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I don't quite understand the reason for why Мое instead of Моя is used. Could somebody explain it to me?

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11

Имя is neuter noun, not feminine.

There is a set of similar neuter nouns: имя, вымя, пламя, семя, время, темя, стремя, знамя, племя, бремя etc.

All of them originate from PIE words with -men suffix. Such words were neuter in PIE also. In Proto-Slavic -en and -n̥ becomes -ę nasal vowel and later -я.

Thus

PIE e̯neo̯mn -> имя

PIE see̯mn -> семя

PIE ĝneo̯mn -> знамя

PIE bhermn -> бремя

etc.

You still can see the -мен- part in oblique cases and plural: времени, временем, времена etc, as well as adjectives: временный, беременная.

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8

Имя belongs to a special group of 11 nouns ending in -мя, all of which are of the Neuter gender:

бремя, время, вымя, знамя, имя, пламя, племя, семя, стремя, темя, голомя

All of them also decline in a special way:

       sing.       plur.
_____________________________       
Nom.   врéмя       временá
Gen.   врéмени     времён
Dat.   врéмени     временáм
Acc.   врéмя       временá
Instr. врéменем    временáми
Prep.  врéмени     временáх

All the 10 nouns (and имя too) have the same case endings as время.

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7
  • Why just 10? You missed бремя, for instance.
    – Anixx
    Oct 20 '15 at 2:44
  • @Anixx - Thank you! They are really 11, no more of them exists in Russian.
    – Yellow Sky
    Oct 20 '15 at 3:24
  • There is also полымя, although it is just native Russian version of пламя.
    – Anixx
    Oct 20 '15 at 3:29
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    There is also письмена which only has plural.
    – Anixx
    Oct 20 '15 at 6:01
  • Ну вот есть ещё одно: рамя ru.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%BC%D1%8F
    – Anixx
    Oct 20 '15 at 12:21

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