Actually I am pretty sure for example Maris Verpakovskis real name is like that because Maris is even Latvian name At least here in Lithuanian there are both Russians who uses their names as they d use in Russia and who uses lituanised versions with endings as or is Out of Russians who uses lituanised names many are second or third generation sometimes parents decides to give children lituanised version of name and surname in those cases it happens especially in mixed families E g one of Lithuanian football team players is Igoris Morinas it would be wrong to change it to Igor Morin because Igoris Morinas is his real name While for example real name of the mentioned poolitician is Viktor Uspaskich not Viktoras Uspaskichas therefore Viktor Uspaskich is and should be used and is used that way in Lithuanian wikipedia too As for Latvian football team I am not really sure though but I am sure that for example Verpakovskis is not Mariy Verpakovskiy or something Maybe someone could shed more light on Latvian policy on names maybe in Latvia it is different than here in Lithuania or maybe Latvianisation of name is for example required to get citizenship I don t know here