Zhores Alferov won the Nobel in Physics in 2000, but what kind of a name is "Zhores"? He is a Russian Jew, but that's neither Russian nor Jewish...

Turns out "Zhores" is French... sort of. Born into the young Soviet Union, Alferov was swept under the new wave of Revolutionary Russian names. And what names they were!

Acronyms became very popular. Say, Lorieric. That stands for "Lenin, October Revolution, Industrialization, Electrification, Radiofication, and Communism". What a name! Lori for short? Perhaps Eric? And don't ask us to decipher Lagshmivara, Kukucapol, and Dazdraperma...

Or, perhaps you want to honor glorious Lenin, but are blessed(?) with a girl? What about Ninel (Lenin backwards)!? His successor was not forgotten either: little Stalina is bound to be a go-getter!

Compared to those, Zhores got off easy. He is named after Jean Jaures, a French socialist leader. Why couldn't his parents just name him Jean?

Well, it beats Kukucapol...