Update [1 July 2026]: The author has a new website at this address. She may make minor changes to the present site, but it should be considered archived. Please see her new site for the most up-to-date information.

Update [16 May 2026]: I've changed my full name and am updating it in professional contexts, including new publications. Materials may show either my old or new name while the change propagates. This site's address will also change in due course. Please see here for details.

Home / Papers and talks / Self-definition

Esmeralda S. Whitammer (also “Nikolay Malkin” in older records)
Questions about my name

Short guidelines

Please call me Esmeralda (she/they) by default.

Exceptions:

  • Anything already announced with my old name, such as citing papers published by “Nikolay Malkin”;
  • Certain administrative and legal settings (not relevant in everyday situations);
  • Clarifying to those who know me by my old name that I am the same person.

Questions and answers

Few people afford themselves the luxury of self-definition, and I am lucky to be one of them. Below are the answers to some common questions. Please ask if you have any others: it is better to ask than to avoid or to assume.

Why?

Why did you change your first name?

I felt it better suits me and how I wish to be known. (Others happened to agree.)

Why did you change your surname?

I felt it better suits me and how I wish to be known. (Others happened to agree.)

When did you start using this name?

Gradually in all settings. In social contexts: from 26 July 2025. In private work contexts: from 31 December 2025. In publicly visible work contexts: from 22 April 2026. This webpage was first published on 16 May 2026.

This website was archived on 1 July 2026 because its address contains my old name. The new one is at this address.

I have seen/used a different version of your old name. It did not seem (male-)gendered to me. What was wrong with it?

My old name has a short form that is standard but may not be recognised as such by people who don't speak Russian. There is no remaining reason to use it, except perhaps for clarification in some cases.

Transitional states

What do you want me to call you?

Please use my new name unless there is a reason not to do so. This means “Esmeralda” if we are on first-name terms, “Dr Whitammer” if the situation calls for a title, and so on.

What are possible reasons to use your old name?

First, documents that used my old name that have a definite or expected date of finalisation should continue to use it. My work should be cited using the name on the most recent version regardless of the publication date, and preprints that first appeared with the old name will use the same when published (with a couple of exceptions in the immediate vicinity of the change). The same goes for any events, talks, and the like if they were announced and advertised with my old name (again with a few exceptions in the immediate vicinity of the change). Because there were many such instances as of May 2026, for a while it will be common to see both names.

Examples
  • If you have invited “Dr Nikolay Malkin” to speak at an event and announced the presentation with that name, introduce them as such before their talk unless they request otherwise.
  • The following citation is correct: “N. Malkin, Y. Bengio. Machine learning and information theory concepts towards an AI Mathematician. Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, 2024”. (It would be incorrect to use the new name here.)
  • The following citation is correct: “L.M. Bhamidipaty, E.S. Whitammer, D. Abel, M.J. Kochenderfer, S. Ramamoorthy. Imperfect world models are exploitable. Preprint, 2026”. (It would be incorrect to use the old name here.)
  • The following citation is also correct: “A. Carter, S. Choi, K. Tamogashev, V. Elvira, E.S. Whitammer. Discrete diffusion samplers and bridges: Off-policy algorithms and applications in latent spaces. ICML 2026”. (The first preprint version of this paper was published with the old name, but the latest preprint and the published version use the new one, so the latter is correct to use.)

Second, it may sometimes be needed to clarify that the old and new names refer to the same person in order to maintain recognition of my person and work. In such cases, it is fine to write or say that I have been known as or have published as “Nikolay Malkin”, or to direct them to this page. Please prefer clarity over avoidance; I am not trying to hide the past but only to move forward from it.

Examples
  • The biographies on the main page are examples of such clarifications in written form.
  • When telling someone that you collaborate with me, you may wish to say that you are working with Esmeralda Whitammer, but add that she was also called “Nikolay Malkin” and that her name has changed. No need to overexplain or justify the change.
  • If someone refers to a person called “Nikolay Malkin”, you can point out that that person's name has changed and use their new name in the rest of the conversation.

Finally, it may be necessary to use the old name for other administrative and official purposes. Whilst I have made the change official under UK law, it will take time for all systems to be updated. Ask if unsure if this applies to a given situation.

Examples
  • If you have invited me to an event and need to book a hotel or fill out an expense report, ask me what name to use. (The answer will depend on the location and time.)
  • If a system (such as a department website) shows my old name, this is not by itself sufficient reason to use it in communications.

For University of Edinburgh people who may be reading this page, please ask me directly about the state of updates to internal systems.

How long will the transition period last?

I will use both names for as long as it takes for the new one to be widely recognised as referring to me. Emails, websites, and other materials will be updated gradually and may show either name for a while. In the infinite-time limit, I expect to use only the new name.

Can I use your new first name with your old surname or vice versa?

No.

Other questions

What about pronouns and gender agreement?

In English, I prefer she or they. Many people find it easiest to use they with my old name and she with the new one.

En français, je préfère les pronoms elle ou iel (accords au féminin dans les deux cas). Vous le trouverez peut-être plus facile d'utiliser iel avec mon ancien nom et elle avec le nouveau.

Я предпочитаю местоимение она и соответствующие формы грамматического согласования. Я понимаю, что это может быть затруднительно в сочетании с моим бывшим именем. Если по каким-либо причинам вам приходится использовать его, пожалуйста, старайтесь подбирать нейтральные конструкции при возможности.

How do you pronounce your name?

The first name: the way you'd expect in English, with secondary stress on the first syllable and primary stress on the third. (I say the first syllable as /ɛs/ rather than /ɛz/, but both are fine. There seems to be some dialectal/idiolectal variation in the pronunciation of the third (stressed) syllable; please use whatever sounds most natural to you.)

The surname: with primary stress on the first syllable and secondary stress on the second, meaning the ‘a’ is not reduced.

What's up with the surname?

To my knowledge, I am the only person to have borne the surname “Whitammer”, although it has a plausible etymology. One could say it is as unique as the person to whom it belongs, which is a nice property for denotations in general.

Can I shorten your name?

No, unless I've told you how.

What does the S stand for?

If we know each other well, I'll tell you.

What do I call you in other languages?

Please use the same name or phonetically reasonable approximations in all languages by default.

In Russian, I sometimes use a different surname (and a patronymic in place of the middle name, if required) to fit the language better. Please ask if this is relevant.