Writing Russians

Naming Traditions In Russia

Geno's full name is Evgeni Vladimirovich Malkin (Евгений Владимирович Малкин). The "middle name" is not actually a middle name, but a patronymic. Patronymics are derived from the first name of the person's father and means "son/daughter of". Since Geno's father's first name is Vladimir, his patronymic means "son of Vladimir". The -ovich suffix describes the gender of the parent and thus the person, with -ovich, -evich and -ich being for men and -ovna, -evna and -inichna being for women. Complications and exceptions to these rules exist.

Notice that in Russia, most last names also vary depending on the gender of the person, usually just by adding the suffix -a to the male version of the surname. Special cases being names ending in -ski which becomes the female -skaya and surnames ending in -ii or -oi which becomes -aya.

Furthermore, a lot of given names have different versions depending on gender, but for these, it's easiest to just google them if necessary, since there are no hard rules. All of this put together means that if Geno was a girl her name would be Evgenia Vlamirovna Malkina (Евгения Владимировна Малкина).

Due to the length of the average Russian first name, most names have at least one "default" nickname, often several. The nickname for Evgeni (Евгений) is Zhenya (Женя). A list of other common names with their nicknames can be found here.

Transliteration

Transliteration is the process of changing a language from one alphabet to another. Transliterating Russian from the Cyrillic to the Latin alphabet is also called romanization. Due to different styles and conventions, Geno's first name might be written as Evgeni, Evgeniy, Evgeny, Evgenii, Evgueni, Eugeny, Eugeniy, Ievgeny, Jevgeni, Jevgeny, Yevgeny, Yevgeni, Yevgeniy or even Eugene. All of these are technically correct. This is a problem with most Russian names and words, often making even simple sentences completely incomprehensible to Russian speakers. Thus, transliteration is very rarely used, usually only to help foreigners on street signs, etc, or when beginners are learning Russian. Keeping the original Cyrillic when using Russian in fic is highly recommended unless it is simply a name/nickname in an otherwise English sentence or an example of a name/nickname in a Russian sentence translated to English.

Pronunciation

If you're making a podfic or just curious, the best site for pronunciations by native Russian speakers is Forvo. Use the search function and make sure to write the name, word or sentence in Cyrillic. If a sentence doesn't turn up any results, try searching for each word individually.

List of particularly useful names and nicknames:

Evgeni Malkin (Евгений Малкин) and his nickname Zhenya (Женя)

Sergei (Сергей) Gonchar (Гончар) and his nickname Seryozha (Серёжа) or Seryoga (Серёга)

Ksenia/Xenia (Ксения) Gonchar (Гончар)

Alexander Ovechkin (Александр Овечкин) and his nickname Sasha (Саша) or Sanja/Sanya (Саня)

Anna (Анна) Kasterova (Кастерова) and her nickname Anya (Аня)

Ilya Kovalchuk (Илья Ковальчук)

Useful Russian Words and Phrases

General words

English	Russian	Approximate pronunciation
Hi	Привет	PrivYEt
Hello	Здравствуйте	ZdrAstvooyte
Yes	Да	Da
No	Нет	Nyet
Thank you	Спасибо	SpaSEEba
You're welcome	Пожалуйста	pa-zhal-sta

Amorous phrases 

Please note that all of these are phrased as though spoken to a man. For the female versions and more useful amorous phrases, click here.

English	Russian	Approximate pronunciation
I love you	Я тебя люблю	Ya tebyA lyublyU
I can't live without you	Не могу жить без тебя	Ne magU zhIt' bes tebyA
I need you	Ты нужен мне	Ti nUzhen mne
I need you so much	Ты очень мне нужен	Ti Ochen' mne nUzhen
I wish you were mine	Хочу, чтобы ты был моим	HochU, chtOby ty byl moim
I love you with all my heart, with all my soul	Люблю тебя всем сердцем, всей душой	LyublyU tebyA vsem sErtsem, vsEy dushOy
I fell in love with you from the first sight	Я полюбил тебя с первого взгляда	Ya palyubil tebyA s pErvava vzglyAda
Love overcomes everything	Любовь всё преодолеет	LyubOv' vsyO preodolEyet
All I need is your love	Всё, что мне нужно - это твоя любовь	VsyO, chto mne nUzhno - Eto tvouA lyubOv'
I will always love you	Я буду всегда любить тебя	Ya bUdu vsegdA lyubIt' tebyA
Let's get married	Давай сыграем свадьбу	Da-vAy seeg-rA-yem svAd'-bu
Will you marry me?	Ты выйдешь за меня?	Ti viy-desh za me-nyA?
You are all that I need	Мне нужен только ты	Mne nUzhen tOlko ty

Terms of endearment 

Please note that all of these are phrased as though spoken to a man. For the female versions and more terms of endearment, click here.

English	Russian	Approximate pronunciation
(My) sweet/darling/cute	Милый (мой)	MIliy (moy)
(My) sweetheart/beloved/favorite	Любимый (мой)	Lyubimiy (moy)
(My) sun	Солнышко (мой)	SOlnyshko (moy)
Kitten	Котёнок	KaTYOnok
(My) beautiful	Красивый (мой)	KrasIviy (moy)

Comforting phrases 

Please note that all of these are phrased as though spoken to a man. For the female versions and more comforting phrases, click here.

English	Russian	Approximate pronunciation
Everything is under control	Всё под контролем	VsyO pad kontrOlem
Trust me	Доверься мне	DovEr`sya mne
Everything's gonna be alright	Всё будет хорошо	VsyO bOOdet harashO
You can do it	Ты сможешь	Ti smOzhesh
I believe in you	Я верю в тебя	Ya vEryu v tebyA
You are not alone	Ты не один	Ti ne odIn

Beliefs, Traditions and Customs

Russian Orthodox Church

The Russian Orthodox church is the largest autocephalous, or ecclesiastically independent, Eastern Orthodox church in the world. Its membership is estimated at more than 85 million.

Christmas

Christmas is observed on January 7 in Russia, following the Julian calendar used by the Russian Orthodox Church.

Russian New Year

The Russian New Year is arguably the most important day on the Russian holiday calendar. It used to be the main winter holiday, as all religious holidays, including Christmas, were officially banned during the period of the Soviet Union.