Sofia Rotaru - Name

Name

In the titles of the first musical movies where she starred, Solovey iz sela Marshintsy (Nightingale from Marshintsy Village) and Chervona Ruta, her name appears as Sofija Rotar'. Singer Edita P'ekha advised Rotaru to spell her last name in the Moldavian way with a "u" at the end. Rotaru means "wheel maker" in Moldavian. Rotaru's sister, Aurica Rotaru, also a singer, has said:

No, no one has imagined this, this is related to the fact that the village where we were born belonged at a certain time to Romania, this was territory of Romania. Right after the war, this territory was joined to Ukraine and my father was summoned to the military registration and enlistment office and was told that the Moldavian family name should be changed into a Ukrainian one. The letter "u" was taken away and instead Rotaru we got Rotar' with the soft sign. This is how all of us got the family name Rotar'. But indeed, the right last name is - Rotaru...