Russian Personal Names:
Name Frequency in the Novgorod Birch-Bark Letters

Women's Names

By Masha Gedilaghine Holl (Predslava Vydrina)

© 1997 by Masha Gedilaghine Holl; all rghts reserved.

Index

  1. Introduction.
  2. Definition: Christian (canonical) names.
  3. Definition: Old Russian (non-canonical) names.
  4. Usage of canonical and non-canonical names.
  5. Origin of canonical and non-canonical names.
  6. Women's names: Christian names.
  7. Women's names: Old Russian names.
  8. "Wife of..." forms based on Christian names.
  9. "Wife of..." forms based on Old Russian names.
  10. Men's names: Christian names.
        Men's names: Patronymics based on Christian names.
  11. Men's names: Old Russian names.
  12. Conclusion
  13. Notes
  14. Bibliography

1. Women's Names.

In the Birch-Bark Letters, women's names form only about 10% of all the names. The two women's Christian names most frequently mentioned in the Birch-Bark Letters are Maria (14 times) and Anastasiia (10 times), while the rest are mentioned 4 times or less.

As there are only 31 women's Christian names in the Birch-Bark Letters, I will simply give a list of these names (followed by the century or period when they appeared) to show which were actually used in medieval Novgorod. Two names found in the Birch-Bark Letters, however, require a comment. According to the editors of the Birch-bark Letters collections (and I see no reason to mistrust them in this), Evfimiia and Kharitaniia are names that were used by nuns rather than laity. Note that this is "traditionally true," rather than a steadfast and unbreakable rule; still, it is worth noting.

Women's Christian Names

Name Date/BBL Name Date/BBL Name Date/BBL Name

Date/BBL
Akulina XII/560 Evfimiia XII/508 Kharitaniia XII/682 Miropiia XII/508
Anastasiia XII/542 Evfrosiniia XII/717 Khristina XII/522 Pelageia XII/508
Anna XII/531 Feodosiia XII/595 Kseniia XIII/411 Sofiia XII/508
Dominika XII/503 Fekla XII/560 Maremeiana4 XII/506 Tatiana XIV/129
Domna XIV/134 Fetiniia XIV/28 Marfa XII/545 Varvara XII560
Ekaterina XII/551 Fevroniia XII/559 Marina XIV/125
Elizaveta XII/503 Iriniia XII/545 Mariia XII/503
Evdokiia XII/506 Iulianiia XII/508 Melaniia XII/542

Women's Old-Russian Names

Non-Christian women's names are even fewer than women's Christian names: of about 130 instances of women's names, only 13 are non-Christian names, and only one name appears twice: Nedel'ka, one occurrence dated to the early XII century, and one to the mid-XIII century.

The names below are followed by their probable meaning, when possible:

Name Date/BBL Meaning Name Date/BBL Meaning
Bezubaia XII/SR215 toothless (woman) Kosenila XII/SR22 Slow-witted, procrastinating,
or one whose speech is garbled
Chiudka XII/SR22 miraculous or odd Milka XII/SR21 dear
Dedenia XII/SR22 torn, tearing (?) Negoshka XII/SR22 caressed, pampered
Deretka XII/SR22 patrimony (?) Nezhka XII/644 tender
Gostiata XII/9 [see note] Peredeslava XIV/328 forward, ahead+glory
Iarina wool, woolen cloth

"Wife of..." forms based on Christian names

In the third category of women's names, we have given names derived from their husband's given names. Quite often, unmarried women were not called by their own given names, but only by a patronymic. After a woman married, she was often referred to by a special form of her husband's name. That name was formed differently than patronymics, but is was not a simple possessive form, either. In many documents, that is the only name used in reference to a woman. This form was used exclusively with the meaning "wife of..." and could be based either on Christian or Old-Russian names, either on the full name or on variants of it. For use in the SCA, the "wife of..." form can be used as a byname. The use of the "wife of..." form as given name may seem objectionable to modern women, and the use of the "wife of..." form as byname can be found in period: the Birch-Bark Letter 21 from Staraia Rusa mentions Nedel'ka Teshaia, whose given name is Old-Russian (see above) and whose byname is a "wife of..." form based on the man's name Tekh (see below).

Name Date/BBL Derived from Name Date/BBL Derived from
Borishkovaia XII/SR22 Borishek (Boris) Ieliaia XIII/348 Iev (Iov)
Davyzheia XII/227 Davyd Ivaniaia XII/SR11 Ivan
Filofinaia XIV/261 Filofei Pavloveia XIII/212 Pavel
Giurgevaia XII/SR21 Giurgii Proksheviia XIV/701 Proksha (Prokopii)
Iakunovaia XIV/263 Iakun Vasilievaia XIII/66 Vasilii

"Wife of..." forms based on Old-Russian names

Name Date/BBL Derived from Name Date/BBL Derived from
Bezuevaia XII/SR22 Bezui [without uncle/kin?] Puteshineia XII/SR22 Putesha [traveller?]
Iar"shekoveia XII/228 Iar"shek Putokoveia XII/630 Putok [road, path]
Korotskovaia XII/SR21 Korotsek [short] Radokovaia XII/227 Radok [joy or joyful]
Nadeekovaia XII/SR22 Nadeek [hoped?] Sypovaia XIV/264 Syp [mound]
Nesoditsevaia XII/SR22 Nesdits Taishineia XII/SR22 Taisha [secret, hidden?]
Nezhat"kinaia XI/SR13 Nezhatok [who didn't reap] Tesheia XII/SR21 Tekh [fun, amusement]
Or"shinaia XII/SR21 Or"sha [horseman?] Volot"koveia XIII/293 Volotok [little giant ?]
Povezh'ia XII/672 Poved [bringer/teller of news]

Index

  1. Introduction.
  2. Definition: Christian (canonical) names.
  3. Definition: Old Russian (non-canonical) names.
  4. Usage of canonical and non-canonical names.
  5. Origin of canonical and non-canonical names.
  6. Women's names: Christian names.
  7. Women's names: Old Russian names.
  8. "Wife of..." forms based on Christian names.
  9. "Wife of..." forms based on Old Russian names.
  10. Men's names: Christian names.
        Men's names: Patronymics based on Christian names.
  11. Men's names: Old Russian names.
  12. Conclusion
  13. Notes
  14. Bibliography

Editted and published by Arval Benicoeur