Russian Alphabet: "Б" as in Big Brother

Russian Letter:

Б is the second letter of the Russian alphabet. Its sound is always the same as "b" in, for example, Big Brother (the one that's watching you, remember?)





Russian Names

There are surprisingly few Russian names that start with letter Б. In fact, there are no women's names that would be more or less frequently used or recognizable as Russian.  As for guys, there are basically only two: Богдан ("Bahg-DAHN") and Борис ("Bah-REES"), the latter being by far better recognizable.

Most of you probably still remember the first Russian President Boris Yeltsin.  He was not the only famous Борис.

Boris Pasternak and Korney Chukovsky, Wikimedia Commons

The the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958 and the author of Doctor Zhivago was also named Борис - Boris Pasternak.

You can read the full Russian text of Doctor Zhivago online here.


Two other rather well-known (in Russia) individuals come to mind: a fastly popular contemporary writer Boris Akunin and a controversial dancer / singer Boris Moiseyev.  



The diminutive for Борис is Боря ("BOH-rya"). Unlike Антоша or Андрюша, Боря can be used among friends / buddies to address a grown man in a friendly manner (just make sure you are friends).

By the way, Big Brother from Orwell's 1984 can be translated  as Большой Брат ("Bohl-SHOI braht"), both words starting with letter Б.