Names and Naming Practices

This heading is subdivided by region into: Rus and Russian -- Polish -- Czech and Slovak -- Hungarian -- Balkans -- Other


Rus and Russian

Baecklund, Astrid. "Personal Names in Medieval Velikij Novgorod." Acta Universtatis Stockholmiensis 9 (1959). [PWT]
Discussion of names appearing in the Gramoty velikogo Novgoroda i Pskova, including frequencies.

Biryla, M. V. Belaruskaia antrapanimiia [Belorussian Anthroponyms]. Minsk: Navuka i tekhnika, 1966. Three volumes. [PWT]

Demchuk, M. O. Slov'ians'ki avtokhtonni osobovi vlasni imena v pobuti ukraintsiv XIV-XVII st. Kiev: Naukova dumka, 1988. [PWT]

Kersta, R. I. Ukrain'ka antroponimiia XVI st: Cholovichi imenuvannia [Ukrainian Anthroponyms of the 16th Century: Personal Names]. Kiev: Naukova dumka, 1984. [PWT]

Tumanova, Tatiana Nikolaevna [B. J. Gerth]. The Compleat Russian Name Book, Third Edition. Mountainview CA: Free Trumpet West, 1989. [PWT, WN]
The old SCA standard. Useful for its section on diminuitives and its comprehensiveness, but does not provide dating.

Tupikov, N. M. Slovar' drevne-russkikh lichnykh sobstvennykh imen [The Dictionary of Ancient Russian Personal Names]. Saint Petersburg: Tipografiia I. N. Skorokhodova, 1903. [Available in a reprint under the title: Tupikov, Nikolaj Michailovic. Worterbuch der Altrussischen Personennamen. Cologne: Bohlau Verlag, 1989.] [PWT, WN]
The mother of all Russian name books (some 857 pages of mostly pre-1600 names). This book is broken into three sections: masculine names, feminine names (only four pages!) and patronymics -- all arranged alphabetically. It is as reliable as a secondary source can be expected to be.

Unbegaun, B. O. Russian Surnames. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971. [PWT, WN]

Veselovskii, S. B. Onomastikon. Moscow: Nauka, 1974. [PWT]

Vydrina, Predslava [Masha Holl]. "Russian Personal Names: Name Frequency in the Novgorod Birch-Bark Letters." Proceedings of the Aethelmearc Known World Heraldic Symposium. 1997. [PWT, PV, WN]

Wickenden, Paul, of Thanet [Paul W. Goldschmidt]. "A Chicken is Not A Bird: Feminine Personal Names in Medieval Russia." Proceedings of the Second Caerthen Known World Heraldic amd Scribal Symposium, June 24-25, 1995. Pages 20-23. [PWT]

___________. Dictionary of Period Russian Names., Second Edition. Mountainview CA: Free Trumpet West, 1994. [PWT, WN]
The new SCA standard. Now out in a second (and much expanded) edition.

___________. " Locative Bynames in Medieval Russia." Proceedings of the Meridian Known World Heraldic Symposium. 1996. [PWT, WN]

___________. "Russian Feminine Names on the Western Borderlands." Proceedings of the Aethelmearc Known World Heraldic Symposium. 1997. [PWT, PV]

Wojtowicz, Marian. Drevnerusskaia antroponimiia XIV-XV vv [Old Russian Anthroponyms: XIV-XV Centuries]. Poznan: Uniwerytet im. Adama Mickiewicza, 1986. [PWT]


Polish

Bubak, Józef. Slownik Nazw Osobowych i Elementów Identyfikacyjnych Sadecczyzny, XV-XVII w. [Dictionary of Personal Names and Identifying Elements of the Sacz Region, 15th-17th cent.]. Kraków: Universitas, 1992. [PWT, WN]

Cieslikowa, Aleksandra. Staropolskie Odapelatywne Nazwy Osobowe. Wroclaw: Wydawnictwo Polskiej Akademii Nauk, 1990. [PWT, WN]

Golinski, Mateusz. Biogramy Mieszczan Wroclawskich do Konca XIII Wieku. Wroclaw: Prace Historyczne XVIII, 1995. [WN]

Hoffman, William F. Polish Surnames: Origins and Meanings, Second Edition. Chicago: Polish Genealogical Society of America, 1993/1997. [WN, PWT]

Imiona Chrzescijanskie w Sredniowiecznej Polsce [Christian Names in Medieval Poland]. Krakow: Jezyka, 1994. [KKK]

Kopertowska, Danuta. Nazwy Osobowe Mieszkanców Podkieleckich Wsi (1565- 1694). Wroclaw: Polska Akademia Nauk, 1988. [WN]
The abstract is in English and gives the title as "The Personal Name of Inhabitants from the Villages near Kielce." It includes 850 names (589 masculine and 261 feminine). The good news is that the article gives full names as recorded. The bad news is that there is no index by given names and many of the names are post-period.

Krzepela, Jozef. Malopolskie Rody Ziemianskie. Cracow: Sklad Glowny w Ksiegarniach, 1928. [PWT]

van Nijmegen, Walraven and Arval Benicoeur [Brian R. Speer & Josh Mittleman]. "Polish Given Names in Nazwiska Polaków." WWW, 1998.

Rymut, Kazimierz. Nazwiska Polaków [Polish Names]. Wroclaw: Zaklad Narodowy im. Ossolinskich -- Wydawnictwo, 1991. [WN]
A small volume invaluable for parsing surnames and their many suffices, but with few dates.

Slownik Staropolskich Nazw Osobowych [Dictionary of Old Polish Personal Names]. Edited by Witold Taszycki. Warsaw: Polska Akademia Nauk, 1965-1987. Seven Volumes. [PWT, WN]
The mother of all Polish name books. Includes both given names and surnames, listed together in alphabetical order with dated citations.


Czech and Slovak

Davidek, Vaclav, Karel Doskocil, and Jan Svoboda. Ceska Jmena: Osobnia Rodova [Czech Names: Personal and Familial]. Praha, 1941. [PWT]

Kopecny, Frantisek. Pruvodce Nasimi Jmény, Revised Edition. Praha: Academia, 1991. [WN]

van Nijmegen, Walraven [Brian R. Speer]. "Common Czech Names of the 15th and 16th Centuries." WWW, 1999.

Schlimpert, Gerhard. Slawische Personennamen in Mittelalterlichen Quellen zur Deutschen Geschischte [Slavic Personal Names in Medieval Sources from German History. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1978. [WN]

Svoboda, Jan. Staroceská Osobní Jména a Nase Príjmení . Praha: Ceskoslovenská Akademie Ved, 1964. [WN]


Hungarian

Ádám Imre. Szabolcs Megye Dadai Járásának Jobbágynevei 1574-bol. Budapest, 1989. [WN, PWT]

Fehertoi Katalin. Szazadi Magyar Megkulonbozteto Nevek. Budapest: Akademiai Kiado, 1969. [PWT]

Hajdú Mihály. Magyar-Angol, Angol-Magyar Keresztnévszótár [Hungarian-English Dictionary of Christian Names]. Budapest, 1983. [WN]
Dictionary of Given Names. While many names are modern and there are no dates, this book is invaluable for listing name variants and gender.

Iván László. Kalocsa Környékének Személynevei 1560-ban. Budapest, 1987. [WN]

Kálmán Béla. The World of Names: A Study in Hungarian Onomatology. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiado, 1978. [WN]
Broad survey of Hungarian naming practices, but most names are undated and all spellings are modernized.

Kázmér Miklós. Régi Magyar Családnevek Szótára: XIV-XVII Század [Dictionary of Ancient Hungarian Surnames]. Budapest: Magyar Nyelvtudományi Társaság, 1993. [WN]
This Dictionary contains 1200 pages of Hungarian names through the 17th century arranged alphabetically by surname. All entries all fully dated and cited back to their sources -- no better source exists.

van Nijmegen, Walraven [Brian R. Speer]. "Hungarian Feminine Names." WWW, 1998. [WN]

___________. "Hungarian Names 101." WWW, 1998. [WN]

___________. "Hungarian Personal Names of the 16th Century." Proceedings of the Aethelmearc Known World Heraldic Symposium. 1997. [WN, PWT]

Virág Gábor. Csantavér Családnevei. Budapest, 1985. [WN, PWT]


Balkans

Blaznik, Pavle. Historicna topografija slovenske: Stajerske in jugoslovanskega dela Koroske do leta 1500. Maribor: Zalozba Obzorja, 1986-1989. Three Volumes. [WN]
Dictionary of Slovenian placenames documented before 1500, many of which were recorded as part of people's names.

Bosanac, Milan. Prosvjetin Imenoslov. Zagreb: Prosvjeta, 1984. [WN]
Dictionary of Serbian and Croatian names, without dates.

Constatinescu, N. A. Dictionar Onomastic Rominesc [Dictionary of Rumanian Onomastics]. Bucharest: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romine, 1963. [PWT]

Ivanova, Nedialka and Pena Radeva. Ot 'A' so 'Ia' imenata na bulgarite. Sofia: Norodna Mladezh, 1985. [PWT]

Kovachev, Nikolai P. Chestotno-tulkoven rechnik na lichnite imena u bulgarite. Sofia: D-r petr beron, 1987. [PWT]

van Nijmegen, Walraven [Brian R. Speer]. "Early Croatian Given Names" WWW, 1999. [WN]

Patrut, Ioan. Nume de Persoane si Nume de Locuri Romanesti [Surnames from Romanian Placenames]. Bucuresti: Editura Stiintifica si Enciclopedica, 1984. [WN]

Zaimov, Iordan. Bulgarski imennik [Bulgarian Namebook]. Sofia: Izdatelstvo na Bulgarkata Akademiia na Naukite, 1988. [PWT]


Other

Gafurov, Olim. Sharkhi ismu lakabkho [The Interpretation of Tadzhik Names]. Dushanbe: Irfon, 1981. [PWT]

Maciejauskiene, Vitalija. Lietuviu Pavardziu Susidarymas XIII-XVIII a. [Lithuanian Surname Formation, 13th-18th cent.] Vilnius: Mokslas, 1991. [WN]

Must, Aadu. Estonian Surnames. WWW, 1995. [WN]
This is an analysis of early 19th century surnames from Estonia. This is not medieval, but earlier records are practically nonexistent and the recorded names are of the kind that would be expected in the middle ages. The full data are available on CD-ROM.

Pietkiewicz, Krzysztof. "Dwór Litewski wielkiego Ksiecia Aleksandra Jagiellonczyka (1492-1506)" [The Court of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Alexander Jagiellonczyk]. Vilnius: Lietuvos Istorijos Institutas, 1997. [WN]

Das Rigishche Schuldbuch (1286-1352). Saint Petersburg, 1872.[PWT]
German edited Latin domesdaye of the (mostly Russian) inhabitants of Riga in the 13th-14th centuries.


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