The Name Game, Part I
Warning: Undefined property: linknotes::$are_links in /var/www/vhosts/basil/kbsite/blog/wp-content/plugins/linknotes.php on line 73
I have been considering the inconsistent and often ethnic way in which the Orthodox translate names. Consider these names: Yakov, Lazar, Vasily, Afanassy, Pavle, Pyotr, Dmitri, Theofan, Maria, Alexei, Aleksandr, Nikolai, Ioann, Ignaty, Elena, Iakovos. Or these: Athanasios, Ignatios, Photios, Vasilios, Symeon, Petros, Chrysostomos, Maximos.
Many of these Russian and Greek names have clear and recognizable English equivalents. Sometimes the English equivalent is used, and sometimes it is not. There seems to be no consistency whatsoever — only personal whim and ecclesial caprice. Why would the English equivalent not be preferrable on a consistent basis?
American converts sometimes take a name like “Nikolai,” in spite of the clear preference given to “Nicholas” by their language and culture. Such choices confuse me: What is the impetus behind such a clearly ethnic choice? The argument could be made that, perhaps, they are taking the name and patronage of a recent saint, one whose name is “Nikolai” and not “Nicholas.” But I have yet to see anyone in America take the name “Ioannos,” “Petros,” “Pavle” or “Pyotr.” It seems that “John,” “Paul” and “Peter” nearly always win out here.
A related problem is the translation of names in texts. This is where any consistency or preference for English equivalents is entirely absent. On the OCA website, the problem is most apparent. Take, for example, tomorrow’s listing of saints and hymns and its Synaxarion. Note these inconsistencies: Arethas/Aretha/Arethus, Athanasius/Athanasios, Syncletica/Synkletike/Syncletia, Sysoes/Sisois, Elesbaan/Elezboi, Theophilus/Theophil/Theophilos. Some of these inconsistencies are within the very same page!
It should be self-evident that a robust American church needs saints with English names; a look at mature Orthodox Churches in the old world also reveals that we should be working toward consistently Anglicized names. In the next installment we will look at what a consistent translation of names might look like.