Ivan (name) - Etymology

Etymology

Ivan is the common Slavic Latin spelling, while Cyrillic spelling is two-fold: in Bulgarian, Russian, Macedonian, Serbian, Montenegrin it is Иван, while in Belarusian and Ukrainian it is Iван.

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 Ἰωάννης (Iōánnēs) rather than from the Latin Io(h)annes. The Greek name is in turn derived from Hebrew יוֹחָנָן (Yôḥānān, meaning “‘Yahweh is gracious’”). The name is ultimately derived from the Biblical Hebrew name יוחנן, short for יהוחנן, meaning "Yahweh is merciful". Also name has Latin origin, coming from the name Jupiter more precisely form of the name Jupiter, form Jovo, which later was changed to Jovan. Common surnames tracing to the name Ivan, are Ivanović commonly used in Montenegro. And Ivanov, commonly used in Russia and Bulgaria. "Ivanovich" is a Russian patrynomic/middle name meaning "son of Ivan/John" or "Ivanson/Johnson".

It is etymologically related to many other given names in other Indo-European languages (see John (name) for a full list).

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