Unexpected name inspiration: Obama's daughter named after Russian poet's lover

In 2017, the whole world was surprised to learn that the real name of the daughter of Barack and Michelle Obama is not Sasha, as everyone used to call her, but Natasha. What caused such confusion and why Natasha became Sasha, the publication said NEWS.

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It all started with a post by journalist Ashley Ford, who admitted on Twitter that she only recently found out that Sasha Obama's real name is Natasha.

The post instantly became viral, and many commentators did not believe it and decided that the journalist was spreading fake news.

At the same time, the Obamas did not even think about hiding the name of their daughter. Sasha (Natasha) Obama was born on June 10, 2001. This information is publicly available on Wikipedia.

This unusual name for the USA even has its own unusual history.

On the subject: Million-dollar contracts and a luxurious life: how the Obamas made their last name an expensive brand

During a visit to Russia on July 6-8, 2009, US President Barack Obama, who arrived in Moscow with his entire family, said that his eldest daughter’s name was Malia Ann, and his youngest daughter’s name was Natasha. And, as it turned out, the name was not chosen by chance.

It turns out that the Obamas named their youngest daughter after the wife of the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, Natalya Goncharova. At the same time, in the home circle the girl’s name is Sasha - in honor of the poet himself.

Barack Obama also mentioned his love for Alexander Pushkin in interviews with various Russian publications.

At the same time, Pushkin, like Obama himself, has African roots. The great-grandfather of the Russian classic was Abram Hannibal - the son of an African prince who lived, according to some sources, in Cameroon, and according to others, on the border of Ethiopia and Kenya.

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In 1703, Hannibal was captured and sent to the Sultan's palace in Constantinople. And in 1704, Savva Raguzinsky, an Istanbul merchant of Croatian-Serb origin, brought Hannibal to Moscow, where he was baptized a year later. Peter I himself became the godfather of Pushkin's great-grandfather.

Since 1756, Hannibal held the position of chief military engineer of the Russian army, and in 1759 he received the rank of general-in-chief. In 1762 he resigned. In his second marriage, Hannibal had a son, Osip Hannibal, Pushkin’s maternal grandfather. Pushkin dedicated the unfinished novel “Arap of Peter the Great” to his great-grandfather.

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