So many names, so little time!

For people not familiar with Russian culture, one of the most difficult things about reading Russian literature is not the exploration of deep philosophical questions, the detailed depiction of the inner workings of a character's psychology, or the violation of all the rules of genre, but... all those names! Here is a quick guide to Russian names:

All Russians have three names: first name, patronymic, and last name. The first name is pretty self-explanatory, although keep in mind that there is a much smaller pool of names that Russians choose from than what we might be used to (that's one reason why there are so many Anna's or Alexander's or Natalya's).

Instead of a middle name, Russians have a patronymic. To form the patronymic, you take the father's name and add the suffix -ovich or -evich for a man, -ovna or -evna for a woman. So Andrei's name and patronymic are Andrei Nikolaevich, while his sister Marya's name and patronymic are Marya Nikolaevna (since their father's name is Nikolai).

The last name is just the last name, but one important point that may or may not be visible in your translation is that all Russian last names have a masculine form and a feminine form, so Andrei Bolkonsky but Marya Bolkonskaya. Likewise, Nikolai Rostov, but Natasha Rostova. Many translators (but not all) simplify the last names of female characters: Natasha Rostov.

The first name and patronymic are used when addressing someone in a formal situation - basically, where we would say "Mr. Smith" or "Ms. Johnson." It can imply respect, if a person is older than you or of a higher social standing, or it can imply distance or lack of familiarity. It's used in polite situations.

With somebody you are closer to or more informal with, you use just the first name without the patronymic. But here is where things can get rather tricky: Russians have a whole system of diminutive forms for first names, and these diminutives can have a whole range of connotations. Some are neutral, others are used mainly for children rather than adults, some convey affection, others condescension, etc., etc. Some names don't lend themselves readily to their diminutive forms - Andrei is pretty much always Andrei, so when Princess Marya uses the diminutive form "Andryusha" before he goes off to battle, it is loaded with affection and childhood memories. Boris is another name that doesn't really lend itself to a diminutive form under normal circumstances - the diminutive "Borya" implies a great degree of familiarity. But other names are always used in the diminutive form - two examples in War and Peace are Natasha (the diminutive form of "Natalya") and Sonya (the diminutive of "Sofya" or "Sophia"). Nikolai can be Kolya or - to express a great deal of affection - Kolenka. The same with Pyotr - Petya - Petenka.

And if all of that isn't complicated enough, Tolstoy complicates things still further by giving several of the characters frenchified names. This is particularly noticeable with the Kuragin family: Anatole is the French version of the Russian name Anatoly; Helene is the French version of the Russian name Yelena; Julie is the French version of the Russian name Yuliya. And Andrei's wife flip-flops between Lise (French) and Liza (Russian diminutive form of Elizaveta). Note that Natasha, though, is always Natasha, unless somebody decides to suddenly call her "Nathalie" (French) and Princess Marya is always Marya unless somebody decides to call her "Marie" (French). And the Anna's in the book are occasionally called "Annette" (French).

I am tempted to make some kind of sweeping generalization that the characters who are primarily called by French names are all ridiculous, and sometimes even despicable, while the ones known by Russian names are more natural and less artificial. However, as always with Tolstoy, such sweeping generalizations break down somewhere - in this case, when we get to Pierre. Pierre's name is technically Pyotr, but of course he's never called that. The question came up in Wednesday's chat session about Pierre's name and whether it is meant to mark him as a "foreigner," an outsider who is different from everyone else and who doesn't think or act like a Russian. I would definitely agree with the first half - that he is a "foreigner" who is different from everyone else - but the quotation marks are important. Pierre is a "foreigner" in the sense that he is definitely an outsider, as has been noted in several different places on this blog. But I'm not sure I would go so far as to say that he doesn't act or think like a Russian. Pierre is a good guy; as was noted in the chat session, he is ineffectual, but bumbling and kind, and above all authentic. It's this authenticity that gets him in trouble in Anna Pavlovna's salon. I'm not sure how obvious this is in your translations, but in the Russian original, when Tolstoy's narrator introduces Pierre, he states that Anna Pavlovna Scherer is terrified by the "intelligent, shy, observant and natural look" on his face, a look that "differentiated him from everybody else in the drawing room."

So I think it could be possible to dip deeper into what Pierre's name might mean for his character, but as with everything else in War and Peace, I would guard against sweeping generalizations. I will point out one other thing about Pierre's name, though: after Count Bezukhov dies and Pierre is officially recognized as his legitimate heir, he (Pierre) becomes not just Pierre (as he had been throughout Part I), but Count Bezukhov. The name "Bezukhov" in Russian has the connotation of "without ears" or "Pierre the earless." And combined with the eye-glasses he always wears, well, Pierre's not always aware of what's going on around him!