Tatiana (or Tatianna, also romanized as Tatyana, Tatjana, Tatijana, etc.) is a female name of Sabine-Roman origin that became widespread in Eastern Europe.

Origin

Tatiana is a feminine, diminutive derivative of the Sabine—and later Latin—name Tatius. King Titus Tatius was the name of a legendary ruler of the Sabines, an Italic tribe living near Rome around the 8th century BC. After the Romans absorbed the Sabines, the name Tatius remained in use in the Roman world, into the first centuries of Christianity, as well as the masculine diminutive Tatianus and its feminine counterpart, Tatiana. While the name later disappeared from Western Europe including Italy, it remained prevalent in the Hellenic world of the Eastern Roman Empire, and later spread to the Byzantine-influenced Orthodox world, including Russia. In that context, it originally honoured the church Saint Tatiana, who was tortured and martyred in the persecutions of the Roman Emperor Alexander Severus, c. 230 CE. St. Tatiana is patron saint of students in general and in Russia, students are celebrated on Tatiana Day, 25 January. St. Tatiana is also the patron saint of Moscow State University.

Variations

Variations of the name

In popular culture

Tatiana Larina is the heroine of Alexander Pushkin's verse novel Eugene Onegin. The poem was and continues to be extremely popular in Russia. The character of Tatiana Larina inspired the names of two Romanovs: Princess Tatiana Constantinovna of Russia and her distant cousin Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia.

Notable people

In Christianity

Royalty and nobility

In modeling

In television and films

In music

In other performing arts

In sports

In literature and other fiction

Others

Animals

Fictional characters