Russian variant is secondary to the Ukrainian name Volodymyr which means Master of people ("Volod-ity = own, manage and "myr, myriany - people, in wider sense World... "myr" as a "peace" is the modern Russian translation"). It belongs to history, because of Volodymyr was foreign manager for Rus (not Russia.. Russia didn't even exist in that age, just stole name of great state)This is a Slavic name, not Russian, because Russians are only semi-slavics. Most of them are Tatars, Mongolians and only European part of Russian have some Slavic blood.So it would be right to give the proper meaning in Ukrainian (as true Slavic posteriors in modern world) name as a basic.
― Anonymous User 8/31/2016
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I think the information provided below is not accurate. The piece about "Christianize Russia" is totally incorrect, as if we go back to the 11th century, there is no country "Russia". You should have referred to Kievan Rus at least. You can check any source about the history of Kievan Rus to confirm that Russia and Kievan Rus are totally different meanings. [noted -ed]
The Slavic word "mir" has a twofold meaning: 1. Peace and 2. World, universe. Therefore the appropriate translation of Vladimir is rather "ruler of the world" than "to rule with greatness" or "to rule with peace".
You were right about the origins of this name, and if you put the two words together you get "Volodymyr", which was the real name of the prince that baptized Rus. The name is still used in Ukraine. Any idea when and why Russians started using "Vladimir" instead? My guess is during Tzar Peter's times, when many changes in names occured, including names of cities.
Prince Volodymyr (Ukrainian pronunciation) was not a prince of Russia, nor Ukraine - neither of which existed in his era. He was the prince (Knyaz') of Kyivan, Rus whose capital, Kyiv (Kiev) exists in present day Ukraine. It is offensive to Ukrainians to refer to him as Russian. Neither is it correct to call him Ukrainian. He and Rus' are to the Ukrainians as Rome and Romans were to the Italians.
This is my gran's name. The name has totaly different meaning. Vladimir came from "vladi" or "vladey" wich is sovereign, master, owner and "mir" wich is peace, but Russians have only one word for two meanings and the second is big land, world, universe. So Vladimir is the sovereign of the world. This is a very royal name.
― Anonymous User 1/13/2006
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Actually the Russian name Vladimir is derived from Germanic Waldemar or Heldemir. The feminine form Helga or Olga. It is a coincidence that Vladimir sounds like it is derived from Slavic vlad "rule" combined with mir "peace". The first known Russian with this name was price Vladimir who was not native Russian, but of Germanic, Scandinavian, Viking origin and had Germanic name. Vladimir was highly revered by the Church for baptizing Russia and his name became very popular. It is through that the name Vladimir, Waldemar or Heldemir means holy or blessed.
The first bearer of the name is the Bulgarian Tsar Vladimir Rassate (889-893).