ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2390
http://www.s-gabriel.org/2390
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From: Lisa and Ken Theriot 
8 Nov 2001

Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked whether <Vladimir Rus'borod> is an appropriate name for a 9th 
century Slav living near Novgorod.  Here is the information we have found.

The given name <Vladimir> is found in various forms from approximately the
9th century on [1].  Unfortunately, it was rarely used outside the Rurikid
dynasty (Russian princes), especially as early as the 9th century.  It may
have originally been a kind of nickname given to princes; it derives from
the Russian phrase 'to rule the world'.  For example, Vladimir I, Grand
Prince of Kiev (died 1015), who was canonized and became Saint Vladimir,
was baptized as <Vasilii> and only known as <Vladimir> later in life.
After the death of Saint Vladimir, the name became more popular, especially
after it was adopted into the Christian calendar in the 13th century [2].
While we cannot say that it is impossible that a 9th century man from
Novgorod would have been named <Vladimir>, we believe it is very unlikely,
and accordingly we cannot recommend it as a good recreation.

Happily, there is an excellent source for names from Novgorod available on 
the web:

  Russian Personal Names: Name Frequency in the Novgorod Birch-Bark Letters 
    http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/predslava/bbl/

Although the oldest data in this article is from the 11th century, we
believe that these names would be appropriate for you, especially the names
marked as "Old Russian" in origin.

We believe based on our sources that a 9th century Novgorod man might not 
have used a byname at all.  If he had a byname, he would have had a 
patronymic, a name that identified him as his father's son.  If you would 
like to use such a name, the article referenced above also shows patronymic 
forms of the most common men's names from Novgorod.  For example, a man 
named <Voislav>, whose father was named <Shchuka>, might have been known as 
<Voislav Shchukin>.

In general, descriptive bynames were not used in Russian until well after 
your period.  Even extending our search beyond 1600, we have not found a 
name similar to <Rus'borod> in any of our sources, nor have we found a 
Russian name which means 'red-bearded'.   We have found many forms of the 
names <Boroda> and <Borodin>, meaning 'bearded', but not earlier than the 
14th century [1, 3].  We find the descriptive byname <Chermnoi> 
'red-haired' recorded earlier; the form <Chermnyi> was recorded in Novgorod 
in 1268 [1].

If you would like to consider a name from a later period, we believe that 
<Vladimir Chermnyi> is an excellent name for a man living in Novgorod in 
the 13th century.


We hope this letter has been useful.  Please write us again if any part of 
it has been unclear or if you have other questions.  I was assisted in 
researching and writing this letter by Arval Benicoeur, Aryanhwy merch 
Catmael, Paul Wickenden of Thanet, Predslava Vydrina, Talan Gwynek, and 
Will Dekne.


For the Academy,

  Adelaide de Beaumont
  8 November 2001

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References:

[1] Paul Wickenden of Thanet, "A Dictionary of Period Russian Names", 3rd
edition (Normal, Illinois: SCA, Free Trumpet Press West, 2000), s.nn.
Vladimir, Boroda, Borodatoi, Chermnoi, Voislav, Shchuka.

[2] Predslava Vydrina, "Russian Personal Names: Name Frequency in the 
Novgorod Birch-Bark Letters" in Known World Heraldic Symposium Proceedings 
1997 (SCA: Rochester, NY, 1997; WWW: J. Mittleman, 1998). 
http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/predslava/bbl/

[3] Unbegaun, B. O., _Russian Surnames_ (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 
1971), pp. 317, 185.