LENIN
SOme time ago I read in a book, that LENIN is a Russian form of a rather common given name - but I can't remember which one. Who can help? Done with your Russian course, Menke?

Andy ;—)
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Thanx to both of you! Andy ;—)
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I read that the Soviet leader Lenin, real name Ulyanov, adopted his pseudonym in tribute to some workers massacred at a place which took its name from the River Lena. I've never heard of anyone else named Lenin.
If there is a common Russian surnamee, Lenin, then perhaps it's from Lena, diminutive of Yelena, or Helen. Russian surnames ending in -IN usually derive from names or words ending in A, e.g., Nadezhdin from Nadezhdz, a female baptismal name.
A list of the commonest Russian surnames can be found at www.pdom.com .
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I should have written Nadezhda of course, not Nadezhdz. Silly me!
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Lenin I think os a nicknname thah came from the river LENA in that area Vladimir Ulyanov has been prisoner during the zar regime.
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