Ukrainian names. History and meaning

Ukrainian names have much in common with Russian and Belarusian. This is not surprising, because our peoples have common roots and one story. The intertwining of destinies has led to the fact that now in Ukraine they are asked to record children in the Russian-language form of the name, while in their native language it may sound quite different. What is the peculiarity of Ukrainian names?

Let's glance into the past

Now in Ukraine, the fashion returns to call children with Old Slavonic names. So in the kindergartens and schools you can meet girls Bogdan, Miroslav, Bozhedan, Velen, Bozhen. Boys are called Dobromir, Izyaslav, Lubomir. But these are only modern trends, although they have been observed almost the entire century-long history of the fraternal people.

When in Russia Christianity was accepted, everyone was baptized in the church and gave the names of the holy martyrs. This tradition continues even now. That's just the children we still continue to refer to it exactly as written in the certificate? And why is this happening?

It turns out that this phenomenon is more than a thousand years old. Since the early Christian years, people accustomed to the Old Slavic names, and continued to call their children. And what the church requires of them simply remained on paper. So well-known Ukrainian names of Bogdan Khmelnitsky and Ivan Mazepa could in fact be different. Bogdan in childhood was baptized under the banner of St. Zinoviy, and Ivan as Istislav.

Examples of names of Christian origin

But the language of the people is great and powerful, therefore some Ukrainian names were borrowed from the Christian faith. Over time, they have been changed and adapted to the gentle sound of a colorful language. Analogues, by the way, there are also originally Russian. For example, Elena in Ukraine sounds like Olena, Emilian-Omelyan, Glikeria-Likeria (Rus Lukerya).

In the Old Russian language there were no names that would begin with the first letter of the alphabet A. This rule later passed to Ukraine, with the exception of the name Andrei (Andriy, although in some villages one can hear Gandry) and Anton. But the more familiar to us Alexander and Alexey zaimeli first O and turned into Oleksandra and Olexiy. By the way, dear Anna in Ukraine sounds like Ganna.

Another phonetic feature of the ancient language is the absence of the letter F. Virtually all words having F are borrowed from other countries. That is why the Christian versions of Thekla, Philip and Theodosius turned into Tesla, Pilip and Todos.

Ukrainian masculine names

To name all the names that are suitable for boys and which will be considered native Ukrainian is simply impossible. Their great number and all of them have old Slavic roots. We offer to consider the most common Ukrainian male names and their significance.

• Agap - romantic, frivolous.
• Oleksandr (Alexander) - defender, courageous warrior.
• Olexiy (Alexei) - the same as Alexander.
• Bogdan is blessed by God.
• Boleslav - glorified in the ages.
• Bratoslav - free and fair.
• Bronislav is a defender, a warrior.
• Velemir is sent to the world.
• Vitomir is the giver of peace.
• Vsevolod - from the word glory, the conqueror and the glorified.
• Vratislav - nice, stately, strong.
• Gavrila - from the Christian Gabriel - strong as God.
• Gordei - proud, majestic.
• Gordislav - the same as Gordey.
• Danil - from Christian Daniel - a disciple of God.
• Dobromir is good.
• Daromir is the same as Dobromir.
• Dobroslav - glorious, kind.
• Eremey - blessed by God.
• Ermolai - a messenger of the people.
• Zhitomir - living in the world.
• Zlatodan - bestows gold, jewelry.
• Zlatomir is a golden world.
• Ladomir - the world and the world.
• Mstislav is the defender.
• Ostap is staunch and loyal.
• Radomir - fighting for freedom and peace.
• Rostislav - born for glory.
• Svetogor - given by the sun.
• Svyatoslav is a sacred, glorious one.
• Tikhomir is quiet and peaceful.
• Tikhon is calm, polite.
• Fedor (Fedot) - gifted by God.
• Yaromil - on behalf of the Slavic God of the sun - Yarila.
• Jaroslav - courageous, strong, fierce.

Female names

Many female names have a derived form from the male. List of Ukrainian names in female form:

• Bereginya - protecting the house (on behalf of the Slavic goddess).
• Velimira is peaceful.
• Spring is fresh, young.
• Ganna (Anna) - nice, sympathetic.
• Gorislava is wise.
• Dana - God given.
• The valley is the ruler of the world.
• Fun is cheerful, mischievous.
• Zlata - illuminated by the sun.
• Zorina (Zorya) - the sunrise of the sun.
• Krasava is beautiful.
• Kupava - (from the goddess of the Goddess) - rich, tender.
• Lada - peaceful, bringing good.
• Malusha is small.
• Malva is calm.
• I'm glad - joyful, cheerful.
• Rosina is bright and clean.
• Rusana is blonde.

The meaning of Ukrainian names can be understood from the very name. Aboriginal Ukrainian words were used to display their meaning on the nature of the child. Therefore, if you read Miloslava, then you mean that this pretty creature is sure to become famous.

How to correctly read Ukrainian names

In Ukrainian almost all letters are similar to Russian. Except for some. They make up a special difficulty for residents of other countries, because the language demands to pronounce them smoothly and gently.

So, the letter r is in two variants. The first ordinary is read gently, gently, and the second with a tail is more firmly. Besides:

• E is read as Russian e;
• her:
• I - and;
• And - similarly;
• Ї - as "yi"
• Ьo - as the Russian e.

Features of modern names

Modern Ukrainian names have already lost their uniqueness. Of course, the parents of the western regions and some central regions still preserve the ancient traditions, but the rest of the city and especially the large cities prefer to use the russified forms. By the way, in the Ukrainian passport the data about the person is written in two languages - national and Russian.