Various questions about Russian names and accents, 1920s - 1940s
Hi everyone, I'm working on a novel set in St. Petersburg/Leningrad broadly between the 1920s and 1942. I've done a lot of research, but am trying to iron out a few details, and would appreciate your help
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1.1 - In this scene, Character A is 30-ish, female, widowed and quite reserved; Character B is early 20s, male, very informal. From your response I gather that it would be OK for Character B to introduce himself by his diminutive, followed by his full name; would it be likely that Character A would do the same? The fact that she is quite shy and reserved is central to her personality, so I want to make sure I'm conveying that correctly.
1.2 - this is really helpful, thank you. I wasn't aware that the use of the last name was so popular around that time; for colleagues who become reasonably close friends, would it be more likely that they would refer to each other by Firstname Patronymic, Diminutive, or Tovarishch Lastname? Or would it depend on the circumstances? And (I forgot to mention this in my original post), for someone who's the boss, or at least more senior - in a work context, would it be more respectful to use Comrade Lastname, or Firstname Patronymic? And would it be conceivable to move between different modes of address - for example to use a more formal mode of address in a work context, and then a more informal one if they meet at a social occasion?
1.3 - one of the names I was considering for this is Nikolai - Kolya / Nika, but I'm not sure how common Nika is as a diminutive for Nikolai? (I have seen it listed on websites like this.) Would it be something that only close family would use?
2.1/2.2 - that is perfect, thank you!
2.3 - in this scenario they are talking about her - so would it be Akhmatova alone, or Comrade Akhmatova?
3. This is super-helpful, thank you! Does the Vologda accent also apply to smaller towns and villages around that area?
4. It doesn't really matter. What I want is for my character to mention his last name and where he's from (a reasonably small village), and for the person he's talking to to immediately know what family he's talking about. For example, my own last name (Gregson) is very 'normal'-sounding in English, but if I was talking to someone from the village where my parents live, they would immediately be able to identify who I'm related to. I'm looking for something like that in Russian. Does that make sense?
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