Thread: Best translation of my name?

I'm Swedish and my name is Johanna. The original pronounciation is "Yohanna" (altough the "o" is really more like Russian "y"...)

I want to keep the original pronounciation when I translate my name into Russian, instead of translating the English pronouncation. But I don't want the spelling to "look" silly or crazy to native Russian speakers.

So, should I write:

Юханна
Йуханна
Йоханна

or perhaps there is a better spelling that I didn't think of?
What sounds and looks the best?

Hope you can help!

Well, Йуханна really looks silly and crazy, and very funny
You can go with Юханна if it's closest to the original name, although it looks unusual. Йоханна or Иоханна are also possible. The both would convey the most "traditional" trasliteration of that name (not particularly Swedish, but all the foreign variations with more or less "German" sounding).
Or, and I forgot about Иоганна/Йоганна. Perhaps it's the most traditional.

Оля, thanks for the warning about the "y"

Using "г" instead of "h" doesn't appeal to me so much... I think I like "х" better.

I'm going to think this over a bit until I make up my mind... But at least with your advice I can rule out the silly options.

Ю is such a funky-looking letter, so I'm tempted to go with that just for this reason.

Originally Posted by Оля

Well, Йуханна really looks silly and crazy, and very funny

Doesn't it look cocky? Maybe it's just me, but I can't refrain from reading Хуйанна. (Haha, it seems the word is banned.)

Originally Posted by Zubr

Doesn't it look cocky?

No, just funny. It could call up the associations with the banned word you thought about, but not that strongly.

Не знаю-не знаю, я вот сразу выражение «иди на [s:tfeu0okr]юг[/s:tfeu0okr] йух» вспомнила (именно в таком написании). Так что опасения Зубра не беспочвенны.

Originally Posted by Оля

You can go with Юханна if it's closest to the original name, although it looks unusual.

Not so unusual for a Scandinavian name. I have run across its male version, Юхан (the traditional Russian transliteration of the Swedish "Johan"), quite a few times, both in books and in the media.

Haha, thanks everyone, I don't want to risk any such associations, so the "y" is out!

I'll go for "Йо" or "Ю" for the beginning.

It seems that German-speakers with this name use "Йо" for example Johanna Spyri who wrote "Heidi". The pronounciation is almost the same.

It was interesting to read that some Swedish people are using the Ю spelling. My name is the female version of Johan, which has the same origin as Russian "Ivan".

Perhaps I was too quick to rule out the suggestion to use "Г" to replace "H" !

Which sounds / looks better to a Russian person:
Йоханна OR Йоганна ?


It's fun to have choice in this matter! I have come across some Russian people online who have transliterated their name in an unattractive way, although they probably didn't realise it. It is definitely worth taking a sec to consider.

There is a southern Slavic version of your name: Ивана. (the stress is on the middle a), but it's not a Russian version.

Originally Posted by Johanna

Which sounds / looks better to a Russian person:
Йоханна OR Йоганна ?

It is probably a matter of personal preference, but I vote Йоханна.

Originally Posted by Johanna

Which sounds / looks better to a Russian person:
Йоханна OR Йоганна ?

I'd say that they both look and sound equally good.

"Yohanna"="Йоханна" here's an example.

Originally Posted by studyr

"Yohanna"="Йоханна" here's an example.

Это исландская певица, а мы говорим о шведском имени Jonanna.
Французское Jean и английское Jean на русский переводятся совершенно по-разному, так что эта ссылка вряд ли может служить доказательством чего бы то ни было .

Originally Posted by translationsnmru

Originally Posted by studyr

"Yohanna"="Йоханна" here's an example.

Это исландская певица, а мы говорим о шведском имени Jonanna.

+1 И то имя пишется Jóhanna.
Я нагуглила пару имен шведских спортсменок, там были Йоханна и Юханна (причем имя одной из них писали так и так, в разных источниках, конечно). Но зная, как часто имена спортсменов переводят неправильно или не совсем правильно, не хотела здесь о них писать. )

Frankly speaking, if I needed the translation badly, I would ask here, which variant is better/preferable/used more often:
http://www.trworkshop.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=35
(the subforum "Скандинавский (северогерманский) полуостров")

Вот тема, в которой обсуждали перевод имени Johan и не только его :
http://www.trworkshop.net/forum/view...160585#p160585

This is really interesting. The Finnish and Icelandic names are pronounced the same way, so that's a very relevant comparison I lean towards "Ю" simply because it's one of the coolest looking cyrillic letters.
On the other hand "Йо" being perhaps more common and recognisable.

I did a Russian for a while in school (but learnt hardly anything) and the teacher (an Estonian) said it was necessary to "russify" names of the pupils where at all possible, so my name was "Ivana" as Ramil's post said.

So all is resolved apart from the first letter(s) which seems to be a matter of style, nothing completely right or wrong.

A Swedish person who lives in Russia is warning on her blog that non-Russians moving there should decide on the translitteration of their names before moving, because if they decide they want to change it, it's very problematic. She explained how some people end up in awkward situations because their name was translitterated incorrectly by an official or by themselves.