A question regarding names of Russian figure skaters | Page 2 | Golden Skate

A question regarding names of Russian figure skaters

Rere

Rinkside
Joined
Oct 22, 2018
Country
Canada
Kolyada’s name already ends with an A. Kolyadaya? Oh dear.

What’s his wife’s last name?

The last names, which are nouns, don't change, as well as names non-Russian in origin (like Zagorsky, or Gurreiro, or Gleykhengauz), so the name Kolyada stays the same in both masculine and feminine. In fact, it does not sound like a Russian name to me, but a Ukrainian one ("kolyada" is a Ukrainian noun meaning Christmas celebration). The "noun name" is a common form for Ukrainian names (like Bayul), as also are names ending in -ko and -enko (Savchenko, Eremenko) - these stay the same for both masculine and feminine as well.

The most common varieties of Russian names (-ov/-ova and -in/-ina) are, basically, adjectives meaning "the son/daughter of", and adjectives for masculine and feminine have different endings in the language. For the nouns/names that end in a consonant, the endings would be -ov/-ova and -ev/eva (Petrova as a descendant of Petr, Voronov as a descendant of someone called Voron (a raven), Tuktamysheva as a russified name for a descendant of Tuktamysh). Now when I think of it, same would be for the names formed by nouns ending in "o" as well - like Yablokov, a descendant of someone called Yabloko (an apple).
For the nouns/names ending in a vowel, the endings are -in and -ina (Mishin as a descendant of Misha, Samarin as a descendant of someone called Samara, Sinitsina as a descendant of someone called Sinitsa (the tit bird).

Kostornaya is also an adjective, so the endings for men and women having this name are different, as the posters above correctly show. These kinds of adjective names usually have endings -oy/-aya, many of them would be Ukrainian in origin as well (i.e. Pogorilaya is an adjective meaning "whose house burned", with Pogorilyi as a masculine form).
 

chanchan

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 16, 2017
In fact, it does not sound like a Russian name to me, but a Ukrainian one ("kolyada" is a Ukrainian noun meaning Christmas celebration).

yeah, kolyada's father comes from Ukraine.
 

Rere

Rinkside
Joined
Oct 22, 2018
Country
Canada
What confuses me more are the diminutive of names, like Alexandra/Sasha

I know! And that's an amazing thing about different cultures and languages! The names in different countries have always fascinated me, and when I was studying English as a foreign language as a kid, my mind was blown with Peggy as diminutive of Margaret (the dictionary said so, and google seems to agree)! :)

Out of modern Russian names and their diminutives, Alexandra/Sasha seems the most unobvious, that's true. On the other hand, Evgenia/Zhenya looks not too obvious either :) Maybe because of compulsory francophonie of the Russian posh families in the olden days, like a name derived from Eugenie?
 

Flying Feijoa

On the Ice
Joined
Sep 22, 2019
Country
New-Zealand
Pogorilaya is an adjective meaning "whose house burned", with Pogorilyi as a masculine form.

:shocked: That sounds like a rather inauspicious name!
Although if your house has burnt and you're still alive, that's something to be positive about...
 

dlco

Rinkside
Joined
Jun 13, 2020
I would love to know why Google Translate always translates the Russian for 'toeloop' into 'sheepskin coat'!
Because Russian word 'тулуп' could mean both English-originated 'toe loop' (jump) and Turkic-originated 'tulup' (animal skin). It's called 'homonyms'.
 

dlco

Rinkside
Joined
Jun 13, 2020
What confuses me more are the diminutive of names, like Alexandra/Sasha
It's easy. Alexandra -> Aleksasha -> Sasha.
'-sha' is common diminutive affectionate posfix, see Mikhail -> Misha, Maria - Masha, Daria -> Dasha, Natalia - Natasha, Alexei -> Alyosha etc.
You can also proceed with Sasha -> Sashura -> Shura. Last diminutive already doesn't have a common phonemes with the original source.
 

macy

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2011
can someone explain if Elena is pronounced as it sounds? if Alena is really Aliona, is Elena Eliona? if not, why is it different vs Alena?
 

ruga

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 20, 2017
can someone explain if Elena is pronounced as it sounds? if Alena is really Aliona, is Elena Eliona? if not, why is it different vs Alena?
The sound -yo- in Russian is written as letter ë which gets replaced with e for some reason (which is also used in Russian and produces -ye- sound). So names such as Fedor or Alena are actually Fiodor and Alyona while Elena or Valeria are pronounced as written.
 

Mawwerg

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 8, 2014
The sound -yo- in Russian is written as letter ë which gets replaced with e for some reason (which is also used in Russian and produces -ye- sound). So names such as Fedor or Alena are actually Fiodor and Alyona while Elena or Valeria are pronounced as written.

Because people now are too lazy to write dots over it.
 

klena

On the Ice
Joined
Aug 23, 2019
can someone explain if Elena is pronounced as it sounds? if Alena is really Aliona, is Elena Eliona? if not, why is it different vs Alena?
Elena is pronounced as Yelena. Alyona is a vernacular version of the name Elena (Yelena), but now it is more becoming an independent name.
 

Alex65

Final Flight
Joined
Aug 11, 2018
Country
Russia
Because people now are too lazy to write dots over it.

My assumption on this score is that it developed in Russia after the 1990s, perhaps this is due to the appearance of computers in governing bodies. At this time, the letters ё and e became equal. No one paid attention to the spelling of words. It affected me personally. Almost 25 years after the registration of the marriage, I had to write an application to change my last name and draw up new documents, because my last name in the passport was Fёdorov, but my wife and my sons Fedorov. And now these are different surnames.:palmf: And my case is not unique.
 

Elana

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 19, 2018
I have a semi-related question that I’ve been wanting to ask for awhile now. Is it common in Russian to name siblings with very similar names? I’m from the US and don’t see it to this extent here. One example would be Anna Shcherbakova and her sisters. They are named Inna, Anna, and Yana. Anna and Yana especially are so similar just one has a y in front. I know that diminutives exist like for Anna being Anya, but even so, the sisters would be Аня and Яна, which is still very similar and just a rearrangement of 3 letters. To me this just seems a little confusing, so I was wondering why it seems rather common in Russia to do this, especially when there are so many names out there that have different sounds?
 

Elana

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 19, 2018
No, it is all up to parents.

Don't you think "Anne" and "Joanne" are similar and confusing?

Yes I absolutely do. But I’ve never met siblings named Anne and Joanne. I said in my post that I haven’t come across this much where I live. I used Anna as an example, but I’ve seen many Russians with names similar to their siblings, that’s all I was asking about.
 
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