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Is there an accepted Russian transliteration of the given name "Keith"? It appears θ is often transliterated as ф, but it doesn't feel correct in this case (of course I don't know). Кит, Кис, Киз? Something different?

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    This should be Кит. – Dmitry Jan 15 '16 at 03:09
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    Gilbert Keith Chesterton = Гилберт Кит Честертон – Yellow Sky Jan 15 '16 at 03:13
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    In Santa Barbara series it was translated as Кейт. – Anixx Jan 15 '16 at 07:16
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    @YellowSky "Гилберт Кийт" was used in some Soviet editions too, presumably to avoid the association with the word for whale — an extension of the practice of plausibly altering foreign names that sound unintentionally risqué, such as "Хуэй" for the Chinese Hui or "доктор Моуди" for the afterlife researcher Dr Moody. – Nikolay Ershov Jan 15 '16 at 19:54
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    @Anixx, the problem with Кейт is that this is more properly the Russian translation of Kate -- a woman's name. And Кейт doesn't even sound like Keith since the vowel part is totally different. I have had to deal with this problem for some years on Russian visas: an organization inviting me there regularly uses Кейт for the visa invitation instead of Кит, and sometimes in Russia I have gotten weird looks when showing my visa (e.g., to buy a train ticket) because I am not a woman. People who see my name as Кейт have asked me how to pronounce it, since it is strange for a guy to have that name. – KCd Jan 15 '16 at 23:36
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    @KCd I do not think in Russia Кейт associated with women. Also if it is written so in Russian, why would they ask how to pronounce? – Anixx Jan 16 '16 at 01:29
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    @Anixx, I've been told by several people in Russia that Кейт = Kate. For example, Кейт Миддлтон. The reason I have been asked how to pronounce my name is that it is weird to see a guy with a female (written) name, so they think it is an unusual translation of whatever the name is supposed to be. What I meant at the end of my previous comment is that people in Russia have asked me how I pronounce my own name in English. – KCd Jan 16 '16 at 07:17
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    @KCd I see. It is strange, I have encountered Кейт only in Santa Barbara series where it was a man. – Anixx Jan 16 '16 at 10:24
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    Keith Laumer also got transliterated as Кейт in some Russian editions of his books... took me years before I figured out that he's not "Kate Laumer". (Even in this post, I had to consciously edit the pronouns - I wrote "her books" originally. But I might well generally have trouble thinking of "Keith" as a male name - not necessarily due to transliteration only.) – January First-of-May Jan 17 '16 at 10:58
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    As a Russian, I can confirm that Кейт sounds like a feminine name. Sadly, Кейт is the option that Russian visa officials will likely insist on, though Кит is a correct phonetic-based option. – svavil Jan 18 '16 at 01:11
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    @Nikolay Ershov The Mandarin Chinese syllable transcribed as 'hui' in pinyin is actually pronounced much closer to "хуэй", so there's no phonetic compromise in that particular case. – Alex_ander Jan 18 '16 at 10:37

1 Answers1

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Yep, as already is told in comments, "т" is usually standing for t[θ] in modern Russian (though we have Фёдор vs. Theodor, Коринф vs. Corinth). But behold, here I present you a universal algorithm for resolving issues of this kind:

  1. Choose one celebrity with this name. In our case, let's go with Keith Richards.
  2. Find an article about this person in English wikipedia.
  3. Choose the same article in other language. In our case, in Russian.
  4. Check out how the name is translated.
  5. If still not sure (no irony, for historical reasons name of particular person could be transliterated differently), repeat starting from step 1 with choosing some different celebrity.

As a sidenode, word algorithm itself is a nice example of how "ф"-tradition was changed by "т"-tradition. No that long ago there was alternative spelling for алгоритм, алгорифм, but now it is completely obsolete.

Community
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shabunc
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    No worries, this is a completely valid question for this Stack ;) – shabunc Jan 15 '16 at 03:33
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    English th was always transliterated as т. The ф was used only for Greek. – Anixx Jan 15 '16 at 07:18
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    @Anixx yes - but English also had Greek words, which caused doublets like algorithm. Also, there is the word "stealth" which was "translated" "стелс". – Viridianus Jan 15 '16 at 20:27