The following is another interesting piece written by my good friend, Tom Fiske.
I have a new reason to give thanks.
Lately I have been researching for a new book I am writing with the help of a retired CIA field operator (although he says they can’t retire; they are either active or inactive). Since my new book involves a certain amount of spy work, the CIA official is a big help. In addition, he also understands Russian names. Furthermore, he knows some of the people I am writing about.
It is the names that cause me to feel the need to give thanks. Russian names are difficult and seem to follow odd rules in spelling. For instance, I have read about Sergei P. Korolev for some time. He was the master designer of Soviet rockets, and his identity was kept a deep dark secret for many years.
I also read a book written by two space men. It is called Two Sides of the Moon. Dave Scott, American Astronaut; and Alexi Leonov, Russian Cosmonaut each did historic things. Leonov, in his part of the book, referred to a man named Korolyov and it took me a while to discover that he was writing about Sergei Korolev, the master designer. But that’s not the way he spelled the guy’s name. And the two pronunciations are different, as well. Later in the book I found there was a Yuri Gagarin and a Yuriy Gagarin, and a Roald Sagdeev.
I cannot imagine how a Russian could do his genealogy, with variations like those. And politics would be bad, too. Writing in the name of your favorite candidate could take a while and might result in the election of some stranger you never heard of.
I think half of the people in the CIA were needed just to sort out the names of important Russians. The other half were required just to pronounce them.
So there I am, giving thanks that few of my ancestors had such creative names. My genealogy has been much easier to compile than it could have been. What if I had been Russian and had been forced to do my genealogy the hard way? I shudder to think about it.