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ArchivesTwo questions on Russian names
1. Is Laura, or any variant of, used in Russia?
2. I have seen the girls name Chapeka (Чапека) listed as a Russian girls name on this website* (link below). It looks to be a legitimate source for names, as it's hosted on a Russian teaching website. Yet I haven't been able to find anyone with this first name, except for a few fictional characters (presumably) written by non-Russians. So is this name actually ever used in Russian?
* http://russian.languagedaily.com/names/russian-names-for-girls
"Evil is human, it always has been." - Edward Buchan, Whitechapel
2. I have seen the girls name Chapeka (Чапека) listed as a Russian girls name on this website* (link below). It looks to be a legitimate source for names, as it's hosted on a Russian teaching website. Yet I haven't been able to find anyone with this first name, except for a few fictional characters (presumably) written by non-Russians. So is this name actually ever used in Russian?
* http://russian.languagedaily.com/names/russian-names-for-girls
"Evil is human, it always has been." - Edward Buchan, Whitechapel
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Replies
Gavriila
Is this name actually used on girls? All I can find is men (as in, an inflected form of Gavriil) when I do a Google search.
Is this name actually used on girls? All I can find is men (as in, an inflected form of Gavriil) when I do a Google search.
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There is no female form for Gavrila. Honestly, it's not actual even for men nowadays. I didn't meet at least one person with such name.
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Lara is the nn for Larisa, and is close to Laura.
I've never seen Chapeka before. My first thought was Karel Capek, the Czech writer. The only Chap- word in my Oxford Russian English dictionary is chapyga, which means plough-handle, stork is aist, and -ka is the diminutive suffix for anything. The site says that it is from a Czech name, so you might want to look into that language.
I've never seen Chapeka before. My first thought was Karel Capek, the Czech writer. The only Chap- word in my Oxford Russian English dictionary is chapyga, which means plough-handle, stork is aist, and -ka is the diminutive suffix for anything. The site says that it is from a Czech name, so you might want to look into that language.
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Yeah, the only thing I could find on Chapeka was relating to Čapek, so I had my doubts. It's always annoying when an otherwise-reliable source lists something completely out of left field.
So I can conclude that Laura isn't used in Russia? (excluding similar names).
Thanks for your help! While we're on the subject, do you know if Katerina, Nastasiya, Lena, Lina and/or Liza are used it's full legal names? Or are they short forms only?
So I can conclude that Laura isn't used in Russia? (excluding similar names).
Thanks for your help! While we're on the subject, do you know if Katerina, Nastasiya, Lena, Lina and/or Liza are used it's full legal names? Or are they short forms only?
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I just went to Wictionary (Wikipedia's dictionary) and found the translation of stork. It is cap /chap/.
I've never seen Katerina, Nastasiya, or Lina as Russian names before, but then I haven't used Russian since graduating from college in 2000. Lena is short for Elena and Liza for Elizaveta, but I haven't seen them as full names. But then, they could be. Parents in English speaking countries are using nns as legal full names. What is there to stop Russians from doing the same thing? I suppose Лaypa could be used by a foreigner or someone who is into a culture that uses Laura.
I've never seen Katerina, Nastasiya, or Lina as Russian names before, but then I haven't used Russian since graduating from college in 2000. Lena is short for Elena and Liza for Elizaveta, but I haven't seen them as full names. But then, they could be. Parents in English speaking countries are using nns as legal full names. What is there to stop Russians from doing the same thing? I suppose Лaypa could be used by a foreigner or someone who is into a culture that uses Laura.
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I'm mostly interested in something that a Russian speaker living in Russia would use. Thanks so much for the help!
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As a Russian I can assure you that neither Chapeka nor Laura are used in our country. The first name is particularly strange, I never heard of it before. Nevertheless, I can suppose that maybe one Russian woman in a ten thousands is named Laura because I knew some people named much more oddly.
About your second question, mainly all of these names are only the short forms. Lina is very, very rarely used as a full name, but, anyway, for Russians it is kind of odd, because they used to use that name as the short form of Angelina. However, you can search for information about the Ukranian poet Lina Kostenko.
About your second question, mainly all of these names are only the short forms. Lina is very, very rarely used as a full name, but, anyway, for Russians it is kind of odd, because they used to use that name as the short form of Angelina. However, you can search for information about the Ukranian poet Lina Kostenko.
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Once again, thanks!
Are there any particularly strange names you've encountered?
Are there any particularly strange names you've encountered?
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The strangest one I know is the native Russian girl named Lanita Brown (the short form is Lana). Also I remember such female name as Lushka.
Besides, talking about short forms as passport names, once I met a girl named Nika. It usually used as a short name for Veronika, but it's her official full name. She complained me about people who don't believe that's her passport name, because of it she had many problems with documents in the past.
Besides, talking about short forms as passport names, once I met a girl named Nika. It usually used as a short name for Veronika, but it's her official full name. She complained me about people who don't believe that's her passport name, because of it she had many problems with documents in the past.
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Lavra exists as a proper noun in Russian, referring to a kind of monastery, and thus doesn't really have the right sort of associations to end up being given as a forename, I would suppose. Male Lavrenty (Lawrence) exists, coming from the same Greek root, but I've never seen a female cognate.
I lived in Russia for seven years or so and now work as a translator, and this Chappy thingy sounds very un-Russian to me.
I lived in Russia for seven years or so and now work as a translator, and this Chappy thingy sounds very un-Russian to me.
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So Chapeka is definitely not a Russian name. At least not one that would be commonly used. But why would a seemingly-reputable source put up something so...wrong?
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You know, there are a lot of mistakes even in this site. The half of these supposedly Russian names are not used or never existed in Russia. As regards this I wrote to creaters of this site for correcting the name list.
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