The name Svetlana cannot be called the most common, it is inferior in popularity to such female names as Sofia, Anastasia, Elizaveta, and yet it is firmly entrenched in the dictionary of Russian names. Those who choose this name for their daughters are attracted not only by its beautiful sound, but also by its Slavic origin.
The Russian-speaking origin of the name Svetlana is beyond doubt. Its cognate words are "light", "light". It looks like such primordially Slavic names as Snezhana, Milana. This similarity even misled scientists-philologists, who for some time considered the name Slavic, which arose in the pre-Christian era.
The research of historians refuted this assumption: this name was not found in any ancient Russian document. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that, unlike most names, the exact time of its appearance and even the creator are known.
Name Creator
The name Svetlana owes its birth to the Russian poet Alexander Vostokov (1781-1864). The real name of this man is Alexander-Voldemar Ostenek, he was born in the territory of modern Estonia, was a German by nationality and did not know a word of Russian until the age of 7. But later, while studying in St. Petersburg in the cadet corps, he learned Russian and fell in love with Russian culture. And so much so that he subsequently changed his German surname to Russian.
This poet lived and worked in the era of romanticism, when writers loved to turn in their work to folklore, to the images of "native antiquity." A. Vostokov was no exception. He wrote a poem, the genre of which was defined as a "heroic tale". Of course, in such a work, the characters had to bear Slavic names. The poet called the main character Mstislav - such a name really existed in Russia, and for the heroine he came up with the name Svetlana.
So, thanks to A. Vostokov's poem "Mstislav and Svetlana", the name entered Russian literature.
The fate of the name
If A. Vostokov created the name Svetlana, Vasily Zhukovsky gave him a "start in life". This poet became famous for his authorized translations of ballads by German and English romantic writers. One of them is the ballad of the German poet G. Burger "Lenora". V. Zhukovsky embodied this romantically creepy story about a girl taken away by her dead groom in the ballad Lyudmila.
But the author was not satisfied: he wanted to create a truly Russian work, and there was a “foreign accent” in Lyudmila. And V. Zhukovsky writes another ballad on the same plot - "Svetlana". This time, the heroine gets a name that was not found among the Slavs, but already exists in Russian literature.
With the light hand of V. Zhukovsky, the name becomes popular. True, in that era, the name was given at baptism, and the name Svetlana in the calendar could not be. But along with the official names, there were "home", which moths are used outside the family circle. Suffice it to recall the heroine of M. Lermontov's drama "Masquerade", who is sometimes called Nina, now Nastasya Pavlovna. As such an unofficial nickname, the name Svetlana came into use in the 19th century. It was worn even by aristocrats, for example, Baroness Svetlana Nikolaevna Vrevskaya.
After the revolution of 1917, when the church lost its monopoly on naming, the name Svetlana began to be given officially, indicating in documents.
In 1943 the name was recognized by the Orthodox Church. No, any woman with that name was not canonized, but St. Photinia. This Greek name also means "bright", and the name Svetlana was recognized as its analogue.
