After you’ve spent more than two weeks in Russia and made friends with at least a handful of Russians you will, without a doubt, ask yourself: “Is it just me or does this country only have ten given names all in all?” Though it may seem as if everyone you meet is either a Masha or a Dasha or a Misha or a Vova, it would be harshly unfair to claim that Russians only have ten names to go around, five for women and five for men. Believe it or not, but that is as a matter of fact not the case. Recently I received a wonderful gift from the students in my Swedish class at Ural State University in Yekaterinburg, Словарь русских личных имён [Dictionary of Russian personal names] by А. В. Суперанская, which boasts on its front page to contain «более 7500 русских имён» [“more than 7500 Russian names”]. My first reaction at this was, of course, to raise my eyebrows in surprise – if they have so many names then why do I have over ten women called Irina in my phone and almost as many men with the name Aleksey? Russian parents aren’t known for being very eager to experiment and choose an infrequent or peculiar name for their newborn child but prefer something usual, traditional and as common as bread with soup. Keeping kids apart in a class with five boys named Boris can easily be done with a little help from their отчества [father names]. In Russia a person is officially called both by first name and father name, but in private the first name is rarely ever used in its full form. Instead every name has a short form and that is the name most commonly used, and what some people might see as their “real” name. The use of first names in their full form has become more and more common during the last ten years since Russia, despite its deep dedication to xenophobia, has failed to withstand influence from the West.

I think that many people studying Russian language, including myself, might not yet be familiar with all of the short forms for the most common names (and, for example, the names that lack short forms) and which syllable is stressed in them. Therefore I, with a little help from my awesome new dictionary, decided to put together a list of the twelve most common given names for both men and women. (Note that the stressed syllable is in thick shrift and that there are at least twice as many other Russian names that are just as common).

For men:

Александр – Саша, Шура, Саня

Алексей – Алёша, Лёша, Лёха, Лёня

Андрей – Андрюша

Артём – Тёма

Владимир – Вова, Воля, Володя

Дмитрий – Дима, Митя

Евгений – Женя

Иван – Ваня

Максим – Макс

Михаил – Миша, Миха

Олег – (-)

Сергей – Серёжа

For women:

Александра – Саша, Шура, Олеся, Аля, Леся

Галина – Галя

Дария – Даша

Евгения – Женя

Елена – Лена, Лёля, Алёна

Екатерина – Катя, Катюша, Рина

Ксения – Ксюша

Мария – Маша, Мара, Маруся

Надежда – Надя

Наталья – Наташа, Натуся, Талья

Ольга – Оля, Лёля

Татьяна – Таня, Тата

If lack of fantasy and inspiration when it comes to name-giving today is widespread in Russia, then the trend was the opposite roughly 90 years ago. 90 years ago, after the October Revolution, society was innovative and people were feeling radical and because of this a new trend flourished. In the new country preparing for a new world in a new future the new fashion was to come up with new names. Some people even changed their old, often Christian or plainly “bourgeois-sounding”, names into brave new Soviet ones. It is not too difficult to figure out where the inspiration came from for names like Трактор [male] and Тракторина [female – from the word tractor]. Other popular at the time, but soon to disappear in order to never return, names were Антенна [antenna], Баррикада [barricade], Атеист [atheist], Гранит [granite], Октябрь [October], Восмарт [short for восьмое марта – March 8th, international women’s day], Кармий [male] and Кармия [female – short for Красная Армия, the Red Army], Правдина [in honor of the paper «Правда» - truth], Капиталина [in honor of «Капитал» - The Capital by Karl Marx], Индустрий [industry], Энергий [energy], Съезд [congress, в честь съезд партии – in honor of the party congress], Луначар [in honor of the politician and academic Анатолий Васильевич Луначарского (1875 – 1933).

Back then it was also very much in style to name one’s offspring in the honor of political leaders. Among the most frequent ones was the Communistic version of Christianity’s Holy Trinity with the Father, the Son & the Holy Ghost – Marx, Engels & Lenin. Rarer, though existing, were names involving Trotsky, Zinoviev and Stalin.

Names made from Marx:

Маркселена [short for Маркс, Энгельс and Ленин], Марксина, Марклен [short for Маркс and Ленин], Маркслен [short for Маркс and Ленин], Марлен [short for Маркс and Ленин], Марленст [short for Маркс, Ленин and Сталин], Марлест [short for Маркс, Ленин and Сталин], Марлин [short for Маркс, Ленин and Интернационал – the International], Марлэн [short for Маркс, Ленин and Энгельс].

Names made from Engels:

Энегелина, Энгельсин, Энгельсина, Эмлен [short for Энгельс, Маркс and Ленин], Энгель, Энглен [short for Энгельс and Ленин].

Names made from Lenin:

Ленара [short for Ленинская армия – the army of Lenin], Ленгенмира [short for Ленин – гений мира – Lenin – world genius], Лениолла, Ленмара [short for Ленин and Маркс], Лентрозина [short for Ленин, Троцкий and Зиновьев], Ленэра [short for Ленинская эра – the era of Lenin], Ленгвард [short for Ленинская гвардия – the guard of Lenin], Ленинар [a combination of Ленин and народ – people], Леннор [short for Ленин – наш организатор – Lenin is our organizer], Ленэрг [short for Ленинская эра грядёт – the era of Lenin is coming].

Other names that were not predestined to survive their owners if the winds were to turn slightly more capitalistic were such as Коминта [female], Коминтерн [male], Коминтерна [all variants made from the word Коммунистический интернационал – the communist international], Комиссар [male], Комиссара [female – from the word meaning commissary], Социал [male], Социала [female – made from социализм – socialism], Сталий [male], Сталина [female – made from, obviously, the last name of Stalin].

Out of all the names mentioned above I think my own two personal favorites are Тракторина [for a girl] and Ленэгр [for a boy]. The last one not only for fun but just in case the era of Lenin was actually to arrive.