Jsut to reviv this, I do not know how true it is and please correct me if I am wrong, but my x told me that in Russia, certain days are alocated names. So if your daughter is born on a certain day, traditionally her name should be Olga for example. Of coarse not everyone follows these traditions but many do, therefore in some amount accounting for the lack of any major variety in name givings. Maybe Ptichka can varify this.
ID you're very correct, in the FSU there are names linked to the special days. Such days are called "name days". Each name has several name days. But very little amount of people follows that rull, why because the big quantity of names are Old Slavonic, and usually people choose names the way so they sound good with the patronymic name of the child, so that the name, last name and patronymic name, make a good chain, easy to learn and pronaunce. ;)
ID Olga is actually one of Old Slavonic names, that gained popularity, one of Kiev Rus ruller's name was Olga, and she was a very wise and good ruller.
But I don't think that many people would call their sons like "Timofey or Antip" and daughters like "Agripina or Fekla" and this is just an example. Please believe me, my mom's name is Olga, but on the day she was born it wasn't the names day for Olga, but still her parents called her like that:)
Ptichka if your nickname is the smaller version, I hate to have to try the extended one LOL!
As for the female anatomy, I'll take brains for now. I can find all I want within a 5 mile drive, that when they shake their heads it sounds like a metal can full of nuts and bolts. But since I am a man and can't help myself a nice set of legs and a nice butt doesn't hurt the package at all. So go ahead and shoot me!
Small clarification: 1.you don't have to have a name assigned to the day you were born at, 2. first time your name appears in the calendar AFTER your birthday is your nameday.
In some countries i.e.Poland your nameday is celebrated rather than your birthday.
Ptichka, I am not saying it is what peole do, I just say that it does happen. My x wifes name day was Olga but her mother did not like it. She had 2 friends names Olga because of this day thing, and on my firast trip i meet about 12 girls, about 7 were named Olga, 2 named tatiana, 2 named anna and my x, Victoria. Not much variety there. This was in Yekaterienburg
OK ID, I understand your point of view:) I have never been to Ekaterinburg in my life, so I don't know how it is there, I just know that all my friends, and my parents and their parents were named not because of the Name Day, but for some other reasons. As for me my dad listed all women's names he could think off on a page of paper, and he started thinking out bad nicknames to them (as he didn't want children at school to laugh and crack jokes on my name) and the one to which he wasn't able to think out a bad nickname became my name:) Though my dad was a little bit mistaken...children at school started cracking jokes on my last name...
Interesting. I don't have a complete dictionary, but a quick search indicates that "ptica" has Bosnian roots. I can see it will take quite a while to get the nuances of Russian, Ukrainian, etc.
I'm not sure what roots has the word "Ptica" but it means a bird:)
Scott languages here give and get words from different origins, and it's not possible to distinguish them clearly now:)
Sorry, 5 Olgas, I forgot about Larisa and Veronika. I think how your parents choose you name is sensable, so many people forget about posible fun making at school I think. One question Ptichka. An Italian man told me that Ptichka or more correct to what he said, pitchka is beautidful in some languages. I cannot remeber which lanuages he said.
My quick perusal shows that "pitchka" can be a very offensive word in Hungarian. To be specific:
picsa ‡ #### note VERY offensive, unless used among friends or qualified by "kis" as in "kis picsa" (little ####) which may refer endearingly to a little girl. No pederasty is implied. See slavic languages "pizhda" or "pitchka"
Scot, when I chose the nick name, my intention wasn't that it should sound the same in many languages, I wanted my nick name to be a nick name which will be fast remembered:)
and please don't use the word "pizhda" this place is too good, to turn it into a dirty corner.