Russian (Eastern European) woman have "ova" at the end of their name. Is this only for single women? What happens when they get married?
2006-06-09 06:01:50 · 7 answers · asked by P L 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
No, a woman doesn't change her name, but can take spouse's surname after marriage. -Ova is just a common feminine ending, though not all feminine surnames end in -ova, it can also be -o, -ina, -eva and many other variants. Ex: A woman named Petrova gets married to a guy named Ivanov, if she wishes to take his surname, she would become Ivanova, not Ivanov. It's because the surname "Ivanov" changes according to the gender. Surnames that don't follow this rules, ex. Ushenko, it's the same for Sergei Ushenko and Mary Ushenko, there are planty of this type as well. If you have any more questions, PM me.
2006-06-09 21:59:32 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
The "ova" signifies that it is a woman. Other Russian words follow this pattern - not just names. If you tell a man who just sneezed the equivalent of "bless you" - budsdarov, you would say budsdarova to a woman.
Thus, if a man's name is Alexandrov, his wife's name is then Alexandrova. If his daughter marries Ivan I. Petrov, then she would change her name to Petrova.
2006-06-09 06:06:31 · answer #2 · answered by Smiddy 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is the worst thing here! Most people here in US don't understand why I am ...ova, and my husband is ...ov. I have to explain it over and over again....to the bank people especially, since they like when everything matches. I wish that people read some of your answers and didn't ask this question anymore...
2006-06-10 16:43:29 · answer #3 · answered by Aelita 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No she will marry you..and you will take her name...and she will make you do the dishes. While she does heavy manual labour laying railroad track....then she will come home, drink a beer and some vodka and make you dance in a tutu to entertain her.
2006-06-09 06:09:42 · answer #4 · answered by Jerry S 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it dosn't always happen, sometimes it is their last name, but usually it turnes the last name into a femenine from
2006-06-09 06:04:38 · answer #5 · answered by Sasha 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They start to shave their armpits and legs.
2006-06-09 06:04:47 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
males use "yeva" and females use "ova"......means belonging to...
(as in their father)............and females take on the married name...
son loses "yeva"...............
2006-06-09 06:08:00 · answer #7 · answered by Uwanna Kissimmi 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋