Ivan Cherevichny

Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was Bulgarian tsar Ivan Vladislav.

It is very popular in Russia, Ukraine, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Bulgaria, 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 Іван. The Old Church Slavonic (or Old Cyrillic) spelling is .

It is the Slavic relative of the Latin name , corresponding to English '' John''. This Slavic version of the name originates from New Testament Greek (''Iōánnēs'') rather than from the Latin . The Greek name is in turn derived from Hebrew יוֹחָנָן (), meaning " YHWH (God) is gracious". The name is ultimately derived from the Biblical Hebrew name (), short for (), meaning "God was merciful". Common patronymics derived from the name are Ivanović (Serbian and Croatian), Ivanov (Russian and Bulgarian), and Ivanovich (Russian, used as middle name), corresponding to "Ivan's son".

Popularity

The name is common among Croats, Russians, Ukrainians, Bulgarians, Belarusians, Macedonians, Serbs, Bosnians, Montenegrins, and to a smaller extent Czechs and Slovaks.

Ivan is the most common male name in Bulgaria (as of 2013) and Croatia (as of 2013). In Serbia, it was the 9th most common male name in the period of 1971–1980; 6th in 1981–1990; 9th in 1991–2000.

In Croatia, with over thirty thousand namesakes, the name Ivan was the most popular between 1930 and 1940, and waned in popularity from 2003 to 2013. The name Ivan was the most common masculine given name until 1959, and between 1980 and 1999.

Since the 20th century, it is becoming more popular in the Romance-speaking world; Italian (both the original form and the italianized version, ''Ivano''), Spanish (as ''Iván''), and Portuguese (sometimes ''Ivã'').

''Ivan'' (pl. ''die Ivans'') was also occasionally used by various parties during World War II as a general name for the Soviets.

Forms

Its female forms are '' Ivana'' (West and South Slavic) and ''Ivanna'' (East Slavic), while '' Ivanka'' and ''Iva'' are diminutives by origin. Slavic male diminutives (including historical) are Vanya or Vanja, Ivaniš, Ivanko, Ivanča, Ivanče, etc. A shorter form of the name is Ivo.

Notable people

Mononymously known as

*Ivan (footballer, born 1984), Brazilian football player
*Ivan (footballer, born 1997), Brazilian football player
*Ivan (model) (Liera Manuel Ivan, born 1984), Japanese fashion model and musician
*Iván (singer) (Juan Carlos Ramos Vaquero, born 1959 or 1962), Spanish singer
*Ivan (Belarusian-Russian singer) (Alexander Ivanov), Belarusian-Russian singer
*Ivan, German codename of Serbian spy Duško Popov

Royalty

* Ivan Vladislav, Bulgarian emperor (1015–1018)
* Ivan Asen I, Bulgarian emperor (1189–1196)
*Kaloyan, Bulgarian emperor (1197–1207)
*Ivan Asen II, Bulgarian emperor (1218–1241)
* Ivan II, Bulgarian emperor (1298-1299)
* Ivan Stephen, Bulgarian emperor (1330–1331)
*Ivan Alexander, Bulgarian emperor (1331–1371)
*Ivan Shishman, Bulgarian emperor in Tarnovo (1371–1395)
*Ivan Stratsimir, Bulgarian emperor in Vidin (1356–1396)
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