for discussion/names

[Alina Israeli]

Names provide a very interesting field of research, it is almost a  
detective story. A very interesting analysis of names in the US and  
their trends can be found in a book called "Freakonomics" (http:// 
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freakonomics). I am sure the social factors in  
naming babies are similar in various industrial countries.


One will be surprised to see actually merging tastes between  
Ukrainians and Russian as far as naming their children is concerned,  
if they ever were very different:

In Ukraine: Максим и Анастасия - самые популярные имена в Украине,  
которыми с начала 2009 года чаще всего называли новорожденных.
Об этом сообщили УНИАН в пресс-службе Министерства юстиции.

Как отметил министр юстиции Николай ОНИЩУК, ссылаясь на данные  
органов регистрации актов гражданского состояния Министерства  
юстиции, в целом популярными с начала года является более 20 имен,  
многие из которых держат «первенство» уже не первый год. Так,  
новорожденных девочек чаще всего называют именами Анастасия, София,  
Анна, Дарья, Валерия, Мария, Елизавета, Александра и Полина.  
Мальчиков - Максим, Виктор, Александр, Кирилл, Денис, Даниил, Андрей,  
Артем, Дмитрий, Владислав, Ярослав, Никита, Егор. (http:// 
www.unian.net/rus/news/news-327670.html)


Meanwhile in Russia (from http://rebenok.name/):
       Популярные мужские имена:

АРТЁМ
НИКИТА
ДАНИИЛ
МАКСИМ
АЛЕКСАНДР
ДМИТРИЙ
КИРИЛЛ
АЛЕКСЕЙ
ДЕНИС
СЕРГЕЙ
Популярные женские имена:

СОФЬЯ
АНАСТАСИЯ
ПОЛИНА
АННА
АЛИСА
ЮЛИЯ
МАРИЯ
ЯНА
ИРИНА
НАТАЛЬЯ
Considering that we have 13 Uk. male names and 10 R., Ukrainian list  
has only 4 extra names. There are 9 Uk. female names as opposed to 10  
R. names and the difference here is bigger: 5 names.

What's also worth noting in this context is that Russians are  
commonly using a Polish name Jana, and anecdotally (not on the list)  
a Ukrainian name Oxana.

How one forms the diminutives is also subject to social fashion. The  
most prolific names in this area, Alexandra and Maria, provide the  
best history, although Anna is also very good for this purpose. At  
one point it was fashionable to gallicize names, hence Annette,  
Netochka. Now we find anglicized names: Bill, Bob. Similar trends are  
encountered in other cultures. Someone who is Misha in his childhood  
may become suddenly Mike in older days.

BTW, Misha and Sasha in English-speaking countries are strictly  
female names now, although so many names have become unisex lately,  
Brandon or Taylor, for ex. But not Sue. It goes from male to female,  
of course, not vice versa.


On Mar 9, 2010, at 3:51 AM, Josh Wilson wrote:
>
> No - if Misha lived in England or France or America or anywhere  
> else, his
> name would still be Misha, if that is how he chose to introduce  
> himself.
>
>

Alina Israeli
Associate Professor of Russian
LFS, American University
4400 Massachusetts Ave.
Washington DC 20016
(202) 885-2387 	fax (202) 885-1076
aisrael at american.edu





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