View Message

I read that the Soviet leader Lenin, real name Ulyanov, adopted his pseudonym in tribute to some workers massacred at a place which took its name from the River Lena. I've never heard of anyone else named Lenin.
If there is a common Russian surnamee, Lenin, then perhaps it's from Lena, diminutive of Yelena, or Helen. Russian surnames ending in -IN usually derive from names or words ending in A, e.g., Nadezhdin from Nadezhdz, a female baptismal name.
A list of the commonest Russian surnames can be found at www.pdom.com .