Ivan

See also: Appendix:Variations of "ivan"

English

Etymology 1

From Russian Ива́н (Iván), and from Ivan in several Slavic languages. Doublet of John and its relatives Evan, Giovanni, Ian, Johann, and Sean, etc.

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (General Australian):

  (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 Macedonian, Pannonian Rusyn, or Russian male given name Иван (Ivan).
3. A transliteration of the Belarusian or Ukrainian male given name Іва́н (Iván).
4. (slang) A Russian.

   Ivan is yelling curses at his friends.

5. (slang) Russians (collectively, personified).

   Ivan is planning an attack on our flank.

6. (slang, archaic) A Soviet.
7. (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.

8. (Internet slang, derogatory) An online troll who promotes views supportive of Russian nationalism or the 2022 invasion of Ukraine; a vatnik.

   Ivan, stop repeating Kremlin propaganda.

Synonyms

• Vanya (diminutive of Ivan)

Derived terms

• Ivan Ivanovich
• Ivan Ivanovitch
• Ivan the Terrible

Related terms

• Evan
• Ian
• Ivanović, Ivanovich, Ivanovitch
• Ivanovna
• Sean

Translations

male given name

Arabic: إِيفَان m (ʔifān) 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 (zh) (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) Korean: 이반 (ko) (Iban) Latin: Ivan m Latvian: Ivans m Lithuanian: Ivãnas m Macedonian: Иван (mk) m (Ivan) Mansi: Northern Mansi: Юван (Ûvan), Ю̄ван (Û̄van) 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

• VAIN, Vani, Viña, Vina, Vian, vain, 'avin', Naʼvi, vani, vina

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [iˈβan]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [iˈvan]

Proper noun

Ivan m

1. a male given name, equivalent to English Ivan

Czech

Czech Wikipedia has an article on:

Ivan

Wikipedia ^cs

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈɪvan]

Proper noun

Ivan m anim

1. a male given name, equivalent to English Ivan
2. (derogatory, ethnic slur) Russian (person)

   Synonym: Rusák

Declension

Declension of Ivan (hard masculine animate)

	singular	plural
nominative	Ivan	Ivanové
genitive	Ivana	Ivanů
dative	Ivanovi, Ivanu	Ivanům
accusative	Ivana	Ivany
vocative	Ivane	Ivanové
locative	Ivanovi, Ivanu	Ivanech
instrumental	Ivanem	Ivany

Proper noun

Ivan m anim (female equivalent Ivanová)

1. a male surname transferred from the given name

Declension

Declension of Ivan (hard masculine animate)

	singular	plural
nominative	Ivan	Ivané, Ivani
genitive	Ivana	Ivanů
dative	Ivanovi	Ivanům
accusative	Ivana	Ivany
vocative	Ivane	Ivané, Ivani
locative	Ivanovi	Ivanech
instrumental	Ivanem	Ivany

Further reading

• “Ivan”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “Ivan”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “Ivan”, in Příjmení.cz (in Czech)

Danish

Etymology

From Russian Ива́н (Iván).

Proper noun

Ivan

1. a male given name of Danish speakers
2. a transliteration of the Russian male given name Ива́н (Iván)

References

• 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

Patronymics

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

Declension

	singular
	indefinite
nominative	Ivan
accusative	Ivan
dative	Ivani
genitive	Ivans

Norwegian

Etymology

From Russian Ива́н (Iván). 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 Ива́н (Iván)

References

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

Old Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (13^th CE) /ˈiʋan/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /ˈivan/

Proper noun

Ivan m pers

1. a male given name

Declension

Declension of Ivan (hard o-stem)

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	Ivan	Ivany	Ivani, Ivanové
genitive	Ivana	Ivanú	Ivanóv
dative	Ivanu, Ivanovi	Ivanoma	Ivanóm
accusative	Ivana	Ivany	Ivany
vocative	Ivane	Ivany	Ivani, Ivanové
locative	Ivanu, Ivanovi	Ivanú	Ivaniech
instrumental	Ivanem	Ivanoma	Ivany

This table shows the most common forms around the 13th century.

Further reading

• Jan Gebauer (1903–1916), “Ivan”, in Slovník staročeský (in Czech), Prague: Česká grafická společnost "unie", Česká akademie císaře Františka Josefa pro vědy, slovesnost a umění

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• Ivã

Etymology

From Russian Ива́н (Iván). Doublet of João, Ian, Jean, Ruan, and Geovane.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /iˈvɐ̃/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /iˈvan/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /iˈvan/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /iˈban/ [iˈβan]

Proper noun

Ivan m

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

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Bulgarian Иван (Ivan) or Russian Иван (Ivan) or Ukrainian Иван (Yvan). Doublet of Ioan.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Proper noun

Ivan m

1. a male given name
2. a surname
3. a river in Covasna County, Romania, tributary to the Valea Crișului

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Borrowed from Old Church Slavonic Їѡанъ (Ioanŭ), from Ancient Greek Ἰωάννης (Iōánnēs), from Biblical Hebrew יוֹחָנָן (Yōḥānān, “Yahweh is gracious”).

Pronunciation

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

Proper noun

Ìvan m anim (Cyrillic spelling Ѝван)

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

   Synonym: Jòvan

Declension

Declension of Ivan

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

Slovak

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈivan/

Proper noun

Ivan m pers

1. a male given name, equivalent to English Ivan

Declension

Declension of Ivan
(pattern chlap)

	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, 2003–2025

Slovene

Slovene Wikipedia has an article on:

Ivan

Wikipedia ^sl

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /íːʋan/

Proper noun

Ȋvan m anim

1. a male given name, equivalent to English John

Declension

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
nom. sing.	Ívan
gen. sing.	Ívana
	singular	dual	plural
nominative (imenovȃlnik)	Ívan	Ívana	Ívani
genitive (rodȋlnik)	Ívana	Ívanov	Ívanov
dative (dajȃlnik)	Ívanu	Ívanoma	Ívanom
accusative (tožȋlnik)	Ívana	Ívana	Ívane
locative (mẹ̑stnik)	Ívanu	Ívanih	Ívanih
instrumental (orọ̑dnik)	Ívanom	Ívanoma	Ívani

Further reading

• “Ivan”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU (in Slovene), 2014–2025

Swedish

Etymology

From Russian Ива́н (Iván). 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 Ива́н (Iván)

References

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

Anagrams

• naiv