Svetlana is a common Orthodox Slavic feminine given name, deriving from the East and South Slavic root svet, meaning "light", "shining", "luminescent", "pure", "blessed", or "holy", depending upon context similar if not the same as the word Shweta in Sanskrit. Particularly unique among similar common Russian names, this one is not of ancient Slavic origin, but was coined by Alexander Vostokov in 1802 and popularized by Vasily Zhukovsky in his eponymous ballad "Svetlana", the latter first published in 1813. The name is also used in Ukraine, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovakia, Macedonia, and Serbia, with a number of occurrences in non-Slavic countries. In the Russian Orthodox Church Svetlana is used as a Russian translation of Photina (derived from phos (, "light")), a name sometimes ascribed to the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well (the Bible, John 4). Semantically similar names to this are Lucia (of Latin origin, meaning "light"), Claire ("light" or "clear" in French, equivalent to Spanish and Portuguese Clara), Roxana (from Old Persian, "little shiny star, light"), and Shweta (Sanskrit, "white, pure" ).

Variants

The Ukrainian equivalent of the name is Svitlana, the Belarusian is Sviatlana , the Polish variant is Świetlana, and the Czech is Světlana. The Serbo-Croatian speaking area has three pronunciations: Ijekavian Svjetlana (Свјетлана), Ekavian Svetlana (Светлана) and Ikavian Svitlana (Свитлана) are used according to local customs.

Diminutives

Russian language diminutives include Sveta, used in Russian-speaking countries, and Lana (the latter is mainly used outside the former USSR). Sveta also means "saint" in Bulgarian. The Slavic element Svet means "blessed, holy, bright". Serbian language diminutives of the name are Sveta (Света), and Ceca (Цеца, pronounced Tsetsa).

People