Long story short. My fifteen year-old daughter does a lot of roleplay with her friends at school. Her persona is a five foot three – yet terrifying – Russian soldier. I wanted to seek out, on her behalf, ideas for a nickname. Something that sounds like a possible feminine Russian name, but translates to something scary.
Any suggestions?
Note: please present any recommendations in both Roman and Cyrillic alphabets, with a definition.
Not a fluent Russian speaker, but …
Hard to tell what migh seem cool to your daughter, so here’s a few thoughts to get you started:
молния (Molniya), “lightning”
страшнaя (Strashnaya), “horrifying, terrible”
львица (Lavitsa), “lioness”
тигрица (Tigritsa), “tigress”
зола (Zola), “ember”
Баба-Яга (Baba Yaga), “morally ambiguous Witch-like character”
Pусалка (Rusalka), “malevolent water demon”
…
I added that first “a” to that transliteration of львица above (Lavitsa) to make it easier to read.
Much thanks, bordelond. This is exactly the sort of thing I’m looking for.
My daughter is somewhat antisocial, but has found a home in her high school’s Jr. ROTC program. Even though she’s not in the best shape physically, having a father who is an Army brat, a classics nerd, a military historian, and a language enthusiast have presented her with just the right mental library of information to make her a freaking Valkyrie as far as the commander is concerned. Half a dozen of the guys in her unit have asked her out (all of whom were turned down), and most of the others are too busy being scared of her. Naturally, I’m loving it.
So I’ll present these suggestions to her and see if she latches on to any of them.
The first vowel sound in львица (actually a soft sign) is unstressed. It should be pronounced more like “L’vitsa” (stress on the “vits”).
“Rusalka” can also be translated as “Mermaid,” as with the Disney character.
Baba Yaga is the witch in a number of fairy tales. She lives in a shack in the forest that stands on chicken legs:
http://thisisthelittlelife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Baba-Yagas-House.jpeg
“Baba” by itself is simply “Hag.”
I don’t know how to write it in Cyrillic, but a friend who was fluent in Slavic languages once translated an au courant saying into Russian for me: Sluchetsya Gavno.
Shit Happens. 
May not be suitable for teen cosplay but the thought tickles me. (I have a 14yo deep into Homestuck, whatever the hell that is.)
(Before any genuine linguists pick on the translation, I do recall him telling me that it was difficult to construct the phrase grammatically in Russian.)
That would be случится говно.
I’ve never heard it (I might have said говно бывает), but maybe my ex has.
I’m sure both **terentii **and bordelond were just simplifying for the OP, but there is no vowel sound between the (soft) /l/ and the (soft) /v/. Indeed, the first vowel sound in львица is the stressed /i/ (pronounced roughly like /ee/ in feet. That sound is preceded by an /l/ sound and a /v/ sound, both of which are soft (as a result, respectively, of the soft sign ь, which softens the л, and the и, which softens the в. Just to be complete, the /a/ is pronounced as a shwa.
I was referring to the first vowel sound in “Lavitsa,” which (as noted) isn’t really a vowel at all.
If you stress the “-vits-” properly, the “-a” is pronounced as a schwa.
This site suggests “Бывают в жизни огорченья” (Byvayut v zhizni əgarchen’ya), as does my ex:
http://www.multitran.ru/c/m.exe?a=3&s=���������&sc=0&l1=2&l2=1