Comments on: Russian Names: Oviches and Ovnas

By: Vita Oxenrider

Vita Oxenrider — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 18:48:24 +0000

Thanks, that wasreally interesting. I was born in Moscow in 1975 but my parents fled the country and came here to England. To be honest, I didnt really care much about my russian heritage until my mum died recently, now I've been trying to find out as much as I possibly can. Seemed like food culture was as good a place as any to start from! You dont generally hear much about russian cuisine do you? Anyway, I found a a good russian recipe site here that other readers might be interested in too.

By: rbeard

rbeard — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 12:04:08 +0000

The three bears joke was pretty good. But it is pretty easy to make jokes from the sound of Russian names in English (Putin is a joke itself in English). The name of one of the great linguists of my era is Jackendoff. But we don’t go there on this website. The media are having a field day noticing that Bernie Madoff made off with 60 or so billion dollars. Didn’t anyone wonder about the guy’s name for 25 years? You don’t get clues like that very often.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 07:16:02 +0000

Luciano (#2) — Maybe “Ochestvovich” (Fatherson?) Just joking, I’m not a Russian speaker. But “Barabbas” (criminal released instead of Jesus according to the Gospels) means “son of a father” (bar-abba) in Aramaic and probably was a derogatory name for someone who was illegitimate.

By: Stargzer

Stargzer — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 17:06:24 +0000

That reminds me of an old Cold-War-era one-liner:

“Did you hear the one about the three Russians: Papavitch, Mammavitch, and Sonofavitch?”

Thinking about it just now I realize it can be refined a bit:

“Did you hear the one about Goldilocks and the Three Russian Bears: Papavitch, Mammavitch, and Sonofavitch?”

Let’s see now, that would make a sonofavitch a grandson?

Yeah, I know; I should probably be working for the Ministry of Propaganda.

(“That silly old goose was a right propaganda.”)

By: rbeard

rbeard — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 21:21:59 +0000

Hmmm. Where would we find that sort of information?

By: Luciano Eduardo de Oliveira

Luciano Eduardo de Oliveira — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:56:57 +0000

I’ve often wondered what patronymics Russian prostitutes give their children since at times they might now know who the father of the child is.

Luciano

By: The Ridger

The Ridger — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 00:47:18 +0000

I’d just like to point out that “mac” is actually the Gaelic word for “son”. Surnames in mac- are followed by the genitive form of the name, so “MacNiall” is “son of Niall”.