Thread: I Need help With My Name :(

hello , i am fairly new to the russian language etc.
not long ago i was told my dad was russian he moved back to russia when i was born and he didnt appear as the father on my birth certificate. my mother refuses to tell me his name for "legal reason" ?

anyway my name is joseph morris , now i like joseph but is there no russian secondname i could use which would go with my first nae. im going through the relavant name changing laws as i want to embrace my heritage. if anyone could help that would be great , thanks.

Hello and welcome to the forum. Sorry, but your request is not perfectly clear (at least for me). In Russia we don't have a tradition of second names. Russian full name consist of three parts: first name (given name) - patronymic (formed from father's first name) - last name (family name). So if you want to have a patronymic you must know your father's name. Btw, there is a Russian form for your first name (Josef) - Осип. But it's rather archaic and rare nowdays.

ah i see , thank you for your reply. what about iosif? im changing my name like i said to embrace my heritage but i dont know my dads names so i cannot use them. my question was , what russian middle & second name could i personally choose and use along side joseph

Originally Posted by morris86

ah i see , thank you for your reply. what about iosif? im changing my name like i said to embrace my heritage but i dont know my dads names so i cannot use them. my question was , what russian middle & second name could i personally choose and use along side joseph

Iosif (Иосиф) is a Russian transliteration of the Biblical Jew name, it's not Russian. As I said Russian version is Осип (Oh-seep) but it's very rare nowdays. I have no idea how middle or second names formed (we don't have them in Russia) so I just don't know how I can help you, sorry.

ok , for an example what if i used the name - Boris Morozov , Борис Морозов
does that sound right? would people question its authenticity? or the name
Joseph Morozov , Иосиф Морозов
can any of these be selected for my name.as and when i move to russia in later life i want my name to beright. thanks!

So you want to invent yourself absolutely new first and last names (like in case of Борис Морозов)? That's er.. unusial. And if you choose Иосиф, keep in mind that in Russia it would be assosiated with Jewish or maybe Georgian heritage. English Joseph transliterates as Джозеф in Russian.

ah i see , yeahh i would like to keep the name joseph like you say Джозеф and maybe a second name Морозов , would these to go together ok? basically to simplfy my question , i do not know my dad , he is russian. i dont want to keep my english second name morris as i do not like my family. i want to keep joseph , im looking for a new second name im open to suggestion , anything that would go well with joseph is fine, thanks i hope this clears things up.

Morozov as a last name would be fine, it is Russian alright. Джозеф Морозов (it's tempting to spell it Морозофф ) sounds ok (although admittedly unusual) and is easy to remember. If you want a middle Russian name as well I'd suggest you use something neutral that works both for Russian and English speakers. Like Alex or Max but less overused, dunno, maybe Victor, Anton or Valery would work? You could always start chatting with a girl with sharing your middle names and then explaining that Valery is a male name in Russia, and it's pronounced vah-LEH-rey. Or Nikita, for that matter. I think that any three syllable name with second syllable stressed would give the whole thing a nice rhythm.

ohh thank you

Joseph Morris... if I may here... My family has a VERY long history of name changing. Every other generation or so someone or all of the siblings changed their names for one reason or another. It has made great fun for genealogy research I must tell you. First names, middle names, last names, they have all been changed. As you have not one but TWO very personal reasons here for changing your name and I have done the research on why the names were change in my family let me offer this to you...

Hopefully I have followed everything you have explained to us correctly, if not, please clarify and forgive me

First... you say you want to change your middle name to honor your Russian heritage for a father you have never known. Now, do you have some inner calling to Mother Russia even though you never had contact with your Russian side? I know that this can happen with people sometimes, they visit a place and all of the sudden, BAM, they have a stirring in them and they feel like a piece of them that was missing their whole life has now been found. If not, why a Russian name? You don't know your dad and your dad does not know you. And having a name, does it really honor something, if so, there would be a lot more Jesus, Israel, and Mary around, no? There would not be all these new names every year. It is how a person behaves that matters. You honor their memory and what they taught you. Their values and way of life and culture. Even though you are 1/2 Russian, having a Russian name is not the same as having Russian culture and being raised Russian and will not presto chango, make make you Russian. I have learned that by being on this forum

Second... you say that you do not get along with the family that you do know. I can understand that and see why you would want to "divorce" yourself from that name. But why pick any old name out of a hat? When I did research I saw thousands of names on microfiche that were just cut short from longer names and some names that were so far off the mark it made me wonder how on earth they came up with them. This is YOUR chance to do something for YOU. Have you ever related to a character in a book or movie and thought, "wow, that is me? that is how I feel" if so, why not select that name? Or, a person you want to be more like and can aspire to be? So every time you see your name you can remind yourself of your goal and once you reach it, you can be proud of who you have become. If your family is not what you want in life, who do you want?

Changing your name is one of those few times in life you get to do something for yourself that is really about YOU (especially if you don't have kids or a wife). You need to roll the name over on your tongue and practice saying it. Sign it a few hundred times. Try out your new initials and make certain you have not created a curse word with it when you do First Initial, Last Initial, Middle Initial on your new stationary.

If it just so happens to be Russian, fantastic! But don't limit yourself to a Russian name. Open up your mind to all the names in the world and think about the possibilities out there. What name calls to you?

If I have this all wrong... once again, please forgive me. And I vote for my favorite Russian name of them all Dmitri!