Think it "Ova"

By
How do you like my new name? Did you see it in the document on the left? Connie Cortrightova.

I didn't know I'd have a new name when I moved to the Czech Republic. According to tradition, all females have the suffix "ova" added to their last name. It quite literally means "belonging to", as in belonging to a father or husband. Not quite politically correct, according to feminists in the US.

What do you think Hillary Clintonova would think of it? How about Meryl Streepova or Julia Robertsova?

I hear that things may change - even in the CZ - in the near future with the more modern approach to life, but who knows how long the government will take to make a pronouncement on this topic.

This long held tradition does cause some problems for women or girls born here. I've heard of several cases where confusion caused chaos because of this.

A Czech-born woman was having a baby in England. Of course, her birth certificate had "ova" at the end of her name, so the hospital in England gave the baby the same last name on the birth certificate. The only problem was that she had a baby boy. How do you explain to authorities in England that your new baby can't have a name ending in "ova"? He's a boy, so he would NEVER have a name ending like that.

In another case, a US citizen delivered a baby in Prague. She told us before the baby was born that she was a bit worried what would happen if it was a girl. Her birth certificate would have "ova" at the end of her name. How would they deal with that when they returned to the US?

I know that she did have a baby girl, and they are moving back to the US at the end of March. However, I don't know what happened with the birth certificate problem. Hopefully, they persuaded the hospital not to add the "ova" to her last name.

Whoever would have thought that the traditions of a foreign country could have such lasting effects on your life if you are an expat for a year. I can't wait to find out what will happen when we move to St. Petersburg in June. What Russian traditions await us there?


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Home Sweet Home" - Not American Version

By
Image
Older apartment buildings We've lived in St. Petersburg for close to two months and have yet to see "the American dream" - a single family house. Here, everyone lives in an apartment, located either in an old building in the historic city center or in a new high-rise farther out. The high-rise buildings are everywhere you look--in the center of everything, or at the edge of one of the many rivers. We keep hearing about the communist era cement buildings, but we haven't seen many that look too old and dilapidated. They are probably replaced by the new high-rises built since freedom came in the 1990s. We live in one of these new high-rise complexes. Our third-floor apartment is in a 21 story building in a complex of five other buildings (called korpus in Russia). We live in Korpus 3. This complex includes several modern, colorful play areas for the children. It also includes an underground parking garage for the many cars that people own. In fact, the pl
Read more

The Golden Domes of Riga

By
Image
Orthodox Cathedral - Riga  The golden domes of the Nativity of Christ Cathedral stand out above the trees near Old Town Riga. We walk past this large building in the park not far from our apartment.  The domes shine out to the citizens on sunny days. Surrounded by the trees in the park, the walls of the cathedral are not easy to see in summer, but the size is undeniable. Of course, the golden domes tell everyone that this is a Russian Orthodox Church. After living in St. Petersburg, that is easy for us to define with the Russian style architecture. This cathedral was built between 1876 and 1883 when Latvia was a part of the Russian Empire under the reign of Tsar Alexander II.  Main Door This is the largest Orthodox Church in the entire Baltic area. A massive tower rises toward the sky when a visitor approaches the front door.  Entryway painting I visited several orthodox churches during my years in Europe. The thing that they have in common is that the interiors are covered with images
Read more

Why Roosters?

By
Image
Rooster on top of Dom Cathedral  Last week I wrote about cats being on the roof of a building, but today I'm going to share the reason that we have roosters sitting on the tip of churches in Riga. When we first moved to Riga, we noticed that some churches have the usual crosses on the top of them, but others have roosters sitting on top of the steeple. I couldn't recall ever seeing a rooster on top of a steeple. On doing more research, I was wrong to think that other countries don't have these on steeples. I found out that's it's common in European countries to see roosters on top of Lutheran churches. Our Lady of Sorrows Church The more common cross on the top of a steeple is found on Catholic churches in Europe. We have a couple of them in Old Town Riga as well. And, some Catholic churches in Europe have roosters sitting on top of crosses. So, the question popping into my head is why a rooster? After looking at several sources, it seems like ther
Read more