In mid-1991, Russian politician Boris Yeltsin became the first President of the Russian Federation.
In early 1992, the New York Times announced that President Bush and President Yeltsin had “proclaimed a new era of “friendship and partnership” as they declared a formal end to seven decades of rivalry” (i.e., the Cold War).
That same year, the baby name Yeltsin appeared in the U.S. baby name data for the first time:
- 1994: unlisted
- 1993: 8 baby boys named Yeltsin
- 1992: 7 baby boys named Yeltsin [debut]
- 1991: unlisted
- 1990: unlisted
It stuck around one more year before disappearing again. (Perhaps because Yeltsin’s popularity declined drastically during the 1990s, as his economic policies caused mass poverty and hyperinflation in Russia.)
What does the Russian surname Yeltsin mean? “The Yeltsin surname derives from yel’, Russian for “fir tree,” and is a fairly common one in the [Ural] region,” which is where Boris was born.
Sources:
- Colton, Timothy J. Yeltsin: A Life. New York: Basic Books, 2011.
- Wines, Michael. “Bush and Yeltsin Declare Formal End to Cold War; Agree to Exchange Visits.” New York Times 2 Feb. 1992.
Image: Adapted from Leonid Kravchuk, Stanislav Shushkevich and Boris Yeltsin by RIA Novosti under CC BY-SA 3.0.
