Vladimir or Olga, Anastasia or Nikolai,Catherine, Sergey, Leopold, Maria ... We most often see such a form in the birth certificate and in the passport, as in any official document. But we call each other in the family and school differently - Little Johnny, Olenka, Tasia, Kolyunya, Katyusha. Where does this difference come from? It arises just from the desire to distinguish between the spheres of use: diminutive names, as opposed to full names, are used in an informal setting.
From prehistory
Some anthroponyms in Russian haveSlavic origin, the majority is borrowed from the Greek and Latin. With the baptism of Russia, the tradition of naming children after saints and great martyrs became widespread. But although the angels, historical and biblical characters were considered patrons, this name was not fully used in everyday life. On the one hand, the desire to save language means was effective: Katya is much shorter and more comfortable than Catherine, and Sasha is more compact than Alexander. On the other hand, the forms for strangers and diminutive names, for the closest, for initiates, have long existed. There were also special secret anthroponyms that were supposed to divert evil forces from a person. In addition, nicknames were widespread. Sometimes they turned into diminutive names, and sometimes into surnames.
Natasha or Natalia? Masha or Maria?
For a Russian person, it would seem one andthe same anthroponym. Only Masha and Natasha are diminutive and pet name forms. But foreigners who are not familiar with the intricacies of Russian morphology sometimes call their children Sasha or Rita, Lena or Nadya. And for them it is full of form. Often, there is no unity in the interpretation of anthroponyms in Russia. For example, the female name of Vlad or Lada could not be registered in the registry office as independent. It could be only part of the full - Vladlena. Short names are often full - but mostly in other languages.
Method of education
Anthroponyms are usually formed by a combination ofroots (in the case of Slavic - Bogdan, Velimir, Yaroslav) or using transcription. Therefore, diminutive names (male and female) are often one part. It is interesting that in Russian the second root is preferred: for example, Slava is the "universal" variant - for Svyatoslav, and for Yaroslav, and Mstislav, and Vladislav ...
Иногда берется часть иноязычного корня и is modified. Thus, such short names as Nastya (Anastasia) or Kolya (Nikolai) were formed. In most cases, any suffixes are added that later turn (together with the corresponding ending) into the options: Sasha-Sashura-Shura, Anna-Anyuta-Nyuta-Nyura or Nyusha ...
Functioning in modern society
Большинство государств при регистрации newborn have specific requirements for the name. There are cases of lengthy trials when parents wanted to call the new member of the society an unusual anthroponym, but officials did not allow it. Who is right in this situation? Sadly - the authorities most often. After all, they are guided not so much by the assessment of the creative imagination and creativity of the parents, as by how the name will function in society. Or rather, the man who was named so and not otherwise. After all, even "normal" names often change, what can we say about bizarre or ridiculous! No one wants to be the object of bullying. Therefore, parents, inventing what to call the child, should also take care of how diminutive names will sound, whether they will not be offensive or ridiculous. For example, Yvette is a beautiful anthroponym of French origin. But the diminutive - Vetka - not so pleasant to the ear. However, it is not the name that paints a person. So let's not forget about it.
