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Strange surnames if translated | ||
Tags: Names | Translation | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| vonPeterhof Tetraglot Senior Member Russian FederationRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4560 days ago 715 posts - 1527 votes  Speaks: Russian*, EnglishC2, Japanese, German Studies: Kazakh, Korean, Norwegian, Turkish | Message 9 of 31 12 July 2013 at 10:38am | IP Logged | |||||
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The surname of the creator of Pokémon, 田尻 (Tajiri), may be translated as "rice field butt".
There's also the surname 早乙女 (Saotome), which is also a word meaning something to the effect of "rice planter girl". Probably somewhat a somewhat awkward name for a male to have. Of the three male anime characters that I know of with this surname one is a martial artist who involuntarily switches genders upon contact with water and another is a space fighter pilot whose feminine looks earn him the nickname "Princess", so I guess it's not just the foreigners who find this name funny. But then, on the other side you have the numerous English and other Germanic family names ending with "-son", but nobody finds it weird for a woman to have a name like that. Even in Russian, where most common family names have separate masculine and feminine variants, there are examples of this, like the surnames ending with -ич (-ich). This is a part of the standard masculine ending for patromymics, with the feminine equivalent being -на (-na), but the surnames stay the same for both males and females. This only really becomes funny for native speakers if the surname sounds exactly like a common patronymic, like Petrovich. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Zireael Triglot Senior Member Poland Joined 4439 days ago 518 posts - 636 votes Speaks: Polish*, EnglishB2, Spanish Studies: German, Sign Language, Tok Pisin, Arabic (Yemeni), Old English | Message 10 of 31 12 July 2013 at 10:44am | IP Logged | |||||
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I love the thread.
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
 Jiwon Triglot Moderator Korea, South Joined 6224 days ago 1417 posts - 1500 votes Speaks: EnglishC2, Korean*, GermanC1 Studies: Hindi, Spanish Personal Language Map | Message 11 of 31 12 July 2013 at 11:44am | IP Logged | |||||
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The popular Korean surnames of Kim, Li, Park and Choi all have different meanings (like
any Korean name does). Kim (金) - metal Lee (李) - plum Park(朴) - hackberry Choi(崔) - great And my surname Yun(尹) was used to denote ministers in Shang Dynasty, China. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Ogrim Heptaglot Senior Member France Joined 4427 days ago 991 posts - 1896 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, French, Romansh, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Catalan, Latin, Greek, Romanian | Message 12 of 31 12 July 2013 at 2:17pm | IP Logged | |||||
In the case of Petrovich, don't you add an -a if it is a woman "Petrovicha"? I thought that was the general rule when the masculine form of the surname ends in a consonant. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| vonPeterhof Tetraglot Senior Member Russian FederationRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4560 days ago 715 posts - 1527 votes Speaks: Russian*, EnglishC2, Japanese, German Studies: Kazakh, Korean, Norwegian, Turkish | Message 13 of 31 12 July 2013 at 8:37pm | IP Logged | |||||
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 6944 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 14 of 31 12 July 2013 at 8:54pm | IP Logged | |||||
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On a related note, and with a background in Czech, Polish and Slovak it still seems weird to me when I come across women from the BCMS/SC part* of the ex-Yugoslavia whose family names end in -čki / -ski just like that of their fathers or husbands instead of -čka / -ska (e.g. Robert Prosinečki and Emilija Prosinečki)
* in Macedonia, the women there with such family names would be in feminine form (e.g. Zoran Stojanovski but Biljana Stojanovska) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| fabriciocarraro Hexaglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Brazil russoparabrasileirosRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4503 days ago 989 posts - 1454 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, EnglishB2, Italian, Spanish, Russian, French Studies: Dutch, German, Japanese | Message 15 of 31 12 July 2013 at 10:54pm | IP Logged | |||||
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The Russian surname Королёв reads "Karalyov" in Russian, which reminds us of the world "caralho" in Portuguese, that means "dick" =P Luckily for the Russian, we read it the way it's written, something like "Korolev".
3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| horshod Pentaglot Groupie India Joined 5558 days ago 74 posts - 107 votes Speaks: Hindi, Marathi*, Bengali, Gujarati, English Studies: German, Spanish, Turkish | Message 16 of 31 13 July 2013 at 12:09am | IP Logged | |||||
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Marathi has so many funny surnames! Bhutay (ghost), Taklay (bald), Gaaitonday (cow-faced), Ghaayaal (wounded),
Chaavray (biter), Kadoo (bitter), Godbolay (sweet-talker), Potdukhay (stomach ache), Doiphoday (head-smasher), Kaanphaaday (ear-tearer) and many more... :D God knows how and why people started using these names! 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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