Russian/Slavic Name

[al_Ussa]

So, as those of you who bother to check in the visual arts corner may know, I'm working on a series of historical sword & sorcery fantasy stories, with illustrations. Out of order nonetheless... But I was wondering

One of the characters is, was, going to be based heavily off Russian and Eastern European culture. Slavic, Magyar and Romanian influences have gradually been usurped by the Rroma, for a couple of reasons. But still, we're talking about the 'Old Country' here....

Which brings me to my dilemma; I need a name. Something that sounds evocative.

I've narrowed it down to Mariska, Nadya, Natasha, or Lizaveta... Which one do YOU think sounds best.

Bear in mind, of course, that as a Chicagoan I've grown up in a part of the world where Polish (and to a lesser degree, Russian, Ukranian and Serbo-Croatian) are pretty common. And my gf is of Hungarian/Yugoslavian Rromany descent.

 

[DarkBee]

So, as those of you who bother to check in the visual arts corner may know, I'm working on a series of historical sword & sorcery fantasy stories, with illustrations. Out of order nonetheless... But I was wondering

One of the characters is, was, going to be based heavily off Russian and Eastern European culture. Slavic, Magyar and Romanian influences have gradually been usurped by the Roma, for a couple of reasons. But still, we're talking about the 'Old Country' here....

Which brings me to my dilemma; I need a name. Something that sounds evocative.

I've narrowed it down to Mariska, Nadya, Natasha, or Lizaveta... Which one do YOU think sounds best.

Bear in mind, of course, that as a Chicagoan I've grown up in a part of the world where Polish (and to a lesser degree, Russian, Ukranian and Serbo-Croatian) are pretty common. And my gf is of Hungarian/Yugoslavian Rromany descent.

Mariska is a name that doesn't strike me as being Slavic, quite the contrary actually: in The Netherlands it's a normal name.
Lizaveta? Never heard of that name before, let alone in Slavic countries.

Natasha and Nadya (or Nadja) both are genuine Slavic names, the latter sounding just a bit better imho.
Olga and Ludmila would've been nice too.

 

[Carnevil9]

I prefer Svetlana to all of those.

 

[jockdom]

I just submitted a russian themed story the heroine is called Natasha! Beautiful name And Natasha Kinski is a Babe.

 

[megawriter27]

I was born in Moscow, the capital of Russia, and live here. The difference between english and russian names are that we have many shortened forms. For example, from formal to coll - Natal'ya/Natalia, Natasha, Natashka(familiar), Nata or like I have a grafity near my apartment - Natusik, najdi/snimi svoi trusik (Natusik, find/take off your undies)))))))))))
The names that occur to me: Lena, Tanya, Olya, Sveta, Ira, Valya, Katya, Sasha, Galya...

I hope that I turned out an useful guy))))))))

 

[DarkBee]

I had a female character in one of my stories who was from Poland and I named her Agnieszka.

 

[BedtimeStories77]

i did vote for Mariska. i think it's very pretty. (Then again so is Mariska Hargitay! lol)

i ran a quick search online for baby names (since i didn't want to dig out my baby name book) and it said Mariska is Hungarian meaning "sea of bitterness".

 

[al_Ussa]

Mariska is a name that doesn't strike me as being Slavic, quite the contrary actually: in The Netherlands it's a normal name.

Thats very perceptive of you. Its not a Slavic name at all, but actually a Magyar name, as Bedtime pointed out, making it completely unrelated to any other European language. I know it very well since that was the name of a woman who owns a Hungarian diner near me. And because of Mariska Hargitay, who is indeed a superbabe. One of my top five celebrity babes in fact.

Very cool to learn that the Dutch use it too.

But like I said, evoking in the imagery of Central/East Europe is more important than ethnicity in this case, so it doesn't matter if we're talking Rroma, Slav, Magyar, Turk, Albanian, Greek or Romanian.

Lizaveta? Never heard of that name before, let alone in Slavic countries.

Actually, I remember it from an old Yugoslav story I heard years ago. Might have been transliterated differently though. Its Elizabeth.

Thanks to all who contributed to this post. Very interesting insights.

 

[megawriter27]

We don't have Lizaveta name at all. Al USSA was right it's close to Elizabeth. We pronounce it Elizaveta or in a short form - Liza. Only teachers and clerks can call your full name with a middle name like "Zubritskij Andrej Sergeevich" - Surname|Middle name|Name. When somebody address to you he/she says "Name+Middle name" like "Andrej Sergeevich, we are glad you have vizited us

 

[Monazwx]

Nadya, I just like that one and Natasha it just too common for my tastes.