Grigori Rasputin - Name Meaning

Name Meaning

The name Rasputin is not an uncommon surname in Russia, and it is not considered in any way untoward. It does not mean "licentious" in Russian, as has often been claimed. There is, however, a very similar Russian adjective, rasputny (распу́тный), which does mean "licentious"—as well as the corresponding noun, распу́тник "rasputnik". Some even suggest that his name meant "dissolute". There are at least two options for the root-word: one of them is "put", which means "way", "road", and other close nouns are rasputye, a place where the roads diverge or converge, and rasputitsa (распу́тица), "muddy road season". Likewise some historians argue that the name Rasputin may be a place name, since it does roughly signify "a place where two rivers meet", describing the area from which the Rasputin family originates and where his sibling died. Yet another possibility is the just-mentioned "put'" giving rise to the verb "putat", which means to "entangle" or "mix up"—"rasputat' " being its antonym—"disentangle", "untie", "clean up a misunderstanding". However, the most well-founded explanation is a standard Russian surname derivation from the old Slavic name "Rasputa" ("Rasputko") (recorded as early as in the sixteenth century), with the meaning "ill-behaved child", the one whose ways are against traditions or the will of parents.

It is said that Rasputin tried to have his name changed to the more inconspicuous "Novykh" (Russian: Новыx) after his first pilgrimage to the Holy Land—"Novykh" (from the Russian Новый, meaning "New") connotes "Novice"—but that is the subject of much dispute.