Hey! I was wondering, based on the fact Talia name wise with spelling and shortening is an even bigger mess than Mischa/Misha what you'd recommend for someone who wants to write their fics to try and best represent the correct spellings? What do you personally recommend for this when it's so wrong to start with?
that's a really good question!! and to be completely honest, i have a more laid back approach to talia's name: it's so wrong to the point where i can't even blame russifiaction, because that's not it, her name is just very funny. "talia" doesn't invoke any rage in me, i think it's absolutely OK to spell it that way, while my eye does start to twich whenever i see "mischa". the name natalia itself isn't wrong at all, there also are variants natalya and natalka that are wonderful (but i will shriek if i see natasha)
the shortened form? i sometimes spell it as talya (таля instead of талія), which makes for a softer sound, and is absolutely a plausible form of her name. and it doesn't mean waist! hurray!
the middle name though... i'm not even sure what it's supposed to be and how it's spelled canonically (muruska? murushka? there was a production in which they said it as BABUSHKA), so my go to for this is spelling it as murashka. just my headcanon, not an agenda i'm looking to push onto everyone, but i think it sounds cool: it means little ant, so it can work as a nickname or a double surname.
that makes her Talya Murashka-Bolinska!
very old post with thoughts on talia's name
on misha's name and russification
