Oy vey! Clueless soldier's giant Hebrew tattoo he thought meant 'strength'

[Bill]

Same with Asian characters. People have no idea.

One of my daughters posted about that on FB a while back..... It was a picture (which I can't locate) of a girls arm & a tat written/print in English WATER......

"What it would be like if Asians (Chinese) put on tats in western script"......

[Althea]

He probably thought it just looked cool, and did not put a lot of thought into it.

Cultural appropriation is fraught with risk. A fair number of parents like to give Russian names to their girls. Sasha is okay because technically it is a diminutive that can be either male or female. I have run across a couple of women named Misha and I did not have the heart to tell them it is the Russian diminutive name for Michael

Yes. I had Ukrainian neighbors for decades. Summer visitors. There were a few who were named Misha. There are other male names that I thought sounded like a woman's name, but I realized that they seem to add an A to the end of all names. My friend's name was Boris, but they called him Bora.

[Althea]

One of my daughters posted about that on FB a while back..... It was a picture (which I can't locate) of a girls arm & a tat written/print in English WATER......

"What it would be like if Asians (Chinese) put on tats in western script"......

HAH!!!!

[Cypress]

Yes. I had Ukrainian neighbors for decades. Summer visitors. There were a few who were named Misha. There are other male names that I thought sounded like a woman's name, but I realized that they seem to add an A to the end of all names. My friend's name was Boris, but they called him Bora.

It is because Russian naming conventions include a given name and a diminutive name. Petr (given), Petya (diminutive), Mikhail (given), Misha (diminutive), Aleksandr (given), Sasha (diminutive). My cat's name is Yasha, which is the diminutive of Jacob, or sometimes Yaroslav. The convention is that you are only supposed to use the diminutive if you are friends, family, close acquaintances with someone, otherwise proper etiquette is to always use a person's given name.

A lot of people have told me they could not finish Tolstoy's War and Peace, because they could never keep track of the characters Tolstoy was writing about, because he, in the Russian way, he switches back and forth between different forms of the name > given name, diminutive name, and patronymic name, depending on the social situation and proper etiquette.

[Cypress]

Yes. I had Ukrainian neighbors for decades. Summer visitors. There were a few who were named Misha. There are other male names that I thought sounded like a woman's name, but I realized that they seem to add an A to the end of all names. My friend's name was Boris, but they called him Bora.

On a similar tangent, I have a cousin named Nikita, which in Russia is a strong, masculine given name. But he grew up in Belgium, when his parent fled the Russian civil war - and Belgians were used to given the name Nikita to their girls. I think my cousin is scarred for life for the amount of teasing and abuse he received in Belgium for having what was perceived as being a thoroughly girl's name. You cannot imagine the relief he felt when "Nikita Kruschev" became premier of the USSR - he finally had proof to show the Belgian boys his name really was a boy's name!

Wrapping up, the mental abuse suffered by my cousin is one reason I am actually kinda PC about cultural appropriation! :-)

[Althea]

It is because Russian naming conventions include a given name and a diminutive name. Petr (given), Petya (diminutive), Mikhail (given), Misha (diminutive), Aleksandr (given), Sasha (diminutive). My cat's name is Yasha, which is the diminutive of Jacob, or sometimes Yaroslav. The convention is that you are only supposed to use the diminutive if you are friends, family, close acquaintances with someone, otherwise proper etiquette is to always use a person's given name.

A lot of people have told me they could not finish Tolstoy's War and Peace, because they could never keep track of the characters Tolstoy was writing about, because he, in the Russian way, he switches back and forth between different forms of the name > given name, diminutive name, and patronymic name, depending on the social situation and proper etiquette.

Sasha! That's the name I couldn't remember

[Cypress]

Sasha! That's the name I couldn't remember

Americans are on firm ground using that as a girl's name, because it is a diminutive form of both a boy's given name (Aleksandr), or a girl's given name (Alexandra)

[Bill]

It is because Russian naming conventions include a given name and a diminutive name. Petr (given), Petya (diminutive), Mikhail (given), Misha (diminutive), Aleksandr (given), Sasha (diminutive). My cat's name is Yasha, which is the diminutive of Jacob, or sometimes Yaroslav. The convention is that you are only supposed to use the diminutive if you are friends, family, close acquaintances with someone, otherwise proper etiquette is to always use a person's given name.

A lot of people have told me they could not finish Tolstoy's War and Peace, because they could never keep track of the characters Tolstoy was writing about, because he, in the Russian way, he switches back and forth between different forms of the name > given name, diminutive name, and patronymic name, depending on the social situation and proper etiquette.

Surprised Misha is Michael/Mikhail, as I know a few as well.. Most popular girl name here, by far, is Olga.. When my youngest was doing a school district graduation for some extra curricular stuff one of the programs had about 12 Olga's out of maybe 15 in the program. Ppl were giggling during the ceremony but fortunately the Olga's were up on the stage-not near by...

I go kayaking & rafting w/ a "Russian" group but they are actually from Ukraine-Paval, Andre & their sister "Olga".......

[Cypress]

Surprised Misha is Michael/Mikhail, as I know a few as well.. Most popular girl name here, by far, is Olga.. When my youngest was doing a school district graduation for some extra curricular stuff one of the programs had about 12 Olga's out of maybe 15 in the program. Ppl were giggling during the ceremony but fortunately the Olga's were up on the stage-not near by...

I go kayaking & rafting w/ a "Russian" group but they are actually from Ukraine-Paval, Andre & their sister "Olga".......

That is a crazy amount of Olgas!

I have always liked that name, my favorite cousin in an Olga.
Olga - a Slavic version of the Sandinavian name Helga, which the Slavs adopted after Varangian vikings migrated into ancient Russia and ruled over the native slavic trives.

I have always thought Olga is such a widely used name in East Slavic countries because Saint Olga of Kiev is arguably the most famous female in East Slavic history. She was not only instrumental in the genesis and emergence of the first proto-Russian state (Kievan Rus), but she is credited with introducing Christianity into ancient Russia.

[Althea]

That is a crazy amount of Olgas!

I have always liked that name, my favorite cousin in an Olga.
Olga - a Slavic version of the Sandinavian name Helga, which the Slavs adopted after Varangian vikings migrated into ancient Russia and ruled over the native slavic trives.

I have always thought Olga is such a widely used name in East Slavic countries because Saint Olga of Kiev is arguably the most famous female in East Slavic history. She was not only instrumental in the genesis and emergence of the first proto-Russian state (Kievan Rus), but she is credited with introducing Christianity into ancient Russia.

I dated a serious psycho years back. Katerina, but her actual name was Ekaterina. That seems to be a common spelling among Russian nationals.

[Cypress]

I dated a serious psycho years back. Katerina, but her actual name was Ekaterina. That seems to be a common spelling among Russian nationals.

Correct.
The Russians, imo, have awesome names for girls. My favorites are Tatiana, Svetlana, Natasha, and Anya. Katerina is a bloody good one too!

[Bill]

That is a crazy amount of Olgas!

I have always liked that name, my favorite cousin in an Olga.
Olga - a Slavic version of the Sandinavian name Helga, which the Slavs adopted after Varangian vikings migrated into ancient Russia and ruled over the native slavic trives.

I have always thought Olga is such a widely used name in East Slavic countries because Saint Olga of Kiev is arguably the most famous female in East Slavic history. She was not only instrumental in the genesis and emergence of the first proto-Russian state (Kievan Rus), but she is credited with introducing Christianity into ancient Russia.

Interesting thanks........