DUSHANBE, July 23, 2014, Asia-Plus -- In a report released at a news conference in Dushanbe, Minister of Justice Rustam Shohmurod noted on July 23 that more than 19,000 Tajik nationals have dropped Russian-style endings in their surnames in January-June this year.

The minister noted that he did not have exact data on how many Tajik officials had dropped Russian-style endings in their surnames.

We will recall that in an article published in the government newspaper Jumhuriyat (The Republic) on January 21, 2014, Tajik chief prosecutor Sherkhon Salimzoda expressed concern about young people’s going back to the Russian-style spellings of their names.  According to him, it is a sign of the low level of national and patriotic identity of the younger generation.

As proof he presented figures culled from the country''s three largest universities, where he said only two students specifically requested that their names be changed to their Tajik form in 2013, whereas 513 requested that their names be spelled with Russian-style endings.

Following this article, Tajik official circles have applied for a formal name change.  Over the past six months, many high-ranking Tajik state officials have begun dropping Russian-style suffixes.

Thus, President’s daughter who is Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan has dropped her Russified name Ozoda Rahmonova for Ozoda Emomali.  Minister of Justice Rustam Mengliyev is now known as Rustam Shohmurod, Minister of Agriculture Qosim Qosimov is now known as Qosim Rahbar, Director of the Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption Fattoh Saidov is now known as Abdufattoh Ghoib, Minister of Health and Social Security Nusratullo Salimov is now known as Nusratullo Fayzullo, Head of the Communications Service Beg Zuhurov is now known as Beg Sabouri, etc.

Meanwhile, young people say that the main reason to go back to the Russian-style spellings of their names is to avoid trouble in Russia.

Tajik began dropping Russian-style suffixes in the early 1990s, amid a wave of national pride and efforts to restore Tajik identity following the fall of the Soviet Union.  Many formally changed their names and ensured that the idea would stick with the next generation by giving newborns Tajik-style names.