Decreasingly caressing names: how are formed and where are used

Vladimir or Olga, Anastasia or Nicholas, Catherine, Sergei, Leopold, Maria ... We can often find this form on the birth certificate and passport, as in any official document. And after all, we call each other in the family and the school otherwise - Vovochka, Olenka, Tasia, Kolyunya, Katyusha. Why such a difference? It arises precisely from the desire to distinguish between spheres of use: diminutively caressing names, unlike full ones, are used in an informal setting.
With the help of them, we sort of restrict the circle of "our" from outsiders. It is no accident that diminutives are allowed only with closer acquaintance, and then not in all cases they are appropriate.

From the prehistory

Some of the anthroponyms in Russian have a Slavic origin, most are borrowed from Greek and Latin. With the baptism of Rus, the tradition of calling children in honor of the saints and great martyrs has become universal. But although the patrons considered the angels, historical and biblical characters, in the home completely such a name was not used. On the one hand, the desire to save language was affected: Katya is much shorter and more convenient than Catherine, and Sasha is "more compact" than Alexander. On the other hand, for a long time there were forms of "for strangers" and diminutively caressing names, for the closest, for the initiated. There were also special secret anthroponyms, which were supposed to take away the evil forces from man. In addition, nicknames were widely distributed. Sometimes they turned into diminutive caresses, and sometimes in surnames.

Natasha or Natalia? Masha or Maria?

For a Russian person, this would seem to be the same anthroponym. Only Masha and Natasha are diminutive and caressing forms of the name. But foreigners who are not familiar with the subtleties of Russian morphology sometimes call their children "Sasha" or "Rita", "Lena" or "Nadia". And for them it's full of shapes. Often in Russia there is no unity in the interpretation of anthroponyms. For example, the female name of Vlad or Lada could not be registered in the registry office as an independent one. It could only be part of the full - Vladlena. Decreasingly caressing names often become complete - but, mostly, in other languages.

Method of education

Anthroponyms are formed, as a rule, by a combination of roots (in the case of Slavic - Bogdan, Velimir, Yaroslav) or by transcription. Therefore, diminutively caressing names (male and female) often represent one part. It is interesting that in the Russian language the second root is preferred: for example, Slava is a variant of "universal" - for Svyatoslav, Yaroslav, Mstislav, and Vladislav ...

Sometimes a part of a foreign root is taken and modified. So formed such diminutive caressing names as Nastya (Anastasia) or Kolya (Nikolai). In most cases, any suffixes are added, which subsequently turn (together with the corresponding ending) into variants: Sasha-Sashura-Shura, Anna-Anyuta-Nyuta-Nyura or Nyusha ...

Functioning in modern society

Most states state certain requirements for the name when registering a newborn. There are cases of lengthy trials, when parents wanted to name a new member of society an unusual anthroponym, but officials did not allow it. Who is right in this situation? Regrettably, representatives of the authorities most often. After all, they are guided not so much by the assessment of creative imagination and creativity of parents, as by the way the name will function in society. Or rather, a man who was called so, and not otherwise. After all, even "normal" names often change, what can we say about the bizarre or ridiculous! No one wants to become an object of bullying. Therefore, parents, figuring out how to name the child, should take care of how the diminutive names will sound, whether they are offensive or ridiculous. For example, Yvette - a beautiful anthroponym of French origin. But the diminutive - Branch - is not so pleasant for the ear. However, not the name paints a person. So do not forget about it.