Belarus Gazetteers

In order to research your family in Belarus, it is essential that you have identified the actual town name of where they came from. It is not enough to know only ‘Belarus;' you really need to determine the town name and hopefully, the district/province name.

Once you have determined the name of the town your ancestor came from, you'll need to locate it in a gazetteer to find both current and historical town names, jurisdictions, and the parish.

Belarus was created from five imperial provinces, or gubernia of the Russian Empire: Minsk, Vilna, Vitebsk, Mogilev and Grodno.

JewishGen Communities Database
The JewishGen Communities Database contains data on approximately 6,000 Jewish Communities in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. It is a great resource to help you locate your ancestor's town - regardless of whether or not your ancestor was Jewish. You can use this database to find modern and historical place names as well as jurisdictions over time. To learn how to use the JewishGen Communities Database, see the "How to" Guide.
 * First, read through the [[Media:1 - Instruction - JewishGen Communities JMR.pdf|Instruction.]]


 * Practice what you learned with the [[Media:2 - Activity - JewishGen Communities JMR.pdf|Activity.]]


 * Use the [[Media:3 - Key - JewishGen Communities JMR (1).pdf|Answer Key]] to check your answers.

Radzima
The Radzima place name database contains information on the former Grodno, Minsk, Mogilev, Vitebsk, and Vilna gubernii of the Russian Empire. It covers places primarily in modern-day Belarus, but also locations now in Poland and Lithuania. The website is available in English, Belarusian, Polish, and Russian. The place name database is free to use, but to see additional information (including the parish, historical jurisdictions, and more) requires payment. To search the database, click on Find the place on the menu tab at the top of the page. Type the name of location you are looking for in the box. Results will appear with their modern-day jurisdictions. In some cases, you may experience better results, by switching the language to Belarusian, Russian, or Polish. Location names in these languages can often be found through Google Maps or Wikipedia articles about the town.

Familio
The Familio place name database contains information about places in the former Russian Empire and modern-day countries of Belarus, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Ukraine, and Russia. In order to use the database, you will need to search using the Russian spelling of a town name. This can be located through Google Maps or Wikipedia articles about the town.

The website is is in Russian, but can be easily navigated using Google Translate. To translate the page into English, right click anywhere on the page and select the option Translate to English. To search, type the Russian version of the town name into the search by settlements box. You must type the name of the town in Russian characters. If you search in English, you will not get any results. You have the option to filter by country (Страна), Region (Регион), and District (translates as area) (Район). Hit enter on your keyboard, or click Find (Найти).

An entry contains information about a town including references to other gazetteers (may link to the Spiski Mest), for both historical time periods, as well as modern day gazetteers. There may also be additional information about the town available by investigating the tabs found underneath the map:


 * If you click on the Surnames (Фамилии) tab, you'll find other surnames that other Familio users are researching.
 * The People (Люди) tab includes individuals in the Familio family tree database associated with the town.
 * Sources (Источники) are a list of available records for the location (this has not been added for many entries in the database, but will be added in the future).
 * The Parishes (Приходы) option lists the nearest parishes (this has not been added for many entries in the database, but will be added in the future).
 * The Discussion (Обсуждение) tab is available to collaborate about the town with other Familio users.

Słownik Geograficzny (1864-1918)
The Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland and Other Slavonic Countries (in Polish) Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i Innych Krajów Słowiańskich was previously available by book, microfilm, CD and is now available online! It is very useful resource for the period 1864-1918. The Slownik includes descriptions of villages, towns and cities in what is now Belarus and Lithuania as well as Poland. A searchable version is available at Domena Internetowych Repozytoriów Wiedzy (use the searchbox on the left to search), and on FamilySearch. The gazetteer is in Polish language.

Visit Polish Roots to see translations of the Słownik Geograficzny. On the Polish Roots website, hover your mouse over Geography and Maps, then choose the Słownik for the first letter of the name of the town you are searching for. Entries include information about the town such as location, jurisdictions, parishes, etc.

For the volumes available on FamilySearch, see the following table:

Skorowidz Miejsowości Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej (1930's)


The Skorowidz Miejsowości Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej is a gazetteer of the early republic of Poland as it existed from 1918 until 1939. Poland at that time extended far into the east, including areas, which after World War II, were ceded to the Soviet Republics of Lithuania, Belarus, and the Ukraine. See the map below for areas of Belarus that are covered by this gazetteer (primarily Western Belarus). The gazetteer contains information about Catholic, Orthodox, and Lutheran parishes, as well as the Jewish synagogue, and civil registration office.

The gazetteer is arranged with all localities in alphabetical order. Please note that the Polish alphabet has several letters with diacritical marks: ą, ć, ę, ł, ń, ó, ś, ź, and ż. These are distinct letters of the Polish alphabet and are alphabetized after the unmarked version of the letter. Information about each locality is given in columns as shown below with translations. To learn how to use the Skorowidz Gazetteer, see the "How to" Guide.


 * First, read through the [[Media:1-Skorowidz Online-Instruction.pdf|Instruction]].


 * Practice what you learned with the [[Media:2-Skorowidz Online-Assignment.pdf|Activity]].


 * Use the [[Media:3-Skorowidz Online-Answer Key.pdf|Answer Key]] to check your answers.

Spiski Naselennykh Mest Rossiiskoi Imperii
The Spiski Naselennykh Mest Rossiiskoi Imperii, often referred to as simply the Spiski, is the foundational gazetteer for the Russian Empire. The gazetteer is organized by locality - first by gubernia (province), then by uyezd (county), and finally by the city, village, colony, or town. Each volume contains a locality index at the back of the book. In order to use this gazetteer effectively, you'll need to know which gubernia your ancestor's hometown was located in. Belarus consists of five former gubernia: Grodno, Minsk, Mogilev, Vilna, Vitebsk, and Grodno. Find links to each of these gazetteers below:


 * Grodno Gubernia Spiski Naselennykh Mest, 1906; Grodno Gubernia Spiski Naselennykh Mest, 1911.
 * Minsk Gubernia Spiski Naselennykh Mest,1909.
 * Mogilev Gubernia Spiski Naselennykh Mest, 1910.
 * Vilna Gubernia Spiski Naselennykh Mest, 1873. (an alternate gazetteer)
 * Vitebsk Gubernia Spiski Naselennykh Mest, 1906.

Names of Inhabited Places of the Republic of Belarus
Belarus is divided into six provinces called oblasts. A series оf gazetteers, with a volume for each oblast, was published between 2003 and 2010 and called Назвы населеных пунктаў рэспублiкi Беларусь (Nazvy naselenykh punktaŭ Rėspubliki Belarus' : (Name of oblast) voblasts'). (Names of inhabited places of the Republic of Belarus: Name of oblast). These volumes can only be used at the Family History Library while they are recently published and covered by copyright and cannot be filmed and circulated. They may also be available at other libraries near you or through International Library Loan. The call numbers for each oblast of Belarus can be found below:


 * Brest - Бресцкая вобласць (Intl. Ref. Area 947.89 5En)
 * Gomel - Гомельская вобласць (Intl. Ref. Area 947.81 E2n)
 * Grodno - Гродзенская вобласць (Intl. Ref. Area 947.88 E5n)
 * Minsk - Мінкская вобласць (Intl. Ref. Area 947.8 E5pma)
 * Mogilev - Магилёўская вобласць (Intl. Ref. Area 947.82 E2n)
 * Vitebsk - Віцебская вобласць (Intl. Ref. Area 947.84 E2h)

Each volume has:
 * a foreword in both Belarusian (Прадмова) and Russian (Предисловие),
 * a list of abbreviations (see below),
 * and the Belarusian Cyrillic alphabet with transliterations and examples.

The main body of the text, written in Belarusian, presents the locality names in order of:
 * province (oblast, область),
 * district (raion, раён) and
 * village council (selsovet, сельсавет) (generally not listed in genealogical documents),
 * and then the various locality names (nazva, назва).

At the end of each volume there are four comprehensive locality lists with reference to page numbers;
 * 1) in Belarusian (Паказальнiк назваў населеных пунктаў на беларускай мове)
 * 2) in Latin writing (Паказальнiк назваў населеных пунктаў лацiнцкай графiкай)
 * 3) in Russian (Паказальнiк назваў населеных пунктаў на рускай мове)
 * 4) old locality names (Паказальнiк страчаных назваў населеных пунктаў)

Column Headings Translations
ЯЗНЕНСКИ СЕЛЬСАВЕТ

JAZNENSKI VILLAGE COUNCIL

Центр   ---   в. Язна

Center  --  village Jazna

Назвы населеных пунктаў і парадыгмы іх скланения

Locality names and examples of their declensions

Варыянты назваў населеных пунктаў

Variations of locality names

- СТРАЧАНЫЯ НАЗВЫ

LOCALITY NAMES NO LONGER IN USE

Назвы, якия ўжываюцца да  цяперашняга часу

Locality names which are still used

Russisches Geographisches Namenbuch (RGN)
The most comprehensive gazetteer of all localities in Imperial Russia is the Russisches Geographisches Namenbuch (Russian Geographical Namebook) by Max Vasmer. It consists of eleven volumes and is not located online, but can be found at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah: FHL INTL Book 947 E5r.

The Spiski naselennykh Mest Rossiiski Imperii were the primary source for much of the data in the RGN. The RGN includes eleven volumes plus the Kartenband (maps). The gazetteer is organized alphabetically, according to the Cyrillic alphabet (with the excepction of places in Congress Poland which uses the Latin alphabet); however, descriptions were written in German. The pre-1917 administrative districts of gubernia (G.) and uyezd (Kr.) are given. If there are several localities in the same gubernia, the gubernia is indicated only after the first locality within that gubernia. It is not repeated for each subsequent locality listed. For instructions on how to use the Russisches Geographisches Namenbuch (RGN), please see the RGN Gazetteer Russia How to Guide. The RGN is not available online, but it is available in the Family History Library reference collection. If you are unable to visit Salt Lake City, try checking WorldCat for availability in a library near you.

Transliterating Russian to English
Transliterating Russian to English in One Step  This transliteration tool will aid you in changing place names written in the Cyrillic alphabet to their English form.