The Russian Federation constitutionally consists of 85 federal subjects, 46 of which are oblasts ("provinces"), 9 are krais ("territories"), 22 are republics (one of them, Crimea, is claimed by Ukraine and not recognised internationally as a part of Russia), four are autonomous okrugs ("districts"), and three are the cities of federal significance (Sevastopol has the same international status as Crimea). The Jewish Autonomous Oblast remains the only example of this type, while other AOs had elevated to republican level in the early 1990s.

Most of Russia's oblasts and krais take their names from their administrative center; while autonomous entities (republics, autonomous okrugs and autonomous oblast) received their names from the native peoples they was created for by the Soviet government in 1920s–30s.

All of oblasts′ names in Russian are based on the following model: "name of the central city" (with a few exceptions) + "-skaya" feminine adjective suffix.

More information English name, Russian name ...

English name	Russian name	Meaning and notes
Amur	Амурская область, Amurskaya oblast′	From the Amur River, which forms the southern border of the region
Arkhangelsk	Архангельская область Arkhangel′skaya oblast′	The region of the city of Arkhangelsk, whose name the inhabitants traditionally associated with a monastery in the area dedicated to the Archangel Michael.
Astrakhan	Астраханская область, Astrakhanskaya oblast′	The region of the city of Astrakhan, whose name is a corruption of old Turkic Haji Tarkhan. Tarkhan is possibly a Turco-Mongolian title standing for "great khan," or "king", while haji or hajji is a title given to one who has made the Islamic requisite of pilgrimage to Mecca.
Belgorod	Белгородская область, Belgorodskaya oblast′	The region of the city of Belgorod, literally "white city". Compare: Belgrade
Bryansk	Брянская область, Bryanskaya oblast′	The region of the city of Bryansk, known in medieval times as Debryansk, from Old East Slavic: дъбръ, romanized: dŭbrŭ, lit. 'dense woodland'
Chelyabinsk	Челябинская область, Chelyabinskaya oblast′	The region of the city of Chelyabinsk. The city (initially a Russian fortress Chelyaba) received its name after a Bashkir locality, whose etymology is disputed. From Turkic title Çelebi From Bashkir siläbe "hollow, depression"
Irkutsk	Иркутская область, Irkutskaya oblast′	The city of Irkutsk was named after the Irkut River with -sk suffix used for names of the cities. Its name was derived from the Buryat word for "spinning," and was used as an ethnonym among local tribes, who were known as Yrkhu, Irkit, Irgit, and Irgyt.
Ivanovo	Ивановская область, Ivanovskaya oblast′	The city of Ivanovo was previously known as Ivanovo-Voznesensk and was formed as a result of the merger of two settlements: Ivanovo — from given name Ivan with typical -ovo suffix. Voznesensk — from Voznesensky posad, a workers′ settlement named after the near Ascension Church (Russian: Вознесение, romanized: Vozneseniye). This part was discarded in 1932 during anti-religious campaign. According to another version, residents criticized the name for being too long.
Kaliningrad	Калининградская область, Kaliningradskaya oblast′	From its center Kaliningrad (Kalinin-city), renamed in 1946 in memory of the recently deceased Soviet leader Mikhail Kalinin. The region itself forms the northern part of former East Prussia.
Kaluga	Калужская область, Kaluzhskaya oblast′	From Old Russian kaluga - "bog, quagmire".[1]
Kemerovo	Кемеровская область, Kemerovskaya oblast′	The city of Kemerovo, region's capital, was named after the surname of the first settlers — Kemerov. The ending "ovo" suggests a toponymic transition through a personal name. Another name of the Kemerovo oblast, Kuzbass, made official in 2020, is a short form of Kuznetsk Basin. This coal-mining region is called after Kuznetsk Alatau mountain range, which was named after Shors, a native people known archaically as Blacksmithing Tatars (Kuznetskiye Tatary), to distinguish these mountains from other Alataus.
Kirov	Кировская область, Kirovskaya oblast′	The city of Vyatka was renamed to Kirov soon after the assassination of Sergei Kirov, a high Soviet official who was born in the region.
Kostroma	Костромская область, Kostromskaya oblast′	The city of Kostroma received its name from the river it stands on.[2] Its etymology is uncertain: Dialectal Kostra — shives Kostroma, Old East Slavic goddess.
Kurgan	Курганская область, Kurganskaya oblast′	From the city of Kurgan. Its name is taken from a burial mound close to the original settlement. The word itself has Turkic origin.
Kursk	Курская область, Kurskaya oblast′	The city of Kursk was named after Kur River. The name relates to a dialect word kur'ya ("long and narrow river bay"),[3] while city's coat of arms with three partridges shows a folk etymology version of the origin of the name (Russian: куропатка, romanized: kuropatka "perdix")
Leningrad	Ленинградская область, Leningradskaya oblast′	The city of Leningrad (Lenin-city) was renamed back to St. Petersburg following the 1991 referendum, but Leningrad Oblast retained its name.[4]
Lipetsk	Липецкая область, Lipetskaya oblast′	From Lipetsk, literally "Linden city"
Magadan	Магаданская область, Magadanskaya oblast′	From its capital, Magadan, which etymology is uncertain: Even word "mongodan" — marine sediment "mongot" — a dried tree, then "mongodan" is a plural of it Even nickname Magda — "rotten hemp"[5]
Moscow	Московская область, Moskovskaya oblast′	Moscow Oblast is the region surrounding Russia's capital Moscow. See Moscow below. Its unofficial name Podmoskovye[6] (Russian: Подмосковье) literally means "under Moscow"
Murmansk	Мурманская область, Murmanskaya oblast′	Murmansk, region's capital, is named for the Murman Coast (Murmanskiy bereg), which is in turn derived from an archaic term in Russian for "Norwegian".
Nizhny Novgorod	Нижегородская область, Nizhegorodskaya oblast′	Nizhny Novgorod literally means "Lower New Town". The prefix "lower" is used to distinguish it from Veliky Novgorod ("Great New Town") and Novhorod-Siverskyi ("New Town in Severia"). Russian name for this oblast is Nizhegorodskaya (literally "of Lower Town"), and not Nizhne(-)novgorodskaya as one might expect.
Novgorod	Новгородская область, Novgorodskaya oblast′	Literally "Region of New Town", after its capital Veliky Novgorod, which means "Great New Town" as stated above. Before 1999 was known as just Novgorod.
Novosibirsk	Новосибирская область, Novosibirskaya oblast′	Literally "Region of New Siberian Town"
Omsk	Омская область, Omskaya oblast′	The name of Omsk city is derived from the Om River which in turn is probably originates from the Baraba Tatar om "quiet".[7]
Orenburg	Оренбургская область, Orenburgskaya oblast′	The city of Orenburg (Or River + German: Burg "castle") was founded near the meeting of the Or and Ural rivers, but was later moved down the Ural. The initial place of the fortress became known as Orsk.
Oryol	Орловская область, Orlovskaya oblast′	From Oryol, literally "eagle"
Penza	Пензенская область, Penzenskaya oblast′	City of Penza is named after Penza River, whose name possibly comes from Mordvin for edge, end, border or muddy, swampy Proto-Mari for stream[8] an ancient Mordovian male given name Piyanza.[9]
Pskov	Псковская область, Pskovskaya oblast′	The name of the main city, originally Pleskov (historic Russian spelling Плѣсковъ, Plěskov), may be loosely translated as "[the town] of purling waters".
Rostov	Ростовская область, Rostovskaya oblast′	The city of Rostov on Don originates from a fortress named for Dimitry of Rostov, a metropolitan bishop of the old northern town of Rostov the Great. The word "Rostov" is usually associated with a personal name Rost (lit. "growth"). Compare: Rostislav
Ryazan	Рязанская область, Ryazanskaya oblast′	The region was named after its capital, which was initially known as Pereyaslavl-Ryazansky and officially took the name of ancient city of Ryazan in 1778. The original Ryazan, the capital of medieval principality, was devastated by Mongols in 1237. The name of the city is an Old Russian possessive adjective Рѣзань (Rězan′), related with archaic male given name Rezan, which is a short form of rezanny "[child] cutted from [the womb]"[10] The city possibly retained its name after the surrounding region, which in the Middle Ages was allegedly "cut off" from another Rus' lands by dense forests and swamps. Vladimir Minorsky connected Ryazan with Arthania.[11]
Sakhalin	Сахалинская область, Sakhalinskaya oblast′	This region received its name from its largest island, which name is supposed to originate from Manchu Saghalien ula anga hata "island in the mouth of Black River." Thus Sakhalin is "Black"
Samara	Самарская область, Samarskaya oblast′	Regional center Samara is named after Samara River, which etymology is uncertain: from Indo-Iranian for "summer river/water"[12] from Tatar and Chuvash samar, Kalmyk samr "bag, bowl"
Saratov	Саратовская область, Saratovskaya oblast′	From Turkic Sary Tau "Yellow Mountain", russianized as Saratov (meaningless Sarat + -ov suffix) or Sar Atau "Boggy Island".
Smolensk	Смоленская область, Smolenskaya oblast′	From the city of Smolensk on Smolnya River (smola "resin" or smol′ "black soil")
Sverdlovsk	Свердловская область, Sverdlovskaya oblast′	Regional center Ekaterinburg was known as Sverdlovsk in 1924–91 after the early Soviet leader Yakov Sverdlov.
Tambov	Тамбовская область, Tambovskaya oblast′	The name "Tambov" originates from Moksha "томба" (tomba) meaning "abyss",[13][14] or "deep pool".
Tomsk	Томская область, Tomskaya oblast′	The city of Tomsk is located on the bank of the Tom River, which name derives from Ket words tom "river" or tuma "dark, black"[15]
Tula	Тульская область, Tul′skaya oblast′	Etymology of Tula
Tver	Тверская область, Tverskaya oblast′	The name of the city of Tver is of Finno-Ugric origin, Tiheverä[16] while folk etymology traces it back to Old Russian tverd′ "fortress" (compare Polish twierdza)
Tyumen	Тюменская область, Tyumenskaya oblast′	In 1586, a fortress was constructed on the site of the former Siberian Tatar town of Chingi-Tura ("city of Chingis"), also known as Tyumen, from the Turkish and Mongol word for "ten thousand"[17] – tumen.
Ulyanovsk	Ульяновская область, Ulyanovskaya oblast′	The city of Simbirsk was renamed Ulyanovsk in 1924 since it was the birthplace of Vladimir Lenin, leader of October Revolution and founder of the Soviet Union, whose actual last name was Ulyanov.
Vladimir	Владимирская область, Vladimirskaya oblast′	The city of Vladimir was founded by the Grand Prince Vladimir II Monomakh. See Vladimir (name)#Etymology
Volgograd	Волгоградская область, Volgogradskaya oblast′	Volga River + -grad "town/city" = Volgograd
Vologda	Вологодская область, Vologodskaya oblast′	From Old Veps valgeda (modern vauged) "white"[18][19]
Voronezh	Воронежская область, Voronezhskaya oblast′	from the hypothetical Slavic personal name Voroneg[20] from voron- (Proto-Slavic vorn) in the meaning of "black, dark" and the suffix -ezh (-azh, -ozh). In the 8th - 9th centuries it allegedly marked a vast territory covered with black forests (oak forests) and the main "city" of the early town-planning complex could repeat the name of the region.[21]
Yaroslavl	Ярославская область, Yaroslavskaya oblast′	The city of Yaroslavl was founded by the Grand Prince Yaroslav the Wise and named after him with addition of -l′ suffix.

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