Thread: Russian names into Latin letters

Have you thought about how many interesting possibilities are available for a Russian person when translating his or her name into Latin letters?

Or is there some kind of default translation that you have to follow? As far as I know, all major Western European language have a different way of transcribing Russian. Once you leave Eastern Europe it's quite unusual for people to be able to read Cyrillic letters. So there is nothing to stop people from being a bit creative!

For example: Somebody called Евдокимов. (I came across this name on a book) Well, depending on his preference he could write it:

Evdokimov
Jevdokimoff
Yevdokimov
Evdukimof
...and several more possibilities.

A woman could decide to use an "a" at the end of her surname... or not use it. For a woman with the first name Екатерина, the possibilities are almost endless!
Catherine, Katerina, Katarina, Cathrine, Katrin.... Etc!

You could do whatever you wanted with your patronymic, for example turn it into a double barelled name (which sounds aristocratic in Britain.) Or you could say it was your second name or just ignore it.

If somebody translated his name like this: "Eugène Nikolaevich-Smirnoff" or "Eugen Smirnoff" most Europeans would think it sounded interesting and cool. On the other hand, "Evgeny Smirnov" would simply sound "foreign". Most English speakers would not know how to pronounce Evgeny. Both translations are tecnically correct.

It would be intersting to hear how you handle this? Have you just done a "standard" translation into English?

We have a very bureaucratic country here.
We have instructions for everything.

This is a standard for passports:

Выдержка из "Инструкции о порядке оформления и выдачи загранпаспортов"
(Приложение к Приказу МВД России от 26 мая 1997 г. N 310)

Одним из способов отображения российских имен на английском языке является транслитерация, представляющая собой процесс простого замещения букв русского алфавита на соответствующие буквы или сочетания букв английского алфавита.

При этом гласные "а", "е", "е", "и", "о", "у", "ы", "э", "ю", "я" соответственно замещаются на "a", "e", или "ye", "e", или "ye", "i", "o", "u", "y", "e", "yu", "ya" (см. таблицу).

А а - a
Б б - b
В в - v
Г г - g
Д д - d
Е е - ye, e
Е е - ye, e
Ж ж - zh
З з - z
И и - i
Й й - y
К к - k
Л л - l
М м - m
Н н - n
О о - o
П п - p
Р р - r
С с - s
Т т - t
У у - u
Ф ф - f
Х х - kh
Ц ц - ts
Ч ч - ch
Ш ш - sh
Щ щ - shch
Ъ ъ - ''
Ы ы - y
Ь ь - '
Э э - e
Ю ю - yu
Я я - ya


Так называемые дифтонги - сочетания гласной буквы и "й", отражаются следующим образом:
"ай" - "ay"
"ей" - "ey" или "yey"
"ий" - "iy"
"ой" - "oy"
"уй" - "uy"
"ый" - "yy"
"эй" - "ey"
"юй" - "yuy"
"ей" - "yay"

Also, the US Embassy has the following standard:
http://russian.moscow.usembassy.gov/...iteration.html

Originally Posted by Ramil

Так называемые дифтонги - сочетания гласной буквы и "й", отражаются следующим образом:
"ай" - "ay"
"ей" - "ey" или "yey"
"ий" - "iy"
"ой" - "oy"
"уй" - "uy"
"ый" - "yy"
"эй" - "ey"
"юй" - "yuy"
"ей" - "yay"

В моём случае они нарушили собственные правила. Вот как меня обозвали в загранпаспорте:

Interesting.
Well, if you wanted to live in another country I think you could quite easily convince local people to change it to any spelling that you wanted... Just by saying the passport office made a mistake. This name exists in many European countries and it's always spelled with "J" in the beginning, not "Y"...

In fact, the "official" spelling that Ramil gives is only relevant for English speaking countries. Typical!

For example if you went to live in Finland for a while (haha, why not?) there are lots of people there called "Juri" so it would be strange if you used the English spelling. It would seem pretentious or a bit silly.

I know a very Russian girl here in the UK who goes by the name "Natalie" or "Nat" -- a common name in the UK.

My friend Александр Коган (as was written in his Soviet passport) when decideу to get a foreign passport write application to authorities in Odessa to spell his name as Alexander Cohen because he is already used this spelling in his English scientific papers.
But Ukrainian bureaucrats translate his name to Ukranian Олександр Коган and transliterate to Oleksandr Kogan.
It is far enough from desired Alexander Cohen

Originally Posted by Johanna

In fact, the "official" spelling that Ramil gives is only relevant for English speaking countries. Typical!

Indeed! I'm thinking that our bureaucrats don't even suspect that there are other languages than English.
But still, our driving licences have "Permis de Conduire" written on them along with the Russian text (in French).

The example of Alexander Cohen was interesting. Frankly that is probably a more convenient name for him to have if he's going to work in the US.

A while back I was trying to understand the Chechnya war (which I didn't know anything about). I kept coming across the names "Mugamad" and "Mugamedov" (something like that).
I kept thinking "what a strange name, why do they all have this odd name?"

After a while I realised that it was in fact the name that I know as "Mohammed" (The prophet of Islam...). This certainly gave me a new perspective on the strength of Islam in the Caucasus... Eventually I recognised some other moslem names too.

I am not sure if the journalists realised that it was the same name or not. But since they all tend to get the same stories from AP and Radio Liberty... probably not...

-----------------------------------
Actually - I think it matters how you transliterate the name. For Юрий:

"Jurij" and "Juri" are really nice names to me. Sound/look great.

"Yury" on the other hand sounds a bit sinister.

…our bureaucrats don't even suspect that there are other languages than English.

Just a bit off topic, but since ours is a language forum it should be not too far off. It seems to me that there is something not quite right in that phrase. Shouldn’t it be like:
… there are languages other than English or
… there are other languages except English ?
Any suggestions on that, please?

Originally Posted by Ramil

Indeed! I'm thinking that our bureaucrats don't even suspect that there are other languages than English.
But still, our driving licences have "Permis de Conduire" written on them along with the Russian text (in French).

Originally Posted by AlexB

Any suggestions on that, please?

I think Ramil was tired when he wrote this - he doesn't usually make these types of mistakes. Frankly he doesn't need my corrections... But to answer the question: Yes that was not very good English. It's better to say:

"Indeed, I don't think our bureaucrats are even aware that there are other languages than English.... "

OR
"Indeed I don't think are bureacrats even know that foreign languages (apart from English) exist..."


My experience with English as a foreign langauge is that I still sometimes make mistakes if I am very angry or very tired....

Originally Posted by Johanna

I think Ramil was tired when he wrote this - he doesn't usually make these types of mistakes. Frankly he doesn't need my corrections... But to answer the question: Yes that was not very good English. It's better to say:

"Indeed, I don't think our bureaucrats are even aware that there are other languages than English.... "

OR

"Indeed I don't think [s:1jcm8pfd]are[/s:1jcm8pfd] our bureacrats even know that foreign languages (apart from English) exist..."

"Don't even suspect" is a typical Russian expression.

What's the expression? Can you give a full sentence (with easy words... )

I want to add it to my flashcards....

Originally Posted by Johanna

What's the expression? Can you give a full sentence (with easy words... )

I want to add it to my flashcards....

Я думаю, наши чиновники даже не подозревают, что существуют другие языки, кроме английского.

Он даже не подозревает о том, что долги надо отдавать.

Originally Posted by Оля

Originally Posted by Johanna

I think Ramil was tired when he wrote this - he doesn't usually make these types of mistakes. Frankly he doesn't need my corrections... But to answer the question: Yes that was not very good English. It's better to say:

"Indeed, I don't think our bureaucrats are even aware that there are other languages than English.... "

OR

"Indeed I don't think [s:3cp24ks1]are[/s:3cp24ks1] our bureacrats even know that foreign languages (apart from English) exist..."

"Don't even suspect" is a typical Russian expression.

I would have written "I don't think our bureaucrats even suspect that there are other languages besides English and Russian."

Also, from the US stand point.... You can change your name to be anything you want right before you become a US Citizen!!!

Now there is the problem though BEFORE that point. In El Salvador, they use the mother's maiden name and father's name on all documents for identification purposes... so in the US a last name becomes both names.
Example:
Your mom's name is Jones and your dad's name is Smith
Once you get to the US, your new last name will be: Jones Smith
NOT just Smith even if your parents were married. It is a BIG pain. They won't put the Jones as a second middle name either!

Originally Posted by Оля

Originally Posted by Johanna

What's the expression? Can you give a full sentence (with easy words... )

I want to add it to my flashcards....

Я думаю, наши чиновники даже не подозревают, что существуют другие языки, кроме английского.

Он даже не подозревает о том, что долги надо отдавать.

Perfect - thank you so much!

I do not know if it is always that simple, my Visa, which unfortunately I do not have with me at the moment, was spelled differently than others have told me it should be spelled (including my Russian professor, who used to teach Russian in Ukrainian schools )