Once Upon a Time Baby Names

www.culturespotmc.com Ruslan (ROOS-lahn) is a Slavic masculine name, and Ruslana is the feminine form. It is said this is the Russian form of the Turkic word arslan (and the Turkish name Aslan), meaning "lion." That may be true but there is also a possibility it comes from the Kievan Rus, called Rus, the Rusichan or Ruthenians, who came before Russia as we know it. If this is the case, Ruslan likely means "to row/rower," and shares an etymological root with Russia itself. Some of you may recognize Aslan as the name of the lion in the Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. This is used in Russia and the surrounding area, and it's also a Circassian name. Eruslan, Yeruslan and Uruslan have been seen as variants. One of the oldest uses of the name is of a legendary hero from the Pushkin poem/epic fairytale  Ruslan and Ludmila  published in 1820. The majority of namesakes are from the 1900's and includes plenty of footballers, other athletes, and politicia...

Gennadius II Gennady has a striking similarity to Kennedy, which is a popular unisex name in the U.S. Gennady, alternatively spelled Gennadiy, Gennadi, and Genndy, and  Геннадий   in Russian . This Russian boy's name comes from Gennadius, the name from Greek gennados , meaning "noble, generous." In Bulgarian and Georgian the name is spelled Genadi, while it is Ghenadie in Romanian. None of these are used in the U.S. Saint Gennadius was a martyr from Constantinople, the 21st Ecumenical Patriarch of that ancient city. He was born around the same time as Gennadius of Marseilles, the 5th century priest and historian who was called Gennadius Scholasticus. Perhaps ironically, there was later a man known as Gennadius Scholarius who was a Byzantine theologian and philosopher. There was also 7th century Gennadius II, a Byzantine general. In the 400's there was politician Gennadius Avienus. In the 9th century there was a Bishop named Gennadius of Astorga. Genndy Tart...

Tana River, Kenya  (source) Tana can be pronounced TAH-nah or TAN-uh, whichever you prefer. It can be a short form of Tanya or Tatiana in Russian, which comes from the Roman cognomen Tatius and is assumed to mean "from the house of Tatius," however  could mean  "I arrange" or "founder." It is also an Anglicized spelling of Arabic Thana, meaning "praise." It can even be a nickname for Tiziana, from Titus, Latin meaning "honored." In the arts Tana is a character in The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black, a reporter in the Superboy comics, and a video game character in Fire Emblem . In real life there is Cayetana "Tana" Ramsey, wife of Gordon Ramsey, Czech actress Tana Ficherova, Thai footballers Tana Sripandum and Tana Chanabut, children's book author Tana Hoban, and Irish novelist Tana French. There's also a Gujarati (Indian) legend about twins Tana and Riri, born around 1564, who commited suicide in refus...

Rodion, a  musician  from Rome ( pic source ) A Slavic boy's name of Greek origin, Rodion (ROW-dee-on except for Russia, where it is ROD-ee-own) sounds a bit like a high-fashion design house, a bit like a type of metal or element, and a lot like it has a deep history. Rodion comes from Herodion, Herod, Heroides, meaning "hero's song." A few rulers of ancient Judea were named Herod, at least one of whom was also known by Rodion, and there's Saint Herodion of Patras, a Holy Apostle, who has been known as Rodion. There are several Russian, Croatian, Austrian, Hungarian, Ukrainian, Antillean and Romanian namesakes, and at least one fictional character - the protagonist of Crime and Punishment by world-renowned author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. However, the name has only been seen in U.S. data twice. It was given to 6 boys in 2009 and 5 in 2011. Rodya is a Russian variant.

One option is Molniya, the Russian word for "lightning." The Molniya orbit may share the same origin. Mollitia (mo-LEE-sha) is another option, which is Latin for "tenderness." Magnolia is a much more common name with Molly/Mollie as a nickname. On the surname side there is Mollineau (moll-in-oh). On the nature side you can find Moschatel (mos-sha-tell) or Moschatella. And if you don't like these but want the nickname to sound similar, try Amalia with the nickname Mali.

Ksenia Solo of Lost Girl, pronouncing her name Ksenia, which can also be spelled Kseniya and Ksenija, is a Russian and Ukrainian variant of the Greek name Xenia (ZEEN-ya) meaning "hospitality." Other variants of Xenia include Oksana/Oxsana, Aksana, Xena, Xeniya, and Senja. Above is a video of one of today's most well known namesakes, Ksenia Solo, the Latvian-born Canadian actress from the TV series "Lost Girl." Russian actress Kseniya Rappoport is another well known actress. Ksenia Afanasyeva is a Russian gymnast who competed in the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics. Ksenia Sukhinova is Miss Russia 2007 and Miss World 2008. There are many more namesakes. Of note is  Tsarevna Xenia Borisovna of Russia, who was a beautiful and educated daughter of Tsar Boris Godunov. Tragedy befell her, but she ended up making her way as a nun, and her fictionalized character appeared in a film called "1612." There are two other princesses named Xenia. In 2012 the...

I am disappointed that Disney chose this name for their "The Princess and the Frog" character. Why? Because it's not Creole, French, or African (thus having little to do with the Disney princess's heritage). It likely comes from Tatiana, a Russian name from a Latin family name with no known meaning, as a short form. And the chances of it being used in 1920's New Orleans are slim to none, especially compared to popular names of the day like Fannie and Ruth. Disney was supposed to have named her Maddy (which would have been more accurate if it was a nickname for Madeleine), but it's similarity to a derogatory term, "mammy," made it less desirable, and I guess the public wanted something more in-step with our modern created nature, not caring about accuracy, so Disney found this gem that is one letter different from "tiara." Coincidence? And while Tiana's similarity to "tiara" is creative, it would not have been hard to find a d...

  Art by Susan Seals Nicolai is the Scandinavian and Slavic form of the Russian boys name Nikolai, said the same, with only the c and k changed. This baby name means "people of victory," a very symbolic name, but can also be roughly translated as "victorious people" or "victor of the people." The origin is the Greek name Nicholas (Nikolaus), but Nicolai puts a fresh spin on an old favorite, updating it with a new nickname: Nico. Niklaus/Niclaus and Nikolaus/Nicolaus are two other rare variants, and Niccolai is an alternate spelling. The spelling Nikolai currently ranks at #641, Nicholas at #42, Nickolas at #551, Nicolas at #168, and Nikolas at #473. This spelling, Nicolai, remains unranked, and a total of 47 boys were given the name in 2011, which is down by 13 boys from 2010 and down 12 from 2009, but up quite a bit overall. Good old St. Nick, who's favorite holiday is just over a week away, is still the most famous namesake. He was a 4th centu...

Today's name : Natale (unisex, but would probably work better on a girl) Connected to this name is Natalie, Natalia/Natalja, Noelle and Natasha Pronunciation : na-TAH-lay Potential nicknames : Nat, Nattie/Natty, Nala, Tally, Tillie, Allie/Ally (and Noa or Elle for Noelle) Origin : Natale is a variant of the Spanish word/name Natal and the French word/name Noel, meaning "birthday, Christmas." This name refers to the birth of Christ. Natalie, Natasha (the Russian pet form of Natalya) and Natalia all mean "birthday/Christ's birthday" as well, although Noelle means "born on Christmas." Popularity : These names are extremely popular is various forms. Here are the stats for each name I mentioned above (and more) for 2010, although I left just a few out: 9 baby girls named Natacha, 9 named Natahlia, 5 girls named Natale, 19 Natalea, 7 Nataleah, 535 Natalee, 91 Nataleigh, 33 Nataley, 164 Natali, 3,025 Natalia, 28 Nataliah, 8,715 Natalie, 11 Natal...

Today's name : Nina (female) Alternate spellings : Neena, Neenah, Nena, Nyna International spellings : Finnish: Niina, Eastern European & Hungarian: Ninacska, French: Ninon, Spanish: Nenah, Neenah, Ninah Potential nicknames : Nana, Ni, Nine, Nin, Ni-Ni, Ina, Ninoshka Pronunciation : NEE-nah (and occassionally NYNE-ah) Origin : (1) Spanish, meaning "little girl." (2) Hebrew, meaning "great grand-daughter." (3) A Russian and Polish nickname for Anne and Antonia, or names ending in -nina. (4) Swahili, meaning "mother." (5) Hindi use suggests the meaning "beautiful eyes." (6) A Babylonian goddess of the seas. (7) An Incan goddess of fire. Fun Fact : (1) The Nina was one of Christopher Columbus's three ships. (2) Nina is very multi-ethnic - you will find that many countries use this name equally. Popularity : There were 994 baby girls named Nina in 2010 in the U.S., ranking at #318, moving up to #304 in 2011. Male version : N...