Names and diminutive in various languages

Quote from volley super fan

I think that Agnieszka is super! Actyally that is the most popular female Polish name in Bulgaria, I mean that it is something like a proverbial for a Polish girl. And Aga sounds just great. So not to hear a word for changing the name I think it sounds very soft and beautiful.

Oh really? I didn't know about it In Poland it's pretty popular, too, I remember, that when I was in primary school I had 5 girls, except me with this name When teacher said "So, maybe I will ask Agnieszka" we started to quarrel whom did he mean

I was once in a group where there were six Polish girls, and four of them were called Magdalena.

Aga, in Italy your name would be Agnese, I like it

Vasilena remind me of Vasileva

so, about PodraSHCHanin I was completly wrong for all the time xD but now that you told me it's may be possible that I heard this version too...

MiGLikovic... Uhm, I prefer how it sound Milijkovic

Brazilians love a nickname....it is so commom here, can be just originaly from the name it self, like a short of it, or some else, nothing to do with the name, linked to some carecteristic, or some history behind that person.hehehehehe

But I guess in volleyball the most usual ninknames in Brasil are the ones that end in ão or inho! hehehehehehehe

Cause here in Brasil usually a when we add ão (or 'ona' if it is for female word) in the end of some adjective, it is cause we want to mean A LOT!!! While inho, means LITTLE....for example, a silly one, the word beautiful in portuguese is bonito, so when we wanna say some one is really beautiful you can say he is bonitão!

So the same thing is used in names, when someone is really big or really tall, we usually put the ão/ona in the end of their names, like Rodrigão (Rodrigo), Lucão (Lucas), Sidão (Sidney), Fabizona (Fabiana), or when they are short we use the inho...Serginho (Sérgio líbero), Fabizinha (Fabi líbero).

Quote from Kk15

Vasilena remind me of Vasileva

Me too

Italian: Addolorata "Ada"
Spanish. Dolores "Lola"

Quote from Kk15

Aga, in Italy your name would be Agnese, I like it

Vasilena remind me of Vasileva

so, about PodraSHCHanin I was completly wrong for all the time xD but now that you told me it's may be possible that I heard this version too...

MiGLikovic... Uhm, I prefer how it sound Milijkovic

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Well in the root of those two is the very popular in Bulgaria male name Vasil, but Vasilena could be only a first name and Vasileva is used only as a surname. Although written that way they may see very similar, the stress is differnent, so when being prononced they don't sound the same - it is VasilEna and Vasileva. In Bulgarian language surnames express membership in/belonging to a family. In Bulgaria we have always three (rarely four) names: first, father's and family. For example the family name Vasileva means a person belonging to the Vasilevi family and the father's name Vasil*eva* means daughter of Vasil.

As for Miljkovic and that letter "j" I think it only softens the prononciation of L , right?

Oh, and our commentator Sasho Yovkov needed a lot of time to learn how to prononce Podrascanin He is such a tragedy in names(actually not only in names) , he also has said Lasko in two differnet ways - as Lashko and Lasko , and many, many, many other examples

nice topic.
to start with my name - it is Nadejda, and for short - just Nadia, ar Nade. Nadia is also a separate name, but not as common as Nadejda - cause the word nadejda means hope while Nadia doesn't mean anything specifically.

About Bulgarian volleyball team:

Matey Kaziyski is Kazi or just Matey.
Tsvetan Sokolov is Tsetso or Ceco not shure how to spell it corectly.
Vladimir it Vlado.
Andrey Zhekov is Zheka.
Teodor is Tedy, while Todor is Toshko or Tosho. We never call Teodor Toshko. So Teodor Salparov is just Tedy or Salpa while Teodor Todorov is called Air Ted cause he jumpes very high. Also his nickname in Cabaio, but I don't know what does it mean.
Vladislav could also be Vlado in short, but Vladislav Ivanov - the libero has the nick name - the Lemon.
Metodi Ananiev we call - Mecho wich means - bear
I've heared Rado Stoychev calling Valentin Bratoev -'Hey, twin' but actually I am not sure if it wasn't Georgi Bratoev that. Maybe he calls them both 'hey twin', but I wonder how he makes the difference
Nicolay can be Nico, or Kolyo or Niky or Nik but never Kolya like in Russian. A lot similarities with Russian, but they have ending 'a' as in Sasha or Kolya while we have 'o' - Sasho, or Kolyo or Toshko.

Of course Eleonora Lo Bianco is Leo XD

Quote from volley super fan

As for Miljkovic and that letter "j" I think it only softens the prononciation of L , right?

No, "l" and "lj" ("л" and "љ") are two different sounds. "Lj" sounds kinda like soft "l" in Russian, but it's a harder sound, more pronounced and distinct.

Bulgarian names can sound a bit funny for Serbians, for example Radosveta or Tsvetelina sound like something that can be a name, but it's not, if you get what I mean.
And there are some names like Todor and Radoslav that used to be really common in Serbia in the past, but are rarely given nowadays.

Quote from Joana

No, "l" and "lj" ("л" and "љ") are two different sounds. "Lj" sounds kinda like soft "l" in Russian, but it's a harder sound, more pronounced and distinct.

Bulgarian names can sound a bit funny for Serbians, for example Radosveta or Tsvetelina sound like something that can be a name, but it's not, if you get what I mean.
And there are some names like Todor and Radoslav that used to be really common in Serbia in the past, but are rarely given nowadays.

lol, maybe I do
some of the Serbian names are also funny in Bulgarian like Novak for example which means newbie and newcommer, or names like Zhelko too.

I see you guys mentioned your players' nicknames and diminuives, so I'll saysome words about our Polish guys

Bartosz Kurek is Bartek, as you guys already figured out, but also we call him Kuraś and our guys used to call him Siurak Igła mentioned it in great 'Igłą szyte' (Igła filmed our team during WL '09)

Zbigniew Bartman is Zibi, Zbyszek, Zbychu.

Every Michał in our team is Misiek (bear) but besides that we call Winiarski- Winiar, Bąkiewicz- Bąku.

Sebastian Świderski is Świder

Łukasz Kadziewicz is Kadziu.

Paweł Zagumny- Guma

Krzysztof Ignaczak- Krzysiek, Krzysiu, Igła (Igła means needle)

Mariusz Wlazły- Szampon (means Shampoo)

Daniel Pliński- Papa, Plinka

Marcin Możdżonek- Możdzi, Magneto (Igła came up with Magneto )

Marcel Gromadowski- Apollo Guess who came up with it...yeah, yeah you're right! Igła!

Quote from nadejda

lol, maybe I do
some of the Serbian names are also funny in Bulgarian like Novak for example which means newbie and newcommer, or names like Zhelko too.

Novak is surname in Poland It's Nowak actually, 'cause we don't use 'v', but the pronunciation is exactly the same
Zeljko sounds a little bit like żelki or something like that, and żelki means in polish jelly beans

Quote from Joana

No, "l" and "lj" ("л" and "љ") are two different sounds. "Lj" sounds kinda like soft "l" in Russian, but it's a harder sound, more pronounced and distinct.

Bulgarian names can sound a bit funny for Serbians, for example Radosveta or Tsvetelina sound like something that can be a name, but it's not, if you get what I mean.
And there are some names like Todor and Radoslav that used to be really common in Serbia in the past, but are rarely given nowadays.

Yeah, that is exactly what I meant, you explained it better

And yes, I know what you mean it is the same here. Radosveta for example sounds verey normal to me, but it is not used very often, I think thta Radostina and Radoslava are more common. And Cvetelina is relatively new form of old traditional names like Cvetana and Cveta. If you want to be little rude with some Cvetelina you may call her Ceca or Cura, like the very old women in the villiges
As you mentioned I think with the example of Milena - that you use both but more Milena, we use only Milena.

And names Dragan and Dragana were common in Bulgaria in the distant past, but with stress Dragan and Dragana Oh, as I said Dragan, do you have Petkan?

Quote from Ojla

I see you guys mentioned your players' nicknames and diminuives, so I'll saysome words about our Polish guys

Bartosz Kurek is Bartek, as you guys already figured out, but also we call him Kuraś and our guys used to call him Siurak Igła mentioned it in great 'Igłą szyte' (Igła filmed our team during WL '09)

Zbigniew Bartman is Zibi, Zbyszek, Zbychu.

Every Michał in our team is Misiek (bear) but besides that we call Winiarski- Winiar, Bąkiewicz- Bąku.

Sebastian Świderski is Świder

Łukasz Kadziewicz is Kadziu.

Paweł Zagumny- Guma

Krzysztof Ignaczak- Krzysiek, Krzysiu, Igła (Igła means needle)

Mariusz Wlazły- Szampon (means Shampoo)

Daniel Pliński- Papa, Plinka

Marcin Możdżonek- Możdzi, Magneto (Igła came up with Magneto )

Marcel Gromadowski- Apollo Guess who came up with it...yeah, yeah you're right! Igła!

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Ok, for the name of Bartosz Kurek I won't say anything more because i think that it is alreday said enough Just to mention that Kuraś sounds close to Bulgarian kurazh (кураж), wcich means courage

Michal is close to used in Bulgaria Mihail,to whom we say Misho. Both Misiek and Misho I connect with different forms of the word for mouse - mishe, mishle (little mouse) ; mishka (female mouse) and mishok (male mouse) , but definately no bear

Igla means the same in Bulgarain , just the stress I suppose is different

The nickname Plinka reminds me of "pljunka" - spittle

Quote from volley super fan

Ok, for the name of Bartosz Kurek I won't say anything more because i think that it is alreday said enough Just to mention that Kuraś sounds close to Bulgarian kurazh (кураж), wcich means courage

Michal is close to used in Bulgaria Mihail,to whom we say Misho. Both Misiek and Misho I connect with different forms of the word for mouse - mishe, mishle (little mouse) ; mishka (female mouse) and mishok (male mouse) , but definately no bear

Igla means the same in Bulgarain , just the stress I suppose is different

The nickname Plinka reminds me of "pljunka" - spittle

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misiek is a teddy bear, not a real bear also gajgal is called "misiek"

Quote from volley super fan

Ok, for the name of Bartosz Kurek I won't say anything more because i think that it is alreday said enough Just to mention that Kuraś sounds close to Bulgarian kurazh (кураж), wcich means courage

Michal is close to used in Bulgaria Mihail,to whom we say Misho. Both Misiek and Misho I connect with different forms of the word for mouse - mishe, mishle (little mouse) ; mishka (female mouse) and mishok (male mouse) , but definately no bear

Well...Mishka sounds similar to myszka (sz=sh), which means little mouse in polish as well!

About Kurek...seriously whenever I recall what does it mean in Bulgarian I can't stop myself from laughing

Btw, There are lots of similarities between Polish and Bulgarian! I know, both are Slavic languages, but I've never suspected that some words sound almost exactly the same, or very similar! That's awesome! I really can't wait to start studying Bulgarian! Just one year...:)

I can only add that
Tsvetan Sokolov's name when translated means Flower Falcon.
Hristo Tsvetanov is called Itso/Ico.
Kostadin Gadzhanov and Konstantin Mitev are called Kotse/Koce(especially Mitev) or Koko
Svetoslav Gotsev can be called Svetlyo, but he is called Pileto(the Chicken)
Evgeny Ivanov is called Pushkata(the Rifle)
Plamen Konstantinov is called Gibona(the Gibbon)

My name, on the other hand, is Georgi. I can be called Gosho, Goshko, Gesh, Gosheto, but i like "Georgi" the most.

Quote from nadejda

Also his nickname in Cabaio, but I don't know what does it mean.

caballo- horse in spanish
btw I thought volley super fan is a guy, not a gal

Quote from Ojla

Well...Mishka sounds similar to myszka (sz=sh), which means little mouse in polish as well!

About Kurek...seriously whenever I recall what does it mean in Bulgarian I can't stop myself from laughing

Btw, There are lots of similarities between Polish and Bulgarian! I know, both are Slavic languages, but I've never suspected that some words sound almost exactly the same, or very similar! That's awesome! I really can't wait to start studying Bulgarian! Just one year...:)

Yes, slavic languages have a lot of similarities, I have no problem for example to read in Serbian/Croation and I understand pretty good even when someone is talking and I also can speak little. Russian to me is an idea less understandable than the ones I mentioned, but although I have never studied it I uderstand when I read a text, and also if I watch a film - not everything of cousre, but a lot of things, may be about 65%, it depends on the dialoge. Western slavic languages are little bit more difficult than South and Eastern to me, but if you read a text you may find a lot of common words, unfortunately when someone talks in Polish for example I understand just saparate words but don't catch the whole sense. But I think I have a good instinct to slavic languages and if istart studying Polish, I will get used to it very quickly

And are you really gonna study Bulgarian? That's interesting! Where and why?

Quote from triglav_kran

I can only add that
Tsvetan Sokolov's name when translated means Flower Falcon.

Yeah, his name is similar to russian 'tsvety'- flowers! Nice!