Guest Author - Marianne Gibson

Tried and failed to read War and Peace? For my money, it’s not the writing that makes it difficult, it’s the fact that each character is referred to by at least three different names! What lies behind this inconvenient fact, and how do I properly address the Russians of my acquaintance?


Let’s take a typical name as an example; Svetlana Iurievna Gladunova. OK; Svetlana’s first name was chosen by her parents, out of tradition, after a relative, or simply because they liked it. It may be a name from Christian tradition, it may be an old Russian name, or more rarely, it may come from another source (if you speak to 10 random Russian women, I guarantee you’ll have an Olga, Irina and Svetlana among them, unusual names are not sought out as a general rule).

Svetlana’s middle name of Iurievna comes from her father’s first name, Iuri. Her brothers carry the name Iurievich in this position. This name is her patronymic, or otchestvo (after otets, or father). Her surname or familiya, Gladunova, also comes from her father, but his name is Gladunov, she is Gladunova because she is female. Her brothers are Gladunov.

So how would you speak to Svetlana? If she’s older, or senior in position, you should address her as Svetlana Iurievna (using first name and patronymic). This shows respect in the same way as you might address someone as Mrs Gibson, or Mr Smith. On essays and exams in school, she would be Gladunova, Svetlana. In the unlikely event that she served in the army, she might be simply referred to by her surname. Otherwise, Svetlana will do. If you’re friends, she is Sveta, and when you address her directly, you can even call her Svet. Why drop the final ‘a’? It’s a remnant of the 7th ‘vocative’ case, not now recognized as part of the Russian language, but frequently used. So if you’re calling to our friends Sasha, Masha, Dasha and Pasha (Alexander/Alexandra, Mariya, Dariya and Pavel), you can call them Sash, Mash, Dash and Pash if you like!

Let’s look at other first names and their nicknames;

Nikolai – Kolya
Vladimir – Volodya/Vova
Vasilii - Vasya
Natalia – Natasha (Natasha is almost always a short name in Russian)
Anastasia – Nastia
Valeria – Lyera
Evgenia/Evgenii – Zhenia

Again, the same rule applies – if you’re speaking to this person directly, you can drop the final ‘a’, which occurs despite of gender in nicknames.

If you don’t know the person’s name;

In the street or in a restaurant, it’s not so common to attract someone’s attention with ‘excuse me!’ More often you will hear ‘Dyevushka!’ (young woman!), ‘Molodoi chelovek!’ (young man!) 'Zhenshina!' (woman!) or ‘Muzhchina!’ (man!). This can take some getting used to, but it’s perfectly normal in Russia. come and try for yourself!