Ksanka's Personal Name List

Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian and Bulgarian form of Zoe.

Alternate transcription of Ukrainian Зоряна (see Zoryana).

Feminine form of Zlatan.

Meaning unknown, possibly of Romani origin. This name was (first?) used by Aleksandr Pushkin in his poem The Gypsies (1827).

Russian form of Helen.

Variant of Irina, perhaps influenced by the Slavic element yaru meaning "energetic".

Possibly from a Germanic name meaning "a Wend", referring to the Slavic people who inhabited eastern Germany. In Polish legends this was the name of the daughter of King Krak, the legendary founder of Krakow. It was introduced to the English-speaking world by the author Ouida, who used it for the heroine in her novel Wanda (1883).

Russian and Ukrainian feminine form of Valerius, as well as an alternate transcription of Belarusian Валерыя (see Valeryia).

Russian variant form of Iustina (see Justina).

Alternate transcription of Russian Ульяна or Ukrainian Уляна (see Ulyana).

English diminutive of Antonia or a Russian diminutive of Antonina. In the English-speaking world its use has likely been positively influenced by the name Tanya.

Derived from the Slavic element tixŭ (Serbo-Croatian tih) meaning "quiet".

Russian 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 rapidly grew in popularity in the United States starting in 1957. Another famous bearer was the Polish cubist painter Tamara de Lempicka (1898-1980).

Short form of Taisiya.

Derived from Russian свет (svet) meaning "light, world". It was popularized by the poem Svetlana (1813) by the poet Vasily Zhukovsky. It is sometimes used as a translation of Photine.

Russian diminutive of Sophia. This is the name of a character in Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace (1869, English translation 1886).

Ukrainian form of Salome.

Russian and Bulgarian form of Snježana, as well as an alternate transcription of Macedonian Снежана (see Snežana).

The name is divided into 2 parts in Russian: (slu-veet) that means "praise", and Yana. The whole meaning is "praise Yana". It's a long name for Yana.

Diminutive of Aleksandr or Aleksandra.

Polish form of Salome.

Means "rose" in Russian, Bulgarian and Macedonian. It is a cognate of Rosa 1.

The name of a Slavic (male) saint, which was Ριμμᾶς (Rimmas) in the original Greek, the etymology of which is uncertain. In modern times this is used as a Russian feminine name and is sometimes associated with Рим (Rim) "Rome", the Russian name for the Italian city.

Means "queen" in Latin (or Italian). It was in use as a Christian name from early times, and was borne by a 2nd-century saint. In England it was used during the Middle Ages in honour of the Virgin Mary, and it was later revived in the 19th century. A city in Canada bears this name, in honour of Queen Victoria.

Diminutive of Rayna 1 or Raisa 1.

Ukrainian diminutive of Praskovya or Paraskeva and Polish diminutive of Parascewa and Paraskiewia.

Russian form of the Old Norse name Helga. The 10th-century Saint Olga was the wife of Igor I, the ruler of Kievan Rus (a state based around the city of Kyiv). Like her husband she was probably a Varangian, who were Norse people who settled in Eastern Europe beginning in the 9th century. Following Igor's death she ruled as regent for her son Svyatoslav for 18 years. After she was baptized in Constantinople she attempted to convert her subjects to Christianity, though this goal was only achieved by her grandson Vladimir.

Ukrainian diminutive of Oleksandra. This was the name of an 1898 novel by the Russian author Aleksandr Kuprin.

Ukrainian form of Helen.

Ukrainian form of Xenia.

Ukrainian variant of Dariya.

Variant of Njinga.

Feminine form of Nonnos. This was the name of a 4th-century saint from Nazianzus in Cappadocia. She was the mother of Saint Gregory of Nazianzus.

Short 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" (the word is pronounced differently than the name).

A famous bearer was the American jazz musician Nina Simone (1933-2003).

Short form of Anastasiya.

Variant of Nadya 1 used in Western Europe, as well as an alternate transcription of the Slavic name. It began to be used in France in the 19th century [1]. The name received a boost in popularity from the Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci (1961-) [2].

Short form of Miroslava and other names beginning with Mir (often the Slavic element mirŭ meaning "peace, world").

Modern Greek form of Maura 1, which has spread to Eastern Europe and the Caucasus region via the Eastern Orthodox Church.

In theatre, this is the name of a 1922 comic opera composed by Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971).

Russian variant of Matrona 1.

Portuguese, Galician, Catalan and Occitan form of Margaret. Also in these languages, this is the common word for the daisy flower (species Bellis perennis, Leucanthemum vulgare and others).

Ukrainian folk form of Melanie. Malanka or Generous Eve is also a folk holiday celebrated on 13 January, which is St. Melania's day.

Feminine form of Maid.

Diminutive of Larisa.

Polish, Portuguese and Romanian feminine form of Louis.

Polish feminine form of Ludwig.

Means "favour of the people" from the Slavic elements ľudŭ "people" and milŭ "gracious, dear". Saint Ludmila was a 10th-century duchess of Bohemia, the grandmother of Saint Václav. She was murdered on the orders of her daughter-in-law Drahomíra.

As a Russian name, this is an alternate transcription of Людмила (usually rendered Lyudmila).

Short form of Yelizaveta.

Short form of Anzhelika and Glikeriya.

Short form of Alida, Dalida, Lidia, Lidiya and other feminine names that contain -lid-.

Possibly derived from the name of the ancient city of Larisa in Thessaly, which meant "citadel". In Greek legends, the nymph Larisa was either a daughter or mother of Pelasgus, the ancestor of the mythical Pelasgians. This name was later borne by a 4th-century Greek martyr who is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Church. The name (of the city, nymph and saint) is commonly Latinized as Larissa, with a double s. As a Ukrainian name, it is more commonly transcribed Larysa.

Russian feminine form of Cyrus.

Georgian form of Katayoun. It is sometimes used as a Georgian form of Katherine.

Variant of Gaja 1.

Polish, Lithuanian and Latvian form of Yolanda.

Georgian, Russian, Hungarian and Polish form of Iseult.

Russian and Spanish form of Herais.

Strictly feminine form of Inge.

Russian and Ukrainian form of Inés.

Diminutive of Jadwiga or Ignacja.

Form of Ḥanna (see Hannah) in several languages.

From Hebrew הֲדַס (haḏas) meaning "myrtle tree". In the Old Testament this is the Hebrew name of Queen Esther.

From Yiddish גאָלד (gold) meaning "gold". This is the name of Tevye's wife in the musical Fiddler on the Roof (1964). It was also borne by the Israeli prime minister Golda Meir (1898-1978).

Russian form of Glaphyra.

Variant of Henrietta.

Russian and Ukrainian form of Febronia. It was used by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in his opera 'The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya' (1907).

Short form of Elizabeth. It was borne by the character Eliza Doolittle in George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion (1913) and the subsequent musical adaptation My Fair Lady (1956).

Feminine form of Darius. Saint Daria was a 3rd-century woman who was martyred with her husband Chrysanthus under the Roman emperor Numerian. It has never been a particularly common English given name. As a Russian name, it is more commonly transcribed Darya.

Polish form of Dagmar.

Czech, Slovak and Ukrainian feminine form of Bogdan.

Latvian cognate of Aušra.

Russian variant of Irina.

Armenian form of Anahita, introduced during the period of Iranian domination in the 1st millenium BC. Anahit was an important Armenian mother goddess associated with fertility and protection. She was a daughter of Aramazd.

Short form of Germanic names beginning with the element amal. This element means "unceasing, vigorous, brave", or it can refer to the Gothic dynasty of the Amali (derived from the same root).

This was another name for the 7th-century saint Amalberga of Maubeuge.

Alternate transcription of Russian Алёна or Ukrainian Альона (see Alyona).

Belarusian form of Helen.

Bulgarian form of Xenia, as well as an alternate transcription of Russian Аксинья (see Aksinya).

Variant of Ayda. This name was used in Verdi's opera Aida (1871), where it belongs to an Ethiopian princess held captive in Egypt.

Feminine form of Adrian.

Variant of Darya 1.