My mother told me that she wanted to name me Svetlana but her aunt Nellia came to her begging her to name me after her mother Clara ( Haya), my mother wouldn't so a compromise was reached take first letter of and make it Lara but my mom still said no but Larisa would be fine so I was named after my great-grandmother Haya. I carry both names in her honor. Until her dying day aunt Nellia was the only one who called me Lara.
