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Was Joseph Stalin’s real name?

By Karen Hill

Iosif Dzhugashvili was Joseph Stalin’s given name. Iosif is “Joseph” in Russian.

He was known to his parents, however, as “Soso.”

He adopted the name Stalin, meaning “man of steel,” sometime around 1912, right after he was elected to the Communist Party’s Central Committee.

Joseph Stalin was a World War II leader and was on the cover of Time magazine the most.

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Filed Under: History

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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