You're reading: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: In Kyrgyzstan, a new interest in russified names

During the past 10 months, Kyrgyz officials say, some 38,000 of the country's citizens have officially modified their names to sound more Russian. The changes might seem of only cosmetic importance. A man changes the ending of his name from the Kyrgyz suffix "-uulu," which means "son of," to the Russian suffix "-ev" or "-ov," which means the same thing. Or a woman changes her suffix of "-kyzy," which means "daughter of," to "-ova" or "-eva."

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