Background of an 'Alian Romanov'

[ashen_key]

Hey guys! Long time lurker, first time poster. If I get anything wrong, sorry!

SETTING: Turn of the century Russian Empire
SEARCH TERMS: Alian name meaning ; Alian name origin ; Alian Russian name ; Alian Jewish ; Alianovna [which brought me back to the character I'm trying to research FOR, oops] ; variations of all of the above

Comments

[full_metal_ox]

I think at some point everyone in Marvel fandom runs across this question, haha. I know I've been there, too, though I've since decided to hand-wave it as "someone at Marvel didn't know what they were doing back in the day".

In other words: "Romanov(a)" was the first Russian name Lee and/or Kirby could think of. (See also: Rasputin, Gregori.) (And just how did the trope of "Natasha" as a stock given name for Russian female spies get started, anyway? The Trope Maker seems to be the Rocky and Bullwinkle character (circa 1959), but how did they arrive at her name? Could the heroine of War and Peace have supplied the first Russian female given name that came to Jay Ward's mind?)

Otherwise there's also the possibility that Alianovna isn't her actual patronymic, and it's just something the Red Room/her trainers came up with? (Which doesn't help you much either but it's another avenue of exploration in-universe. Though it doesn't explain why the Red Room is giving her that kind of a fake patronymic, anyway.)

Because the Red Room is one of those plot-convenient devices for retconnaissance without prior notice.