About Leo Expertise I was born in the form. USSR. I`m a native Russian speaker and have a first-hand experience in Russian language, culture, and customs.
Question Hi, I am a writter, and in this story i'm writting I have this girl of russian origins Since i don't know much about the russian culture i was thinking of studying a bit of it.
The first problem i found was that the name I wanted to give her was "Yeva Fayina" which if i am not mistaken means "Gives life, and, Free one" in russian. the problem i encountered was that apparently Russian names are always First name plus "otchestvo"(as i've read somewhere) plus last name. and that the last names always end in INA-OVA for girls. So it's kind of a problem, since the name i had was perfect for the character's personality, situations she lives, and above all it had a nice ringing. If you can think of something that might help me on this issue please do.
thank you for your time.
oh yes, if u help me, i'll surely put your name(if u want) in Special thanx of the book.
Answer Hello, Fabio, thank you very much for your question.
I equally enjoy both reading and writing and responding to questions on this site partially satisfy my writing pleasures:)-
1. Yes, Eva=EVELINA: means "life." This name, however, is from Hebrew(Remember Old Testament story of Adam and Eva).
2. And yes,Faina means "free one".
3. In general, a good portion if not an overwhelming majority of names called "Russian", are, in fact, aquired from other cultures: Greek(Leonid), Roman(Valery), French(Nataly), German, Hebrew(Popular name IVAN, for example, is a modified Hebrew name...), Tatar, and many others...
4.The structure of Russian names is described pretty well by you, I just want to make a remark that traditionally, "otchestvo"=patronym, or father's name, played and still playing a huge role in Russian culture and communication totally unknown to 99% of foreigners who don't understand its meaning. Patronym reflects patriarchy, male domination in Russian culture. It reflects enormous respect and deference to the figure of the father and through him to the person carrying father's name... It's a common place in everyday Russian life to hear both men and women addressing each other by their patronyms ONLY!..
5. Personally, I like EVA=EVELINA better than FAINA, it has much higher recognition and popularity due to connection to the biblical text and known by almost anyone, there're many more women with this name compare to those with another one...
6. Here is the opening for you. You may chose a patronym and a surname/last name which could carry additional meaning and "ringing"... I can, DEFINITELY, help you with that:))
7. As for last name, they're quite diverse among Russians. While those ending with -INA/OVA prevail, there's equally huge number ending with -EVA. In Siberia common last names ending with -YKH. A significant number of ethnic Russians carry typical Ukrainian names ending with -KO, -BA, etc. There're many Russians with ancestors, close or distant, who had a mixed origin and who carry German, Armenian, Georgian, and many other names from other ethnic groups...
8. As you can see, the topic "Russian names" is quite complex and is connected to historic and cross-cultural issues to a great degree...
