Ivan

See also: Iván and ivan

English

Etymology 1

From Russian Иван (Ivan), and from Ivan in several Slavic languages, all of them cognates of the English John.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈaɪ.vən/, /ɪˈvɑːn/, /ˈivɑːn/

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪvən

Proper noun

Ivan

1. A male given name from Russian of English speakers.
   • 2010 Kate Atkinson, Started Early, took My Dog, Doubleday, →ISBN, page 66:

     Amy's husband was called Ivan. Ivan the Terrible, Barry always called him, naturally. 'Ivan? What kind of name is that?' he said to Tracy after Amy's engagement was announced. 'Bloody Russian.'

     'Actually, I think it's because he had a Norwegian grandfather', Tracy said.

     'Norwegian?' Barry said incredulously, as if she'd just announced that Ivan's family came from the moon.

2. A transliteration of the Russian male given name Иван (Ivan).
3. (slang) A Russian.
4. (slang) Russians (collectively, personified).

   Ivan is planning an attack on our flank.

5. (slang, archaic) A Soviet.
6. (slang, archaic) Soviets (collectively, personified).
   • 2006, Max Brooks, World War Z:

     I’m sure whoever was in charge must have been one of the last of the Fulda Fucktards, you know, those generals who spent their nard-drop years training to defend West Germany from Ivan.

Derived terms

• Ivan Ivanovich
• Ivan Ivanovitch

 

Related terms

• Ivanović, Ivanovich, Ivanovitch
• Ivanovna

 

Translations

male given name

• Arabic: إِيفَان m (ʾifān)
• Armenian: Իվան (Ivan)
• Belarusian: Іва́н m (Iván)
• Bulgarian: Ива́н m (Iván)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 伊凡 (ji¹ faan⁴), 艾雲／艾云 (aai³ wan⁴)

  Mandarin: 伊万 (Yīwàn)

• Chuvash: Йӑван (Jăvan)
• Czech: Ivan (cs) m
• Danish: Ivan
• Esperanto: Ivano
• Finnish: Iivana
• French: Ivan (fr) m
• Georgian: ივან (ivan)
• German: Iwan (de) m, Ivan (de) m
• Greek: Ιβάν (el) m (Iván)
• Hindi: इवान m (ivān)
• Hungarian: Iván (hu) m
• Italian: Ivano (it) m
• Japanese: イワン (Iwan), イヴァン (Ivan)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Korean: 이반 (Iban)
• Latvian: Ivans m
• Lithuanian: Ivanas m
• Macedonian: Иван (mk) m (Ivan)
• Norwegian: Ivan (no)
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: Иоаннъ m (Ioannŭ)

• Persian: ایوان (fa) (ivân)
• Polish: Iwan (pl) m
• Portuguese: Ivan m, Ivã (pt) m
• Romanian: Ioan (ro) m, Ivan (ro) m
• Russian: Ива́н (ru) m (Iván), Иоа́нн (ru) m (Ioánn) (ancient)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Ѝван m

  Roman: Ìvan m

• Slovene: Ívan (sl) m
• Spanish: Iván (es) m
• Swedish: Ivan (sv) m
• Ukrainian: Іва́н (uk) m (Iván)
• Yakut: Уйбаан (Uybaan)

Etymology 2

Rare variant of Evan, from Welsh Ifan, the Welsh equivalent of John.

Proper noun

Ivan

1. A male given name from Welsh of Welsh origin.
   • 1833 George Newenham Wright, Scenes in North Wales, T. T. and J. Tegg, page 137:

     Dafydd ap Ivan ap Einion, an adherent to the house of Lancaster held out, in Harlech Castle, for nine years after the accession of Edward the Fourth to the throne of England.

Anagrams

• Na'vi, VAIN, Vani, Viña, vain, vina

---

Catalan

Proper noun

Ivan m

1. a male given name, equivalent to English Ivan

---

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈɪvan]

Proper noun

1. a male given name, equivalent to English Ivan.

---

Danish

Etymology

From Russian Иван (Ivan).

Proper noun

Ivan

1. a male given name of Danish speakers.
2. A transliteration of the Russian male given name Иван (Ivan).

References

• [1] Danskernes Navne, based on CPR data: 7613 males with the given name Ivan have been registered in Denmark between about 1890 (=the population alive in 1967) and January 2005. Accessed on 28 October 2011.

---

Faroese

Proper noun

Ivan m

1. a male given name, equivalent to English Ivan.

Usage notes

• son of Ivan: Ivansson
• daughter of Ivan: Ivansdóttir

Declension

	Singular
	Indefinite
Nominative	Ivan
Accusative	Ivan
Dative	Ivani
Genitive	Ivans

---

Norwegian

Etymology

From Russian Иван (Ivan). First recorded as a Norwegian name in 1824.

Proper noun

Ivan

1. a male given name of Norwegian speakers.
2. A transliteration of the Russian male given name Иван (Ivan).

References

• Kristoffer Kruken - Ola Stemshaug: Norsk personnamnleksikon, Det Norske Samlaget, Oslo 1995, →ISBN
• [2] Statistik sentralbyrå, Namnestatistikk:1310 males with the given name Ivan living in Norway on January 1st 2011. Accessed on March 29th 2011.

---

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• Ivã

Etymology

From Russian Ива́н (Iván).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /i.ˈvɐ̃/

Proper noun

Ivan m

1. a male given name from Russian, equivalent to English Ivan

---

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From New Testament Greek Ἰωάννης (Iōánnēs) (not from Latin Iohannes), from Hebrew יוחנן (Yôḥānnān, “Yahweh is gracious”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ǐʋan/
• Hyphenation: I‧van

Proper noun

Ìvan m (Cyrillic spelling Ѝван)

1. a male given name, equivalent to English John.

Declension

Declension of Ivan

	singular
nominative	Ivan
genitive	Ivana
dative	Ivanu
accusative	Ivana
vocative	Ivane
locative	Ivanu
instrumental	Ivanom

Synonyms

• Jòvan

---

Slovak

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈivan/

Proper noun

Ivan m (genitive singular Ivana, nominative plural Ivanovia, declension pattern of chlap)

1. a male given name, equivalent to English Ivan.

Declension

Declension of Ivan

	singular	plural
nominative	Ivan	Ivanovia
genitive	Ivana	Ivanov
dative	Ivanovi	Ivanom
accusative	Ivana	Ivanov
locative	Ivanovi	Ivanoch
instrumental	Ivanom	Ivanmi

Derived terms

• Ivanko
• Ivo, Ivko
• Ivčo
• Ivuľo, Ivuľko
• Ivušo, Ivuško

Further reading

• “Ivan”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2024

---

Slovene

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /íːʋan/

Proper noun

Ȋvan m anim

1. a male given name, equivalent to English John.

Inflection

The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.

Masculine anim., hard o-stem
nominative	Ívan
genitive	Ívana
	singular
nominative (imenovȃlnik)	Ívan
genitive (rodȋlnik)	Ívana
dative (dajȃlnik)	Ívanu
accusative (tožȋlnik)	Ívana
locative (mẹ̑stnik)	Ívanu
instrumental (orọ̑dnik)	Ívanom

---

Swedish

Etymology

From Russian Иван (Ivan). First recorded in Sweden in 1797.

Proper noun

Ivan c (genitive Ivans)

1. a male given name of Swedish speakers.
2. A transliteration of the Russian male given name Иван (Ivan).

References

• Roland Otterbjörk: Svenska förnamn, Almqvist & Wiksell 1996, →ISBN
• [3] Statistika centralbyrån: 11 824 males with the given name Ivan living in Sweden on December 31st, 2010. Accessed on March 29th, 2011.

Anagrams

• naiv