RFE/RL’s Tajik Service broke the news on the Tajik government’s decision to ban giving babies Russian-style names, which made headlines in many media and was harshly criticized in the Russian State Duma. To further raise awareness of the issue, Current Time digital created a “Tajikizator” that allowed people to enter their names to see what they would look like in Tajik. The tool spread widely on Russian social media, with Russians sharing screenshots of the results for their names. The “Tajikizator” attracted some 200,000 unique visits to the Current Time website.
RFE/RL engages Tajik audiences on Russian-style name ban