LONG FUCKING GUIDE TO RUSSIAN NAMES BY AUDREY
Disclaimer i am not russian i just got bored and extensively researched this. There will probably be mistakes. Content under the cut:
There are three parts to a russian name: A first name, a patronym, and a last name. I'm going to deconstruct Natasha's full name as an example:
Natalya Ilyinichna Rostova
FIRST NAMES AND DIMINUTIVES:
Natalya- this is Natasha's full name, or 'real' name. It's what's on legal documents and shit. To get 'nicknames' or diminutives, there are a few different ways.
First is a 'short' or everyday name. It's used in non-formal situations, such as between casual friends and coworkers who know each other. Some names have more than one short name, and some don't have any, or they're not really used, such Ilya, Igor, or Andrei. I haven't found a surefire way to derive a short name from a full one, but here's are some examples:
Feminine short names:
Natalya -> Natasha
Sofya -> Sonya
Marya -> Mary/Masha
Yekaterina -> Katerina/Katya
Aleksandra -> Sasha/Aleks/Alya/a fuckton more
Masculine Short Names:
Nikolai -> Kolya
Pytor -> Petya (or Pierre)
Aleksander -> Sasha/Aleks/Shura/so many more wtf guys
Fyodor -> Fedya
Ivan -> Vanya
Mikhail -> Misha
MORE DIMINUTIVE THAN THAT
It's actually easier to come up with a pet name, because you can kinda make them up by just smashing suffixes into their short name. If there is no short name, just use the the full one. These suffixes are usually -enka, -ushka, -usha, -nya, -ochka, -echka, -osha, etc. There don't seem to be a ton of rules on which one to use, i can kinda just guess which one sounds right. but again, I am not russian so I might be wrong. Examples:
Feminine pet names:
Natasha -> Natashenka
Sonya -> Sonyushka
Masha -> Mashenka
Sasha -> Sashenka
Alya -> Alyushka
Katerina -> Katenka
Katya -> Katyushka/Katyenka
Masculine pet names:
Kolya -> Kolyenka
Petya -> Petyenka
Sasha -> Sashenka
Shura -> Shurochka
Fedya -> Fedyenka
Vanya -> Vanyechka/Vanusha
Misha -> Mishenka
MORE DIMINUTIVE GODDAMMIT
These ones are a little crude, and are considered pretty rude if not used between children, close friends, family, etc. For these, you basically slam a -k- into the short name.
Feminine examples:
Natasha -> Natashka
Sonya -> Sonyka/Sonka
Masha -> Mashka
Sasha - Sashka
Alya -> Alyka/Alka
Katerina -> Katerinka
Katya -> Katyka/Katka
Masculine examples:
Kolya -> Kolka
Petya -> Petyka/Petka
Sasha -> Sashka
Shura -> Shurka
Fedya -> Fedka
Vanya -> Vanka
Misha -> Mishka
So essentially, it forms a kind of trail. Full name -> Short Name -> Affectionate. Sometimes that shit gets so far from where it started that you cant even tell. Aleksandra and Sashenka can be the same person. Moving on.
PATRONYMS:
Ilyinichna- Patronym. This is derived from the name of the person's father + a suffix based on the sound that the father's name ends in. Natasha's father is named Ilya, so Ily is taken. Ilya ends with a soft vowel and consists of two syllables, so the appropriate suffix is -inichna for feminine, and -ich for masculine.
So Ilya -> Ily + inichna = Ilynichna.
That's the basic structure of a patronym. Here are other patronymic suffixes:
If the father's name ends with a hard consonant that is NOT ж, ш, ч, щ, or ц (English analogs: zh, sh, ch, sch, or ts):
Masculine: -ovich
Feminine- -ovna
Example: Aleksander -> Aleksandrovich/Aleksandrovna
If the father's name ends with a soft consonant or ж, ш, ч, щ, ц:
Masculine: -evich
Feminine: -evna
Example: Dmitri -> Dmitrievich/Dmitrievna
If the father's name ends in a vowel and does NOT consist of two syllables:
Masculine: -ich
Feminine: -ichna
Example: Balaga -> Balagich/Balagichna
And, as previously shown, if the father's name ends in a vowel and consists of two syllables:
Masculine: still -ich
Feminine: -inichna
Example: Ilya -> Ilyich/Ilyinichna
LAST NAMES
There are two forms to any last name, and it basically comes down to sticking an a on the end when it's feminine.
Examples (Masculine/Feminine):
Rostov/Rostova
Kuragin/Kuragina
Bezukhov/Bezukhova
Turgenev/Turgeneva
Dolokhov/Dolokhova
The one exception I've found:
If the masculine ends with -sky then instead of -skya you add another a and make it -skaya. Like Bolkonsky/Bolkonskaya
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Hello I just realized that I haven't put out much content lately sORRY- I'm actually in the midst of working on a full character analysis of anatole for you guys, and don't have anything in my queue rn, so have this impromptu dumbass post
SOME MORE OF MY STUPID GREAT COMET HEADCANNONS ENJOY
Also this is like 95% fix-it au stuff ya feel shh
Anatole likes to paint. Specifically landscapes or buildings, especially ones with lots of flowers. He's not the best at it, but at least he's not Mary
Mary can't draw for SHIT.
Sonya is surprisingly good at cards. She beat Dolokhov once.
Dolokhov kicked the wall and broke his toe
Dolokhov ACTUALLY carries a guitar around
Anatole is not allowed to touch the guitar anymore, Dolokhov is scared he'll break it again
Balaga has a stash of candy in his troika
Pierre fell out of the troika once, and he has not gotten back in it since.
Helene carries a knife. Mostly for the aesthetic but she's definitely used it before.
Marya loves cats. She has a cat.
Bolkonsky is allergic to cats.
This is another reason why Marya loves cats.
The cat has been trained to attack Anatole. How this has been done is unclear.
Ace Pierre
Anatole loves holidays. His favorite is christmas, because he gets to unleash The Gift Reckoning on his friends
Balaga is not legally registered on any documents. As far as the government knows, he doesn't even exist.
Natasha can make flower crowns and always does so as soon as the opportunity arises
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