Demetrius, Dimitri, Dmitri, Dimitry, Dmitry, Demetre, Demetry, Dmetre, Dmetry....

Status
Not open for further replies.

Orthodox Andrew

Orthodox Church- Telling The Truth Since 33 A.D.
Aug 24, 2003
3,177
166
37
Visit site
✟12,048.00
Faith
Eastern Orthodox
Marital Status
Married
Alright, alight, you guys get the point. There is so many different ways people seem to spell the name Demetrius in English. And I was wondering if we had anybody here would who could tell me the general way one should spell the name when writing it in English?
 

seashale76

Unapologetic Iconodule
Dec 29, 2004
14,001
4,395
✟171,309.00
Country
United States
Faith
Melkite Catholic
Marital Status
Married
Orthodox Andrew said:
Alright, alight, you guys get the point. There is so many different ways people seem to spell the name Demetrius in English. And I was wondering if we had anybody here would who could tell me the general way one should spell the name when writing it in English?
I am in no way a language expert but I've always seen it spelled as Demetrius, which I assumed was the standard English spelling. Not that there is truly an English standard on this sort of thing, per se. Demetrius seems to be the more common version that I've seen though. (Possibly because of that old technicolor movie called 'Demetrius and the Gladiators' that was a sequel to 'The Robe'? Yeah, I have weird thought processes, I know.)
 
Upvote 0

choirfiend

Senior Veteran
Supporter
Jul 2, 2005
6,598
527
Pennsylvania
✟54,941.00
Faith
Eastern Orthodox
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Others
I think the best way is trying to reflect the spelling in the other language...

Like, Demetrios for Greek
Dimitri for Russian
and assorted variations for the various languages that have adapted the name. If the spelling in Romanian is close to Dmitry, then I'd use that. It depends on the purpose.
 
Upvote 0

Ioan cel Nou

Well-Known Member
Jul 15, 2005
940
59
48
Barnsley, UK
✟16,378.00
Faith
Eastern Orthodox
Marital Status
Married
Politics
UK-Conservative
I'd spell it however the person who actually uses the name spells it. One thing I can't stand is when people from another ethnic group respell someone's name as though it were in their language. I've seen English speakers change Constantin to Constantine, Iosif to Joseph and I've even had my own name rendered Iacobos by a Greek priest. It annoys me no end, so if the person was Greek I'd say Demetrios, Russian Dimitri, Romanian Dumitru, etc.

James
 
Upvote 0

ufonium2

Seriously, stop killing kids.
Nov 2, 2003
2,953
389
Visit site
✟12,536.00
Faith
Eastern Orthodox
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Republican
The official Library of Congress transliteration (thank God for it; do you know how many ways there were to transliterate "Tchaikovsky" before?) for the Russian version is Dmitri. I agree with jmbejdl, though. There's nothing more annoying than being told you're misspelling (or even mispronouncing) your own name.

I've also had a priest insist on using another form of my name, but this was an all-convert "we're Americans and proud of it--so proud we'll wipe all vestiges of "ethnicity" from our parish" group, so the priest actually insisted on anglicizing my middle name. He even changed it on paperwork. I'm all like, "Dude, you can't change my name," and he's like, "But we're Americans" and I'm like, "But it's my name. It's on my birth certificate. It's what my grandma calls me." Very stupid.
 
Upvote 0

Nickolai

Eastern Orthodox Priest
Dec 31, 2003
1,800
164
38
Bethlehem, PA
Visit site
✟10,773.00
Country
United States
Faith
Eastern Orthodox
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Others
I'm often called Niko by local greeks. It's like I'm five years old or something. I just like to be called Nikolai, as that was the Name of my patron, anglicizing it is ok, but I never refer to myself as Nicholas. And I'm glad that people have stopped calling me Kolya, I don't mind it too much, but it's not my name.
 
Upvote 0
Status
Not open for further replies.