MYSTERY SOLVED

I want share with you an interesting discovery I made.  Many have made a great mystery out of the origin of Ayn Rand's name.  Rand said she derived it from her Russian surname, Rosanbaum.  Of course, she would know.

Back in the bad ol' days I was a Russian linguist, and I still practice writing and speaking Russian to maintain a threadbare competency in it.  For some odd reason while doodling in that tongue a few days ago, I wrote out "Rosanbaum" in Russian.  This meant using the Cyrillic alphabet.  Cursive Cyrillic is quite distinct from print Cyrillic (which most English-speakers who recognize that alphabet are familiar with), and it is "Rosanbaum" in cursive Cyrillic that supports Rand's straightforward explanation of the origin of her name.

Take a look ...

Now this ...

"Ayn", a Finnish first name, clearly comes from the last half of "Rosanbaum".  With a little imagination regarding the "R", "Rand" comes from the first half.  Voila!

P.S. One can quibble that the Cyrillic character "3" should be a "c".  Indeed, the "c" may make a better tail to turn the Cyrillic "P" into a Roman "R".  Either way, the result is the same.