44. Russian first names
Russian first names seem to have been selected from a relatively short list of choices. I was in a meeting at work this week with a woman named Anastasia, in which she told me if she wasn't available to answer questions then I could speak with two other women in her department, also both named Anastasia. That's the same situation as in the United States; I've definitely been
in small groups before that had two or more other people who were also
named David.
Out of curiosity, I crunched the numbers. Here are the most popular first names in my office, with the number of people who have that name. The office isn't huge (fewer than 190 people work here), so each of these names represents roughly 3-7% of the population. Note: most of my colleagues are in their mid-20s to late-30s, and I expect that the popularity of first names shifts with each generation, so the distribution of names in groups of older or younger Russians probably looks a bit different.
Andrey - 13
Irina - 9
Olga - 8
Alexandr/Alexandra - 8
Yulia - 7
Elena - 6
Anna - 6
Alexey - 6
Anastasia - 5
Vladimir - 4
Konstantin - 4
Most people use shortened versions of their names, of which there are typically two or more options. Not only do many people have the same first name as their colleagues, they also share the same nickname and alternate nicknames. This makes it just a little bit harder to figure out who exactly someone is talking about during a conversation when they neglect to use their last name or provide enough context to figure it out. But in general, it's not too complicated.
Out of curiosity, I crunched the numbers. Here are the most popular first names in my office, with the number of people who have that name. The office isn't huge (fewer than 190 people work here), so each of these names represents roughly 3-7% of the population. Note: most of my colleagues are in their mid-20s to late-30s, and I expect that the popularity of first names shifts with each generation, so the distribution of names in groups of older or younger Russians probably looks a bit different.
Andrey - 13
Irina - 9
Olga - 8
Alexandr/Alexandra - 8
Yulia - 7
Elena - 6
Anna - 6
Alexey - 6
Anastasia - 5
Vladimir - 4
Konstantin - 4
Most people use shortened versions of their names, of which there are typically two or more options. Not only do many people have the same first name as their colleagues, they also share the same nickname and alternate nicknames. This makes it just a little bit harder to figure out who exactly someone is talking about during a conversation when they neglect to use their last name or provide enough context to figure it out. But in general, it's not too complicated.
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