The writer Nikolay Leskov and the archpriest Savely Tuberozov ‘Artificial’ surnames in literature and life

In focus of this article are anthroponyms from Nikolay Leskov’s chronicle The Cathedral Folk [Soboryane]. Leskov’s interest in the everyday life of the Russian Orthodox Church stems, among other things, from his family background: one of his grandfathers was a priest, and the last name Leskov is not uncommon among the clergy. The names of the chronicle’s principal characters (two priests and a deacon) are typical of the Russian clergy in the 18th and 19th centuries: Tuberozov, Benefaktov, and Desnitsyn. Such elaborate and ‘artificial’ surnames would be normally given to seminarians or students of primary theological schools. V. Korshunkov analyzes the name of the archpriest Savely Yefimych Tuberozov in great detail. The scholar demonstrates that the flower-related semantics of Tuberozov makes it a typical clerical last name. Notably, the use of the surname-forming suffix -ov goes against the rules of Russian grammar, but is a widespread practice when coining ‘fancy’ last names. In addition, the article offers a critical review of existing scholarly research of the character’s full name. To this end, Korshunkov touches on rose symbolism in Christianity, examines the hero’s anthroponymic space, and explores the semantics of Latin-based terminology with the stem tuber -.