Slavic Naming Conventions

Meta ContentThis articles deals with an out-of-universe aspect of The Soviet Connection.

## First Names

Russian first naming conventions are basically the same as their Western counterparts, with one major exception: due to the existence of patronymics (see below), a child is rarely named after his/her direct parent. It is not, however, uncommon to see a name appear in a family tree (or even nuclear family) quite often, especially if said family has/had a particularly influential member somewhere in it.

## Patronymics

### What are Patronymics?

A Patronymic, or name derived from the given name of one's father, is an important part of Slavic (especially Russian) naming tradition. Taking the form of a 'second first' name (eg, 'First Patronymic Last'), they are used as a sign of authority, or to show respect. For a Slavic person, the 'respectful' form of address is to use the first name and then patronymic of the addressee; for example, Dmitri Sokolov (who's patronymic is Nikolaevich) would be addressed as "Dmitri Nikolaevich in formal address.

### Patronymics In America

For Slavs living in America, the patronymic is not important to everyone, but is still often included - albeit a middle name is *also* often included, complicating the matter further. In this situation, the patronymic is placed after the middle name; for the example above, the name of Dmitri (who took on the middle name Josef post-immigration) is written "Dmitri Josef Nikolaevich Sokolov".

To make matters even more complex, a large number of Russian immigrants choose to exchange their Patronymic with a middle name upon immigration. This is done by 'reverting' the patronymic to its name-form; ex, Nikolaevich ("Son of Nikolai") would just become Nikolai; there was a time when, to avoid having to go into the complexities of his patronymic, Dmitri would state his full name as "Dmitri Nikolai Sokolov", and Slavs he came in contact with would be able to contextually figure out 'Nikolai' was a stand-in for Nikolaevich.

### Matronymics

In rare cases, an individual may have a matronymic, or name based on the mother's name. This is functionally used the same, but only occurs if a mother's family was more powerful than a father's. Under the communist systems of the Soviet Union, anything stating "power" of an individual family was forbidden in the name of collective equality, and a new system temporarily came into place: patronymics were used for sons, while matronymics were used for daughters. This system was hardly used outside of a few families, however, and in general names 'defaulted' to patronymics.

### Creating a Patronymic/Matronymic

Patronymics and Matronymics are created in the same way. . Both are created by taking the appropriate parent's name, sometimes shortening it slightly, and adding the appropriate suffix on the end. For males, the suffix is -ovich or -evich; for females, it is -ovna or -evna.

The only complicated aspect of this is figuring out if the name should end in -o... or -e...; this is done by identifying if the last letter is a consonant or a vowel. Names ending in a consonant become -o.. ("Ivanovich"). Names ending in a vowel lose the last letter and become -e... ("Nikolaevich").

### Meanings

-ovich translates to "Son of" ("Nikolaevich" is "Son of Nikolai"), while -ovna translates to "Daughter of" ("Nikolaevna" is "Daughter of Nikolai"). For once, this is fairly straightforward.

### Usage on the Wiki

On this wiki, patronymics and matronymics are not included in page titles (Dmitri's page is "Dmitri Sokolov", not "Dmitri Nikolaevich Sokolov") as patro/matronymics are considered "outside" the normal name. They are, however, listed in infoboxes, and can be easily referenced by looking at a character's page.

## Last Names

### Gendered Last Names

Similar to first names, Slavic last names are fairly straight forward, with one major exception: there is a gender difference. For example: in Russia, a female born (or married) into a family will end their last name with an -a instead of the normal ending; Dmitri Sokolov's daughter or wife would use the last name "Sokolova".

### In America

English does not have gendered last names, and so Slavic gendered naming conventions cannot always be transferred to legal documents properly. Because of this, many Slavic families in America choose to simply use the masculine form of last names universally. A female born in Eastern Europe or Eurasia will almost always have a feminine surname; a female born in the United States (especially one several generations down from the point of immigration) may very well have a masculine one.

### Neutered Surnames

It is possible to neuter (remove gender) from a family name, but this is rarely done, except in one specific circumstance: when referring to the family itself as an entity (ex, in English, "The Romanov Dynasty"). Neutered surnames are simply written in masculine plural (ex, "Romanovs"), which seems counter-intuitive, but functionally works in the Slavic languages for reasons outside the scope of this article.

Usage on the WIki

Gendered/neutered last names are used in article titles (example Dmitri Sokolov and Ulyana Sokolova, or Nika Radoff). This is straightforward and should not need explination.