Thread: Volodya vs Vova

I was aware Volodya was short for Vladimir, but until recently had no idea Vova is as well. I was just curious if one is more standard over the other (I would assume Volodya is since I knew about that one!) and is there like a default? I know it is normally just used between friends/family in which case they should just "know" what people call you, but is there a reason people opt towards one over the other?

Also, any pronunciation help for Volodymyr? I never got that one answered, I went with Russian spelling in my name so not exactly a crucial question, just curious (Vladimir was added as a middle name when I was Christmated into the Orthodox Church with St. Vladimir as my Patron Saint). Is it just like it is spelled? "Voh-loh-di-mir"? Or more like "Vah-lah-di-mir"? I know no Ukrainian so...

Originally Posted by Volodymyr

I was aware Volodya was short for Vladimir, but until recently had no idea Vova is as well. I was just curious if one is more standard over the other (I would assume Volodya is since I knew about that one!) and is there like a default? I know it is normally just used between friends/family in which case they should just "know" what people call you, but is there a reason people opt towards one over the other?

Also, any pronunciation help for Volodymyr? I never got that one answered, I went with Russian spelling in my name so not exactly a crucial question, just curious (Vladimir was added as a middle name when I was Christmated into the Orthodox Church with St. Vladimir as my Patron Saint). Is it just like it is spelled? "Voh-loh-di-mir"? Or more like "Vah-lah-di-mir"? I know no Ukrainian so...

Vova is a rather common shortening of Vladimir, although it is used mostly for children. Also Vovochka.
The name is spelled Владимир (Vladimir, not Volodymyr). Vluh-dee-mir.
It is formed from Владеть Миром.

Originally Posted by Ramil

Vova is a rather common shortening of Vladimir, although it is used mostly for children. Also Vovochka.
The name is spelled Владимир (Vladimir, not Volodymyr). Vluh-dee-mir.
It is formed from Владеть Миром.

Yes, but my understanding is traditionally Ukrainian spelling is Volodymyr, the only answer I have ever gotten for pronunciation was "of course it is not pronounced the same," but no more replies to back that up, and no replies of the actual pronunciation.

Was curious because Saint Vladimir is frequently named as Saint Volodymyr, and my heritage is probably actually Ukrainian (we know little about my grandpa's childhood, we do not even know what his real name was unfortunately, which makes finding any family basically impossible ).

Originally Posted by Volodymyr

traditionally Ukrainian spelling is Volodymyr

traditionally Ukrainian spelling is Cyrillic Володимир .
The pronunciation of Ukranian И is very close to Russian Ы -[Volodymyr] [Володымыр]

Originally Posted by Ramil

It is formed from Владеть Миром.

It is a popular Russian delusion.
Old Russian Володимѣръ, Old Church Slavonic Владимѣръ/Владимръ .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_%28name%29

Modern diminutive form Володя is a form of old East Slavonic name Володимѣръ (not used in modern Russian but used in modern Ukranian)
Modern full form Владимир a form of Church Slavonic name Владимѣръ. Full "official" (written in documents) forms of Russian names were the names given in church while christening. These names were on Church Slavonic.

Originally Posted by Volodymyr

Yes, but my understanding is traditionally Ukrainian spelling is Volodymyr, the only answer I have ever gotten for pronunciation was "of course it is not pronounced the same," but no more replies to back that up, and no replies of the actual pronunciation.

So you like to pronounce it right in Ukrainian? Here are the rules.

1) The third syllable is stressed: VolodYmyr
2) The sound referred to as "y" is Ukrainian "И" = Russian "Ы". It is usually very difficult to pronounce for English-speakers.

To pronounce the sound [ы], it is necessary to open a mouth as for pronouncing [i], thus it is necessary to take tongue back so that its tip doesn’t touch the lower teeth.

3) The sound referred to as "r" is also a big problem. It is called "trilled rolled R" (much like Spanish or Italian one) and it is hard to describe a pronunciation technique.
4) To pronounce the sound referred to as "d" you should touch the back of the upper front teeth by your tongue tip.

All the rest is more or less as in English.

Though I doubt you will be able to pronounce it completely correctly unless you work hard learning the (Ukrainian) language, listen much and train pronunciation.

Originally Posted by it-ogo

Originally Posted by Volodymyr

Yes, but my understanding is traditionally Ukrainian spelling is Volodymyr, the only answer I have ever gotten for pronunciation was "of course it is not pronounced the same," but no more replies to back that up, and no replies of the actual pronunciation.

In Ukrainian the pronunciation of this name is different than in Russian, not only spelling. So you like to pronounce it right in Ukrainian? Here are the rules.

1) The third syllable is stressed: VolodYmyr
2) The sound referred to as "y" is Ukrainian "И" = Russian "Ы". It is usually very difficult to pronounce for English-speakers.

To pronounce the sound [ы], it is necessary to open a mouth as for pronouncing [i], thus it is necessary to take tongue back so that its tip doesn’t touch the lower teeth.

3) The sound referred to as "r" is also a big problem. It is called "trilled rolled R" (much like Spanish or Italian one) and it is hard to describe a pronunciation technique.
4) To pronounce the sound referred to as "d" you should touch the back of the upper front teeth by your tongue tip.

All the rest is more or less as in English.

Though I doubt you will be able to pronounce it completely correctly unless you work hard learning the (Ukrainian) language, listen much and train pronunciation.

I prefer Владимир))). Вова and Володя are not beautiful...

Originally Posted by Сирена

Вова and Володя are not beautiful...

You just haven't met a beautiful one.

Вован, Вовчик, Вов