Dagestani Name Generator

Dagestan is the most linguistically diverse republic in Russia, home to Avars, Dargins, Kumyks, Lezgins, Laks, Tabasarans, Nogais and a dozen smaller peoples, yet its names share a recognisable shape. Almost everyone carries an Islamic given name in a distinctly Dagestani form: Muhammad becomes Magomed, Hajji becomes Gadzhi, Fatima becomes Patimat, and Khadija becomes Khadizhat. Women's names very often end in -at (Aishat, Aminat, Zagidat, Marzhanat), a trace of the Arabic feminine ending preserved in the mountains. Compound names built on Magomed- are common and entirely normal: Magomedrasul, Magomedali, Magomedkhabib, Gadzhimurad.

Surnames look Russian but are not. In the early Soviet period families were registered under a grandfather's given name plus -ov or -ev, so Magomedov, Gadzhiev, Omarov, Abdulaev, Ramazanov and Kurbanov dominate, with the feminine -ova/-eva for women. Because the stock of given names is small, a few dozen surnames cover a large share of the population, and repeated names like Magomed Magomedov are a real feature of Dagestani life. Turkic-speaking Kumyks and Nogais add names such as Arslan, Temirlan, Batyr and Aigul, while Lezgins and other southern peoples near Azerbaijan use Nariman, Elmira, Sevil and Emirbek.

The list below mixes these streams in roughly realistic proportions, with transliterations as they usually appear in Latin script.