Traditions and Transformations in Greek Anthroponymy (Based on the Field Studies of Greeks of Russia in 2022–2023)

The article is based on the field materials of three expeditions to the Greeks of Russia (territories of the Krasnodar Krai, Karachay-Cherkessia, Caucasus Mineral Waters region). This paper analyzes the typological transformations that Greek given names and surnames underwent in different periods of history, as well as the peculiarities of naming among the Pontic Greeks. The historical and modern trends in the choice of a name are considered, as well as the features of the functioning of Greek surnames in different historical and social contexts (“Russification” of surnames during the period of repressions, reverse process of “Hellenization” when moving to Greece, morphemic translation of surnames from Turkic into Greek, etc.). Along with names that easily could be labeled as “Greek” (Nikos, Despina, Christos, Ellada, Athena, Euclid, Socrates), Greeks in Russia use “Russian” names (e.g. Maria, Elena, Pasha, Olya, Nadezhda) as well. It often turns out that these “Russian” names are hypocoristics of Greek ones: e.g., Olya from Olympiada, Pasha from Parthena. The paper also contains the description of the features of Greek anthroponymy in the field of traditional culture, such as the use of “double” names to protect one against the evil eye and “stopping” names designed to prevent the birth or death of children. The “Russification” of surnames and given names, as well as the use of Georgian names by Greeks during their residence in the territory of the Georgian SSR, are considered as strategies of ethnic mimicry, which were common among different ethnic groups in the USSR. At the same time, the reverse processes are characteristic of the last three decades: the return of “Greekness” to surnames and given names when obtaining a new citizenship, when installing tombstones, etc. Ever since the Soviet era, the Pontic Greeks have found the use of ancient Greek names that clearly indicate the ethnicity of the bearer, recently in the Caucasus it has become possible to baptize a child with this name in the Russian Orthodox Church.