If Claire and Lucy are too popular for your tastes, perhaps you’ll consider this name with a similar meaning, but far more exotic sound.
Thanks to JNE for mentioning her during the holiday season. Our Name of the Day is Svetlana.
Starbaby Vivienne Jolie-Pitt might just revive French names, and first daughter Natasha Obama could propel Russian appellations to new heights.
While plenty of Slavic names translate easily into English, Svetlana is an interesting case. She’s certainly not as accessible as Natasha, Anya or Larissa. But she’s surprisingly easy to pronounce. Perhaps that’s because of her similarity to the word svelte. sveht LAHN nah might not roll off the tongue, but neither does she trip us up.
Like Claire and Lucy, Svetlana is said to mean “light.” There is a Saint Svetlana in the Russian Orthodox Church, but Catholics know her as Saint Photina. (If that has you scratching your head, remember that the Greek photos means light, too.) By either name, in the New Testament she’s “the woman by the well.” After Jesus spoke to her, she converted and was later martyred.
But let’s put faith aside because her real source of popularity is literary. In 1813, Vasily Zhukovsky penned his poem “Svetlana.” Zhukovsky may not be as big a name as Dostoyevsky, but he’s responsible for introducing Romanticism to Mother Russia. Back in the day, he made a lot of noise. (In fact, another writer had apparently coined the name, but it was Zhukovsky’s poem that got credit.)
Interestingly, the first English translator of the poem opted to discard Svetlana. Sir John Bowring said that Svetlana “does not easily accommodate itself to our organs of sense.” Bowring called her Catherine instead.
The loyal Svetlana from the poem inspired many parents, and today she’s about as traditional a Russian name as you can imagine. She’s been worn by:
- Stalin’s daughter;
- A long list of athletes – gymnasts, skiers, ice skaters, biathletes;
- The current First Lady of Russia, Svetlana Medvedeva;
- Svetlana Savitskaya, a former cosmonaut and, in 1984, the first woman to perform a space walk.
If you’re naming a fictional Russian woman born after 1825, Svetlana is a safe bet. In fact, sci fi write Sergei Lukyanenko created a character called Svetlana for his 1998 Night Watch novel. It’s since become a series and a movie.
If Svetlana has a drawback, it is her common nickname – Sveta. Somehow it sounds like a heavily accented pronunciation of “sweater” instead of a charming import. Still, with that ending, your little Svetlana could easily answer to Lana.
If V really is the new Z, parents could find this one an appealing option. She’s a valid name with history, but has never appeared in the US Top 1000. If you haven’t a drop of Slavic blood, it might feel like a stretch. But if Anya and Larissa catch fire, why not Svetlana?
I’m not hearing sexy so much as Russian built-like-a-tank, don’t-mess-with-me ball breaker! I’m not entirely sure why I have such a strong image of Svetlana/Svetlanka, although I think there may have been a character in a tv programme a while back that didn’t help that impression come to think of it… Anyhow, Svetlana’s ok but only if you’re Russian, otherwise a little strange!
This was my Russian name in college!! (I was a Russian minor). I love it! Svetlana is all sweetness and light to my ears. And in a Russian accent, it’s perfect! My Russian professor used to call me Sveta, Svetochka, or Svetlanka.
LOL, Kim! And thanks for the additional nicknames. I didn’t know -ochka was a diminutive form in Russian! There’s a family joke about me butchering a similar Polish diminutive, so I feel somewhat vindicated to learn that it would’ve been correct in another Slavic language.
Harrumph!
What an exotic beauty! I think it’s quite sexy, but also has a sweet innocent side. A mixture of sultry and little Heidi on the swiss alps. Very pretty. Unfortunately it would sound really bad with my Mc- name…I would smile so big if I met a little Svetlana. The meaning is great, and the saint is an even better association.
I’d love to meet a little Svetlana running around! Like others, I think it’d sound a bit odd with our purely dull English last name, and my French/Austrian background, and his English/Irish roots.
She just sounds so seductive and sassy, it’s almost impossible not to like her!
I love Svetlana. Lana is a really cute nickname. Svetlana is a sweet, classy name and I love Russian names. I am part Latvian (born and raised in USA though. I am mostly Irish but have a small bit of Latvian in me. lol) so it is familiar to me but I don’t know if my dear boyfriend Eric would approve. It also sounds a bit too close to my first daughter’s name Anya and we hate matchy names for siblings. It won’t work with my or Eric’s last name either, even if we hyphenate them when we’re married.
I agree – Anya and Svetlana are close, and Anya and Lana are WAY too matchy. But I love Anya! She’s on my shortlist as a nickname for Anneliese Olwen.
Svetlana is one I’ve always liked. I like her sound, her meaning and her 3 syllables. I would love to meet one.
I’m a sucker for a nice Russian name, and Svetlana is definitely a nice one to my ear… I like Lana as a nickname, but the name is too *exotic* for my husband. It probably would sound unbalanced with our very standard English/Welsh last name, in all honesty. And while many Russian names come through to English well, a number do not, so I like that Svetlana sounds fully slavic without really tripping us up, as Verity notes. It’s a nice balance between authentic sounding and accessible. I would absolutely love to meet a little Svetlana – it would be perfect for someone with some slavic roots or even just an adventurous namer. Thanks for covering her, Verity!
If I had my Mother’s maiden name, instead of Pop’s, I could use Svetlana, it goes so well with the Polish name! *sigh* Doesn’t with the Mac- though. She’s lush and gorgeous to look at, Svetlana is a sexy gal. 🙂 I too would love to see a little Svetlana!
I love Lana as a nickname! Never thought of that.
I like Svetlana; it’s a very sexy name, if you ask me. However, like you said, it feels like a stretch for us (well, me) German/English/Irish mutts. I would definitely love to see a little one, though! The name itself is gorgeous and lush.