ALBINA Альбіна f Russian, Ukrainian, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Slovene, Polish, German, Lithuanian, Belarusian, Ancient RomanFeminine form of
ALBINUS. This was the name of a few early saints, including a 3rd-century martyr from Caesarea.
ANASTASIA Анастасія f Greek, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, English, Spanish, Italian, Georgian, Ancient GreekFeminine form of
ANASTASIUS. This was the name of a 4th-century Dalmatian saint who was martyred during the persecutions of the Roman emperor Diocletian. Due to her, the name has been common in Eastern Orthodox Christianity (in various spellings). As an English name it has been in use since the Middle Ages. A famous bearer was the youngest daughter of the last Russian tsar Nicholas II, who was rumoured to have escaped the execution of her family in 1918.
ANNA Анна f English, Italian, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Estonian, Latvian, Greek, Hungarian, Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Czech, Slovak, Bulgarian, Icelandic, Faroese, Catalan, Occitan, Breton, Biblical, Old Church Slavic, Biblical Latin, Biblical GreekForm of
Channah (see
HANNAH) used in the Greek and Latin Old Testament. Many later Old Testament translations, including the English, use the
Hannah spelling instead of
Anna. The name appears briefly in the New Testament belonging to a prophetess who recognized
Jesus as the Messiah. It was a popular name in the Byzantine Empire from an early date, and in the Middle Ages it became common among Western Christians due to veneration of Saint Anna (usually known as Saint Anne in English), the name traditionally assigned to the mother of the Virgin
Mary.
... [more] ANTON Антон m German, Russian, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Dutch, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Slovene, Slovak, Macedonian, Croatian, Romanian, Estonian, Finnish, EnglishForm of
Antonius (see
ANTHONY) used in various languages.
ARTUR Артур m Portuguese, Galician, Catalan, Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, German, Estonian, Swedish, ArmenianForm of
ARTHUR in several languages.
HANNA (1) Ганна f Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Polish, Ukrainian, Belarusian, German, Dutch, Icelandic, Hungarian, HebrewForm of
Channah (see
HANNAH) in several languages.
IVAN Іван m Russian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Serbian, Croatian, Czech, Slovak, Macedonian, Slovene, English, Italian, Romanian, Danish, Swedish, NorwegianNewer form of the old Slavic name
Іѡаннъ (Ioannu), which was derived from Greek
Ioannes (see
JOHN). This was the name of six Russian rulers, including the 15th-century Ivan III the Great and 16th-century Ivan IV the Terrible, the first tsar of Russia. It was also borne by nine emperors of Bulgaria. Other notable bearers include the Russian author Ivan Turgenev (1818-1883), who wrote
Fathers and Sons, and the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936), who is best known for his discovery of the conditioned reflex.
MARTA Марта f Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Catalan, Polish, Czech, Slovak, German, Dutch, Romanian, Slovene, Bulgarian, Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Russian, Swedish, Icelandic, Latvian, GeorgianForm of
MARTHA used in various languages.
MIKHAIL Міхаіл m Russian, Belarusian, BulgarianRussian and Belarusian form of
MICHAEL, and an alternate transcription of Bulgarian
Михаил (see
MIHAIL). This was the name of two Russian tsars. Other notable bearers include the poet Mikhail Lermontov (1814-1841) and the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev (1931-).
NINA (1) Ніна f Russian, Italian, English, German, French, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Dutch, Polish, Slovene, Czech, Slovak, Croatian, Serbian, Ukrainian, BelarusianShort form of names that end in
nina, such as
ANTONINA or
GIANNINA. It was imported to Western Europe from Russia and Italy in the 19th century. This name also nearly coincides with the Spanish word
niña meaning
"little girl".
RAISA (1) Раіса f Russian, Ukrainian, BelarusianPossibly from the Greek name
HERAIS. This was the name of a saint and martyr killed in Alexandria during the early 4th-century persecutions of the Roman emperor Diocletian.
RUSLAN Руслан m Russian, Tatar, Bashkir, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Turkmen, Azerbaijani, Ossetian, Chechen, Ingush, Avar, Circassian, Indonesian, MalayForm of
YERUSLAN used by Aleksandr Pushkin in his poem
Ruslan and Ludmila (1820), which was loosely based on Russian and Tatar folktales of Yeruslan Lazarevich.
TAMARA Тамара f Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Czech, Slovak, Polish, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian, Hungarian, English, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Lithuanian, GeorgianRussian form of
TAMAR. Russian performers such as Tamara Karsavina (1885-1978), Tamara Drasin (1905-1943), Tamara Geva (1907-1997) and Tamara Toumanova (1919-1996) introduced it to the English-speaking world. It was also borne by the Polish cubist painter Tamara de Lempicka (1898-1980).
VERA (1) Вера f Russian, English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Hungarian, Romanian, Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, Belarusian, GeorgianMeans
"faith" in Russian, though it is sometimes associated with the Latin word
verus "true". It has been in general use in the English-speaking world since the late 19th century.
VIKTORIA Вікторыя f German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Estonian, Greek, Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, BelarusianGerman, Scandinavian and Greek variant of
VICTORIA. It is also an alternate transcription of Russian/Bulgarian
Виктория or Ukrainian
Вікторія (see
VIKTORIYA) or Belarusian
Вікторыя (see
VIKTORYIA).
YURIY Юрый m Russian, Ukrainian, BelarusianRussian, Ukrainian and Belarusian form of
GEORGE. This name was borne by Yuriy Dolgorukiy, a 12th-century Grand Prince of Kiev. The Soviet cosmonaut Yuriy (or Yuri) Gagarin (1934-1968), the first man to travel to space, was another famous bearer of this name.