One of the stumbling blocks students often encounter in attempting to make sense out of the culture and civilization of Stalinism is trying to keep straight the maddening number of seemingly impossible names that belong to the historical figures encountered in readings and lectures. Trying to remember a Preobrazhensky, Ordzhonikidze, or even Krzhizhanovsky (!) — let alone pronouncing it — can be a daunting task. But, it’s manageable with a little effort, and worth the small investment of time and effort. If nothing else, a correctly spelled (or even mostly) correctly spelled name is likely to garner more credit on an exam than a reference to “the one that start with ‘P’ and sounds like a sneeze.”

Alas, there’s not much that can be done other than writing the tricky ones out over and over, or using flashcards to sear them into your brain. There’s a Russian proverb for this: “Повторение – мать учения.” (Povtorenie – mat’ ucheniia) or “Repetition is the mother of learning.” Because, there’s a Russian proverb for everything.

That said, knowing a bit about how the last names you encounter are “built” may help demystify things a bit.

Most of the names will end in a suffix which will identify the nationality of the individual in question.

Russian male names endings include: –sky (or, alt.: –skii); –skoi; –ev; -ov; and –in. The respective female endings would be: –skaya (or, alt. –skaia); –eva; –ova; and -ina.

Ukrainian names can also end in –sky / –skaya. More common are those ending in –enko; –ko; –uk; and –ych.

Georgian name suffixes are more numerous. The ones you are most likely to encounter are: –dze; –uri; –khi; –oni; and, of course, –shvili (as in Dzhugashvili).

Meanwhile, the most common ending for Armenian surnames is: –ian (or, alt.: –yan)

There are many more, of course. The USSR was (and the Russian Federation is) a very large and diverse country. Still, these should be enough to get you started.