Advertisements
Advertisements
Howdy, folks!
Well, I'm getting ready to head out soon, but I was just 'lurking' a bit, reading posts, and I thought of something. Perhaps it's old news to some of you; perhaps it's not even applicable. But - even if just for the sake of something interest you might not have known, I'd like to list typical nicknames your kids' went by while in Russia. I think there are a couple of reasons - first, babies and kids never actually hear someone call them 'Aleksandr' or 'Galina' or 'Nikolai'. They probably don't even know that those are their names, 'cause all kids go by nicknames.
I'm thinking, especially during the first few weeks/months, it would be a pretty comforting thing to call them by the name they've been accustomed to being called. When you see a name on a paper you'll be seeing their 'official' name. It might be kinda cool if you know their 'pet' or 'nickname'.
So, here goes (these are all I can think up at the moment; if I think of more later I'll add them):
Aleksander - Sasha, sometimes Sanya
Aleksandra - Sasha; Shura
Nikolai - Kolya
Sergey - Seryozha/Seryoga
Galina - Galya
Anastasia - Nastya
Anna - Anya
Aleksei - Alyosha/Lyosha, Lyoha
Ivan - Vanya
Denis - Denis; sometimes Den
Pavel/Paul - Pasha
Yakov - Yasha
Lyubov - Lyuba
Vasily - Vasya
Vitalii - Vitya
Viktor - Vitya
Mikhail - Misha
Georgii - Gosha/Igor
Vladimir - Vova/Volodya
Gennady - Genya/Gosha
Nina - Nina
Nikita - Nikita
Marina - Marina
Maria - Masha
Dmitrii - Dima
Tatyana - Tanya
Andrey - Andryusha/Andryuha
Yulia - Yulia
Valentin - Valya
Valentina - Valya/Valyusha
Konstantin - Kostya
Olga - Olya
Nadezhda - Nadya
Vadim - Vadik
Evgeny - Zhenya
Evgenia - Zhenya
Leonid - Lyonya
Boris - Borya
Natalya - Natasha
Anatoly - Tolya
Yuri - Yura
Maxim - Max
Artyom - Tyoma
Margarita - Rita
Iilya - Ilyusha
Svetlana - Svyeta
Valerii - Valera
Valera - Lyera
Lyudmilla - Lyuda
There are many more; just thought I'd give you a bit of a 'general' list. Hope it was interesting, or, even better, it helped!
-RussianJen <><
Like
Share
View All Previous Posts
Our daughter is Veronika and most often they called her NEETCHKA-I spelled it phonetically.
I thought that nickname would "stick" when we got home as we felt Veronika was a long name for a little 15 month old. We spent time talking about if we would call her Nikka or Nikki or Ronni (my husband hated that one). Nothing seemed to "fit". Sometimes I will call her Neetchka but for the most part she is Veronika.
Has anyone else had a nickname that "sticks"?
DelMarie
Like
Share
Advertisements
Hi There! I love all the nicknames they have for these kiddos. We had Andrei and they called him "Andrewuska".
Like
Share
We had a Danilla (sounds like vanilla) for Danil and Vanya for Valentina.
When our son first met his sister we introduced her to him with her new name and he immediately started calling her the Russian nickname - so Sophia was Sofa for Sam for many months. I tried to get Fia to stick (because I figured that was better than ending up with couch as a nickname later on) but he started shortening it to just Sof and that's pretty much what he still calls her today.
Like
Share
Our daughter's name was Anzhelika. Our translator brought her into the room and didn't know of a nickname for her. Has anyone heard of one? I just always tell her she's our little angel! :wings:
Like
Share
Lou Lou - according to the Russian name site I found Anzhelika = Anzhela, Lika for nicknames...
Like
Share
Advertisements
LouLouBelle...the referral we went to meet and lost was Anzelika and was called "Anzela"
Our Hannah was Margarita and was called "Rita"...I can still hear it now...with that sharp "R" and the flip of the tongue...rrr EAT ta! She never answered it after we took her out of the orphanage, so I don't know if they called her even by her nickname that often.
Jen, thank you! It is funny that you listed Margarita b/c everyone was so surprised when they heard her name...they would say.."that is not a Russian name!" But I was told by our case manager that Rita is very common, and probably short for Margarita.
Like
Share
The -ka ending is a dimunitive (sp?) of the name. For example, I have a cousin named Yulia, the family called her Yul'ka when she was little. It's something you'd say to a child or a close friend. I have another cousin named Dmitriy, his nickname is Dima, but the family calls him Dimka.
Hope that helped.
Like
Share
Thanks Ktates and Amy! It's funny. The doctor/director of her orphanage is talking to her and helping her walk in her referral video. I can still hear the voice clear as day in my head calling her Anzhela. Funny that didn't come to mind when I posted earler. Thanks again!:)
Like
Share
Dear Aleea --
The diminutive idea sticks with me. One of our cats is "Dymka Padooshka" (smoky pillow). Daughter (Karina) is often "Karinka" -- usually when we're trying to loveingly reason with her. So the "ka" is ever-useful to us!
Like
Share
Advertisements
Our son's name was Daniil, and he was called what I thought was Danuka. We Americanized his name to Daniel, but I still occasionally call him Danuka.
A Russian acquaintance here insists that it must have been Danushka, not Danuka. Jen - any idea which is the "real" nickname? I swear I heard "Danuka", said several times endearingly by one of the caregivers.
Like
Share
emjay
Our son's name was Daniil, and he was called what I thought was Danuka. We Americanized his name to Daniel, but I still occasionally call him Danuka.
A Russian acquaintance here insists that it must have been Danushka, not Danuka. Jen - any idea which is the "real" nickname? I swear I heard "Danuka", said several times endearingly by one of the caregivers.
The most common nickname for Daniil is 'Danya'; Danyushka would be an endearing version of that nickname. I've never heard Danuka, but then, we have 8 Vasily's and I've never heard 'Vasha', either. Just like in the States, nicknames get their own special meaning sometimes (like my sister - the nickname 'Bug' stuck when she was about 2), or perhaps it was the lady's accent that sounded that way to you - in different parts of Russia people speak a bit differently.
The only reason I think it WOULDN'T be 'Danuka' would be because 'Nu-ka' (said as one syllable) means 'c'mon now' or 'Oh, brother' - that type of a translation - therefore if I heard 'Danuka' I wouldn't be thinking of a name, I'd be thinking 'what's she saying that about?'
Anyway, one can never tell. There are lots of names and lots of nicknames out there, who knows? Could you imagine trying to explain all the nicknames we have here in the USA to someone in another country??? :)
-RussianJen <><
Like
Share
emjay
Our son's name was Daniil, and he was called what I thought was Danuka. We Americanized his name to Daniel, but I still occasionally call him Danuka.
A Russian acquaintance here insists that it must have been Danushka, not Danuka. Jen - any idea which is the "real" nickname? I swear I heard "Danuka", said several times endearingly by one of the caregivers.
Could it have been "Danilka?"
Like
Share
Our son was called Vanushka (for Ivan) in the baby home also. We were told that when he got older than baby age, he'd then be called Vanya.
Like
Share
Advertisements
Antonina's nickname was Tonya. I'd already decided to name her Antonina because I thought it was a beautiful name but have to say when I heard all Russia persons involved in Trip 1 say TON-YA I decided this shortened version was not for me, it was almost in the same catagory as ATTENTION!!
Like
Share
We have our beauties Vera and Elena. Both were called by those names in their baby home, but the pronounciation was different. Vera sounded like V-AIR-a (heavy r roll) and Elena sounded like E-lay-YEN-a.
This is interesting. Keep them coming.:popcorn:
Like
Share