Black Widow's real name.. Natalya or Natasha?

[Trallis]

did she change her name at some point? I never gave it much thought until I recently became more interested in the character from reading Guardian Devil. I can't find any info about why she has 2 names.

[The Black Guardian]

That's the same name. It's like James and Jim. Natasha is the diminutive form.

[Prince Of Orphans]

Natalya is like the Russian version of Natasha.

[Hrist]

Yeah, Natalia and Natalya are just different transliterations of Наталья. Natasha is a diminutive form. She hasn't changed her name, but somewhere along the line writers realized that Natasha is a nickname, not something a Russian woman would have on her birth certificate.

Natalya is like the Russian version of Natasha.

No, they're both Russian names, Natalia is just more formal.

[SJNeal]

I'm guessing the same goes for her last name? I've seen Romanoff and Romanova...

[The Black Guardian]

I'm guessing the same goes for her last name? I've seen Romanoff and Romanova...

Romanoff is one Anglican form.
Romanov would be another.
Romanova is the feminine.

Similarly, you will sometimes see Magik called Illyana Rasputina.

[KurtW95]

She was born Natalia Romanova(Наталья Романова). But she mostly goes by Natasha Romanoff.

[Hrist]

I'm guessing the same goes for her last name? I've seen Romanoff and Romanova...

Yeah, this is a transliteration issue and a translation issue. In Russian, last names function like adjectives and take a grammatical gender. So feminine last names always end in a. So it's Alexi Romanov and Anastasia Romanova. But in English translation often the last names are often translated without the adjective agreement. Because technically it's the same last name, and it makes for much easier paperwork. (It would be a bit odd if you didn't have the same last name as the male members of your family.) Buuut… there's no hard and fast rule, sometimes the feminine ending is kept, sometimes not.

As for Romanoff/Romanov— that's just different ways of spelling the Russian -ов sound. Romanoff is generally a more old-fashioned transliteration. But if you read books about the Imperial family you will see it spelled both ways.

[SJNeal]

^ ^ ^

Very interesting, thanks for the info!

[Trallis]

Very informative fellas.. glad I asked.