Thread: My Name

I would like to write a letter to someone in Russia and would like to use a good translation of my name. I'd appreciate any help. My name is:

Joseph Moore (the first name I'm sure you're familiar with. My last name is pronounced the same as the word 'more')

Thank you,

- Joseph

Names aren't translated. Why do people keep messing it? It's simply impossible to translate any name. What you were driving at is transliteration.

Your name is transliterated as Джозеф Мор.

At first, I read your last name as the digraph 'oo' in the word 'mood'. Is it confusing from time to time?

if it is 'oo', wouldn't be more like "мур"?

as he said, its sounds like "more"...

Originally Posted by kalinka_vinnie

if it is 'oo', wouldn't be more like "мур"?

Actually 'oo' doesn't always sound like the words "look" or "moose" but also like "moor" or "moorhend" which sound a bit like "more".

Thank you all for your replies. I just assumed that the name Joseph exists in Russian, the same as the Father of the Christ Child.

hm...it is exist, and sounds like Иосиф (like Joseph Stalin, you know...)

Originally Posted by ST

hm...it is exist, and sounds like Иосиф (like Joseph Stalin, you know...)

Exactly what i was going to say.

Originally Posted by Rtyom

Names aren't translated. Why do people keep messing it? It's simply impossible to translate any name. What you were driving at is transliteration.

Your name is transliterated as Джозеф Мор.

At first, I read your last name as the digraph 'oo' in the word 'mood'. Is it confusing from time to time?

You can translate names:

John = Иван
Katherine = Екатерина
Gregory = Григорий

Originally Posted by TATY

You can translate names:

John = Иван
Katherine = Екатерина
Gregory = Григорий

You can find pairs of name of the same origin, but it doesn't mean you can "translate" them.
For me it sounds rediculous when an American or other foreigner says that his name is Иван or Гриша.

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

You can find pairs of name of the same origin, but it doesn't mean you can "translate" them.
For me it sounds rediculous when an American or other foreigner says that his name is Иван or Гриша.

But Ivan isn't such a strange name here... Only the stress is on the I.
Some names you really can translate, but I don't know if anyone would do that because they sound totally different. For example Вера - Faith (I remember reading about a person called Faith in a book once, but I don't know if the name is really that common.)

Я бы не рискнул переводить John как Иван. В России большенство так и будет произносить как Джон.

Does anyone know why there is a strange and ugly tradition to transliterate English or German "h" as "г"?
Johann - Иоганн
Wilhelm - Вильгельм
Hudson - Гудзон
Robin Hood - Робин Гуд
and so on?

Originally Posted by pisces

Does anyone know why there is a strange and ugly tradition to transliterate English or German "h" as "г"?
Johann - Иоганн
Wilhelm - Вильгельм
Hudson - Гудзон
Robin Hood - Робин Гуд
and so on?

May be because it's easier to articulate?

Какая-то фонетическая традиция...

В английском, к примеру, меня раздражает добавление "у": Bernard Shaw - Шо, но не "Шоу" же! Cindy Crawford - Крофорд, но не "Кроуфорд" же! А бывает так вообще наоборот - Longfellow - Лонгфелло!

Isn't it because in old Russian г used to be pronounced H, like in Ukrainian.

Sometimes it's for euphonic effect, like in "Herman".

And why the German names are transliterated so strangely in Russian?
Freud is Фрейд but should be Фройд, Эйнштейн should be Айнштайн...

This is the matter of the common Russian rule---I read it as I see it. Quite common 2-3 centuries ago, and still is as an inextirpated tradition.