "f" but "phyta", which in Greek is called "thet" and sounds like "t". Add to this the indirect designation of the name of God “x”, and we get “Matateyahu” - “God’s gift”. The famous historian Joseph ben Matateyahu, recorded in Roman metrics as Josephus Flavius, would have been listed simply as Joseph Matveevich in a Soviet passport.

Outstanding artist XVII century Nikitin, who created the world famous frescoes in the Church of Elijah the Prophet in Yaroslavl, bore the name Gury. The name is quite common. The most popular vaudeville in Russia is called “Lev Gurych Sinichkin”. We’ll talk about Leo later, and Gury means “puppy” or “lion cub” in Hebrew. It turns out that Lev Gurych is “a lion - the son of a lion cub.” As if sensing this absurdity, the Leningrad Comedy Theater, led by the wonderful director Akimov, created the vaudeville reversal “Gury Lvovich Sinichkin.”

By the way, Akim (Joachim) is also a Hebrew name meaning “placed by God” (“kam” - stand up). However, not all names contain the designation of God. For example, the name Agey has as its root “khag” - holiday, and the name Amos (this is also now more common in the form of the surname Amosov) - “heavy”. Another popular Russian name (and even more common surname) - Nazar: “detached, abstinent.” The Hebrew words “minzar” - monastery, “nazir” - monk, etc., belong to the same root.

Those who know at least a little Hebrew can easily understand that the name Savely comes from the word “saval” - “to endure, to suffer.” And you don’t need to know Hebrew at all to guess that Savvatey is simply “Sabbath.” The hero of Russian epics, the legendary Sadko, also bore a Jewish name. After all, Sadko is a Slavic form of the name Sadok, related to the word “tzaddik” (“righteous man”). The name Benjamin (Beniamin) naturally means “son of right hand”, Semyon (Shimon) - “heard”, Ephraim (Ephraim) - “fruitful”, Jonah - “dove”, Babyla - “mixing” (the name of the city in which the legendary “Babylonian pandemonium” took place has the same meaning).

The name Samson, or Sampson, has gone out of fashion now, but previously it was very common, and even now it is often found as a surname. In St. Petersburg there is Sampsonievsky Avenue, named after the ancient Sampsonievsky Church. A Russian is buried in her yard statesman Artemy Volynsky, executed under Empress Anna. Then Sampsonievsky Avenue was crossed into Karl Marx Avenue, and now it has become Sampsonievsky again.

Samson (Shimshon) is a very ancient name, perhaps still pagan, and it means “sunny.” The main, largest and most famous fountain of Peterhof, built by order of Peter the Great, is a sculptural group “Samson tearing the mouth of a lion”. It symbolizes Russia's victory over Sweden in the Northern War, which gave the Russians access to the Baltic Sea. This is probably the only monument in the world to the legendary Jewish strongman. Could anyone have thought that the hero of the wars against the Philistines would become a symbol of Russia?

If I were a member of some nationalist Russian partnership, this article would not have made me happy. Fortunately (I would think), there is at least one truly Russian name, the embodiment of Russia and Russianness. This name was borne by both “the founder of a great power, the Tsar of Moscow Ivan Kalita” (Korzhavin), and Ivan the Terrible, popularly nicknamed the Fourth for his violent temper (as historian Mark Petrov joked). Ivanushka the Fool, Vanka-Vstanka, Ivan, who does not remember his kinship, Midsummer Night, shouting to the whole of Ivanovskaya, Russian Ivan... How many associations!

But John (Jochanan) is a classic Hebrew name. It is based on the root “khan” (“hen”), meaning “good, joy,” and it itself is translated as “God’s grace” (the same root and the same meaning for the name Ananiy and the surname derived from it, which are very common in Russia).

The name Ivan (like many other Jewish names) entered all European languages in the form John, Jean, Juan, Johann, etc. Remember how Kozma Prutkov featured (of course, in an ironic context) the philosopher “Ivan-Yakov de Rousseau” "?

By the way, “Yakov” means “heel, footprint.” Jacob, as we know, was the twin of Esau, with whom he had a dispute over the birthright. He was supposed to be born first, his heel had already appeared, but then it disappeared, and Esau was the first to emerge from the womb, and Jacob “followed” him. Here are two explanations for this name.

Ivan reminds us that it's time to move on to female names. What does Ivan have to do with it? Communication is very simple. The name Jochanan has a female equivalent - Hana (with the same translation). Hana is the Russian Anna. In Ukraine and Poland, this name retained a form closer to Hebrew - Ganna. I wonder if the great friend of the Jews, Gogol, thought about this when he gave this name to the clear-eyed heroine of “May Night”?

Anna, as you know, was the mother of the Virgin Mary (Miriam). Also not the rarest Russian name. It probably means “madam.” Mary's friend was Elizabeth (Elisheva - “who worships God”), the mother of John the Baptist. Thousands of years later, another Elizabeth replaced another Anna on the Russian throne...

However, there are not so many female names in the Bible - hundreds of times fewer than male ones. This is quite understandable: great book was primarily interested in the head of the clan and his deeds; the rest of the household was mentioned, as a rule, in passing, in the form of a formula like “and his cattle, and his children, and his wives.”

True, there are Sarah, Ruth (Ruth), and Esther in the Russian calendar, but they have not taken root on Russian soil, although they are often found in the West. To the above names we can only add Tamara (“palm tree”), who came from Hebrew to Russia through Georgia, the previously mentioned Susanna, Seraphim (“fiery”) and, perhaps, Paradise.

And finally, one more interesting detail. Jewish names sometimes passed into Greek and Latin, and from there into the Russian language, not only in explicit, but also in hidden, translated form. For example, everyone knows the original Russian, but in fact Greek, name Fedot. It means "given by God." There is indeed a Russian equivalent of this name, accurately translated from Greek - Bogdan. However, “Fedot” is also a translation from Hebrew of the name “Netanyahu”. It is found in Russia (mainly among Jews) in its original form “Nathan”. It’s really Fedot, but not the same one!

Likewise, Makar is a translation into Greek name Baruch - "blessed." In Latin, this name takes the form Benedict (Benedict). The name Chaim (“life”) sounds in Latin (and in Russian) like Vitaly, etc. It is possible that the name “Lion”, common among Jews, is a translation of the popular name Aryeh in Hebrew.

In European languages there is a saying “Change Saul to Paul.” Its meaning is approximately this: there is no reason to call the same thing different names, change the awl for soap. The saying is based on the fact that the once Roman Jewish military leader Saul (Saul), having converted to Christianity, took for himself a new humble Latin name Paulus (“small, insignificant”); he later became the famous Apostle Paul.

But should other Jews change the names of their children from Saul to Paul? Really, Jewish names are no worse than others. And much older. But if, nevertheless, a resident of Moscow or Ryazan “Israel Finkelstein” wants to give his son a real Russian name, let him first carefully read this article.

Female Russian names of Slavic origin are distinguished by the presence of two stems. These are like this wonderful names, like Miroslava, Svetlana, Yaroslava. A Russian female name always has good meaning, which can be seen even with the naked eye. Russians Orthodox names are still relevant.

The secret of the two foundations lies in the fact that the Slavs believed in the unity of the name and its owner. To a wide circle They gave a false name, and only close relatives knew the real one. The child was given a second name already in adolescence, because it was connected with his character, habits and views. Were funny names and downright strong. The tradition has survived to this day, and many parents give their children other names at baptism to protect them from the evil eye and damage. Therefore, Russian female names have become popular far beyond the borders of the country.

Origin of female names

The most surprising thing is that most of the names are not Russian at all. The stream that brought new things to the Russian people in names was Christianity. After the adoption of the new faith, the culture was enriched with various Byzantine, Greek and Jewish names. It's hard to imagine that many of them that surround us today were once part of someone else's history.

The list of original Slavic names has characteristic meanings:

Bogdana.
Wanda.
Lada.
Hope.
Love.
Faith.
Mila.
Vlada.
Ruslana.
Svetlana.
Miroslava.
Oksana.
Lyudmila.

Among the Slavic options there are also unusual female names. These are Assol, Vanda, Zabava, Milana, Radmila, Tsvetana, Yesenia, Iskra, Veselina, Berislava, Radosveta.

Many species were borrowed from the Greeks. They predominate among foreign names that have taken root on Russian soil. You might be surprised to look at the list and find such familiar words.

Popular Russian names of Greek origin:

Vasilisa.
Zinaida.
Anfisa.
Nika.
Veronica.
Lydia.
Raisa.
Ilona.
Ksenia.
Larisa.
Nina.
Diana.
Taisiya.
Tamara.

Among the rare Greek names that the Slavs used are names such as Avdotya, Agnia, Alevtina, Vasilina, Glafira, Evdokia, Euphrosyne, Nellie, Praskovya, Stefania, Feodosia, Kira. They may seem funny, but in ancient times they were very popular.

Ancient Roman names spread throughout the world. It is not surprising that several of them were drawn to Russia. List of Latin options that Russian girls wear:

Karina.
Valeria.
Marina.
Regina.
Rose.
Lily.
Antonina.
Dina.

Amazing latin names, but, unfortunately, rare: , Venus, Vitalina, Carolina, Lana, Lolita, Nonna, Stella, Tina, Pavla.

There are also plenty of Jewish names in the ranks of supposedly Russian ones. These are well known to everyone:

Martha
Rimma
Evelina
Maryana

Among the rare Jewish variants one can highlight Ada, Leah, Seraphim, Susanna, Edita.

Traditional name choice

The Slavs, like other ancient peoples, carefully chose the names of their children. They believed that a name brings meaning to a person’s life, so they tried to name babies favorably. It was a whole ritual with its own characteristics and rules. Today, this ritual is neglected and sometimes given downright funny names. Girls are called whatever the parents want, without worrying about the fate of the child. People think that by naming a child after a celebrity or relative, they are giving him a good destiny.

Despite the fact that there are truly a lot of Russian names, it is sometimes difficult for parents to choose the right one for their beloved daughter. You can choose the first one you come across, but often it just doesn’t fit your tongue. It is worth remembering the nuance of the choice - the rougher it sounds, the more audacity and strength is put into it. Soft names with vowel sounds endow the girl with softness and tenderness.

IN last years there is a tendency to name girls old names, which many have already forgotten. These are such wonderful names as Yarina, Lyubomira, Milana, Zlata, Milena. These are mostly Orthodox names.

Russian female names and their meanings

Zlata is gold.

Larisa is a seagull.

Lesya is courageous.

Claudia is lame.

Love love.

Lyudmila is dear to people.

Kira is a mistress.

Margarita is a pearl.

Marina is sea.

Lily is a flower.

- fluffy.

Maya is the goddess of spring.

Maria is bitter.

Martha is a mistress.

Hope is hope.

Nellie is young.

Oksana is hospitable.

- founder.

Lydia is the first.

Miroslava - glory is sweet.

Snezhana is cold.

Olga is a saint.

Polina is a fortune teller.

Raisa is submissive.

Regina is a queen.

Rose is a flower.

Ruslana is a lioness.

Nina is the ruler.

Natalya is dear.

Svetlana is bright.

Tamara is a fig tree.

Glory is glory.

Sophia - wisdom.

Taisiya loves children.

Feodosia is a landowner.

Yana – Sun Goddess.

Yanina is light.

Yaroslav - burning for glory.

Russian name selection by birth month

January: Ulyana, Anastasia, Eva, Evgenia, Tatyana, Nina.

Nominal formula [ | ]

Compound [ | ]

There are the following traditionally used components of the Russian anthroponym, from which various models of naming a person can be formed:

Name- a personal name given at birth, usually one, but in ancient times several names could be given. Diminutive (hypocoristic) name - an unofficial form of a name, formed from a personal name using certain suffixes or truncation (Maria - Masha - Masha - Manya - Musya, etc., Alexander - Sasha - Sashka - Shura - Sanya - Shurik - Sanyok; Nikolai - Kolya - Kolyusik - Kolyan, etc.). In modern times, similar formations, bordering on nicknames, are also derived from surnames (Kislov - Kisly, Panov - Pan), which is a process historically reverse to the formation of surnames.
Surname- patronymic, an indication of the father's name. Has the ending -(v)ich, -(v)na; in ancient times, also -ov, -in, similar to modern surnames (this has been preserved in the Bulgarian language).
Surname- inherited from generation to generation through the male line (or through the female line). Usually the original Russian surname ends in -ov/-ev/-ev (from the bases of the second declension: Petrov, Konev, Zhuravlev) or -in/-yn (from the bases of the first declension: Fomin, Sinitsyn); -sky/-tsky (Rozhdestvensky, Vysotsky); -oh (Tolstoy, Yarovoy, Lanovoy); less often - them/-s (Russians, Petrovs); less typical for Russians (unlike other Eastern Slavs) are surnames with a zero ending (Beaver, Sparrow, etc.).
Nickname- an individual name that is not given at birth and is associated with certain characteristic features or events. Ancient times are characterized by a very stable and almost official use of many nicknames (for example, Ivan Kalita, Vasily Esifovich Nos - Novgorod mayor), but even now nicknames are informally widely used, especially in youth social groups, where they can actually act as the main means of nominating a person.

Models [ | ]

In its most complete form (full name), the Russian name, like the full names of other peoples, is not used in oral speech, but is used in official documents. In Russia, for its citizens (not only ethnic Russians), these three elements of the anthroponym are required to be indicated in official documents. For residents, the patronymic name is not indicated (if there is none), but in the column Name both personal and middle names are indicated. In most cases, a two-component model is used. Different forms show different degrees of respect when communicating:

The previous options refer to people you know (excluding pseudonyms, e.g. Dima Bilan, Natasha Koroleva). The following are more often used when talking about third parties:

first name + nickname + last name- American version, popularized by the Comedy Club show and the way of writing the nickname on VKontakte ( Timur Kashtan Batrudinov, Dmitry Goblin Puchkov)
first name + patronymic + last name- respectfully names a person who has not been mentioned before (for example, introduces him to the audience) ( Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn, Sergei Yurievich Belyakov)
surname + first name + patronymic- similar to the previous version, but sounds more formal and is used mainly in official documents and alphabetical lists (for example, telephone directories or encyclopedias)

Personal name [ | ]

The name given to a person at birth and by which he is known in society. In ancient Rus', canonical and non-canonical names were distinguished.

Surname [ | ]

The first name and patronymic arose as a sign of respect, veneration of the worthy; first in relation to princes (in chronicles from the 11th century), then to eminent boyars, nobles, and under Peter I - distinguished merchants. In the 19th century, representatives of the upper strata of society acquired uniforms -vich. Middle names with “ev”, “ov”, “in” were given to merchants, and “ets” was given to the youngest in the family. Along with this, there are entries like: “gunner Timoshka Kuzmin son Strelkin”, “sidekick Ivashka Grigoriev”, “walking Timoshka Ivanov”; where are the forms Grigoriev And Ivanov- not yet surnames (so-called half-patronymic).

Patronymic names formed from both Russian and non-Russian names were found in the oldest Russian written monuments - cf. Burchevich." During numerous population censuses, it was necessary to record everyone “by name, fathers and nicknames.”

Starting from the reign of Peter I - Count, "Patronymic" becomes mandatory in all documents.

An archaic feature that persists to this day is patronymics formed by directly adding the suffix -ych/-ich ( Silych, Titych etc.). The same form is present in the colloquial simplified version ( Nikolaich, Mikhalych). Similarly, in the colloquial version, female patronymics can be simplified: Nikolavna, And bath (Mary Ivanna).

Surname [ | ]

Russian surnames are inherited official names indicating a person’s belonging to a certain clan.

In Rus', surnames were formed from the name of the ancestor and patronymic (Ivanov, Petrov); from a place or from an epithet at the place of residence of an ancestor ( Zadorozhny, Zarechny); from the name of the city or locality from which the person came ( Moskvitin, Tveritin, Permitin); from the occupation or position of the ancestor ( Sapozhnikov, Laptev, Clerks, Bondarev); from the birth order of the ancestor ( Druzhinin , Tretyakov, Shestakov); from the ethnic origin of the ancestor ( Khokhlov, Litvinov, Polyakov, Tatarinov, Moskalev). Most often, surnames were based on the nickname or patronymic of some member of the family who distinguished himself in some way, moved to another area, became the owner of an estate or the head of a particularly large family.

In different social strata, surnames appeared at different times. Princes and boyars were the first to acquire surnames in the 14th and 15th centuries. They were usually given by the names of their patrimonial possessions: Tverskaya, Zvenigorodsky, Vyazemsky. Among them there are many surnames of foreign, especially eastern origin, since many nobles came to serve the king from foreign lands. The methods of forming noble families (surnames of ancient noble families and families that served the nobility with ranks after the introduction of the Table of Ranks) were diverse. A small group consisted of the names of ancient princely families, derived from the names of their reigns. Until the end of the 19th century, of the number of such clans that traced their origins to Rurik, five survived: Mosalsky, Eletsky, Zvenigorod, Rostov (the latter usually had double surnames) and Vyazemsky. From the name of the estates came the surnames of Baryatinsky, Beloselsky, Volkonsky, Obolensky, Prozorovsky, Ukhtomsky and some others.

In the 18th-19th centuries, surnames began to appear among servicemen and merchants. They often reflected geographical concepts based on the fact of birth. The clergy began to acquire surnames only from the middle of the 18th century, usually derived from the names of parishes ( Preobrazhensky, Nikolsky, Pokrovsky and so on.).

However, even now people can get a semi-official nickname, or come up with one for themselves.

Sometimes the nickname is still used officially today, becoming a surname (for example, Alexander Pankratov-Bely and Alexander Pankratov-Cherny).

Literature [ | ]

Bondaletov V.D. Russian name book, its composition, statistical structure and features of change (male and female names) / V. D. Bondaletov // Onomastics and norm. - M.: Nauka, 1976. - P. 12-46.
Yu. A. Rylov. Roman and Russian anthroponymy
N. I. Sheiko. Russian names and surnames
V. P. Berkov. 2005. Russian names, patronymics and surnames. Rules of use.
N. I. Formanovskaya. Sociocultural space of the Russian personal name and modern media.
N. M. Tupikov.// Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
N. M. Tupikov. Dictionary of Old Russian proper names. - St. Petersburg, 1903.
A. V. Superanskaya. Dictionary of Russian names.
M. Moroshkin. Slavic name book or collection of Slavic personal names in alphabetical order. - St. Petersburg, 1867.
B. O. Unbegaun. Russian surnames / Transl. from English / General ed. B. A. Uspensky. - M., 1989; 2nd ed. 1995; the same: Unbegaun B. O. Russian surnames. Oxford, 1972.