Rusimir

The first element of this name is probably derived from the Serbo-Croatian noun Rus meaning "Russian". The Russians themselves derived their name from (Old) Russian rusij or rusiy, which refers to a light hair colour (often blonde; some sources also say light-brown) and could be understood to mean "fair-haired" or "fair-headed". There are sources that claim that rusiy means "red-headed" and is itself derived from Old Church Slavonic rudŭ "red", but it is doubtful how correct that is, since that meaning would imply that the Russians were mostly red-haired people, while red hair is mostly a Germanic trait and not a Slavic one: Slavic peoples were mostly fair-haired. Also, still other theories exist about the etymology of the name of the Russian people: a derivation from Finnish, Greek or Persian are also among the possibilities. I will not list them all here, but suffice it to say that the ultimate etymology of the ethnonym is uncertain and disputed. Lastly, the second element of this name is derived from either Slavic mir "peace" or Slavic mer "great, famous".