Ivan
EE-vahn
A Slavic form of John meaning “grace of God.”
Meaning
Ivan is the Slavic form of John, ultimately traced back to the Hebrew name Yochanan. In the excerpts, it is glossed as “grace of God,” and one book notes it as a distinct form of Johan/John used across Slavic languages. The name is especially associated with Russian usage, but it appears more broadly in Eastern European naming traditions.
Origin
RussianSlavicHebrewmasculine
Fun fact
One excerpt notes that Ivan was already a very common name across ranks in Russia, and that patronymic forms like Ivanovich and Ivanovna were formed from it.