Pronunciation and Meaning of Russian Names

The audio portion of this presentation has been made by Natan Nevo of Halifax, Nova Scotia for use with the article "Russian Given Names: Their Pronunciation, Meaning, and Frequency" by Dr. Edwin D. Lawson of the State University of New York at Fredonia and Natan Nevo. The article appeared in volume 53 (2005) of Names: A Journal of Onomastics, Numbers 1 & 2, pp.49-77. Professor Emeritus Richard F. Sheil of the State University of New York at Fredonia kindly prepared the pronunciation of the names in IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) format.

Further information describing the full investigation where the pronunciation data were obtained can be found in “Russian names patterns, 1874-1990” by Dr. Edwin D. Lawson, Irina Glushkovskaya, and Dr. Richard F. Sheil. The article appeared in Eva Brylla & Mats Wahlberg (Eds.) Proceedings of the 21st International Congress of Onomastic Sciences, Uppsala, 19-24 August 2002, Volume 3, 193-206.

Users/viewers should bear in mind that some names may be pronounced in more than one way depending upon the speaker and the location. It is also true that there may be differences between spoken use at home or at work versus the language used at a university or in a literary circle. To simplify matters, we generally chose one version of pronunciation.

The complete article is now available at http://www.wtsn.binghamton.edu/ANS/. Scroll down to the Russian Names article.

We wish to acknowledge the fine contribution of Christopher C. Taverna for his work in preparing the Russian Names Website; the advice and comments of Marwan Elnasser, Christ Gaetanos, Naim Sefein (Emeritus), and Fawzi Yaqub (Emeritus), State University of New York, Fredonia; Rasul Tursun, Tashkent State Economic University of Uzbekistan; Juliya Woodbury, Dunkirk, New York; and Ladislav Zgusta, Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Professor Emeritus Daniel W. Berggren of the Communication Department was most helpful in preparing the original pilot CD. Raivo Seppo, Tallinn, Estonia, and Zinaida S. Zavyalova, State Pedagogical University of Tomsk, Russia have also made several helpful suggestions.

Comments can be directed to edlawson@netsync.net
For further information on names of all kinds, go to the American Name Society site at: http://www.wtsn.binghamton.edu/ANS/
For a comprehensive resource for given names and their meanings, categorized by various ethnic and cultural backgrounds, go to: Baby Names

Order of entry:

English spelling.
Russian spelling.
Sex.
"Easy" pronunciation style.
International Phonetic Alphabet style.
Language(s) of origin, if not Russian, meaning, historical note, if any.
Affectionate form of the name (as reported).
Frequency of the name according to number of asterisks, 4, the most; 1 the least.

Note that the names are presented in seven sections. Begin by clicking on one of the sections. It will take a short time for the section to load. Then it will begin. To stop, click on the two vertical lines above START. To begin again, click on those lines again. It is also possible to move around in the section by clicking on the white part of the moving green line just above two parallel lines at the left (this turns into a right arrow during the PLAY phase).

	Home \| Biography \| Recent Publications \| Book Reviews Russian Names \| Azeri Names \| Estonian Names World of Names \| Name Factors \| B-29 Bomber Names in the Pacific Library of Congress Interview \| Bible Names \| Greek Names \| Tatar Names \| Comments on Saipan: The War Diary of John Ciardi

Pronunciation and Meaning of Russian Names

Introduction