# Katya



## AndreiD

What an interesting forum!

I'm a newbie here (haven't figured out how to post or start a new thread yet.)  So I'll take this way to ask about Russian slang.

I have a friend named Katherine who is sometime called "Katia" or "Katya" or some similar spelling that sounds like these two examples.  She lived in Russia as a child. . . somewhere near Moscow as I recall.

Recently, she objected to someone using the name "Katya" and I thought she said something about it being a slang word for a, well, lady of the evening, to try to put it in a polite way.

I don't want to offend her by asking questions but I wonder why such a noble name (certainly in Russia) could have such an association or meaning.

Perhaps it is similar to the Australian "sheila" which, I think, is like the American "gal."  (Maybe it is worse. . .like the American "broad.")

Can anyone help?

AndreiD


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## papillon

Although this could be regional, I have never heard this name being used this way. In the old days (before the revolution) katen'ka (катенька) could be used to refer to a 100 rouble bill, but even that usage is almost non-existant.

I think Katya is a great name! Too bad your friend doen't like it...

EDIT: and what does she call herself now?


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## AndreiD

Thank you!  I believe she has some other sensitivity to that name (or nickname) because she was injured very badly as a child in Moscow and Katya was her "nickname" there. Perhaps there are some unpleasant connections when she hears the name.

Now, she prefers her proper, given name, Katherine. And, yes, I, too believe that both those names are beautiful. In fact, I could fall in love with a girl having that name. . .sight unseen!  However, because I am happily married for many years, that concept is "forbidden fruit" <G>

The girl is American (by birth) and speaks Russian like a native (I assume, since I don't know the language.) Her father was a missionary who operated an orphanage near Moscow for many years. She essentially "grew up" in Russia. 

Thank you for your comments. 

AndreiD in Florida


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## Anatoli

No problem at all with the name Katya - Yekaterina (Катя - Екатерина), in fact, it's a very nice and polular name with Russians. Some people can make of any name.


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## ucraniana

AndreiD said:


> What an interesting forum!
> 
> I'm a newbie here (haven't figured out how to post or start a new thread yet.) So I'll take this way to ask about Russian slang.
> 
> I have a friend named Katherine who is sometime called "Katia" or "Katya" or some similar spelling that sounds like these two examples. She lived in Russia as a child. . . somewhere near Moscow as I recall.
> 
> Recently, she objected to someone using the name "Katya" and I thought she said something about it being a slang word for a, well, lady of the evening, to try to put it in a polite way.
> 
> I don't want to offend her by asking questions but I wonder why such a noble name (certainly in Russia) could have such an association or meaning.
> 
> Perhaps it is similar to the Australian "sheila" which, I think, is like the American "gal." (Maybe it is worse. . .like the American "broad.")
> 
> Can anyone help?
> 
> AndreiD


 
Hi AndreiD,

Well, as for me, I don't think I understood right what you meant by "I thought she said something about it being a slang word for a, well, lady of the evening, to try to put it in a polite way". Maybe you heard it in a wrong way? 

Though, for example, there do exist female names which are perceived negatively. Our South Ukrainian local "euphemism" for a prostitute is "Natasha", because for the recent two decades a lot of newborn Natashas were registered in the country, and the foreigners, especially the Turks (Russian and Ukrainian prostitutes are especially known in Turkey), have been used to thinking that a Russian/Ukrainian prostitute is called "Natasha":-( That's a dreadful thing, still different things happen.

Sorry if I might have offensed somebody without intention. 

Best Wishes to all forumers


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## Setwale_Charm

I have heard the name Аленушка (Alyonushka) being used as an euphemism for a 'girl" in general. As Caitlin is for an Irish girl. And I think the name Маша/Маня (Masha) (just as Ваня (Vanya) for men) is sometimes used collectively.


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## übermönch

Well, i know a vietnamese girl who get's very annoyed if someone *tries *to pronounce her real name, instead of the German synonym which even isn't  officially written down anywhere. Maybe it's that Katia sounds more 'Russian' than Catherine and she doesn't want to be _'the Russian'_ in a company? Just a guess.


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## Crescent

Anatoli said:


> No problem at all with the name Katya - Yekaterina (Катя - Екатерина), in fact, it's a very nice and polular name with Russians.



Yes, I totally and completely agree: Yekaterina is a lovely name...  (*smiles and mentally thanks her parents* ), and indeed it is as popular in Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union as the name 'Laura' in England.. (i.e. _very_ popular) 

But I don't see any connection with slang words for lady of the evening or anything like that as far as I'm aware. (and even if it did have that association, would it be offensive? I'd love to be the lady of someone's evening. )
You know, perhaps your friend didn't mean it _genereally_.  Maybe she meant to say that her name had this association in her circle of friends/ aquaintances, and that's how she grew to dislike it so much... although I really don't see why. To me, it has a wonderful sound..

Some of Russia's greatest political figures in history wore that name: for example Yekaterina the Second, (although, of course - it must be said - she was indeed German) who I was actually named after.


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## Setwale_Charm

Crescent said:


> Yes, I totally and completely agree: Yekaterina is a lovely name...  (*smiles and mentally thanks her parents* ), and indeed it is as popular in Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union as the name 'Laura' in England.. (i.e. _very_ popular)
> 
> Some of Russia's greatest political figures in history wore that name: for example Yekaterina the Second, (although, of course - it must be said - she was indeed German) who I was actually named after.


 
  My, the name Catherine is surely much more popular in England than Laura. And Catherine the Great (Yekaterina Velikaya) received this name from the Russians when she converted to the Orthodox faith (a very unjust thing, so I have always thought, this demand to change one`s faith), her German name was different.


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## skye

What was her German name?


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## Etcetera

skye said:


> What was her German name?


Sophie Augusta Frederike of Anhalt-Zerbst.Many Russian princes married princess of different European countries, and, as the Orthodox faith doesn't allow marrying people of any other faith, those princesses had to switch to the Orthodox faith before getting married.

As for the name Yekaterina/Katya, it's really a great one, and I've never heard of any unpleasant associations which they might have. 
Maybe the girl just doesn't like diminutives as such. It's pretty understandable.


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## Crescent

Etcetera said:


> Sophie Augusta Frederike of Anhalt-Zerbst.



 Oh, my goodness... really??!! I had absolutely no idea that was her name!
What I'm really suprised about, is that her Russian and German names have absolutely nothing in common with each other! You see, I thought, that her real German name was just ... Catherine or Katerina or something along those lines, and that when she changed to Orthodox faith, she just altered her name slightly - i.e. found a Russian equivalent of her name, which would have been of course: Yekaterina.
But, apparently, no...   Well, de toute façon, sorry for my ignorance and thanks very much for the ....просвещение


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## übermönch

The weirdest thing is that she also adopted the paternal name Alexeyevna, which also has very little in common with Christian-August!



			
				Setwale_Charm said:
			
		

> (a very unjust thing, so I have always thought, this demand to change one`s faith)


I guess that big huge empire that comes with it is enough as a counterweight!


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## Etcetera

Crescent said:


> Oh, my goodness... really??!! I had absolutely no idea that was her name!
> What I'm really suprised about, is that her Russian and German names have absolutely nothing in common with each other! You see, I thought, that her real German name was just ... Catherine or Katerina or something along those lines, and that when she changed to Orthodox faith, she just altered her name slightly - i.e. found a Russian equivalent of her name, which would have been of course: Yekaterina.
> But, apparently, no...   Well, de toute façon, sorry for my ignorance and thanks very much for the ....просвещение


You're welcome. 
I've no idea why Princess Sophie Augusta Frederike became Yekaterina, but I may speculate.  In Old Russia, when parents chose name for their child, they usually looked on the Святцы (list of saints, something like that), and found which Saint's day was celebrated on or around the child's day of birth. The child was then to be named after this Saint.


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## Setwale_Charm

Etcetera said:


> You're welcome.
> I've no idea why Princess Sophie Augusta Frederike became Yekaterina, but I may speculate.  In Old Russia, when parents chose name for their child, they usually looked on the Святцы (list of saints, something like that), and found which Saint's day was celebrated on or around the child's day of birth. The child was then to be named after this Saint.


 
It was an inevitable requirement for a monarch-to-be or a future member of a royal family to accept the Orthodox faith.


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## Etcetera

Yes, it was. 
But mind that the Russian Orthodox Church is deeply disapproving to marrying people of any other confession. I've always considered this really odd, to say the least of it.


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## Asdrubal

AndreiD said:


> What an interesting forum!
> 
> I'm a newbie here (haven't figured out how to post or start a new thread yet.) So I'll take this way to ask about Russian slang.


*КАТЮША,* -и,* КАТЯ,* -и,* КАТЕНЬКА,* -и,_ ж._ Сто рублей.
Возм. через_ уг._ или непосредственно от_ устар._ «екатеринка», «катеринка» — сторублевка, первоначально с изображением Екатерины II.


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