Rachmaninoff Vs. Rachmaninov?

[chopinfrederic]

Hey everyone, I'm just wondering which one is correct.

[visitor]

[ale_ius]

or
Серге́й Васи́льевич Рахма́нинов
 

[iansinclair]

Cyrillic does not transliterate directly to Roman.  Either is acceptable -- and neither really is exact as to the sound of the syllable.

[mjames]

I don't think it should matter.

[redbaron]

B in Cyrillic is V in English. 'Nuff said.

Americans tend to spell it 'Rachmaninoff' which explains rather a lot...

[jknott]

But final consonants are voiceless in Russian.  Hence final "v" is pronounced "ff".  The "ff" is a more old-fashioned transliteration, following the pronunciation as opposed to simply transliterating the Cyrillic spelling.