Quote Originally Posted by BlackMage
Quote Originally Posted by TATY
The proper English form is Helen, or Hellena, Hellen, Helena, Ellen.
Rubbish. Elena is a Russian name, therefore Russians abroad should be called by it. It's a common enough name around here, even for non-Russians.
That is irrelevant.

The name came from Greek and became Yelena in Russian, and Helen, Helena etc. in English.

The names Elena and Lena in English came from other language much more recently.


And why are we on this discussion about translating names. No one in this thread actaully said we should call people by the English equivilents, we just mentioned what they ARE.

Yes, I don't think Russian Ivan should be called John in England, but that doesn't mean we can't discuss the origins of the names and that John is the Russian equivalent of Ivan.