Svetlana Amosova

Institute of Slavic Studies, RAS, Moscow, Russia

Researcher

ORCID: 0000–0001–7614–6549

Center Judea-Slavic Institute for Slavic Studies, RAS,

119991 Moscow Leninsky pr., Build. 32-А

Phone: +7(495) 938–17–80 Fax: +7(495) 938–00–96

E-mail: sveta.amosova@gmail.com

DOI: 10.31168/2658–3356.2022.11

Abstract. This article discusses the mechanisms and strategies for choosing names that were adopted by Jews in the 1920s and 1930s. It draws upon material recorded during field work in 2000–2022 in Ukraine, Moldova, and Russia, as well analysis of announcements about changes of names in the Bulletin of the Leningrad Regional Executive Committee and the Leningrad Council from 1924 to 1932. Soviet laws in the first years after the revolution allowed citizens to freely change their names; as a consequence, religious institutions lost their previous control over the matter. This led to the development of new practices for naming, as well as the use of new names entirely. Not only was the tradition of giving names in honor of a deceased relative preserved, it was transformed.

Keywords: naming, choice of personal name, Soviet name, Jewish name, Russian-Jewish anthroponymy