Nemanja

Probably derives from the old-slavic word "nemaniti" which means "to attract". (Unfortunately I can not prove this. Since this is my name, I got this information from my history teacher. She had a book about name origins).

Немања (Nemanja) is probably one of most unique and real Serbian names. But it has only one correct meaning. One person wrote it above and you sir, you had a great teacher. It is derived from the by-name borne by the founder of the Nemanjić dynasty, Stefan Nemanja (1114–1199) a Serbian Grand Prince who was venerated as a saint after his death. It derives form old Slavic word "maniti“ which means "to attract“ or "someone who is attractive“. This is confirmed by dictionary of Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences and Church of course. Thousands of years ago it was known that monarchs give themselves strong and powerful names to intimidate their enemies and to be admired by their followers. For example: Alfred the Great, Charles the Great and so on. This is why this name, In the past, was only allowed to be given to members of the royal family.
Most recent theories say: the name Nemanja means "without possessions“ it's not correct. It's literally the meaning of the word Nemanja with different pronunciation. But it's not the meaning of the name. Or that Nemanja means "dragon“. This stems from the two root parts of the name. "neman" = dragon/demon and "ja" = I (me) which is a grammatical addition that converts the meaning to an action with the first word. Although it sounds very cool, this one is also not correct because original Serbian script is Cyrillic. These theories are made possible after the reformation of Serbian language in the 19th century by „Vuk Stefanović Karadžić“. But they are not correct meanings of the name Немања (Nemanja).
I love this site and what you do. Names are symbols. With deeper meaning and history. Greetings! [noted -ed]

Nemanja derives from the Serbian word "neman" which means "demon" and a gramatical change applied to the word neman - "ja" which when applied to the word means one that deals with. So as people were afraid of demons, there were others considered the "fighter of demons" that were called to task to protect others. Therefore Nemanja means "Fighter of Demons".

It was sometimes said to derive from Nehemiah, based on some similarity between these names.

The origin and history of the name "Nemanja" is that it comes from the Serbian surname "Nemanjic" , which was started by the Serbian kings dynasty.

The name Nemanja means fighter of demons. This stems from the two root parts of the name. "neman" = demon and "ja" which is a gramatical addition that converts the meaning to an action with the first word. Serbian grammar is quite complex in comparison to English so this is the simplest explanation that I could provide.

NEMANJA is "someone (male) without property" - NEMATI means "to have not" in Serbian. Name refered to noble sons who stayed without share in father's property (usually second, third son). [noted -ed]

It's from the Serbian word neman meaning something like a dragon.

In Serbian this name means "not having". In Croatian it means "does not have".