“The Main Directorate of Censorship discussed the problem of horse names...”

In 1852, on the initiative of the trustee of the Moscow educational district, V.I. Nazimova The Main Directorate of Censorship discussed the problem of horse names. A cautious censor expressed doubts about the fact that many horses participating in the Moscow races are named after saints (Magdalene, Margarita, Agla, Samson, etc.). Are the saints not compromised by this? The Board considered that "it would be desirable that the names of horses be borrowed only from objects that cannot attract the attention of censorial severity", but race horses have pedigrees, so the existing practice cannot be changed.

Gennady Zhirkov, "The History of Censorship in Russia in the 19th-20th Centuries", 2001