My husband and I are having a hard time with our future girl middle name. Both of our daughter’s will have honor middle names, but since my husband doesn’t know his paternal side, we have to come up with something else to honor him. We had decided on [name_f]Yevgenia[/name_f], since that was his maternal grandfathers middle name (as well as mine grandfather), so it seemed a good fit. However, that name is a little bit cursed since the children with the first name Yevgenie don’t make it. It freaks me out a bit.
Anyway, someone posted the other day about using Maximova for their daughter. I started thinking that maybe we could use Konstantinovna after my husband’s maternal grandfather or Nikolayevna after my husbands middle name (his first name is [name_m]Josh[/name_m], so that doesn’t really translate into Russian that well.)
Would it be correct to use these two names even if they are from a grandfather or a middle name? Is the spelling correct? Help!
Yes, they’re correct! [name_f]EDIT[/name_f]: But not how they do it in [name_f]Russia[/name_f], and may confuse Russians, but if you’re honouring heritage, I get it.
Yes, those are the correct forms of the patronymic, but it seems strange to me to use Konstantinovna, when the patronymic refers to the father. Nikolayevna makes a little more sense, since it actually is a part of your husband’s name, but it’s still quite a non-traditional use! If you’re interested in other ways to use those honor names, feminine forms of [name_u]Konstantin[/name_u] you could use are [name_f]Constance[/name_f] or [name_f]Constantina[/name_f] (I prefer [name_f]Constantina[/name_f] with [name_f]Olive[/name_f] [name_f]Faye[/name_f], although it’s very similar to [name_f]Valentina[/name_f] from your other daughter’s name) and [name_m]Nicholas[/name_m]/[name_m]Nikolai[/name_m] could be honored with any of the [name_f]Nicole[/name_f] names: [name_u]Nicola[/name_u]/[name_u]Nicola[/name_u], [name_f]Nicolette[/name_f]/[name_f]Nicoletta[/name_f], [name_f]Nicolina[/name_f], etc ([name_f]Olive[/name_f] [name_f]Faye[/name_f] [name_f]Nicoletta[/name_f] is really pretty).
Thanks. I did wonder about just feminizing [name_m]Nicholas[/name_m], but I’d like to do it with a Russian equivalent. Is there one? I’ve come across [name_f]Nika[/name_f], [name_f]Nikola[/name_f], etc…, but nothing that says, “This is the feminine version of the Russian [name_m]Nikolai[/name_m].”
I Googled “Russian version of [name_f]Nicole[/name_f]” and there doesn’t appear to be one unfortunately, but the name [name_u]Nikita[/name_u] stood out to me as possibility. It’s technically a male Russian name, yet it’s seen more as a feminine name in the U.S. (Nameberry even calls it a Russian variation of [name_f]Nicole[/name_f], although that’s incorrect.) I might not use it if your husband still has family in [name_f]Russia[/name_f]/any family members speak Russian because they might think it’s weird to use a boy name on a girl, but if all you want is a nod to Russian heritage, I think it could work.
Thanks @w12. We knew [name_f]Olive[/name_f] was the one almost immediately.
Also, thanks @mega_muffin. I don’t mind [name_u]Nikita[/name_u], but my husband doesn’t like it. His relatives here still speak Russian, but I don’t think they would mind us being non-traditional. Ugh, we’ll figure something out. We still have a little over a month…YIKES!