22 Comments
User's avatar
Daniel Puzzo's avatar

This was great, and it took me quite some time to get my head round the changing names. I read my fair share of Dostoevsky as a teenager and I was baffled with all the changes. I lived in Ukraine for 13 years, so I eventually figured out how things worked.

But sometimes I got confused when I was back in the English speaking world. I was teaching high school history in the US many years ago, in between teaching English gigs, and I had a student named Daria. I assumed she was Slavic. After a month or so, I started calling her Dasha and she never said anything about it. After I'd called her Dasha for about the 20th time she finally exploded and said 'why do you keep calling me Dasha, that's not my name!' Turns out she wasn't Slavic at all and was named Daria after the MTV show in the early 90s with a popular Daria character. Of course, after that I had to explain why I was doing this and we had a fascinating discussion, the class had no idea that Sasha was Alexander/Alexandra and all the other variations.

Expand full comment
Larisa Rimerman's avatar

Sorry, I reply so late. I forgot that anybody can read my work anytime after posting. It happened to me also. I forget that Americans like Russian names and name their children. Besides, some use them in American pronunciation, like Tanya or Lara. I was surprised to hear Lara (my short name) was pronounced as Laura (my second short name). By the way, Shura is the second short name of Aleksander/dra, and Baryshnikov has a daughter named Shura. It's challenging for translators because the usage of names creates different relationships between characters.

Expand full comment
Larissa Hennessy's avatar

I’m Irish and my Mother named me Larissa to the consternation of many. I was called after the character in Dr Zhivago. I then called my daughter Lara so I suppose I continued it somewhat

Expand full comment
What to read if's avatar

This is so fascinating and illuminating (especially the *personal* freight of meaning that can be attached to a name, depending on the suffix*chosen*). Thanks so much for this, Larisa - as you know I've been intrigued by the nuances around names thrown up by some of your essays.

Expand full comment
Larisa Rimerman's avatar

Sorry, I reply so late. I forgot about this small article. Thank you! Usually, we don't address each other by our formal first names (only in formal relations). You are right that some personal negative treatment can be reflected in the name. Babel was famous for writing about the Jewish Mafia in Odessa (a town on the Black Sea), and one of his characters was a famous (from real life) Son'ka (' soft "n")- "gold hand." Son'ka is a disdainful short name for Sofia. Sonechka is a tender, and Sonia is a usual short name, as in Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. Translators have a very hard time translating Russian relations with the names.

Expand full comment
Themes and Deviations's avatar

So interesting. It instantly opens a door to an entire subtext of understanding relationships between people and characters. The author’s intent is clarified in such a simple and elegant way that is lost in translation. There now, you’ve done it again Larisa.

Expand full comment
Hannah Emery, PhD's avatar

Thank you so much for sharing! I love learning about naming traditions in different cultures.

Expand full comment
Larisa Rimerman's avatar

Sorry for the late reply. I didn't guess how Substack works. I am delighted that you found my article interesting. Thank you very much

Expand full comment
Flávia Hermeto's avatar

Fascinating! I'm enchanted...

Expand full comment
Larisa Rimerman's avatar

Thank you! I am myself enchanted by Russian names and bother others with them. I am so glad that the theme of names became interesting to my readers.

Expand full comment
Portia's avatar

This is an endlessly fascinating topic for me. In Fonvizin's comedies, if I remember well, the young woman, with whom the young male character falls in love, bears the name of Sofya, because she's wise and virtuous. In "Crime and Punishment", it's Sonya Marmeladov who tells Raskol'nikov to confess and repent. Sonya is the diminutive form of Sofya, as in Divine Wisdom, which in the novel is personified by a 16 y.o. girl, and a prostitute at that.

In Nabokov's "Lolita", the very first paragraph is a digression on how she became Lolita, starting from Dolores, for Humbert Humbert, as Russian an explanation as can be:

"She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita."

Expand full comment
Larisa Rimerman's avatar

Portia, I have always loved your comments; I have to copy them, or is it a restack? You so smartly noticed, and I don't even remember Nabokov's play with the name Lolita, though I love his Russisms in his writing. And Dostoevsky's Sonia is his favorite character in the saving of Raskolnikov's soul. He loved this name; he named his first daughter Sonia. It was a tragedy when she died, being a baby.

Expand full comment
Portia's avatar

I read that Dostoevsky and his wife, Anna, were in Switzerland, when little Sonia died. When he traveled abroad, he always used to visit her grave. I can't even imagine such pain.

I restacked this post, but I wrote my comment in the Comment section. Thanks again for a great read, Larisa!

Expand full comment
Jane's avatar

That was great Larisa very interesting thank you

Expand full comment
Larisa Rimerman's avatar

Thank you for the comment. Very kind.

Expand full comment
Eugene Terekhin's avatar

Thank you, Larisa. I think Karamazov can also be a "telling" name- like they are smeared by some dirt.

Expand full comment
Larisa Rimerman's avatar

You know, Zgenia, I thought about the family name. It could be, as you write, but only in one way, the father of the family. The novel presents the polyphonic voices of several serious ideas about God and atheism, passion and reason, and the future of Russia through the faces of its characters. So, it's the most complicated novel, and we shouldn't simplify it by explaining the meaning of names, although we can clarify some.

Expand full comment
Grief's Reliefs by DJ Baker's avatar

Hi Larisa. It seems an invitation into an intimacy between Russians lost to others. What would you say about Andrey Platonov...one of my favorite writers or Yevgeny Zamyatin...just started reading We.

Expand full comment
Grief's Reliefs by DJ Baker's avatar

Was lost but thx to your essay, the door has been opened.

Expand full comment
Larisa Rimerman's avatar

Oh, thank you. As a Russian, I love everything open.

Expand full comment
Grief's Reliefs by DJ Baker's avatar

Perhaps you misunderstood the intention of my post above? I was wondering about their names in particular...in the light of your essay. Is there more to their names?

Expand full comment
Larisa Rimerman's avatar

Yes, but who lost? It is the question. Russians stay with their rich stylistic language, and you are, my dear, suffering. We already discussed Platonov's impossible of translation language. I love Platonov. But you love him also. Means, somebody translated him well into English. So, we both won. But intricacies stay as they are.

Expand full comment