Little Bear

[guess]

I just want to check that this is right for a character in a story. Male character is calling a female love interest 'little bear'. The translation I find online is 'medvezhonok' but I want to be certain that gender doesn't change anything.

Thanks!

[translator]

Hi, one can call a female 'медвежонок', but it's not a usual pet name you would call a female love interest because a bear, even a little one in Russian language is associated with a person who is a bit bow-legged or a bit big as a person. So, if I were you, I would change the pet name to something different, like a little fish or...what the heck...there are all kinds of animals out there; just use your imagination

[guess]

Ah - thank you very much for that info, I really appreciate the warning. The story is actually paranormal with the female being a bear shifter/werebear which is why I was going in that direction for the pet name. That connotation is not really where I want to go with this one, though, so I'm grateful for the head's up.

The male character is actually a vampire - I know it sounds trite, but I honestly do work hard on character development and try to be realistic with the constructs of my world. Anyway, is anyone familiar with any terms of endearment that might have been used in older times?

Thank you!

[translator]

Female or male?

[guess]

Terms of endearment for a male to call a female. Thanks!

[translator]

You can also write a dissertation on this topic. I think that душечка would be a good example of endearment term which was used in older times. There's even an good old story by a Russian author - Anton Chekhov which is called Dushechka (English translation would be Darling). Let me know if you need more info.