"

Most peasants had ""Jewish"" names stemming from religious associations, i.e., the Apostles and early Saints. Therefore that point means very little. My point, amongst other points, was whether a peasant could spell or not, didn't mean that they didn't have a name. And that name for an unmarried Lithuanian girl with the surname Skavronskis, would be Skavronaite. Wikipedia (English version), says Zhirinovsky's original last name was Eidelshtein, so it might not really be a blow to him. Besides, you claimed not to track Russian politics. What's the truth? Now, now, Mikka it's a ""sin"" to tell a lie.

Incidentally, I notice that neither you, nor Ghirl, bothered to to respond to the  Mikhail Muravyov aspect of my argument. I truly believe his actions, which were policy in Imperial Russia, are representative of the problem, and at the heart of the matter, i.e., Russification of names, geographical locations, etc., and of its people and provinces. So the ""historcal"" record would be skewed by this Russification. Evidently this mentality did not die with Imperial Russia."