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Joseph Stalin's Real Name: Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili (Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili)
Joseph Stalin's real name was Ioseb Jughashvili (in Russian, Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili).
Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union from the late 1920s until his death in 1953, was born in December 1878 in Gori, Georgia, then part of the Russian Empire, as Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili. The Russian form is Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili.
As an underground revolutionary he used several aliases, including "Koba." Around 1912–1913 he began using "Stalin," from the Russian word for steel (stal), meaning roughly "man of steel." Pseudonyms helped revolutionaries avoid the tsarist police.
Stalin's rule included forced collectivization of agriculture, the famine of 1932–1933, the Great Purge of the 1930s and the Gulag labor-camp system. Millions of people died as a result of his policies. He also led the Soviet Union during World War II.
FAQ
What does the name Stalin mean?
It comes from the Russian word for steel, roughly "man of steel."
What other aliases did Stalin use?
Among others, "Koba," a name he used as a young revolutionary.