What do you think about Slavic names?

[Kriptc06]

Surnames sometimes sound funny.. Whenever you hear Dobrovski you get a chuckle.. Doesnt actually mean anything but it just sounds funny..

what do you mean "doesnt actually mean anything'?

DOBRO means good, and VSKI is a patronymic particle, much like OV and OVIC.

this surname could be interpreted as "the son of good" "the son of wealth"

[Kriptc06]

some slavic names I like:

Vladimir, Dmitar, Dimitri, Ivan, Igor, Artyom

Vera, Nicolina, Mira, Draga, Irina, Nina

[Bezprym]

VSKI is a patronymic particle, much like OV and OVIC.

Not really.

Before the surnames were created, Slavic people were describing themselves as X from Y (as well as in other similar ways). An example may be a Polish knight, known here as a symbol of knight's virtue, Zawisza Czarny z Garbowa herbu Sulima. Quite long, I know, but he's most commonly known as Zawisza Czarny or Zawisza z Garbowa. But from the beginning:

Zawisza - it's his name, old Polish in origin.
Czarny - his nickname, which means "black"; it's not fully known why he had this nickname, some say it comes from his armor which was supposed to be black, but the others say he used various armors and it should refer to his appearance, so probably had black hair, darker skin, or both - it was quite common to give nicknames based on appearance.
z Garbowa - this refers to his place of origin, literally means "from Garbów" - which today is known as Stary Garbów (Old Garbów).
herbu Sulima - this part refers to the coat of arms (herb) which his family used.

Suffix -ski may mean various things. First of all, it may be an equivalent of German "von", which is characteristic for nobility and describes the place of origin. For example Jan Amor Tarnowski herbu Leliwa, simply known as Jan Tarnowski, who was a Polish knight and military commander. "Tarnowski" means "from Tarnów". So if Zawisza mentioned before would use -ski suffix, he would be known as Zawisza Garbowski.

On the other hand this suffix may also be used by common people, and their surname could describe their occupation (Kowalski for example, "kowal" means "smith") or place of their origin, but in other way... for example Zaleski, which means that person with that surname comes from another side of the forest.

This -ski has same meaning as suffix -cki. Konrad z Mazowsza (the guy who invited the Teutonic Order to Poland in 13th century) - Konrad of Mazovia - is also known as Konrad Mazowiecki, where Mazovia is not a city but a region.

Patronymic surname with mentioned suffix is also common, however "Dobrowski" (or Dobrovski in anglicized version) is not one of them. There is no name "Dobro", there is Dobromir I think, somewhere. But then this surname would be "Dobromirski".

[Bezprym]

some slavic names I like:

Vladimir, Dmitar, Dimitri, Ivan, Igor, Artyom

Vera, Nicolina, Mira, Draga, Irina, Nina

Here, on the other hand, most of names are not Slavic in origin.

Vladimir - yes, it is Slavic;
Dmitar and Dmitri - is Greek in origin, Demetrios in Greek, or Demetrius in latinized variant; it's literal meaning is connected with goddess Demeter;
Ivan - is Hebrew in origin, Yohanan in Hebrew, Ioannes in Greek and Latin (I think in both these languages name is the same); means something like "Yahve is gracious";
Igor - it originates in Scandinavia, so Germanic - Ingvar;
Artyom - also Greek in origin, Artemios; refers to goddess Artemis;

Vera - here are both options: one of them is Latin, where noun "vera" means "true", or Slavic which would be pronounced as "Viera" or "Viara" which means "faith";
Nicolina - Greek in origin, connected with the name "Nicola" which is connected with male name "Nicolas" - and this comes from Nikolaos, literal meaning is something about victory and the people;
Mira - have various origins, but indeed one of them is Slavic;
Draga - yes, Slavic;
Irina - in origin is Greek, where "eirene" means "peace";
Nina - this is a hard one; I don't know the exact origin, but is not Slavic.

I get what you mean though. These are variants of names used by specific Slavic nations, but by the origin are mostly not Slavic. Of these names "Vladimir" is the most typically Slavic name.

[LoLeL]

I like Slavic feminine given names. But masculine given names... meh...

[Imamudin]

I like Vanya and Olya

[Albobalboa]

deleted post

But are they really Slavic names then? Better to call them Slavized names if you mean all names with non-Slavic origins but used in Slavic countries.

As for Slavic names I think of them like Albanian names, don't sound that good in western countries who are used to more "Latin sounding" names, smoother rather than cut in stone-ish.

[Bezprym]

But are they really Slavic names then? Better to call them Slavized names if you mean all names with non-Slavic origins but used in Slavic countries.

Only few names mentioned by Kriptcov are originally Slavic. I wouldn't call the other examples mentioned by him as "slavized", since various nations have different names, for example you won't find Ivan among West Slavs, where Jan is Ivan's equivalent.

As for Slavic names I think of them like Albanian names, don't sound that good in western countries who are used to more "Latin sounding" names, smoother rather than cut in stone-ish.

I don't know many Albanian names, unfortunately.

[Kriptc06]

Not really.

Before the surnames were created, Slavic people were describing themselves as X from Y (as well as in other similar ways). An example may be a Polish knight, known here as a symbol of knight's virtue, Zawisza Czarny z Garbowa herbu Sulima. Quite long, I know, but he's most commonly known as Zawisza Czarny or Zawisza z Garbowa. But from the beginning:

Zawisza - it's his name, old Polish in origin.
Czarny - his nickname, which means "black"; it's not fully known why he had this nickname, some say it comes from his armor which was supposed to be black, but the others say he used various armors and it should refer to his appearance, so probably had black hair, darker skin, or both - it was quite common to give nicknames based on appearance.
z Garbowa - this refers to his place of origin, literally means "from Garbów" - which today is known as Stary Garbów (Old Garbów).
herbu Sulima - this part refers to the coat of arms (herb) which his family used.

Suffix -ski may mean various things. First of all, it may be an equivalent of German "von", which is characteristic for nobility and describes the place of origin. For example Jan Amor Tarnowski herbu Leliwa, simply known as Jan Tarnowski, who was a Polish knight and military commander. "Tarnowski" means "from Tarnów". So if Zawisza mentioned before would use -ski suffix, he would be known as Zawisza Garbowski.

On the other hand this suffix may also be used by common people, and their surname could describe their occupation (Kowalski for example, "kowal" means "smith") or place of their origin, but in other way... for example Zaleski, which means that person with that surname comes from another side of the forest.

This -ski has same meaning as suffix -cki. Konrad z Mazowsza (the guy who invited the Teutonic Order to Poland in 13th century) - Konrad of Mazovia - is also known as Konrad Mazowiecki, where Mazovia is not a city but a region.

Patronymic surname with mentioned suffix is also common, however "Dobrowski" (or Dobrovski in anglicized version) is not one of them. There is no name "Dobro", there is Dobromir I think, somewhere. But then this surname would be "Dobromirski".

Here, on the other hand, most of names are not Slavic in origin.

Vladimir - yes, it is Slavic;
Dmitar and Dmitri - is Greek in origin, Demetrios in Greek, or Demetrius in latinized variant; it's literal meaning is connected with goddess Demeter;
Ivan - is Hebrew in origin, Yohanan in Hebrew, Ioannes in Greek and Latin (I think in both these languages name is the same); means something like "Yahve is gracious";
Igor - it originates in Scandinavia, so Germanic - Ingvar;
Artyom - also Greek in origin, Artemios; refers to goddess Artemis;

Vera - here are both options: one of them is Latin, where noun "vera" means "true", or Slavic which would be pronounced as "Viera" or "Viara" which means "faith";
Nicolina - Greek in origin, connected with the name "Nicola" which is connected with male name "Nicolas" - and this comes from Nikolaos, literal meaning is something about victory and the people;
Mira - have various origins, but indeed one of them is Slavic;
Draga - yes, Slavic;
Irina - in origin is Greek, where "eirene" means "peace";
Nina - this is a hard one; I don't know the exact origin, but is not Slavic.

I get what you mean though. These are variants of names used by specific Slavic nations, but by the origin are mostly not Slavic. Of these names "Vladimir" is the most typically Slavic name.

Thank you.

[LouisFerdinand]

I like these Slavic names: Elzbieta, Gizela, Margit, Dimitri, Imre, Laszlo.
I like these Russian names: Dmitri, Kirill, Sergei, Vladislav, Elizabeta, Stephania, Zinaida.