@aliide Hello. My grandmother on my mother's side was born Aliede Lucke in 1886 in Estonia. She's the one I spent a lot of time with growing up, traveled with, etc.. She taught me a tremendous number of things.
@shuttersparks oh wow, what a lovely coincidence! I found you through your profile hashtags – good to "meet" you 🙂
@aliide Likewise. Your name immediately caught my attention. You're the first Aliide or Aliede I've ever encountered.
My grandmother came to the U.S. in 1948. Here she adopted the name Lydia because it was easier for Americans than a name they'd never seen before. Haha.
She and her brother Wilhelm were both very politically astute and would get into raging arguments in Estonian, but I never learned the language. She did teach me to sing the national anthem of Estonia when I was a child, though.
I wish I had been a little wiser then. She would have taught me Estonian and Russian if I had been interested. (She was educated in St. Petersburg.) Instead, we spoke German all the time.
@shuttersparks have you ever been there? You might enjoy the song festival if you ever get the chance.
Aliide is still very uncommon – people often have/had a much older relative with the name, but people tell me such names are gaining in popularity again.
I wish I'd learned more Estonian as a child too – we had the books but lacked the enthusiasm when our worlds were English. Like your grandmother I went by "Lida" for a bit! That was in Russia – how did she transliterate her name there?
@aliide I'm 70. My grandmother from Estonia was born in 1886.
@shuttersparks what did she study? I guessed she might have been studying there prior to the Declaration of Independence as my own grandmother was born in 1914
@aliide She didn't pursue a specific field. It was a girls school in St. Petersburg for aristocrats. So the curriculum was heavy on history, political science, how to take power, hold power, control populations, etc. As a girl, she was also required to learn girl-stuff like sewing. Haha.
She told me that physical education is important in all Russian schools. She told me how all the girls had to run laps and do other exercises first thing in the morning, in their underwear, regardless of weather, regardless of your social position. Mandatory. Cold and snow made no difference.
I thought she was exaggerating until I saw a documentary on television about 30 years ago that showed the schools of St Peterburg doing exactly what she described. O.O
@shuttersparks how interesting! (and sounds uncomfortable) do you remember the name of the documentary? Would be interested to see. And do you know how she related to the Russification of the time? I never really thought about this before but it tracks that the name would be so uncommon under Soviets given that it's a variant of Adelheid. Alluding to nobility probably out of vogue for several decades ...
@aliide This documentary was at least 30 years ago. I think it was made by PBS in the U.S. I have very few details. By 1910 she was in Germany and married.
@shuttersparks sorry, it must be frustrating that I'm asking so many questions you can't be expected to know the answers to – but perhaps reading articles like this will help me a little more with context!
@aliide Yes, I know little of the big-picture stuff. I've always meant to study it but haven't had time.
@shuttersparks that's a shame, but I'm glad you've managed to do a so much in general! I think your family would be very happy with the fact that it even became an option again. It sounds like you're a little older than me – which year was your grandmother born?