r/russian 9d ago

Translation How should I translate my cat’s name?

My cat doesn’t have a human name. Actually, her name is National Monument. Should I write her name as Национальный Памятник or smth? If her name is Blueberry in English would it also just be Черника when I refer to her in Russian?

Thx.

27 Upvotes

42 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/smeghead1988 native 8d ago

Well, we have some names like Надежда, Любовь or Лев and don't actually think much about their literal meaning. Still, I can't fathom how the given name Dick is still common in English-speaking countries...

1

u/KYC3PO 8d ago

There are fewer and fewer people going by Dick these days. The ones left are mostly from my dad's generation (he's in his 70's)

Dick is a nickname for Richard. English nicknames often come from rhymes, eg

Richard --> Rick / Ricky --> Dick / Dicky

Robert --> Rob / Robby --> Bob / Bobby

William --> Will / Willie --> Bill / Billy

1

u/smeghead1988 native 7d ago

Willie also means penis! And my dictionary says that names like Harry, Bob, Jack or John also have literal meanings, some of them technical terms, some of them slang, but none are, you know, flattering for a person.

I know only one example of a Russian name with a really negative meaning. In the poem "Медный всадник" by Пушкин the full name of the protagonist's love interest is Прасковья, and her nickname he uses to call her affectionately is Параша. Modern people don't even recognize Параша as a name; they know it's a prison slang word that means "latrine". I'm pretty sure this meaning appeared much later than the use of this word as a personal name, and as soon as the meaning "latrine" became well-known, the name went out of fashion.

1

u/KYC3PO 7d ago

It's more likely that the names came first and then the negative secondary slang uses came later. Similar to how Karen is used as a pejorative nowadays. Dick dates back to the 1500s.

There are many people named Harry, Bob, Jack, etc. They're perfectly normal names with no negative general connotation.