Sorry for butting inā¦but this is a subject that is Relevant To My Interests. :)
Actually, Russian does have quite a few Western Europe/English-equivalent names, just as English (and other languages) has some names directly lifted from Russian/Slavic names and diminutivesā¦although ultimately I suppose theyāre ALL drawn from Greek names, as there are close ties between the Greek language/alphabet and the Slavic languages in general and the Cyrillic alphabetā¦And there are some names, like Anna, that seem to be in every language with no alterationsā¦but I donāt know which came first. :) Probably Greek. Ultimately, itās all Greek. Or Latin. Or Norse/Germanic. Or Gaelic. (Or Welsh! Says the person of Welsh descent. ;) ) Ā But anyway! Some name equivalents, off the top of my head, in no particular order (and my apologies for any transliteration weirdness. Iād use the Cyrillic alphabet, but itās difficult to do so on an American keyboard. :p )
Ivan = John
Andrei = Andrew
Anton = Anthony
Yekaterina = Catherine
Pyotr = Peter
Karina = Karen
(L)Izabeta = Elizabeth
Isobel(a) = Isabelle/Isabella
Timofei = Timothy
Fyodor = Theodore
Natalya = Natalie
Leonid = Leonard
Pavel = Paul
Yakov = Jacob
Evgeny = Eugene
Igor (and Grigory) = Gregory
Gyorgy = George
Stepan = Steven
Mikhail = Michael
Raisa = Rose
Oksana = Roxanne
Ilya = Elijah
Olga = Helga
Irina = Irene
Nikolai = Nicholas
Sergei = Serge (Admittedly, not a popular American name, but itās out there in Western Europe, I believe. :) Especially in France, I think? Or Italy, where itās Sergio.)
Viktor = Victor
And I suspect (though I donāt know for certain) that (O)Lesya is also a form of Helga. Itās far less common than Olga, thoughā¦and I like it a lot better. :)
And I could go on. :) But for your anonā¦Iām not aware of a Russian equivalent for Noah, no. Iām guessing itās simply transliterated into Cyrillic. (Iād be interested to know what Russian Old Testaments do with the name in Cyrillic⦠And names like āMethuselah,ā for that matter. Iām guessing theyāre all just transliterated.) Anyway, itās a Hebrew name, obviously, and not too many of them seem to have made it into the Slavic languages outside of simple transliterations. Iām really surprised thereās not a specific Joshua/Jesus equivalent, though! But maybe there is and Iām just not aware of it. Or maybe itās just transliterated, too.Ā
Soā¦Um, yeah! Sorry. Iām a bit of a Russophile, Iām afraid. Itās all because of Pavel Chekov, the Star Trek character. Would you believe I learned quite a bit of Russian just to be able to write Russian dialogue ā mostly mutterings and curses ā for him in fanfic? :) Iām such a geek. (Thank you for posting your Russian asks with general-sense translations, by the way! Itās helping me to remember some of what Iāve forgotten. :) )
And also, while I have youā¦Just what is the matronymic for Yekaterina? I know that an ā-ovnaā is added to the given name, but Yekaterinovna is a littleā¦cumbersome? Is it shortened to something? My name (Katrina) is also a form of Catherine, and Iām always threatening my kids to call them by their first name and a matronymic (Yes, even my son :) )ā¦only Iām not sure what the proper matronymic would be⦠Although Iāve also seen Katrina simply transliterated into Cyrillic as-is, so perhaps it should be āKatrinovnaāā¦which is a little less cumbersome. :)
OK, Iāll shut up now. :)