Effective Pronunciation of Russian & Some Eastern European Names

Pronunciation of Russian names & some Eastern European names appears like it would be an easy task. However, some names require experience and Insight to pronounce them effectively.

In Russia, Bulgaria and Moldova, I's are often pronounced as the ''E'' sound. V's as F's, or a soft-roll V, meaning it starts as a V and ends with a passive F sound. This goes for some Bulgarian names as well. Y's are often 'long Y's' and so in the ending 'lyov' it would be said as ''lee-ovf'' or lee-off. 

C's as in surnames ending with 'evic' often sound like a K. 

However, if you take the name ending with 'Vich' then you are pronouncing it the way you would expect in America.  That is 'vitch' and this name though can be present in Russia (as stated at bottom of article) often originates in Jewish-Russian communities.

The letter ''E'' within a name or preceding Vich would generally be pronounced as an 'eh' or 'a'. So any form of elevich would be "ay-lay-vitch". 

If you take the first names Ivan or Ivana you are using the I as an ''E''. So 'ee-VahnA'.

Take note that first names vary tremendously, and so different spellings of common first names in these nations may have an extra N or A in some cases.

Ski's such as rutski, butski etc are pronounced as you expect. The i is a genuine 'E' so ski is ''skee''. This would go for Pole's as well as some Russians. But the word 'skay' or 'lenskay' would rather sound like 'sky' as in the world 'sly'. Wherein the ay is like saying the letter "I" in English. 

The bulgarian surname Iliev is pronounced as ''eel-E'evf''

Another larger example is the surname "milicievic'' and its many variations, pronounced as ''mel-ee'che'vik''. You almost won't the ''mel'' part representing ''mil'' as mAel as that is the correct Russian accent. The second highest priority in pronuncation is the CHE or CTCHE' sound as for the 'cie' part of milicievic. 

Other names that are important but not necessarily common, such as those found in the Political Elite of these countries - may have altering pronunciation. 
Additionally, some names come from other countries with ties to Russia but are not in origin there - as discussed with some names above. The names ending in "villi" and "villa" often have Georgian-origin. Because of country expansion and increased populations in the smaller eastern-european nations - there is a lot of crossover. Still, in remembering of these names you should know that.....

Most of these become natural if you practice long enough some people are just naturally better at pronunciation and sounding ''right'' such as myself. 

But you will find that if you ever go to Russia or any other russian-identifying and speaking nations that effective and rightly timed pronunciation is key. 


INFORMATION: The 'vich' and 'vitch' surnames often have more roots in Jewish-surnames and sometime Ukrainian-born surnames or other countries in Eastern Europe, the family's born with those names in Russia may be genetically distinct.

Butski and Rutski examples are typical Polish names, though Poland is located in Eastern Europe!