Vasily Orlov-Denisov

Count Vasily Vasilyevich Orlov-Denisov was a Russian Cossack general. He was the son of Vasily Petrovich Orlov, the ataman of the Don Cossacks, and grandson of the first Cossack count, Fyodor Petrovich Denisov. In honour of his grandfather, he added his surname to his own, becoming Orlov-Denisov on 26 April 1801.
Vasily Orlov-Denisov is not to be confused with Vasily "Vas'ka" Denisov, who appears as a fictional character in Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace. Tolstoy has said the similarity in names was a mistake on his part, arising from the "specially typical character" of Orlov-Denisov. He insisted that "nothing resembling the actual facts of life is ascribed to in the novel."