17. Mashas Everywhere

How many ladies named Olga, Daria, Anastasia, Kseniya, Masha, Anna or Tatsiana do you know? Or how about gentlemen called Dzmitry, Aliaksandr, Aliaksey, Ivan, Andrei, or Mikhail? Let us guess, at least 51 per cent of your acquaintances?

While most parents in countries such as the Netherlands try to be most original when it comes to naming their newborn, names like ‘Storm’ or ‘Sun’ show this quest for originality. Belarusian parents don’t seem to be struck by this phenomenon. Quite the opposite is true as it seems many follow google’s most popular name list and don’t bother for their newborn to carry the same name as at least six other children in their future class.

We have looked at the statistics and found out that from the year 1991 until 2010 Anastasia, Maryia, Hanna, and Daria have been indeed dominating the Belarusian name market. This means that these names were in the top 10 from 1991 until 2010. The same goes for Dzmitry, Aliaksandr, Aliaksey, Ivan and Andrei.

 A riddle:
Alexander, Sasha and Shura walk into a bar,
and comfortably sit on one chair, drinking one drink. 
​
How is that possible? =)
​

While not being very original with the first names the Belarusian surely make it up with their nicknames and diminutives of most first names. Welcome to the labyrinth of Belarusian first names.  

Imagine you were dragged along to a birthday party of a friend of a friend and the birthday boy just introduced himself to you as Aliaksandr. A second later a friend of him calls him Sasha, yet another refers to him as Ales’, then his mom suddenly screams “Shura, your grandma just arrived, come and say hello”.  So this guy has four different names, what is going on here??

Common female names and their derivatives

Official name in Belarusian (found in all documents)	Official name in Russian (found in all documents)	Nickname used by friends	Nicknames / diminutives / affectionate forms used by close friends, family and loved ones
Maryja	Maria	Masha	Mashen’ka
Kseniya	Kseniya	Ksusha	Ksukha, Ksushen’ka
Tatsiana	Tatjana	Tanja	Tanyshka, Tatti, Tanechka
Alena	Elena	Lena	Lenochka, Lenusia, Lenashka, Lianok, Lenka, Alenka
Iryna	Irina	Ira	Irochka, Irisha, Irousik
Aliaksandra	Alexandra	Sasha	Shoura, Sashun’ka, Sashen’ka, Sania
Natallia	Nataliya	Natasha, Natalka	Nata, Talia, Natulia, Tashenka, Natka, Natashen’ka
Hanna	Anna	Anja / Hanna (BY)	Anechka, Aniuta
Anastasiya	Anastasiya	Nastya, Asya, Nasta (BY)	Nastassya, Nastusha, Nastenka, Nastusha
Katsiaryna	Ekaterina	Katya	Katen’ka, Katiusha, Katiukha

​You see, many Belarusians have this luxury when it comes to first names that change depending on the occasion and who you’re talking to. Belarusian names have one or more standardised diminutive forms (often with a “chka” or a “shen’ka” suffix added), and judging by the name-form a person is being called by, you can find out how close people are to one another. 
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So, for example, names like “Aliaksandr” or “Natallia” would be used on official forms and documents (like a passport), as well as during business introductions. The less formal variants (“Sasha” and “Natasha”) might be used during more informal introductions as well as friendly communication. Nicknames and affectionate forms (“Shura” or “Sashen’ka”, “Nata” and “Natashen’ka”)  are used in the personal lives, thus among close friends and family. To a foreigner this is a cause for a headache. Don’t be alarmed to find out that  Vova, Uladz and Vladimir are the same person! How about Anastasiya, Nastya and Asya? The same person, too!

You might think that Belarusian and Russian names are identical. And we can not blame you for this thought because Belarus and Russia do share many features. However we can  tell you that not only does Belarusian spelling of most names differ from the Russian language, like the name Aliaksandr instead of the typical Russian spelling ’Alexander’ or Alena instead of Elena. But there are also more typical Belarusian names that should not be forgotten, but revived! Such as Alesia, Adela, Miron, Amila, Mira (from Miraslava), Viliana or Paulinka. And what about  Arsen’,  Ales’, Kastus’, Vincent, Janka, Jas’, Symon, Akim, Branislau, Vasil’, Zachar, Zianon, Franacysk, Liavon.  

Common male names and their derivatives

Official name in Belarusian (found in all documents)	Official name in Russian (found in all documents)	Nickname used by friends	Nicknames / diminutives / affectionate forms used by close friends, family and loved ones
Aliaksei	Aleksey	Lyosha, Alyosha, Lehka	Lyoshka, Lyoshen’ka, Alyoshen’ka
Aliaksandr	Aleksandr	Sasha / Ales'(BY) Sanyok	Sanya, Shurik, Shura, Sashen’ka
Andrei	Andrei	Andrei / Andrus’ (BY)	Andrusha, Andrushen’ka, Andreika
Uladzimir	Vladimir	Vova / Uladz’(BY)	Vovachka, Vovchick
Anatol’	Anatoly	Tolia	Tolik, Tolyan
Dzmitry	Dmitry	Dima / Dzima / Zmitsier (BY)	Mitya, Dimulya, Dimochka
Yauhen	Evgeny	Zhenya	Zheka
Ivan	Ivan	Vanya/Yanka (BY)	Ivanuyshka, Vanka
Mikalai	Nikolai	Kolya/ Mikola (BY)	Nikolasha, Kolyan, Mikolka, Kolen’ka
Pavel	Pavel	Pasha/ Paval (BY) / Pauliuk (BY)	Pavlusha, Pavlik
Yaraslau	Yaroslav	Yaryk, Slava	Yaros’
Yury	Yuri/ Yury	Yura / Yuras’ (BY)	Yurka, Yurochka

​Tell us what you think! Did you also notice this trend? Maybe all your friends actually have completely different names? Share your thoughts with us! 

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