What's in a name? Culture lesson on names, pt. 1

Something that will always be baffling to me...Slavic names.

The thing about it is that there are fewer "first" names that are used in Slavic countries than in the States. Theoretically, you can name your kid anything in the States and get away with it. Little One might catch some flack for having an unusual name, but eventually, that tends to blow over as they get older.

However, in Slavic countries, there is a more limited list of names that are used. Most of the names correlate to a saint that has been canonized by the Orthodox Church. Therefore, your Slavic friends frequently have the same names as each other. Having an unusual name becomes more of a stigma here than it does at home.

This naming conundrum presents negative and positive scenarios:
1. Positive: if you don't remember someone's name, just guess one of about 15 names and you'll probably get it right.
2. Negative: it's very hard to remember which of your friends is which.

Here's a (non-comprehensive) list of names that I have run into most frequently:
Boys
1. Sergei
2. Sasha
3. Igor (pronounced: EA-ger)
4. Andrei
5. Pasha
6. Dima
7. Kostia
8. Kolya
9. Viktor
10. Ivan (pronounced: ee-VAHN)

Girls
1. Ira
2. Tanya
3. Yulia
4. Oksana
5. Anya
6. Olya
7. Masha
8. Lena
9. Marina
10. Sveta

More to come on names...get excited!