Oblast Saporischschja
Naum Sorkin was born in Alexandrovsk (now Zaporizhia), a town in the Yekaterinoslav Governorate of the Russian Empire (now Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine) to Jewish parents. The town fell into the southeastern part of the Pale of Settlement, the westernmost region of the empire where Jews were permitted permanent residence, and Naum's father was a local official.