In my article "Annotations to Ada's Scrabble Game"
(in the latest issue of The Nabokovian) I mention Chernomordik,* "the rather improbable but
funny name of the chemist in Chekhov’s story Aptekarsha (“The Chemist’s Wife,”
1886)." I was surprised to learn that in the 1880s the owner of a
savings bank in Arbat Street in Moscow was one
Chernomordik:
Âëàñ: Ñåãîäíÿ óòðîì ïåðåäàë
êàïèòàë ×åðíîìîðäèêó (õîçÿèí ññóäíîé êàññû íà Àðáàòå, â êîòîðîé ìû õðîíè÷åñêè
çàêëàäûâàëè âåùè).
Ðåïîðò¸ð: ×åðíîìîðäèêó?
çà÷åì? (A. V. Amfiteatrov, "From Literary Reminiscences,"
XIV)
Btw., Fa-Mi was Amfiteatrov's pen (not "stage") name.
*from chyornaya morda (“black muzzle”)
Alexey
Sklyarenko