Russian/Names

Russian names

Russians use three names: first name, or имя; middle or patronymic name, or отчество, which is their father's first name plus a suffix meaning "son of" (ович) or "daughter of" (овна); and the last name or family name, or фамилия. Women's last names add an а to the masculine form of the name.

To address a boss, a teacher, or somebody who is older or superior in rank use the person's first name and patronymic. For instance: Василий Иванович!

To address a military or police officer use the rank and the officer's family name. For instance: Рядовой Иванов (Private Ivanov). If you don't know the family name, use Товарищ and the rank. For instance Товарищ рядовой (Comrade private).

To address a suspect, a former spouse, and other types that don't deserve the title Comrade, use гражданин fem. гражданка (citizen). For instance: Гражданин, пройдёмте. (The citizen, follow me.)

The titles Господин fem. Госпожа (Mr. or Ms.) are reserved for wealthy foreigners. Ordinary citizens of foreign countries are your comrades. However, lately Russians have started to use Господин/Госпожа more frequently, especially in business circles.

Russians use relatively few first names. There are only a dozen or so men's first names, and maybe three dozen women's first names. Creativity in baby-naming isn't encouraged.

Russians also use diminutives or nicknames—lots! Each name typically has a version used by your best friend, another used by your other friends, another used by your teachers, another used by your grandmother, another used when you are scolded, etc. Some of the most common examples include Sasha for Alexander, Alyosha for Alexei, Misha for Mikhail, Dima for Dmitri, Lena for Elena, Olya for Olga, Natasha for Natalya and Katya for Ekaterina.

Boys first names

Russian	Transcription	English Equivalent/Origin/Meaning
Александр	Aleksandr	Alexander
Алексей	Alexey	Greek origin
Андрей	Andrey	Andrew
Борис	Boris	Derived from Borislav, a pre-christian Slavic name meaning "good fighter"
Владимир	Vladimir	A pre-Christian Slavic name meaning "the Lord of the World"
Дмитрий	Dmitry	Greek origin
Николай	Nikolay	Nicholas
Павел	Pavel	Paul
Пётр	Pyotr	Peter
Сергей	Sergey	Latin origin

Girls first names

Russian	Transcription	English Equivalent/Origin/Meaning
Александра	Aleksandra	Alexandra (Be careful! It can also be the male form in genitive; it is usually known in context)
Екатерина	Yekaterina	Catherine
Елена	Yelena	Helen
Ксения	Kseniya	A Russian equivalent of Oksana, from Greek Xenia
Мария	Mariya	Mary
Наталья	Natalya	Natalie
Оксана	Oksana	The most widespread Ukrainian female name
Ольга	Ol'ga	A pre-Christian name derived from Varangian Helga
Анна	Anna	Anne
Елизавета	Yel'izaveta	Elizabeth
Ирина	Yirina	Irene
Юлия	Yuliya	Julia
Светлана	Svetlana	Lucy, Claire, Roxanne

(Source: Wikipedia: Russian Names)

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