List of names by Gogol: аbout the form and semantics of personal names in his short story collection “Mirgorod”

The article presents the characteristics of personal names from four Gogol's stories of the series “Mirgorod” (1835). It is based on the interpretation of common Slavic Christian names in their Ukrainian and Russian versions according to the word books and a list of “names given at the time of baptism” contained in the “Book of sundries” by young Gogol. The research leads to the conclusion that a system of male and female names in each story reflects the views of the author on the nature and types of his heroes, on their society and era, as well as on their relationship with biblical, ancient and medieval times, with nature around them. Giving a name to his character, the author took into account the phonetic and semantic structure of the anthroponym, its direct and connotative meanings (as well as contradictions between them), its semantic ties, popularity, belonging to a specific social category and/or a personality type, a historical or mythological character.