In today’s Wine Time you mention the Russian River and in the parentheses say something like the good old Slavianka…. I was curious why you chose that term – since it means Slavic woman in Russian. Of course it’s written using the Roman alphabet not the Cyrillic which the Russians use. You may remember that my parents are Polish and I speak Polish so I couldn’t help but wonder – in Polish it’s Slowianka with the l sounding like a w because it has a line through it (which I don’t have on this key board).

Hi Helena!
My kids learned this name for the Russian River when they were in fourth grade at West Side School- in conjunction with traveling up to explore Fort Ross- here is the scoop I have- borrowed offline on an info site:

How did the Russian River in California get its name?

You remember that Russians did occupy the Northern California coast. The Spanish called the river San Ygnacio. The Russians colonist themselves called it “the river Slavianka”, slave woman. In a petition for a Spanish grant in July 19, 1843 called it “la boca de Rio Ruso, ‘the mouth of the Russian River’”. In 1852 The name Russian River appeared on Gibbs map.