This article examines the semantics of anthroponyms in Russian fairy tales as a linguistic means of reflecting folk perceptions of a character. In folklore, personal names function not only as markers of identification but also as carriers of evaluative, symbolic, and culturally significant meanings. The aim of the study is to determine how anthroponyms in Russian fairy tales verbalize traditional notions of character, moral qualities, emotional state, and social role. The material of the study is drawn from Russian folk tales published in the collections of A. N. Afanasyev. The methodological framework combines semantic, contextual, descriptive, and linguocultural analysis. The findings show that anthroponyms in Russian fairy tales frequently display semantic transparency and are directly involved in the creation of a character image. Such names often convey emotional condition, ethical evaluation, typified social role, or symbolic meaning, thereby becoming an important component of fairy-tale poetics. The study concludes that anthroponyms in Russian fairy tales serve as a verbal form through which folk culture encodes its views on personality and human qualities.

Anthroponyms, semantics, Russian fairy tales

Afanas'ev, A. N. Narodnye russkie skazki A. N. Afanas'eva: v 3 t. Moscow: Nauka, 1984.125 р.

Fonyakova, O. I. Imya sobstvennoe v khudozhestvennom tekste. Leningrad: Izdatel'stvo Leningradskogo universiteta, 1990.78 р.

Magazanik, E. B. Onomapoetika, ili “Govoryashchie imena” v literature. Tashkent: Fan, 1978.312 р.

Podol'skaya, N. V. Slovar' russkoi onomasticheskoi terminologii. 2nd ed. Moscow: Nauka, 1988. 208 р.

Propp, V. Morphology of the Folktale. 2nd ed. Translated by Laurence Scott. Edited by Louis A. Wagner. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1968. 315 р.

Superanskaya, A. V. Obshchaya teoriya imeni sobstvennogo. Moscow: Nauka, 1973.178 р.

Uther, H.-J. The Types of International Folktales: A Classification and Bibliography Based on the System of Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson. Helsinki: Academia Scientiarum Fennica, 2004.59 р.