Tikhon, Nikifor and Dobrynya: stars who give old Russian names to their children

Antiquity is in fashion. This fact confirms at least one fact that for many years the trend of old Russian names for children has not faded. Today, the roll call with names like Akulina and Dobroslav on the playing field will no longer surprise anyone.

Why such a passion for the past? Everything is extremely simple. At all times, parents tried to give their child an unusual name in order to distinguish him from the crowd. Thus, at the beginning of the 20th century, a tendency appeared for original and compound names; at the end of the second millennium, young parents paid attention to exotic Western names. However, in the 2000s, the fashion for Aleksov and Marianne gradually faded, and then moms and dads returned to their roots – traditional old Russian names. Experts assure that in the coming decades there will be many more Emeleys, Agrippinas, Praskovys and Ladomirovs.

Domestic celebrities also support the fashion of old names. For example, not so long ago, Dmitry Shepelev, together with his wife Ekaterina, decided to name their newborn son Tikhon.

The eldest of the showman’s children also has a rare ancient name – Plato. “Zhanna and I had an agreement: we choose names until we settle on the one we both like. We had a lot of options. I really liked the name Alan. She is Danila, I categorically didn’t like it. Plato is the name we agreed on and didn’t argue anymore,” Dmitry shared the story of the name years later.

“Platoshka and Tishka are great,” one follower wrote in response to news of her youngest son’s name, and many netizens supported her. But needless to say, among the subscribers there were also those who condemned the star dad for the “name of the cat” – that’s what going against the grain means.

We mean those who swim along this very common current and happily call their children old Russian names. Martha, Cornei, Apollo, your exit!

Son Dobrynya (2017)

The leader of the Little Big group and his ex-wife have a 3.5-year-old son with the heroic name of Dobrynya. And to be more precise – Dobrynya Ilyich. Agree, in combination with a surname, it sounds especially harmonious. Some subscribers then quip: “It will look very brutal if, having matured, a young man takes his mother’s surname and begins to call himself Dobrynya Ilyich the Bold.

Son of the Roots (2008), Yermolai (2010), Gordey (2012), Nikifor (2017)

Glafira Tarkhanova has been happily married to Alexei Faddeev for almost 15 years now. The couple became the parents of four sons, each of whom received an unusual name: Korney, Yermolai, Gordey and Nikifor. In her interviews, Glafira admitted that she chose the names of the children herself. It was important to her that the letter “P” was present in the name – the actress believes that this gives her boys a strong and willful character. It is known that the spouses dream of a girl. We suggest guessing how they can name their daughter.

Son Luke (2005) and Ivan (2015), daughter Martha (2010)

Everyone knows that Tutta Larsen is a deeply religious person. It is not surprising that all of her children have Russian names. The eldest, Luka, was named by the TV presenter in honor of her paternal grandfather.

Daughters Polina (1996), Seraphim (2005), Agrafena (2010), Glafira (2016) and son Andrei (2019)

Maria Poroshina gave birth to her first daughter in marriage with Gosha Kutsenko. The birth of three daughters fell on the new millennium, and the actress willingly succumbed to the trend of old Russian names. Baby Andrei appeared in 2019 – the name is not uncommon, but nevertheless Russian, beautiful.

Daughters Elizabeth (2002) and Bella (2015), sons Matvey (2006) and Roots (2008)

Married to Igor Petrenko, Ekaterina gave birth to two sons. The boys were given old names – Matvey and Roots. With her daughters, the actress acted differently: the eldest gave the very common beautiful name of Elizabeth, but the youngest was named after a princess from a fairy tale – Bella.

Daughter of Séraphin (1993) and son of Apollo (2000)

Sergey Shnurov had a love for old Russian names even before they became mainstream. In his first marriage – with Maria Ismagilova – a daughter was born, whose name was Seraphim. Seven years later, when the leader of the Leningrad group was married to Svetlana Kostitsyna, a boy was born, whom the happy father named Apollo – in honor of the poet Apollon Grigoriev.