Alexei Navalny's wife

[F-16 12]

>>> Alexei Navalny and his wife, Yulia Navalnaya, were pictured at the hospital in Berlin <<<

https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-europe-54284945

I am putting this in the Immigration Forum, because I think it's some kind of gross cultural faux pas or something like that.

The feminine form of a Russian family name is — as far as I know — only appropriate as a maiden name, for a girl, never married, to use the feminine form of her father's family name.

If a girl grows up and leaves her parents' house without getting married right away, she will generally assume the masculine form of the family name, which in such a case simply reflects a woman's adulthood and independence, not tomboyishness or masculinity as such.

If a woman is lawfully married, she will use the exact same form of the family name as her husband.

Such feminine little girls' maiden names are unheard of in Finland and were phased out entirely hundreds of years ago in Sweden, e.g. «Larsdotter» vs. «Larsson», and never considered appropriate for a married woman.

[F-16 12]

On 9/24/2020 at 12:35 PM, F-16 said:

feminine form of a Russian family name

For a man (or adult woman) it's the Mother's Maiden Name at the bank, and somebody's after your money.