Talk:Alexander Miasnikian

Requested move 29 January 2015

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the move request was: no consensus. Number   5  7  22:24, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

Alexander Myasnikyan → Alexander Myasnikov – WP:COMMONNAME --Relisted. &mdash; Amakuru (talk) 09:34, 6 February 2015 (UTC)  Ե րևանցի  talk  04:16, 29 January 2015 (UTC) Google Books results:
 * "Alexander Myasnikov" - 201 results + "Alexander Miasnikov" - 9 results
 * "Alexander Miasnikian" - 125 results + "Alexander Myasnikyan" - 36 results + "Alexander Myasnikian" - 7 results

Tentative Support. These sort of moves can bring all sorts of nationalistic opinions but we should use the most WP:COMMONNAME in English-language reliable sources. Zarcadia (talk) 18:55, 30 January 2015 (UTC)

Strongly Oppose. His name simply is Myasnikyan or (ian). It's sufficient to show the Russian version with transliteration next to it. When you combine the search results for the Armenian name (-ian/yan), it's really not substantially smaller than the Russian ones (especially when you consider all the possible variants of his first name- Aleksandr, Alexandre, Alexandr, etc, that were not factored in). Additionally, his profile and legacy are much more notable as an Armenian, with him appearing on a stamp, the giant statue, etc. Seems disrespectful to Russify it when there is really not any evidence it is the significantly more common name. Wikimandia (talk) 07:10, 8 February 2015 (UTC)
 * FYI, he was born in Russia and probably spoke Russian as a native language. Also, for Bolsheviks, ethnicity was secondary. -- Ե րևանցի talk  14:50, 8 February 2015 (UTC)
 * Well I don't think we can assume he spoke Russian as a native language, can we? His family was Armenian and he was born and grew up in Nakhichevan-on-Don (mostly Armenian). I would imagine when he was born, his name was recorded as Myasnikyan (no indication that other people from Nakhichevan-on-Don were given Russified names at that time), his first language was Armenian and he learned Russian at school. Additionally, even though he was a Bolshevik, he was obviously devoted to Armenia and Armenian literature/poetry. If he didn't identify as Armenian I don't think he would have done that. He could have chosen Russian literature to get excited about. Also I would continue to argue against COMMONNAME. In the book I referenced by Stephen Kotkin to expand the part about the plane crash, he referred to him as Myasnikyan and then put Myasnikov in parentheses. Kotkin is a well-respected historian on Soviet/Russian history (ie he's not going to just go by Myasnikyan's Wikipedia article title). When I searched for "Александр Мясников" in Google, my Chrome browser automatically translated my search term to "Alexander Myasnikyan"! So I don't think COMMONNAME is a strong argument given the evidence, especially, as Zarcadia pointed out, it will cause a headache. I don't think Russia considers him a national hero, but Armenia apparently does, so it doesn't seem worth it to rename it. :-) Wikimandia (talk) 07:03, 14 February 2015 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

I can't believe that when Google lists 200–300 results or more under Alexander Myasnikov, you guys left that as a red link. Not moving it, OK, that's a subjective decision, but not even creating a redirect?? wbm1058 (talk) 15:17, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

Request for Comments
There is an RfC on the question of using "Religion: None" vs. "Religion: None (atheist)" in the infobox on this and other similar pages.

The RfC is at Template talk:Infobox person.

Please help us determine consensus on this issue. --Guy Macon (talk) 21:08, 23 April 2015 (UTC)