One can only wonder if folk singer Nadezhda Babkina will rejoice or curse over her name being given to a newly discovered kind of viper, the weekly Mir Novostei reported.

Muscovite snake specialist Alexander Pavlov chose a rather original way to immortalize the name of his favorite singer. Having traveled the length and breadth of the country, he found, somewhere in a backwoods swamp, an unlisted subspecies of viper. Without thinking twice he decided to name it after Babkina. As he explained later, Babkina’s voice, which he listened to on a walkman during his long snake hunt, gave him strength and inspiration.

The only problem is that the name "Babkina Viper" would sound rather offensive and will hardly be positively received by Babkina. In all likelihood, the herpetologist will decide to call the snake "Viper Naba," combining the first letters of the singer’s first and last names.

Mir Novostei could not obtain any comments from Babkina about the issue. As her colleagues explained, Babkina must be unaware of her newfound fame, since she is on tour with her band, Russkaya Pesnya.