Smaragd's Personal Name List

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

Latinized form of the Greek name Ἀλέξανδρος (Alexandros), which meant "defending men" from Greek ἀλέξω (alexo) meaning "to defend, help" and ἀνήρ (aner) meaning "man" (genitive ἀνδρός). In Greek mythology this was another name of the hero Paris, and it also belongs to several characters in the New Testament. However, the most famous bearer was Alexander the Great, king of Macedon. In the 4th century BC he built a huge empire out of Greece, Egypt, Persia, and parts of India. Due to his fame, and later medieval tales involving him, use of his name spread throughout Europe.

The name has been used by kings of Scotland, Poland and Yugoslavia, emperors of Russia, and eight popes. Other notable bearers include English poet Alexander Pope (1688-1744), American statesman Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804), Scottish-Canadian explorer Alexander MacKenzie (1764-1820), Russian poet Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837), and Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922), the Scottish-Canadian-American inventor of the telephone.

Russian form of Aloysius.

Diminutive of Aleksey.

Russian and Ukrainian form of Ambrosius (see Ambrose).

Feminine 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.

Older Russian and Bulgarian form of Anastasius.

Alternate transcription of Russian Анатолий (see Anatoliy).

Romanian form of Andrew, as well as an alternate transcription of Russian/Bulgarian Андрей or Belarusian Андрэй (see Andrey).

Form of 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.

In England, this Latin form has been used alongside the vernacular forms Ann and Anne since the late Middle Ages. Anna is currently the most common of these spellings in all English-speaking countries (since the 1970s), however the biblical form Hannah is presently more popular than all three.

The name was borne by several Russian royals, including an 18th-century empress of Russia. It is also the name of the main character in Leo Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina (1877), about a married aristocrat who begins an ultimately tragic relationship with Count Vronsky.

Variant transcription of Apollinariy.

Alternate transcription of Russian Аркадий (see Arkadiy).

Ukrainian form of Artemios. It is also an alternate transcription of Russian Артём (see Artyom).

Russian variant form of Artemios.

English form of the Polish name Kazimierz, derived from the Slavic element kaziti "to destroy" combined with mirŭ "peace, world". Four kings of Poland have borne this name, including Casimir III the Great, who greatly strengthened the Polish state in the 14th century. It was also borne Saint Casimir, a 15th-century Polish prince and a patron saint of Poland and Lithuania. The name was imported into Western Europe via Germany, where it was borne by some royalty.

Form of Edward in various languages.

Russian and Belarusian form of Elijah.

Russian form of Innocentius (see Innocent).

Newer form of the Old Church Slavic name Іѡаннъ (Ioannŭ), 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.

Polish form of Jaromír.

Russian form of Cyril.

Form of Constantine in several languages.

Russian and Bulgarian form of Ludmila. This was the name of a character in Aleksandr Pushkin's poem Ruslan and Lyudmila (1820).

Latinate form of Margaret. This is also the Spanish word for the daisy flower (species Bellis perennis, Leucanthemum vulgare and others).

Russian form of Methodius.

Russian 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 Russian poet Mikhail Lermontov (1814-1841), the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev (1931-2022), and the Latvian-Russian-American dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov (1948-).

Derived from the Slavic elements mirŭ "peace, world" and slava "glory". This was the name of a 10th-century king of Croatia who was deposed by one of his nobles after ruling for four years.

Russian form of Metrophanes.

Means "vengeance and glory" from the Slavic elements mĭstĭ "vengeance" and slava "glory". Mstislav the Great was a 12th-century grand prince of Kiev.

Means "hope" in Russian and Bulgarian.

Russian form of Natalia (see Natalie).

Greek and Russian form of Nicanor.

Polish feminine form of Nikanor.

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.

Russian and Ukrainian form of Onuphrius.

Russian form of Paphnutius.

Italian, Spanish and Galician form of Porphyria (see Porfirio) as well as a variant of Porfíria used in former Portuguese India.

Russian form of Porphyrios (see Porfirio).

Alternate transcription of Russian Прасковья (see Praskovya).

Russian form of Pulcheria.

Slavic variant of the Old Norse name Ragnhildr (see Ragnhild). It was borne by a wife of the 10th-century Kievan prince Vladimir the Great.

Diminutive of Sasha.

Russian form of the Latin name Sabellius meaning "a Sabine". The Sabines were an ancient people who lived in central Italy.

Bulgarian, Russian and Ukrainian form of Sophronios.

Russian, Ukrainian and Armenian form of Stephanos (see Stephen).

Masculine form of Svetlana. A known bearer of this name is the Bulgarian former soccer player Svetlan Kondev (b. 1976).

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.

Feminine form of the Roman name Tatianus, a derivative of the Roman name Tatius. This was the name of a 3rd-century saint who was martyred in Rome under the emperor Alexander Severus. She was especially venerated in Orthodox Christianity, and the name has been common in Russia (as Татьяна) and Eastern Europe. It was not regularly used in the English-speaking world until the 1980s.

Russian form of Tychon.

Form of Valentinus (see Valentine 1) in several languages.

Feminine form of Valentinus (see Valentine 1). A famous bearer is the Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova (1937-), who in 1963 became the first woman to visit space.

Alternate transcription of Russian Валерий, Ukrainian Валерій or Belarusian Валерый (see Valeriy).

Russian feminine form of Basil 1.

Russian form of Basil 1.

From the Old Slavic name *Voldiměrŭ, derived from the elements volděti meaning "to rule" and měrŭ meaning "great, famous". The second element has also been associated with mirŭ meaning "peace, world".

This was the name of a 9th-century ruler of Bulgaria. It was also borne by an 11th-century grand prince of Kyiv, Vladimir the Great, who is venerated as a saint because of his efforts to Christianize his realm. Other notable bearers include the revolutionary and first leader of the Soviet state Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924), the Russian author Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977), and the Russian president and prime minister Vladimir Putin (1952-).

Czech and Slovak form of Vladimira.

From the Old Slavic name *Voldislavŭ, derived from the elements volděti "to rule" and slava "glory". This name has been borne by kings, princes and dukes of Croatia, Serbia, Bohemia, Poland and Wallachia.

Derived from the Slavic elements vĭśĭ "all" and volděti "to rule". This was the name of an 11th-century grand prince of Kyiv.

Russian and Ukrainian form of Veceslav (see Václav).

Russian form of Katherine. This name was adopted by the German princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst in 1744 shortly before she married the future Russian emperor Peter III. She later overthrew her husband and ruled as empress, known as Catherine the Great in English.

Russian form of Elizabeth. This was the name of an 18th-century Russian empress.

Modern form of Ierofey, which is an older Russian form of Hierotheos.

A notable bearer of this name was the Russian adventurer and entrepreneur Yerofey Khabarov (born c. 1603, died after 1671).

Russian and Ukrainian form of Eudocia.

Russian form of Euthymius.

Variant transcription of Evfimiya.

Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian form of George. This name was borne by Yuriy Dolgorukiy, a 12th-century grand prince of Kyiv. The Soviet cosmonaut Yuriy (or Yuri) Gagarin (1934-1968), the first man to travel to space, was another famous bearer of this name.

Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian form of Zenaida.