About his name
Yes, his name has many variants.
And... oh, the difference is important!
"
Lyosha" is a neutral variant (to speak with a friend or with a child).
Lyoshechka, Lyoshen'ka ("n" is soft here)
names to speak with love.
But such names can be very rude in some phrases like: "Yes, you do everything for Lyoshechka and nothing for me!" (= you do everything for this baby, but he's nothing and deserves nothing). One who uses "Lyoshechka" in such a phrase is more angry than one who says "Lyosha".
Sometimes Lyosha's friends are mocking, when they say "Lyoshen'ka". Not very rude. But often they speak with love indeed. Even Averbukh.
Lyoshka
very often! That's the way rude boys call each other: Lyoshka and Vovka, if their names are Lyosha and Vova. But you also can say "Lyoshka" with love, if... you'd like not to smooth down his hair - but to ruffle them, would like to smack him on the shoulder; if you like him being at liberty, being brave, being a boy... That's the way Tarasova calls Yagudin. And his friends do.
Lyokha
oh, this name means, that Lyosha is big and strong! And nobody cares, how big he is. This variant is also rude. So... our boys like this name. And some young ladies also love to say "Lyokha".
Alyosha
nobody can explain the reason, but this name sounds more tender and childish than Lyosha. Yagudin is even shy, when he hears it. Indeed! And people seek for another variant:
- OK. Lyosha.
- OK. Alyokha! (rude: Alyokha is big!)
You can hear this at 11.15 on the video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKYYUN4MUIo&t=11m15s
"Alyoshka" is more rude than "Alyosha", and Yagudin says "Alyoshka" about himself.
Some people think, that this is not enough, and they say: Ly
oka, Alex
eika, Aly
onya, Ly
oshik, Ly
olik, Alex
eyushka... "Alexeika" (more rude) and "Alexeyushka" (caressing) sound like names from old books or old songs. "Lyoka" and "Alyonya" are strange, I'd say. "Lyoshik" is also caressing. (We say "y
ozhik" about a little hedgehog, for example.)
(I write "Lyosha", because we read "Lyosha" or "Solovyov", even if we write "Lesha", "Soloviev")
The name "Alexei" comes from Greece, and it means: "protector (defender)". Actually... most of our traditional names are not Russian.
As for the rude names... our girls also have such variants of their names. But it doesn't happen often, that anybody will say "T
an'ka" on camera. Because Tatiana is a lady. But if we say "Tan'ka" with love, it means... that she is young, she is funny, she is strong and... she is a good comrade!
There is "Tany
ukha" to say, that Tatiana is strong.
"Tany
usha" and "T
anechka" are tender names.
"Tany
ushka" is tender and rude. "T
anya" is a neutral short variant.
A full Russian name includes a patronymic name.
Yagudin says "Tatiana Anat
olievna", when he speaks about his coach Tarasova. That's the way a good boy should be speaking. We have nothing like "missis" - but we have a patronymic name. The second part means, that Tarasova's father is Anatoliy.
Even talking with Putin nobody says "Mr.President" - everybody starts with "Vlad
imir Vlad
imirovich".
Yagudin's full name is Alexei Konstant
inovich. But... who cares?
Oh, yeah: Korea! They wrote "Alexei Konstantinovich Yagudin" in the announcements. "What a respect to Lyosha in Korea!" - Russians were laughing.
Sometimes we like to call our children their full names: Elizav
eta Alex
eyevna. It's funny! And it is a pleasure for the father to hear this: he must be a great man, if his little children are so great.
But... once Yagudin was on a show, where his daughter was called Elizaveta Petr
ovna. Is her father Peter? Alexei was surprised:
- I didn't know...
"Michel Alexeyevna" sounds strange for Russians. Not a traditional name. But it sounds beautiful. It's nice, that her parents are brave - and do call Michel her full name: Michel Alexeyevna.
And "Mish
el'ka". Other Russians add: "Mish
utka", "Mish
elechka". We need this! We can do this with any name. We want to tell our love.
