Hi... im new

wayang · Post by **wayang** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 6:43 am

In Indonesia, much the same as in many native American cultures, a baby will be named for something the parents see or encounter at the moment of birth. A woman from Java who plays in our gamelan is named Meta...her dad was an engineer who was working on a major land reclamation project when she was born: "meta" means "swamp".

In 1996, while visiting in my Balinese teacher's small village, I met a young kid who was named for a famous American who had been visiting Bali when he was born. His name: "Made (mah-day) Reagan"...

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 7:20 am

"named for something the parents see or encounter at the moment of birth."

That would explain the recent Native American custom of naming baby girls "Britney"...

wayang · Post by **wayang** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 7:27 am

To quote Melibee: "Ewwwwwwwww..."

sowhat · Post by **sowhat** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 7:33 am

Okay, if you prefer to stay away from guitars... i'll tell you something else (but that's a secret! sssh...)... "Sheena" sounds very similar to the Russian word for "tyre"...
Well, not that bad... my mother was actually supposed to be named Novatorka... luckily, her dad then decided it was a bit too "gorgeous" and opted for Tanya...
...and i have a friend whose full name is - Anton Evripidovich Koehelbecker... his grandmother was studying philosophy at the time her son was born...

firstbassman · Post by **firstbassman** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 7:49 am

If it is not obvious by now, I should state that my wife speaks fluent Russian and I have learned a LITTLE through osmosis. Yes, Sheena, I am familiar with hard signs and other characters in the Russian alphabet. Was just trying to make sure what the “y” was.
The only “Roy” in Russian I know is the writer/historian Roy Aleksandrovich Medvedev. Wonder if he got his name that way.
I did not intend any offense by calling them “nicknames.” To me, nicknames and “shortnames” are the same thing. And, in fact, MS Bookshelf defines nicknames as 2. “A familiar or SHORTENED form of a proper name.”

sowhat · Post by **sowhat** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 8:06 am

Mark, i do understand it, but since i am a linguist (eh... sort of at the moment, in fact), i couldn't just let it go simply saying "so that it would sound better".

No offence taken, of course, the thing is, in some informal groups, the guy whose full name is Mikhail may go under "short name" of Misha or "nickname" of Mike, and i admit i'm not perfect in English so i must have missed some point. And above all, i'm really bad at explaining...

I'm not sure if Medvedev got his name this way, possibly so, given his brother was named Jaures... but i met a Russian guy who had the same name (he must be in his late 50s or early 60s now) and he told me that his parents chose this name for their child because they thought that a) it sounded good; and b) it had something to do with October Revolution.

fireglo · Post by **fireglo** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 9:31 am

"and i admit i'm not perfect in English"

I'm constantly amazed at how good you are with English! I wish I could speak or write in another language. I also wish I had a fireglo 360/6.

winston · Post by **winston** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 9:51 am

Our Sheena is so humble. Take a bow Sheena. Your posts are great. IMO

sowhat · Post by **sowhat** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 10:55 am

Hah... i can also read & speak French... albeit it's a bit forgotten, to be true, since i have no French-speaking friends yet...

How about guitars, ladies&gentlemen?..

jps · Post by **jps** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 5:16 pm

"Trotsky and Kahlo also had an affair"

Did Diego know this?

I think Indians may also be named for different events related to them even before they are born, which is why some Indian kids are called Broken Rubber.

Did someone say guitars?

wayang · Post by **wayang** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 5:07 am

Jeffrey, not wanting to sound scoldy, but this thread is about Vanya being new, and you always, always with the guitars...

Now if you're saying this thread should be moved to The Others, well, let's just call the Referee in for a field measurement right now...

kcole4001 · Post by **kcole4001** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 6:23 am

3rd and 2

marc61 · Post by **marc61** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 1:36 pm

I am actually 100% decendant from Russian blood. The real family last name is Novanitsky(not sure about spelling). We are from Minsk, but that was 4 generations ago....