War and Peasources Part II: The Names
🎵'Cause it's a complicated Russian novel/Everyone's got 9 different names🎵
Are the names what’s holding you back? That’s understandable. Russian naming conventions can be a little tricky for English speakers, but they don’t have to be.
Russian names are divided into three parts: the given name, the patronymic, and the family name. The structure for these names changes based on gender. Let’s use Tolstoy himself as our example:
Lev Nikolayovich Tolstoy.
His first name, Lev, is commonly rendered in English as Leo. This one’s easy.
His second name, Nikolayovich, means ‘son of Nikolay’. Patronymics for men end in -ich, -evich or -ovich; for women it’s -evna or -ovna.
His third name, Tolstoy, is his family name. Some names which come from given names (i.e. Ivanov, Denisov, Alexeyev) will end in -ov or -ev, but not all of them as evidenced by Tolstoy himself. For women, you just add an -a on the end.1
So, if we put it together we have Lev Tolstoy, son of Nikolay. But what about the ladies? Tolstoy’s youngest daughter was Alexandra Lvovna Tolstaya. Not every single name under the sun follows these gendered rules, but it’s safe to say that if you encounter a woman in War and Peace, her name isn’t going to deviate much from this mold. That is, apart from Anna Pavlovna Sherer, the only female character on the Wikipedia list whose surname does not end in -a2.
One last note: Alexandra Tolstoya was also called ‘Sasha’. we’ll come back to nicknames, don’t worry.
War and Peace tells the story of five aristocratic families—the Bolkonskys, the Rostovs, the Bezukhovs, the Kuragins, and the Drubetskoys. Below are two family trees from the Wikipedia page to show how they intersect.
Our main character is Pyotr Kirilovich Bezukhov, Pierre if you’re nasty. Remember that anyone who was anyone was speaking French in 19th century Russia, if you were wondering why Pierre’s name spontaneously changes languages.
Now Pyotr Kirilovich Bezukhov is a bit of a mouthful, and names vary by formality. So, Pierre may be Pierre to his friends, Petrusha to his loved ones, and Pyotr Kirilovich more formally. It isn’t uncommon for a person to have multiple diminutives (nicknames) from multiple people. If it helps, keep a notebook while you read and draw a box around a character when they’re introduced. Then, list their full names and any others they go by. This is a fast and loose explanation, as long as you remember that our Pierre is Pyotr Kirilovich Bezukhov, you’ll be fine.
One final example: Natalia Ilyinichna Rostova. Time for a pop quiz!
Our heroine’s diminutive is3:
Natasha
Nathalie
Natalie
Her father’s name is4
Ivan
Ilya
Ippolit
When she marries Pierre (spoiler, sorry) her new surname is5
Kirilovna
Bezukhov
Bezukhova
With over 500 characters, there are a few repeat names but, luckily the first name + patronymic combo should help keep things clear. Also, not every name uses the same diminutives. Natasha’s brother is also a Pyotr, but is called Petya to keep him distinct from Pierre.
Hopefully this primer helps to demystify the text a bit. One last note: the Maude translation indicates stressed syllables with acute accents, so the stresses in Natasha’s name are Natália Ilýinichna Rostóva6.
That’s all for now, folks! I’ll have a few more introductory and translation notes up in December. Thanks to everyone who’s already signed up, and tell your friends :)
see you jan 1st!
love from kit (and tolstoy’s ghost)
This varies a little if you consider Ukranian surnames which end in -ko regardless of gender (i.e. Pavlishenko, Petrenko)
On account of her surname being German in origin.
The answer is…all of them! She goes by all three depending on who’s addressing her. Sorry for bamboozling you
The answer is 2! Her father is Count Ilya Andreevich Rostov
The answer is 3! Don’t forget the a at the end to make it feminine
A fun fact from the updated Maude/Mandelker translation: while the Maudes put the stress on the second syllable of Rostov, Tolstoy himself stressed the first (Róstov) at least according to his friend A.B. Goldenveizer in Talks with Tolstoy (1959). Who’s to know which one is correct!
Hi, thanks for this guide!
There's a slight error here in the feminine endings of the last names. Tolstoy's daughter would be more accurately Alexandra Lvovna Tolstaya, not Tolstoya. Names ending in -oy or -sky become -aya or -skaya.
The reason Sherer doesn't have a feminine ending is because it is German in origin (originally spelled Scherer). So it doesn't follow the same rules.