Talk:Alexander Gennadiyevich Zaitsev

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[edit] Zaitsev vs. Zaytsev

I cannot find specific proof that Zaitsev himself uses that spelling, because I cannot figure out where he's currently coaching or whatever else he's doing (my google fu is weak today), and so cannot check how he styles himself professionally in English. However, here's the best proof I can put together that the standardized and popular way of spelling his name in English is Zaitsev, not Zaytsev.

  • The International Skating Union's official Olympic results give his name as "Alexandr Zaitsev"[1]. The ISU refers to him as "Alexander Zaitsev" in the biographies of skaters he has previously coached.[2][3]
  • The Figure Skating Federation of Russia spelled it "Zaitsev" when listing pupils of Tatiana Tarasova.[4]
  • I've seen it repeatedly as Zaitsev in published books on skating. I have only two at hand right now. In Figure Skating For Dummies, page 116:
The next year Rodnina joined with Alexandr Zaitsev, with whom she later won six World titles, and Ulanov and Smirnova teamed up.

And later in the book, on page 272, there is a paragraph on "Irina Rodnina and Alexandr Zaitsev -- 1980 -- Soviet Union" under the chapter heading of "Ten Greatest Skaters of All Time."

  • In Skate: 100 Years of Figure Skating, page 85:
"Rodnina then held auditions for a new partner...Alexander Zaitsev was chosen, and Rodnina went on to win another six World Championships and two Olympic titles with him."
  • And in a case of having it both ways, Olympic.org uses Zaytsev in Rodnina's biography, but Zaitsev in image captions and the videos.[5]

That's all I can come up with on short notice. I hope that's enough. Kolindigo 02:16, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Thank you very much for taking time to document this. In my view, however, this only shows that some of the sources chose to romanize this person's name as "Zaitsev". Given the person's relative obscurity and overall small number of English sources, I still do not believe it is justified to sacrifice standardization and make this an exception to Wikipedia's romanization of Russian guideline (which prescribes using "Zaytsev"). Whoever types "Zaitsev" or "Alexander Zaitsev" into the search box is going to land on the Zaytsev disambiguation page anyway (this last name, as well as the first/last name combination, are rather common in Russian), and from there this particular person can be found very easily, regardless of how the title of the actual article is spelled (so, no benefit there). On the other hand, having the article titled "Zaytsev" allows to avoid handling an unnecessary naming exception from romanization guidelines, thus simplifying maintenance and enforcing consistency. I'd appreciate any further thoughts on this, though. Thanks again.—Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); 15:52, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
Any further comments?—Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); 21:07, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
No. Still can't find anything. I take back my objection to moving it, but reserve the right to find a good source in the future. :) Kolindigo 02:24, 26 September 2007 (UTC)
Fair enough. I don't have an agenda to move this at any cost :) I just want the name to comply with the guidelines as much as possible unless a good source is found to support an alternative spelling. Cheers,—Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); 12:26, 26 September 2007 (UTC)