The Brothers Karamazov 2024 - Russian Names & Cast of Characters

[Gem , Moderator]

The Brothers Karamazov
Russian Names & Cast of Characters

Russian Names

Russian names typically have three parts: a given name (imia), a patronymic (otchestvo), and a surname (familiia). In Russian documents, the order is usually last name, first name, then patronymic. For example, Igor Ivanovich Sechin would appear as Sechin Igor Ivanovich.

Here are some other things to know about Russian names:

Patronymics

These are often used as middle names and come from the father's given name. Male patronymics end in -ovich or -evich, while female patronymics end in -ovna or -evna. For example, if a man named Dmitry has a son and a daughter, their patronymics would be Dmitrievich and Dmitrievna, respectively.

Gender

Russian male names usually end in a consonant, while female names end in an "a" or "ya".

Titles

Russians don't use titles like "Mr.", "Mrs.", or "Ms."

Nicknames

Russians also use short forms of their names, called diminutives, when speaking with friends, family, and colleagues.

A Note on Pronunciation

If the reader will remember to give strong stress to the syllable marked with an accent in this list, to give the vowels their "continental" value, and pronounce the consonants as in English, a rough approximation to the Russian pronunciation will be obtained. The consonant "kh" sounds rather like the Scottish "ch" in "loch"; the "zh" represents a sound like "s" in "measure", and the final "v" is pronounced, "f."

Cast of Characters

Main Characters

Dmitri (Mitya) - the oldest son, who develops an intense hatred for his father

Ivan - the second son, who develops into the extreme intellectual and who questions all values of life

Alyosha (Alexey) - the youngest son, who is deeply religious and who functions as the central figure in the novel

Smerdyakov (Pavel Fyodorovitch Smerdyakov) - Old Karamazov's illegitimate son, whose last name was assigned to him by Fyodor and whose first names were merely adopted, he grows up in the Karamazov house as a servant

Adelaida - Karamazov's first wife and the mother of Dmitri

Sofya - Karamazov's second wife and the mother of Ivan and Alyosha

Other Characters

Andrey - the driver who takes Dmitri to his meeting with Grushenka in Mokroe.

Trifon Borissovitch - the innkeeper at Mokroe who testifies that Dmitri spent all of the 3,000 rubles during his party

Fenya - Grushenka's maid, who lies to Dmitri about Grushenka's whereabouts

Father Ferapont - the acetic and deranged monk who is a bitter opponent to Father Zossima

Fetyukovitch - the brilliant defense attorney brought in from Moscow to defend Dmitri

Gorstkin (also known as Lyagavy) - the merchant who is interested in buying some property belonging to Karamazov

Grigory Vassilyevitch - the old Karamazov servant who takes care of the children and who adopts Smerdyakov

Grushenka (Agrafena Alexandrovna) - the lady of so-called loose morals who attracts the attention and consequent jealousies of Dmitri and Fyodor

Herzenstube - the old town doctor

Madame Hohlakov - the wealthy widow at whose house many of the novel's scenes take place

Lise - Madame Hohlakov's young daughter, who becomes engaged to Alyosha and then capriciously breaks the engagement

Ilusha - the young boy whose illness brings all of his friends together with Alyosha

Father Losif (Joseph) - the librarian at the monastery

Kalganov (Pyotr Fomitch Kalganov) - a casual friend who is present at Dmitri's party in Mokroe

Katerina (Katya) Ivanovna - Dmitri's fiancee, whom he deserts upon falling in love with Grushenka

Ippolit Kirillovitch - the public prosecutor who conducts the trial against Dmitri

Kolya (Nikolay Ivanovitch Krassotkin) - the young boy who influences the other boys and becomes Alyosha's disciple

Madame Krassotkin (Anna Fyodorovna) - Kolya's doting and widowed mother

Lizaveta Smerdyastchaya - the town's deformed idiot, who is seduced by Karamazov and then gives birth to Smerdyakov.

Lyagavy - see Gorstkin.

Makarov (Mihail Makarovitch Makarov) - the district police inspector who questions Dmitri about the murder

Marfa Ignatyevna - Grigory's wife and another of the Karamazov servants

Marya Kondratyevna - the daughter of Dmitri's landlady who is in love with Smerdyakov

Maximov - an old, destitute landowner who lives off the generosity of others, especially Grushenka, in the closing chapters of the novel

Miusov (Pyotr Alexandrovitch Miusov) - a cousin of Karamazov's first wife, who was instrumental in having Dmitri taken away from Fyodor

Mussyalovitch - Grushenka's ex-lover, whose return precipitated Dmitri's strange behavior on the night of the murder

Father Paissy - the learned theologian and devoted friend of Father Zossima who tries to console Alyosha

Pyotr Ilyitch Perhotin - the young civil servant from whom Dmitri borrows money on the night of the murder

Mihail Ospovitch Rakitin - a young seminarian who professes to have very liberal and advanced ideas and who betrays his friendship with Alyosha

Sanmonov (Kuzma Samsonov) - a wealthy landowner who befriends Grushenka

Captain Snegiryov - Ilusha's father, who is destitute and broken by misfortunes, he is attacked by Dmitri one night because he earned money from Fyodor

Varvinsky - a district doctor who testifies as to Dmitri's mental condition

Vrublevsky - Mussyalovitch's companion on the night of the party in Mokroe

Father Zossima - the revered elder at the monastery and the spiritual guardian for Alyosha, whose teachings become central to all the ideas in the novel

[Olga]

I don't know if it was mentioned in some other thread, but Smerdyakov's last mane has a meaning and is not a real one, meaning that you won't find real people bearing it.
His last name comes from the nickname given to his mother - Elizaveta Smerdyaszhyaya and means 'foul smelling', because she was roaming the streets and sleeping under fences, like a homeless. It's quite deprecating and humiliating and shows how people felt about her.
In the old times people who were not sane were considered touched by god and called 'yurodivye', holy fools. No one would harm them. Which was not the case with Elizaveta.

[Gem , Moderator]

Olga wrote: "I don't know if it was mentioned in some other thread, but Smerdyakov's last mane has a meaning and is not a real one, meaning that you won't find real people bearing it.
His last name comes from t..."

I didn't know this information. Thank you for sharing. I will be reading and wondering how this will make an appearance in the story.

[Rafael]

If the reader will remember to give strong stress to the syllable marked with an accent in this list, to give the vowels their "continental" value, and pronounce the consonants as in English, a rough approximation to the Russian pronunciation will be obtained. The consonant "kh" sounds rather like the Scottish "ch" in "loch"; the "zh" represents a sound like "s" in "measure", and the final "v" is pronounced, "f.""

Also, the non-stressed "O" becomes an "A" in Russian. For example: Boris is not pronounced with an O vowel in the first syllable. The stress is in the last vowel. It's pronounced ba-RIS.

[Cleo]

Olga wrote: "I don't know if it was mentioned in some other thread, but Smerdyakov's last mane has a meaning and is not a real one, meaning that you won't find real people bearing it.
His last name comes from t..."

Thank you so much for the information, Olga! Please don't hesitate to offer more enlightenment. It's so valuable to have a native-speaker around!

[Olga]

Cleo wrote: "Thank you so much for the information, Olga! Please don't hesitate to offer more enlightenment. It's so valuable to have a native-speaker around!"

Happy to help :)
I read The Brothers Karamazov earlier this year (a pity), so won't join in the read, but will lurk in discussions and try to offer some more useful explanations where I can. But also please feel free to send me a message if there's something you need a native-speaker on.

[Gem , Moderator]

Olga wrote: "Cleo wrote: "Thank you so much for the information, Olga! Please don't hesitate to offer more enlightenment. It's so valuable to have a native-speaker around!"

Happy to help :)
I read The Brothers..."

Olga that is a lovely offer, thank you again. One language I wish I knew was Russian so I can read these novels in the language they were written in.

[Olga]

Yes, Russian can be a tough nut to crack, but in my biased opinion, it's totally worth it :)
Plus in books like that some things are just impossible to translate, because they're part of how people perceive the world. Even my attempt to explain Smerdyakov's last name is very poor, because 'foul smelling' is not exactly the same, it's just as close as I could get.

[Neil]

Thanks for the useful information, Gem. As an Aide Memoire (to assist me in following the plot), I am currently reading the book and listing the characters in a notebook as they appear, no need now thanks to your valuable information (which is probably the most useful I have read for years).
And now a question:
Why do Russian authors sometimes hide words - e.g. The Lady D---------, or I went to T******* Town, etc, etc? I have always found this intriguing - perhaps you could elucidate?
Many thanks N****

[Rafael]

I always believed that it was to make it historical, as if the author was talking about real - and his contemporary - people. And by doing that he's trying to protect people's reputation.

[Olga]

Neil wrote: "Why do Russian authors sometimes hide words - e.g. The Lady D---------, or I went to T******* Town, etc, etc? I have always found this intriguing - perhaps you could elucidate?"

I used to ask this question myself at school. All that I can remember of explanations given by teachers was that using this N----- the authors escaped the need to name a particular real town or village (if my memory serves me well, this was never used for big cities like Moscow or St Pete), but also managed to imply that it doesn't really matter what particular town the story happened at, that it's some trait typical for the society at the time.

Hope it makes sense :)