Names

Anyone who ever tried to read a Russian novel knows that keeping track of Russian names is tricky. Well, that's an understatement.

Russians name their children by a formula that results in a large number of absolutely identical names. For instance, we have two Natalia Sergeevnas in our close circle. (BTW, congratulations to the taller NS and her fiance Joe! The предложение was made and accepted last night!)

So, what are they called? Nicknames, among friends and family.

To make things simpler for us, one NS (Soboleva / Perfilyeva) is called Natasha except in a hurry, when she is Nata, or Natashka when she has been cross or difficult (rare).

The other, taller, NS is usually called Tasha, a name she adopted when she moved to the US, but her mother calls her 'Natasha.' As far as I can remember, I have not invented any other names for Tasha. That's Joe's job.

Now, Anya comes with the full complement, already put together by generations of Russian speakers: Anna, Anya, Anyushka, Anyuta, Anka.

But what about Tango? Well, of course: Tango, Tangushka, Tangulya, Tangle, and 'TANG!'. What would you expect? And that is the list so far.

(Right about now, I expect Carol to chime in and say that we would have a standard set of nicknames for Tango if I'd taken her advice and named him Ivan: Vanya, Vanushka, Vanka, etc. So if you ever see me refer to 'Anya and Vanya,' 'Vanya' is really Tango. Confusing, no?)

Sasha had remarkably few names: Aleksandra, Sasha, Sashka, Sashenka... Also, of course, Tsaritsa (Empress).

And Pippin had QUITE a name: Philip George Henley, Earl of Overshot and Duke of Thatchbottom, commonly known as Pip or Pippin, but also known as Pipkin, and Pipsky-pupsky.

My favorite pair of dog names belongs to 'the boys': Mishek (aka Sharkey) and Brutus (aka DiggerDog). The nicknames tell you much more about the temperaments of those two than their given names do.

And then there was the dog who was headed for the name 'Tasha,' lo, these many years ago. A weekend with the puppy convinced Al and Lynn to rethink that name, and 'Tasha' became 'Taz,' short, of course, for Tasmanian Devil Dog!

Back in the good old days before computer-generated mailing lists, I often included our dog and cat on the list of members of the household: T. M. Watson (retired) and Philip Henley, Security Guard. When mail arrived for T. M. Watson or Philip Henley, I knew that Toi Ming, the cat, and Pippin, the dog, had been mistaken for humans by the data gathers, and that someone had sold our names!