Slava Nazarov

Join the club

We were surprised to find out about several apparently unrelated Pismennys in the United States as well as in Russia or Ukraine. If you are a Pismenny (whatever the spelling), or derive from one, I will be delighted to include your story in this space, or link to your homepage.

How do you spell that?

There are both Russian and Ukrainian words that work out to something like Pismenny in English, with close semantics. The Russian adjective is stressed PIS-men-ny. The Ukrainian adjective that serves as noun is stressed Pis-MEN-ny. Most Russians in Moscow would put the stress on the first syllable when reading my name. The family tradition is to stress the second syllable. The Russian spelling of the name is Pis'mennyj where the apostrophe is Soft sign, "y" is like in ryba (fish) and "j" is “Short i“. In modern Russian it means "written" (as opposed to "spoken"). The same thing in Ukrainian means "literate".

The name looks like one of those Jewish nicknames that became last names when the Jews of the Pale became assimilated and were issued identity papers. Imagine a village know-it-all who knew how to write. It is also easy to imagine several unrelated village know-it-alls in different villages but with the same nickname. Each time I run into a Scribner, I tell him that we have the same last name. Many Russian speakers today would not know Ukrainian and presume that Pismenny has something to do with the operation of the mail rather than with the gift of literacy. It is possible that an immigrant from Russia or Ukraine wish ed to adopt an English-sounding name and, either disregarding, or being unaware of the true meaning of "Pismenny" (whatever stress), chose Postman or Letterman, or even Mailer.

It is possible as well, that someone not familiar with the Ukrainian language, armed with a Russian dictionary, tried to reverse-engineer the Slavic name and blundered into the letter-carrier semantics. Iosif Pismenny, however, insists that the name Pismenny is nothing to do with the job done by feet ("letter carrier") and even by hands. Pismennys mostly work with their heads. According to him it is possible that Pismennovs, Pismins, Pismanniks, and Pismenniks related to Pismennys much more than Postmans and Lettermans. Iosif convinced that the very Pismennys have written "Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks". Hence, Postmans and Lettermans, if you feel your relationship to us, welcome to the club.

Alexey Pismnenny

I am an immigrant, originally from Russia. I have lived in the States since 1988.

My father was Alexey Alexandrovich (meaning Son of Alexander) Pismenny. He was born in 1930 and committed suicide in 1970. He was a sculptor, and lived in Moscow. My parents were divorced soon after I was born in 1955. My mother Adelaida Pologova lived in Moscow till she passed on in 2008, she was a sculptor, too, and quite famous at that.

My father was the only offspring of Alexander Grigorievich Pismenny. The latter was a fiction writer (published several thick novels, a book of short stories, and an unpublished autobiography) and lived in Moscow. He died in 1971. I think he was born in 1910's.

My grandfather was the only offspring of Grigory Iosifovich (son of Iosif) Pismenny. He was an engineer. He was born in Ukraine. I don't know where exactly he was born or worked. I don't know of any siblings of his. He died in 1970 or 1971, and he was past 80, so he must have been born in 1880's.

My father Alexey, my grandfather Alexander and I

(Right to left)

I am only a quarter Jewish since both my grandfather and my father married Russian girls (I married a Scottish girl).

My Pismenny family

Here is my wife Ann, our children, and I. My personal web site if here.

Larry (Valery) Pismenny

I was born in 1947 in city of Lvov, USSR (now Lviv, Ukraine). In 1953 my parents and I, my aunt Esther's family, and my grandmother, Hanna, moved to Ufa, an industrial city in the Western Urals of Soviet Union.

I have lived there for 35 years. Then I moved to Moscow, and in 1993 I emigrated to the U.S.

Mikhail (Moshe) Pismenny, my father

My farther was Mikhail Iosifovich (meaning Son of Joseph) Pismenny. He was born in 1917 in a small Ukrainian town of Snovsk (now Shchors). He was a Head Mechanic of construction company in Ufa. He also was a dedicated photographer and chess-player. He passed away in 1973 from leukemia, when he was 55. On the day of his burial his sister Esther (Fira) Pismenny disclosed me his real name. It was Moshe.

He couldn't disguise his Jewish personality all his life, and of course I realized why he concealed it. This is a very typical safety precaution that Jews took to survive in most European societies since the ancient times.

Hanna Pismennaya, my grandmother

Another revelation of my family story I got in the USA from my cousin aunt, Rebecca (Riva) Sluchek, when I was 49. My grandmother, Hanna Pismennaya, became a widow with my 3 year-old father and my 10 year-old aunt when her husband, Joseph Pismenny, has been drowned in the mine. I can imagine what a terrible impact this tragedy had on my family — no one ever told this story either to my cousins Iosif and Efim or me.

So, there are no other Pismenny ancestors (predecessors) I know.

Lidya Pismennaya, my mother

My mother Lydia Stepanovna (meaning daughter of Stephan) Pismennaya (maiden name Saphontseva) originated from Crimea, Ukraine. When she was young she was a Champion of Crimea in Track-and Field. She graduated from Simferopol Medical Institute and was a successful Eye Surgeon in Ufa for many years. Lydia Pismennaya got M.D. in Medical Science. She liked arts and music. Both my parents enjoyed local ballet and opera. She also had a beautiful voice, a dramatic soprano, and she enjoyed singing classical solos in companies of friends. Mom always kept herself in shape with exercises. She dived until she was 65. She past away in 1990, she was 69.

Olga, Larry, and Arina Pismenny in Niagara Falls, 2005

I am half Jewish and half Russian. I changed my Russian name to American Larry because it is hard to be a male named Valery in this country (like boy named Sue). This new name sounds a lot like the name my parents called me in my childhood — Lerik.

My Pismenny family

My wife Olga Pismenny is a Russian language teacher, our daughter Arina Pismenny is a CUNY Professor of Philosophy. I am a financial consultant. We live in New Jersey.

Efim Pismenny

I am Efim Pismenny. I was born in 1950 in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine. I Immigrated to Germany in 1993.

I am thermotechnics-engineer, still working. My wife Elena Gubenko is architect. She found a cultural society here. We have to daughters Katya and Paulina, and granddaughter Dunya. We live in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Efim's Granddad

Moshe Pismenny, my grandfather

My granddad's name was Moshe. In early 1920s he owned a food store in City of Boguslav, Ukraine. I didn't know him because he past away soon after WWII.

Piotr Pismenny, my father

My farther, Piotr Moiseyevich (meaning Son of Moshe) Pismenny, was born in 1911 in City of Boguslav, Kiev Region, Ukraine. He returned home from WWII without both feet. He worked as a stoker in boiler room until he died in 1984.

Lena Sigalova, my mother

My mom Lena Sigalova on this picture is a small child on the hands of her mother. She had two brothers Mendel and Hershel. They were killed in WWII. She is now 85. She lives in Israel. My sister Maya and her family is also in Israel.

Iosif Pismenny

I was born in 1937 in city of Smela, Ukraine.

In 1960 I graduated from Moscow Aviation Institute and have worked in the research-and-production enterprise of academician Nikolay Kuznetsov until 1994. I took part in development of Tupolev, Iliushin, and Antonov aircraft engines, also in rocket engine for N-1 a man-carrying unit, which was going to be launched to the moon. I was a professor of Kuibyshev Aviation Institute (now Samara State Aerospace University). I have a Ph.D. in Technology Science. I am an author of the book 'Multifrequency nonlinear vibration in gas-turbine engine'(1987, Mashinostroyenie Press, Moscow).

I now live in Israel in the city of Nesher near Haifa. I work in Technion in Haifa as a senior research assistant. My works of fiction were published in Russia and in Israel. Some of them can be reached at this web site

Lev Pismenny, my father

My father Lev Pismenny was born in the village of Nechaivka, Ukraine in 1902. His father's name was Ajzik Pismenny; my grandmother Glikl's last name was also Pismenny. As you can see I am twice as much related to our last name as everyone else. I was named after my father's grandfather, Iosif Pismenny, and my mother's grandfather, Iosif Tuchinsky.

Golda Pismennaya, my mother

This picture was shot in May of 1941, one month before Germany attacked Soviet Union. There are my parents on it: Lev Pismenny and Golda (Galina) Pismennaya, my grandmother on the maternal side Ita Zaslavskaya (maiden name Tuchinskaya), my elder sister Esther (before her marriage she was Pismennaya, then became Glushkovskaya) and I.