I’ve been loving the name [name_f]Ekaterina[/name_f] lately. I read it in [name_f]Anna[/name_f] Karenina and fell in love. It’s unusual, yet it has all the accessible [name_f]Catherine[/name_f]/[name_f]Katherine[/name_f] nicknames. The only problem is I’m not in any way Russian/Slavic. Would it be weird if I used this name if I had no affiliation with the culture it comes from? [name_f]Katerina[/name_f] may be more accessible, but I don’t like it as much.
No, I think it’s perfectly fine to use. My top girl name is [name_f]Farrah[/name_f], which is Arabic, and I have no connection to that culture or race. You might also like [name_f]Karina[/name_f].
I think it’s totally fine! I like tons of names that aren’t directly related to my culture.
I do as well. As long as you have an emotional tie or a personal connection (not cultural) to the name and is not of significance to the culture, it should be usable.
Two of my top girls names are 0rɛstinᴀ and Yara, neither of which are well known or heard of hear in the US. 0rɛstinᴀ is a combination of my brothers’ names & holds a meaning related to my life and Yara is “small butterfly”, a meaning which relates to something important to me.
To be honest, if I heard the name [name_f]Ekaterina[/name_f] I would automatically think the bearer was Russian (or from another former USSR country). It’s just one of those names that’s not commonly used outside of those cultures, like [name_f]Taisiya[/name_f] or Miroslava or something. While that doesn’t mean you couldn’t use it, some people probably will make the assumption that your child is Russian or has Russian ancestry.
In Greece, [name_f]Ekaterini[/name_f] called [name_f]Katerina[/name_f] is one of the three most common girl names, so it doesn’t sound that weird to me as plenty of Greek girl names have been exported. [name_m]Even[/name_m] if the last letter is different from [name_f]Ekaterina[/name_f], if [name_f]Penelope[/name_f] and [name_f]Eleni[/name_f] or even Russian names like [name_f]Tatiana[/name_f] and [name_f]Anastasia[/name_f] can be exported why not [name_f]Ekaterina[/name_f]? It has a lot of cute nicknames too.
I don’t think the cultural would bother me, if you love it, use it!
I am Slavic and I don’t think it’s weird at all