Category of gender in unofficial anthroponomy

The author refers to the classical works of Russian linguists stating that noun gender is a non-variable lexico-grammatical category, and then focuses on its realization in individual personal nicknames (primarily with the final -a/-ya) as part of microanthroponymic sphere, specifically through the correlation of such lexico-grammatical classes as appellativity-propriality and animacy-inanimacy. The nicknames used in the Oka-Volga-Sura interfluve area of the Nizhny Novgorod region are studied using the descriptive, structural and semantic, componential, comparative and other interpretational methods to demonstrate the fact that this category has different semantics compared to the sphere of common nouns. Here, due to actualized identification, the discrepancy in the grammatical markers of noun gender and natural gender is a means of characterization, creation and expression of increased connotation. The author proposes a detailed classification of nicknames according to their gender and draws conclusions about the lexico-se-mantic character and manifestation of gender in nicknames, about the productivity of lexico-semantic derivation among them (anthroponymization and transonymization) accompanied by associativity and transformation (alongside with morphological derivation), as well as about the applicability of the observations and generalizations contained in classical linguistic works to the material under analysis. The proposed classification of nicknames according to their gender qualification could be taken into account in the lexicographic description of unofficial anthroponyms