Westernized Slavic Personal Names

A significant number of Slavic personal names, names of corporate bodies and geographic places have been established in the LC Name Authority File in a Westernized form. For example, Warsaw, instead of “Warszawa”; Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilich, instead of “Chaĭkovskiĭ, Petr Ilʹich”; Kremlin Philharmonic Orchestra, instead of “Kremlevskiĭ filarmonicheskiĭ orkestr”, etc., etc. This is especially common for personal names.

Under earlier cataloging rules, if the name of a non-Western person was well established in Western reference sources in a language preferred by the cataloging agency, the preferred form of name was established under that name. Often the same form of name was also found in resources associated with the person, either in translated works or works about a person published in the West.

Example (in MARC format):

100 1 Tolstoy, Leo, ǂc graf, ǂd 1828-1910 [preferred form of name in a Westernized

form]

400 1 Толстой, Лев, ǂc graf, ǂd 1828-1910

400 1 Dōlsdōy, L. N., ǂc graf, ǂd 1828-1910

400 1 Ṭālsṭāy, ǂc graf, ǂd 1828-1910

400 1 Ṭālsṭāy, Liyō, ǂc graf, ǂd 1828-1910

400 1 Толстой, Лев Николаевич, ǂc граф, ǂd 1828-1910

400 1 Tolstoĭ, Lev Nikolaevich, ǂc graf, ǂd 1828-1910 ǂw nna [earlier form of name

in Russian]

400 1 Ttolsŭttoi, ǂc graf, ǂd 1828-1910

400 1 Tūlstūy, Līf, ǂc graf, ǂd 1828-1910

400 1 Tuo'ersitai, ǂc graf, ǂd 1828-1910

400 1 Tuo'ersitai, Liefu, ǂc graf, ǂd 1828-1910

670 War and peace, 1982: ǂb CIP t.p. (L. N. Tolstoy)

670 Stilo, S. Il pensiero di Leone Tolstoi, 1982: ǂb t.p. (Leone Tolstoi)

670 Sorokine, D. Les conceptions de Tolstoï sur l'Occident, 1986: ǂb p. 10 (Léon

Nikolaevitch Tolstoï)

670 I︠A︡snai︠a︡ Poli︠a︡na, 1978: ǂb p. 295 (Léon Tolstoï) p. 301 (Lew Tolstoi)

670 Ana Karenina, c2006: ǂb t.p. (León Tolstoi)

670 Leŭ Talstoĭ i Belarusʹ, 1981: ǂb t.p. (Leŭ Talstoĭ)

670 Yifan Yiliqi zhi si, 2000: ǂb t.p. (托爾斯泰 = Tuo'ersitai [chi rom.]) p. 4 of cover
(列夫·托爾斯泰 = [Liefu Tuo'ersitai)

670 Androide Karenina, 2011: ǂb t.p. (Lev Tolstói)

670 Kratkai︠a︡ literaturnai︠a︡ ėnt︠s︡iklopedii︠a︡, 1962-1978: ǂb (Lev Tolstoĭ, born Sept. 9, 1828,

died Nov. 20, 1910)

In this example, the preferred form of name for the Russian writer Lev Tolstoĭ was originally established in Russian as Tolstoĭ, Lev Nikolaevich, graf, 1828-1910. Some time later the form of the name was changed to one following the Western form -- Leo Tolstoy -- as this is how the name appears in major Western encyclopedias. (Interestingly, the title of nobility in the authorized access point was left in Russian -- “graf” -- instead of “count”).

Just as was the case with Tolstoy, many names of Russian composers, writers, artists, and other famous people were established in accordance with their Westernized forms: Joseph Brodsky, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Modest Mussorgsky, Vaslaw Nijinsky, Joseph Stalin, etc.

Note: current NACO policy is to leave headings established in Westernized forms unchanged when re-coding authority records to RDA; changing other data in the heading, like dates or “other designation associated with the person”, in order to conform to RDA, is encouraged.

One of the main principles of RDA, the principle of representation (RDA 0.4.3.4), laid out a basis for establishing preferred forms of names in the form most commonly found in resources associated with the person, family, or corporate body. RDA 9.2.2.3 instructs catalogers to generally choose the name by which the person is commonly known when selecting the preferred name for the person. If the name is found in a script that differs from the preferred script of the agency creating the data, it should be transliterated according to the scheme chosen by the agency (see RDA 9.2.2.5.3, 11.2.2.5.2, and 16.2.2.5). For example, a name that appears in the original script as А. Скрябин is transliterated as A. Skri͡abin.

However, similar to AACR2 and pre-AACR2 rules, RDA still has a strong provision for establishing a name in a language preferred by a cataloging agency - see RDA 9.2.2.5.3, Alternative: If there is a well-established form of name in reference sources in a language preferred by the agency creating the data, choose that form of name as the preferred name.

If different forms are found in reference sources in a language preferred by the agency creating the data, choose the form that occurs most frequently.

This alternative approach is preferred by the PCC/LC, as outlined in the LC-PCC PS for 9.2.2.5.3 LC Practice/PCC Practice for Alternative:

Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Cyrillic: Apply the alternative when the first element of the preferred name begins with either a given name or a surname. If a person is likely to appear in general English-language reference sources, search Academic American Encyclopedia, The Encyclopedia Americana, and the New Encyclopaedia Britannica. If the name is found in all three sources in a single form, use that form. If the form varies in these three sources, use the form found in New Encyclopaedia Britannica. If the name is not found in all three of these sources, use the systematically romanized form of the name. Exception: For famous persons entered under given name but not found in all three of the general English-language encyclopedias because of specialized fame, consult major specialized encyclopedias (e.g., New Catholic Encyclopedia, The Oxford Classical Dictionary) to determine if there is a well-established English-language form of the name. ("Found in" the reference source means that there is an article under the person’s name.)

For persons of too recent fame to be included in the three general English-language encyclopedias named above (e.g., new authors, dancers, persons recently becoming famous as political or cultural figures), consult the yearbooks of the encyclopedias and such major newspapers as The New York Times and The Washington Post to determine if there is a well-established English-language form of the name.

Consider providing variant access points for forms not selected as the preferred name.

Please note that this Policy Statement covers only famous figures widely discussed in Western media and so should be exercised with caution. Names of ordinary persons of Slavic, East European or Eurasian origin should be established in the language and form they appear in most resources associated with them, which, as a rule, is the language of the country of the person’s origin or residence.

Note that RDA 16.2.2.3 similarly instructs the cataloger to determine and prefer an anglophone form of name for place names, but this instruction is normally applied in practice only to country names and capital cities.

There are plenty of cases when a person’s name has appeared in different languages in resources associated with the person, for example, in translated works, or when a person publishes in different languages. According to RDA 9.2.2.5.2, if a person’s name has appeared in different language forms in resources associated with the person, choose as the preferred name the form that corresponds to the language of most of the resources.

Example (in MARC format):

100 1 Stroev, Aleksandr [current name established in Russian]

400 1 Stroev, A. ǂq (Aleksandr)

400 1 Stroev, Alexandre ǂw nne [form of name earlier established in French]

670 Les aventuriers des Lumières, 1997: ǂb t.p. (Alexandre Stroev)

670 Livre et lecture en Russie, 1996: ǂb t.p. (Alexandre Stroev) p. 297 (director of

research at the Gorki Institute of World Literature in Moscow)

670 "Te, kto popravli︠a︡et fortunu", c1998: ǂb t.p. (Aleksandr Stroev) cover (A. Stroev)

colophon (Aleksandr Fedorovich Stroev)

In this case, the Russian philologist Aleksandr Stroev extensively published in French, so his name was originally established in French; after he published some books in Russian and more information on him became available, the preferred form of his name was changed to Russian.

Sometimes determining a person’s preferred name is not easy, and information on the country of origin or residence is not available. In this case, catalogers are strongly encouraged to consult the relevant reference sources in the appropriate language, online and media sources, or contact the publisher or author himself. In case of doubt, establish the name in the form it appears on a item being cataloged, and code the record provisional.

Arbitrary references

“Arbitrary references”, as they were called under pre-RDA rules, were variant access points not found in resources associated with the person, and based on a cataloger’s assumption of what the person’s native language might be. They were routinely added in the records for persons’ names which appeared in publications in a language different from the person’s mother tongue (or official language, in case of corporate bodies), and were intended to help in finding the author’s name regardless of the language of publication. See Cataloging Service Bulletin, no. 22, page 46: “If only a non-Cyrillic form of a name is available and no usage for the Cyrillic form can be found, make a single arbitrary reference from the Cyrillic form of the heading.” This practice was also applied to languages other than the Slavic ones.

Under RDA rules and NACO policies this practice should not be followed, as all variant access points in authority records should be based on usage.

Example (in MARC format):

100 1 Butjagin, Alexander [preferred name currently established in German]

400 1 Buti︠a︡gin, Aleksandr [arbitrary reference in Russian added]

667 Coded "provisional" because vernacular form is not available.

670 Ermitage, 2001: ǂb page 8 (Alexander Butjagin)

In this example, a cataloger reasonably assumed the possible nationality of the art historian from the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg as being Russian. The name in Russian language was not available at the time that the authority record was created so the record was coded as provisional and the preferred heading was established in German. A non-justified variant access point in arbitrary form in Russian was added to help find and identify this person in the future should he publish in Russian in the future.

As stated above, the practice of adding arbitrary references is no longer supported, since all access points must be based on usage. Usage of “native” names, however, can be determined far more easily nowadays thanks to the increasing visibility of personal information on the Internet through academic institutions websites, wiki and social media, VIAF and other identities’ repositories, and availability of online library catalogs in Slavic countries. NACO catalogers who lack the language expertise to research names and who lack suitably specialist colleagues to advise them should simply provide the forms found in the resource in hand and use the provisional coding and 667 note.