Astrakhan’s Anthroponymy over Time. Review of the book: Kopylova, E. V. (2016). Imia i vremia: dva veka istorii imen astrakhantsev (1800–2000 gg.) [Name and Time: Two Centuries in the History of Astrakhan Citizens’ Names (1800–2000)]. Moscow: KnoRus; Astrakhan: Astrakhan University Press

Abstract

The paper provides a review of the book written by professor of Astrakhan State University Emma Kopylova and dealing with the development of the anthroponymic system of Astrakhan in the 19th–20th centuries. The book briefly overviews the process of formation of modern Russian anthroponymy in the studied territory. The book contains indexes of male and female names used in Astrakhan during the last two centuries, the 83 tables included in the book reflect the evolution of the anthroponymic system from one decade to another, for each period the author indicates five most popular names and provides etymological interpretations for rare and regionally specific anthroponyms. The author discovers a number of interesting regularities of Astrakhan’s anthroponymy: the five most popular names always correspond to one third of all newborns; the set of female names is much more changeable than that of male names. Though appreciating Emma Kopylova’s work as an example of scientific thoroughness and recognizing the value of the numerous data collected for this study, the reviewer suggests some corrections in the interpretation of a number of names (Mstislav, Vera, Nadezhda, Lyubov, Myud, Vtor, Vtora).

Keywords

• anthroponyms
• anthroponymic system
• statistics
• five most popular names
• etymology
• frequency
• parish registers