Ivan (name)


Ivan is a Slavic male given name, a variant of the Greek name Iōánnēs from Hebrew יוֹחָנָן Yôḥānnān meaning 'God is gracious'. It is popular in Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Belarus, North Macedonia, and Montenegro and has also become more popular in Romance-speaking countries since the 20th century.

Etymology

Ivan is the common Slavic Latin spelling, while Cyrillic spelling is two-fold: in Bulgarian, Russian, Macedonian, Serbian and Montenegrin it is Иван, while in Belarusian and Ukrainian it is Iван. The Old Church Slavonic spelling is.
It is the Slavic relative of the Latin name Johannes, corresponding to English John.
This Slavic version of the name originates from New Testament Greek '', meaning "YHWH is gracious". The name is ultimately derived from the Biblical Hebrew name יוחנן, short for יהוחנן, meaning "God is merciful". Common patronymics derived from the name are Ivanović, Ivanov, and Ivanovich, corresponding to "Ivan's son".

Popularity

The name is common among Russians, Ukrainians, Serbs, Bulgarians, Croats, Belarusians, Macedonians, Montenegrins, and to a smaller extent Czechs and Slovaks.
Ivan is the most common male name in Bulgaria and Croatia. In Serbia, it was the 9th most common male name in the period of 1971–1980; 6th in 1981–1990; 9th in 1991–2000.
It is one of the most common names in Croatia, with over thirty thousand namesakes living there. The name Ivan was the most popular from years 1930 to 1940. The peak year was 1930. It was the least popular from years 2003 to 2013.
Since the 20th century, it is becoming more popular in the Romance-speaking world; Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Ivan was also occasionally used by various parties during World War II as a general name for the Soviets.

Forms

Its female forms are Ivana and Ivanna, while Ivanka and Iva are diminutives by origin. South Slavic male diminutives are Ivaniš, Ivanko, Ivanča, Ivanče, etc.

Notable people

Royalty

Fiction