Russian
Common Russian boys' names, such as Nikita (full name) and Misha (short for Mikhail), are assumed to be feminine in English, due to the 'a' termination, which is actually common in diminutive masculine forms. However, the 'a' termination does hold true for other Russian contexts, as the letter 'a' is appended to all Russian female last names (Ivanov's mother, wife, and daughter all have last name Ivanova; yet any son born out of wedlock to an Ivanova defaults back to last name Ivanov), and nearly all Russian feminine first names end in 'a' (or 'ya', a distinct letter in the Cyrillic alphabet). Also, nicknames (shortened versions of names) can be gender-ambiguous: Sasha (Alexandr or Alexandra), Zhenya (Yevgeniy or Yevgeniya).
Read more about this topic: Unisex Name
Famous quotes containing the word russian:
“In days of doubt, in days of dreary musings on my country’s fate, you alone are my comfort and support, oh great, powerful, righteous, and free Russian language!”
—Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev (1818–1883)
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—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)
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