Borzoi Name Generator

Swift, snowy and aristocratic names for Russian sighthounds

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Find a name for a Borzoi, the Russian sighthound: old hound words like Veter and Sokol, characters such as Onegin and Odette, titles like Grafinya, diminutives like Kolya and Katenka, and show-style names such as Zimnyaya Skazka (Skazka).

About borzoi names

Borzoi comes from a Russian word for swift, and the breed was long known in English as the Russian Wolfhound, so Russian is the natural place to look for a name. The oldest style is the plain word a hunting hound answered to. Many describe speed and weather: Veter (wind), Vikhr (whirlwind), Burya (storm), Molniya (lightning), Purga (blizzard). Others borrow a bird of prey or something that flies, such as Sokol (falcon), Krechet (gyrfalcon), Strizh (the swift) and Strela (arrow). The hunt in Tolstoy's War and Peace has borzois called Milka, Erza, Rugay and Karay, and the last two are commands: scold and punish.

The second source is the page and the stage: Onegin, Tatiana, Pechorin and Oblomov from the novels, Mumu and Kashtanka from two famous dog stories, Odette, Odile and Petrushka from the ballet, and composers such as Glinka and Borodin. Titles suit a dog this tall, so Knyaz (prince), Grafinya (countess) and Tsarevna are here, along with rivers, old towns and a few treats from the tea table.

Given names appear in full and as the diminutives Russians really use, such as Kolya for Nikolai. The longest entries are show-style names with the everyday call name in parentheses, such as Zimnyaya Skazka (Skazka), which means winter fairy tale.

How to choose borzoi names

  • Russian adjectives change with gender, so match the form to the dog: Bystry for a male and Bystraya for a female both mean swift. Nouns keep their own gender, and nobody will mind a male called Strela or a female called Veter.
  • Test the name across a field. Two clear syllables carry best when a sighthound is at full stretch: Sokol, Milka, Zima, Grom. Keep a mouthful like Shchelkunchik for the paperwork and pair it with a short call name.
  • Check where the stress falls before you settle, because Russian spelling does not show it. Vasilisa is stressed on the third syllable, while Oblako and Molniya are stressed on the first.
  • For two borzois, choose a pair that belongs together: Ruslan and Lyudmila, Odette and Odile, Belka and Strelka, or Grom and Molniya, which are thunder and lightning.
  • Let the coat help. A white dog suits Sneg, Snezhinka, Smetana or Lebed, a silver or gray one Serebro, Tuman or Dymka, and a gold or red one Zoloto, Yantar or Ryzhik.

Frequently asked questions

What does the word borzoi mean?

It comes from a Russian word meaning swift, which describes a dog built to run down game by sight. The breed was long called the Russian Wolfhound in English. That is why speed names fit so well: Bystry, Veter, Strela and Strizh are all in the list.

What are traditional Russian names for a borzoi?

Hunting hounds were usually called by one plain Russian word rather than a person's name. Weather and bird words such as Buran, Vyuga, Sokol and Berkut are typical, and so are short commands. In War and Peace the borzois are Milka, Erza, Rugay and Karay, and all four are in the list.

How do the long names with a second name in parentheses work?

Show dogs usually carry a long formal name and a short call name for daily use. Entries such as Snowfall on the Neva (Neva) and Lebedinaya Pesnya (Pesnya), which means swan song, follow that pattern. They are ideas in that style only: a real registered name normally begins with the breeder's kennel name and has to follow the rules of your kennel club.

Are these names for male or female borzois?

Both, and the list mixes them. Russian given names ending in -a or -ya are usually female, such as Varvara, Zoya and Ulyana, but many male short forms end the same way: Misha, Kolya, Grisha and Vasya are all male. Sasha and Zhenya are used for either.

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All 500 borzoi names

This is the complete list the generator above draws its random batches from, sorted A to Z and grouped by first letter.

Plain text, one name per line.

A: 27 names

  • A Thousand and One Nights (Scheherazade)
  • Adagio
  • Agafya
  • Aglaya
  • Akhmatova
  • Alabaster
  • Albrecht
  • Alkonost
  • Allegro
  • Almaz
  • Altai
  • Alyona
  • Alyonushka
  • Alyosha
  • Andrei
  • Anya
  • Anyuta
  • Arabesque
  • Arbat
  • Arina
  • Arrow
  • Arrow Across the Steppe (Strelka)
  • Arseny
  • Artemon
  • Artyom
  • Asya
  • Atalanta

B: 42 names

  • Baba Yaga
  • Babushka
  • Balalaika
  • Ballerina
  • Barbos
  • Barcarolle
  • Barin
  • Barkhat
  • Baronessa
  • Barynya
  • Bayadère
  • Bazarov
  • Begun
  • Behemoth
  • Bela
  • Belaya Noch (Nochka)
  • Belka
  • Beluga
  • Bely Lebed (Lebed)
  • Belyanka
  • Berendey
  • Berkut
  • Beryozka
  • Blini
  • Blizzard Before Dawn (Purga)
  • Bluebird
  • Bobik
  • Bogatyr
  • Bogdan
  • Bolkonsky
  • Bolshoi
  • Borodin
  • Borscht
  • Boyar
  • Bublik
  • Bulgakov
  • Buran
  • Buratino
  • Burya
  • Buyan
  • Bystraya
  • Bystry

C: 10 names

  • Carabosse
  • Cashmere
  • Chaika
  • Chekhov
  • Chernomor
  • Chernysh
  • Chiffon
  • Clara
  • Countess of the White Nights (Grafinya)
  • Cygnet

D: 19 names

  • Dacha
  • Danila
  • Ded Moroz
  • Dewdrop
  • Diaghilev
  • Dima
  • Dmitri
  • Dobrynya
  • Donskoy
  • Dostoevsky
  • Drosselmeyer
  • Druzhok
  • Dubrovsky
  • Dumka
  • Dunya
  • Dunyasha
  • Dushenka
  • Dymka
  • Dymok

E: 4 names

  • Elbrus
  • Emelya
  • Erza
  • Evdokia

F: 12 names

  • Fabergé
  • Falcon Over Ladoga (Sokolik)
  • Fedya
  • Filigree
  • Finist
  • Firebird
  • Firebird's Feather (Iskra)
  • Firs
  • First Frost at Peterhof (Moroz)
  • Fontanka
  • Fouetté
  • Frou-Frou

G: 24 names

  • Gazehound
  • Gazelle
  • Gerasim
  • Giselle
  • Glafira
  • Gleb
  • Glinka
  • Gogol
  • Golitsyn
  • Golubka
  • Gornostay
  • Gosha
  • Gossamer
  • Graf
  • Grafinya
  • Grigory
  • Grisha
  • Grom
  • Groza
  • Grushenka
  • Gusar
  • Gusli
  • Gvidon
  • Gzhel

H: 4 names

  • Hermitage
  • Hero of Our Time (Pechorin)
  • Heron
  • Hoarfrost

I: 8 names

  • Ilya
  • Ilya Muromets
  • Imperatritsa
  • Iney
  • Iskra
  • Ivan Tsarevich
  • Ivanushka
  • Izumrud

J: 1 name

  • Jeté

K: 38 names

  • Kalina
  • Kalinka
  • Kalinka Malinka (Malinka)
  • Karay
  • Karelia
  • Karenina
  • Kasha
  • Kashtan
  • Kashtanka
  • Katenka
  • Katya
  • Kesha
  • Kestrel
  • Khokhloma
  • Kitri
  • Kitty
  • Kizhi
  • Knyaz
  • Knyazhna
  • Kokoshnik
  • Kolobok
  • Kolya
  • Konyok-Gorbunok
  • Korol
  • Koroleva
  • Kostroma
  • Kostya
  • Krasa
  • Krasavets
  • Krasavitsa
  • Krasnaya Strela (Strela)
  • Krechet
  • Kroshka
  • Ksyusha
  • Kupala
  • Kupava
  • Kuskovo
  • Kvass

L: 29 names

  • Lada
  • Ladoga
  • Lapochka
  • Lapushka
  • Lara
  • Lastochka
  • Lebed
  • Lebedinaya Pesnya (Pesnya)
  • Lebedushka
  • Lel
  • Lensky
  • Lermontov
  • Letun
  • Lev
  • Levin
  • Lidia
  • Lightning Over the Steppe (Molniya)
  • Likhoy
  • Lilac Fairy
  • Lilya
  • Lisa
  • Lisichka
  • Liza
  • Luka
  • Lunny Svet (Luna)
  • Lyova
  • Lyuba
  • Lyubim
  • Lyudmila

M: 30 names

  • Makar
  • Malvina
  • Malysh
  • Malyshka
  • Marfa
  • Margarita
  • Mariinsky
  • Marina
  • Marusya
  • Marya Morevna
  • Mashenka
  • Matryoshka
  • Matvei
  • Mazurka
  • Mechta
  • Medovik
  • Metel
  • Metelitsa
  • Milka
  • Minuet
  • Misha
  • Mistral
  • Mitya
  • Molniya
  • Moroz
  • Morozko
  • Moska
  • Mumu
  • Mussorgsky
  • Myshkin

N: 14 names

  • Nadezhda
  • Nadya
  • Nastya
  • Natasha
  • Neva
  • Nevsky
  • Nijinsky
  • Nikiya
  • Nikolai
  • Nina
  • Nocturne in Silver (Serebro)
  • Novgorod
  • Nutcracker
  • Nutcracker's Sugar Plum (Plum)

O: 16 names

  • Oblako
  • Oblomov
  • Ochi Chyornye (Ochi)
  • Odette
  • Odile
  • Ogonyok
  • Olenka
  • Olesya
  • Olga
  • Onega
  • Onegin
  • Onegin's Last Waltz (Onegin)
  • Orlov
  • Oryol
  • Osetra
  • Otrada

P: 37 names

  • Palekh
  • Pas de Deux
  • Pasha
  • Pastila
  • Pathétique
  • Pavlova
  • Pechorin
  • Pelageya
  • Peregrine
  • Perun
  • Pervy Sneg (Sneg)
  • Peterhof
  • Petipa
  • Petrushka
  • Petya
  • Pikovaya Dama
  • Pirouette
  • Pirozhok
  • Piter
  • Plié
  • Plume
  • Pointe
  • Polkan
  • Polonaise
  • Polyana
  • Polyarnaya Zvezda (Polya)
  • Porosha
  • Poryv
  • Praskovya
  • Prima
  • Prince of the Hunt (Knyaz)
  • Printsessa
  • Prokofiev
  • Pryanik
  • Purga
  • Pushkin
  • Pushok

Q: 2 names

  • Queen of Spades (Dama)
  • Quicksilver

R: 19 names

  • Rachmaninoff
  • Radost
  • Raduga
  • Raskolnikov
  • Ratmir
  • Raymonda
  • Relevé
  • Rimsky
  • Rodion
  • Romashka
  • Rostov
  • Rothbart
  • Rugay
  • Rusalka
  • Ruslan
  • Ruslan and Lyudmila (Lyuda)
  • Russkaya Zima (Zima)
  • Rys
  • Ryzhik

S: 71 names

  • Sadko
  • Saltan
  • Samovar
  • Samovar at Sundown (Chai)
  • Sapsan
  • Sarafan
  • Sasha
  • Satin
  • Scheherazade
  • Scriabin
  • Semyon
  • Serebro
  • Serebryany Veter (Veter)
  • Serenade
  • Seryozha
  • Severnoye Siyaniye (Siya)
  • Shalun
  • Shalunya
  • Sharik
  • Shchelkunchik
  • Sheremetev
  • Shkval
  • Shostakovich
  • Shyolk
  • Siegfried
  • Silhouette
  • Silver Wind of Valdai (Veterok)
  • Sirin
  • Sivka-Burka
  • Skazka
  • Skorokhod
  • Slipstream
  • Smely
  • Smetana
  • Sneg

S, continued

  • Snegir
  • Snegurochka
  • Snezhinka
  • Snezhnaya Koroleva (Koroleva)
  • Snezhok
  • Snowdrift
  • Snowfall on the Neva (Neva)
  • Sobol
  • Sokol
  • Sokolik
  • Solnyshko
  • Solovey
  • Sonata
  • Sova
  • Starlight
  • Stepan
  • Stepnoy Veter (Step)
  • Sterlet
  • Stesha
  • Stravinsky
  • Strela
  • Strelka
  • Stribog
  • Strizh
  • Stroganoff
  • Stroganov
  • Styopa
  • Sugar Plum
  • Suzdal
  • Svyatogor
  • Svyatoslav
  • Swan
  • Swan Lake
  • Swan Lake at Midnight (Odette)
  • Swift
  • Sylphide

T: 22 names

  • Tailwind
  • Tamara
  • Tatiana
  • Tchaikovsky
  • The Cherry Orchard (Vishnya)
  • The Master and Margarita (Rita)
  • The Snow Maiden's Song (Snegurochka)
  • Tikhon
  • Timofei
  • Tolstoy
  • Trepak
  • Troika
  • Troika in the Snow (Troika)
  • Tsar
  • Tsarevna
  • Tsarevna Lebed
  • Tsaritsa
  • Tucha
  • Tula
  • Tuman
  • Turgenev
  • Tuzik

U: 7 names

  • Udacha
  • Udaloy
  • Ugolyok
  • Ulyana
  • Umnitsa
  • Ushanka
  • Utrennyaya Zvezda (Zvezda)

V: 24 names

  • Valdai
  • Valenki
  • Varenka
  • Varvara
  • Varya
  • Vasilisa
  • Vasilyok
  • Vasya
  • Veles
  • Velvet
  • Verny
  • Veter
  • Veterok
  • Vikhr
  • Vityaz
  • Vocalise
  • Volchok
  • Volk
  • Volkonsky
  • Volna
  • Voron
  • Vronsky
  • Vsevolod
  • Vyuga

W: 6 names

  • Waltz
  • War and Peace (Mir)
  • Windhound
  • Winter Palace Waltz (Zimny)
  • Wisp
  • Wolfhound

Y: 7 names

  • Yantar
  • Yarilo
  • Yaroslav
  • Yasny Sokol (Sokol)
  • Yastreb
  • Yelena
  • Yesenin

Z: 27 names

  • Zabava
  • Zakhar
  • Zarnitsa
  • Zarya
  • Zefir
  • Zemfira
  • Zhar-Ptitsa
  • Zhemchug
  • Zhenya
  • Zhivago
  • Zhuchka
  • Zhuravl
  • Zima
  • Zimny
  • Zimnyaya Skazka (Skazka)
  • Zimushka
  • Zlata
  • Zolotaya Osen (Osen)
  • Zolotaya Rybka
  • Zolotko
  • Zoloto
  • Zolotoy
  • Zolushka
  • Zorka
  • Zorya
  • Zoya
  • Zvezda