Dating & Marriage With Women From Russia, Ukraine, Belarus & FSU > Married Chat

Do FSUW tend to anglicize their names or nicknames when they come to the West?

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Larry:
I was reading the freakonomics blog tonight and came across the following blurb:


--- Quote ---A new paper (PDF) by Costanza Biavaschi, Corrado Giulietti and Zahra Siddique shows that first names mattered for immigrants to the U.S. in the first half of the 20th century: people who Americanized their given names did better economically thereafter.
--- End quote ---

http://freakonomics.com/2013/11/25/whats-in-an-americanized-name/

That caused me to think about FSUW wives and girlfriends and how they dealt with the name situation when they arrived in the West.  Some have it easy.  Yana is a Russian name that is incredibly easy for most people to pronounce and is somewhat common in certain Western countries.  Likewise, Elena shouldn't be too difficult, although very few Westerners will pronounce it correctly when they read it.  I suppose the same is true of Irina. Olga should be very easy to pronounce.   I know one Svetlana in the US who goes by the easy-to-pronounce name Lana.

Going up the scale, my guess is that a Tatyana might simply refer to herself as Tanya, which should be easily understood. 

I knew a girl named Evgenia, who Anglicized her nickname to Jenny, which, while not as lovely as the diminutive Zhenya, is easier for Westerners to pronounce.

What observations have you made regarding the names FSUW have decided to go by when they live in the West, and what difficulties have they faced regarding names?

On a related note, some time ago I was talking with a FSUW who lives in the West.  She told me that some people weren't crazy about her accent, which I regarded as very appealing.  All those of us who are searching for a FSUW wife, or have searched for one, love the accent, so it didn't even occur to me that there would be lots of people here who did not like it.

Anteros:
I totally agree that immigrants who anglicize their names do better economically.  As far as accents I've always liked foreign women's accents.  Tone of voice makes a huge difference though--some RW can be very harsh and get labeled B. if they are not careful.

pitbull:
I did :) Americans just cannot pronounce my name the way its spelled in my passport :)

I think I am doing quite well for myself. Not sure if an anglicized name has anything to do with it. Certainly, it helps that the place I work for is the perfect meritocracy.  :thumbsup:

sashathecat:
None of the FSUW women we know changed their names, but we live in a pretty diverse part of the US so do not think it matters much here. My wife's name is very unusual. For many Americans it poses an issue but the Latinos here have no problem pronouncing it.

Some of the RW we know do come off like batches at times due to the heavy and harsh accent. Part of that is the directness or word selection as well.  "What do you want?" versus "How may I help you?" for example.

redroo:
yes, tone is everything.....and not something FSU females often get away with in western countries. They nearly always come across harsh and rude. The please/thank you bit drives me crazy having been raised by a VERY polite mother, and hanging up the phone without ending a conversation politely (or at all)!  :D

Anyway back to names;
My ex wife, and my wonderful son continue to use the Russian diminutives of their names without problem, ie Yvan is known as Vanya without issue by everyone, which I am very happy about as Ivan sounds so harsh in english and there is no way I would call him John.
Locally, Tatiana's call themselves Tanya, Anya's stay as Anya, Svetlana's as Sveta in the main although I do know one Lana, Ksusha's go back to Oksana as no one can pronounce it. Alexandria can stay the same or be Shasha, or Alex. Zhenia, like Shasha/Alex can be both female and male, and there is quite a famous young man here using that name publicly and often featured in the social pages

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