Thread: Select a Russian name for me

Originally Posted by rockzmom

thelaxu, take a deep breath. No one is attacking you. Especially NOT me. Yes, people often change their name when there is a great language difference to make it easier for the new adopted country to be able to pronounce their name AND for the new immigrant to fit in.

something I could never understand; the name changing part, I mean. It drove me up the wall when people called me my English name equivalent instead of my real one, same as it bugged me my name kept being misspelled according to the English rules, no matter how many times I have pointed out it's spelt with a "K" rather than "C" and a single "l".
So yeah, I'm with Olya on this one, I just don't understand why would anyone feel the urge to get a new name when starting to learn a language/going to a foreign country. Unless, of course, their name is one hell of a difficult one to pronounce.

Originally Posted by kamka

Originally Posted by rockzmom

thelaxu, take a deep breath. No one is attacking you. Especially NOT me. Yes, people often change their name when there is a great language difference to make it easier for the new adopted country to be able to pronounce their name AND for the new immigrant to fit in.

something I could never understand; the name changing part, I mean. It drove me up the wall when people called me my English name equivalent instead of my real one, same as it bugged me my name kept being misspelled according to the English rules, no matter how many times I have pointed out it's spelt with a "K" rather than "C" and a single "l".
So yeah, I'm with Olya on this one, I just don't understand why would anyone feel the urge to get a new name when starting to learn a language/going to a foreign country. Unless, of course, their name is one hell of a difficult one to pronounce.

Okay, I can tell you about how it is in schools here and with SPANISH!

If your name is say Mary, the teacher will call you Maria. If your name is George, you would become Jorge and Joe becomes Jose. They have done this in MANY of the classes my girls have taken.

So, this is a common thing. It was such a BIG deal when we were selecting baby names we had to see how would they convert to Spanish and what would the nicknames be in Spanish?

Example: I loved the name Faith an how it would flow with our last name, yet in Spanish Faith is Fe and it is close to Feo which means UGLY, so they tease the girls and call them Feo, or ugly so hubby said NO WAY we could not call our daughter Faith, even in English because of how it would translate.

So, it is something "we" are trained to do... Another "You" vs. "Us" thing.

But with thelaxu... I did not get why he did not have a list of names he might already like and THEN ask people about them to see if he was making a big mistake with his choice or ask how they sounded?

And he never answered my question about what was wrong with the names that were suggested to him.

Originally Posted by kamka

It drove me up the wall when people called me my English name equivalent instead of my real one

That's because we just can't understand anything that is not the norm!

Originally Posted by rockzmom

Example: I loved the name Faith an how it would flow with our last name, yet in Spanish Faith is Fe and it is close to Feo which means UGLY, so they tease the girls and call them Feo, or ugly so hubby said NO WAY we could not call our daughter Faith, even in English because of how it would translate.

well, but in this case it's quite understandable; say I was living in Great Britain, and I was to have a child with an Englishman, I would definitely choose an English name that's rather easy to pronounce in Polish, so that my child would not become "Sef" instead of "Seth" once he came to visit his grandparents, if you know what I mean

Originally Posted by rockzmom

That's because we just can't understand anything that is not the norm!

now, now, Kamila vs Camille is just not THAT far away from the norm!

Майкл is very easily pronounce and well-known name in Russian. I do not understand for what purpose you want to change it. Anyway, here is my value judgment:
1-2 horrible word-combination
3-4 bad word-combination
5-6 neutral word-combination
7-8 good word-combination
9-10 gorgeous word-combination

2 Аарон Швед
3 Абрам Швед
5 Адам Швед
6 Александр Швед
2 Амос Швед
5 Андрей Швед
5 Артём Швед
5 Вадим Швед
4 Вениамин Швед
6 Виктор Швед
4 Владимир Швед
4 Гавриил Швед
4 Давид Швед
4 Даниил Швед
5 Денис Швед
5 Дмитрий Швед
4 Иаков Швед
3 Иасон Швед
5 Иван Швед
1 Иеремия Швед
1 Иессей Швед
1 Иисус Швед
5 Илья Швед
3 Иоанн Швед
3 Иов Швед
2 Иоиль Швед
6 Иосиф Швед
4 Иосия Швед
4 Исаак Швед
4 Исай Швед
1 Иуда Швед
7 Константин Швед
3 Левий Швед
3 Лука Швед
5 Максим Швед
3 Марка Швед
4 Матвей Швед
6 Михаил Швед
4 Михей Швед
4 Моисей Швед
6 Николай Швед
2 Ноа Швед
4 Осип Швед
6 Павел Швед
6 Пётр Швед
6 Роман Швед
5 Самуил Швед
3 Сиф Швед
6 Стефан Швед
5 Тимофей Швед
5 Филипп Швед
4 Фома Швед
6 Юрий Швед
3 Яков Швед
5 Ярослав Швед

Аарон sounds biblical or Jewish
Абрам it's rare; I think only a Jew can have this name
Адам sounds biblical or Jewish
Амос I have never heard about any Russian with this name
Гавриил sounds biblical; non biblical would be Гаврила, but it's outdated anyway
Иаков biblical/historical only
Иасон sounds biblical
Иеремия biblical only
Иессей sounds biblical
Иисус biblical ONLY
Иоанн biblical/historical only
Иов biblical only
Иоиль I have never heard this name at all; if it's a name, it sounds biblical
Иосия sounds biblical
Исаак it's rare; I think only a Jew can have this name
Исай sounds biblical
Иуда biblical ONLY!
Левий biblical only
Лука very old-fashioned
Марка maybe you mean Марк? It's not Russian; and it's rare in Russia, in any case
Михей very old-fashioned
Моисей it's rare; I think only a Jew can have this name
Ноа I would never even guess that it's a name!
Самуил biblical / non-Russian / very rare
Сиф only in a nightmare THIS could be a name in Russian... I couldn't even guess that it's a name
Стефан non-Russian; in Russian it would be Степан
Фома very old-fashioned

I wonder where you got this list from...

Are you happy now?

Yes, I'm happy now!

I'm 95% closer to reaching a decision.

Although, if others want to give their opinion please do.

Originally Posted by rockzmom

But with thelaxu... I did not get why he did not have a list of names he might already like and THEN ask people about them to see if he was making a big mistake with his choice or ask how they sounded?

I don't speak Russian. It's kind of like choosing Chinese names that sound good to me but would probably sound atrocious to a Chinese person.

Originally Posted by rockzmom

And he never answered my question about what was wrong with the names that were suggested to him.

I don't speak Russian. I don't know which were best.

Originally Posted by delog

Майкл is very easily pronounce and well-known name in Russian. I do not understand for what purpose you want to change it.

My name isn't Michael. I was just using it as an example.

I don't speak Russian. I didn’t know which were best.

I am now in front of public computer. I did not bring my laptop with me. I just came from work. But once I get hold of mine, I will give you the cyrrillic equivalent of the name I am suggesting.

Mischa - named after the best spymaster in the world next to Vladimir Putin, one of the only two professional spies in the world. The rest are amateurs.

Мисша

миша