Russian Names Research

Updated 24 October 2010

On occasion, I have helped research Russian names for SCA registration purposes. In the past, I was collecting my notes here, for my personal reference, but now that I'm commenting on OSCAR (the Online System of Commentary and Response), I've found it more convenient to keep notes on a wiki, http://sofyalarus.wikispaces.com/Name+Problems.

Please see Quick and Dirty Russian Names for a quick overview of period Russian naming practices. For a more thorough reference, go to Paul Wickenden's Dictionary of Period Russian Names. The 3rd edition is a definite improvement over the second edition although there are some entries in the 2nd edition that were edited out of the 3rd edition, and the 2nd edition can be "searched" electronically which comes in handy. The 3rd edition is only available in hard copy from Free Trumpet Press, while the second edition is available on-line - Dictionary of Period Russian Names, 2nd Edition. I have a copy of the 3rd edition and am happy to look things up for people.

Below are some more articles that may be useful for people looking for ideas for their own medieval Russian names.

A Short List of Common Masculine Russian Names
A Short List of Common Feminine Russian Names
English names and their Russian Equivalents - to convert a "mundane" name into Russian

Individual Names Research

Selected References:

Dal', V.I. Словарь Даля - Exhaustive Dictionary of the Russian Language.
Eastern Orthodox Saints' Lives //www.orthodox.net/links/saints-by-name.html
Greek Orthodox Calendar of Saints' Days //www.goarch.org/eu/chapel/calendar.asp
Omniglot, a guide to written language. //www.omniglot.com/writing/cyrillic.htm
Paul Wickenden of Thanet, Dictionary of Russian Names. //www.sca.org/heraldry/paul
Paul Wickenden of Thanet, The Russian Archive. //www.goldschp.net/archive/archive.html
Paul Wickenden of Thanet, Spelling Russian Names in Period English. //www.goldschp.net/archive/fletcher.html
Predslava Vydrina, Russian Personal Names: Name Frequency in the Novgorod Birch-Bark Letters //www.s-gabriel.org/names/predslava/bbl
Sofya la Rus, Spelling Russian in Period English. //www.strangelove.net/~kieser/Russia/spelling.html
Yandex. Яндекс Словари. - excellent on-line Russian dictionary/translator
Return to Russian Material.