| Sumario: | This is a study of Russian short first names (or ‘hypocoristics’) formed by a truncation of the corresponding full name. I propose that, syntactically, hypocoristics are associated with their own noun head that occupies a particular hierarchical position in a syntactic tree. This noun head is specified for the grammatical feature inflectional [class II]. Evidence comes from a change in the inflectional class of masculine first names, as only noun heads are capable of changing the grammatical features of a base. I also show that hypocoristics have morphological properties that are very similar to those of Russian truncated common nouns, which means that there is no need to posit a specific grammar of proper names, different from the grammar of common nouns. This work is an elaboration of my 2014 study <italic>The syntax of expressive suffixes in Russian</italic>. The research for the present paper was carried out based on the Distributed Morphology framework, which distinguishes between √roots and syntactic categories and thus provides formal tools for handling syntactic processes that take place within individual words—in this case, within Russian proper names.
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