# Are "Vladimir" and "Volodymyr" variants of the same name? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 12, 2022, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-vladimir-and-volodymyr-variants-of-the-same-name/960955 "2022-03-12T21:54:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2022, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-vladimir-and-volodymyr-variants-of-the-same-name/960955/1 "2022-03-12T21:54:25Z")
As in the title of the thread. Do Putin and Zelenskyy have the same given name? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2022, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-vladimir-and-volodymyr-variants-of-the-same-name/960955/2 "2022-03-12T21:59:21Z")
Wikipedia says they’re the same: > **[Volodymyr](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volodymyr)** > > Volodymyr (Ukrainian: Володи́мир, romanized: Volodýmyr, .mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}pronounced \[woloˈdɪmɪr\], Old East Slavic: Володимѣръ, romanized: Volodiměrŭ) is a Ukrainian given name of Old East Slavic origin. The related Ancient Slavic, such as Czech, Russian, Serbian, Croatian, etc. form of the name is Володимѣръ Volodiměr,... > [@](#): > > **Volodymyr** ([Ukrainian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_language): Володи́мир, [romanized](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanization_of_Ukrainian): _Volodýmyr_ , pronounced [[woloˈdɪmɪr]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/Ukrainian), [Old East Slavic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_East_Slavic_language): Володимѣръ) is a Ukrainian given name of [Old East Slavic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_East_Slavic) origin. The related Ancient Slavic, such as Czech, Russian, Serbian, Croatian, etc. form of the name, Володимѣръ _Volodiměr_ , which in other Slavic languages became [Vladimir](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_(name)) (from [Church Slavonic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Slavonic_language): Владимѣръ, romanized: _Vladiměr_ ). ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2022, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-vladimir-and-volodymyr-variants-of-the-same-name/960955/3 "2022-03-12T22:07:42Z")
It seems like they do, though maybe in the sense that Michael (English), Miguel (Spanish), Michel (French), and Mikhail (Russian) all come from the same root name. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2022, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-vladimir-and-volodymyr-variants-of-the-same-name/960955/4 "2022-03-12T22:15:12Z")
How is Vladimir soelled with Cyrillic letters? The same way? ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2022, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-vladimir-and-volodymyr-variants-of-the-same-name/960955/5 "2022-03-12T22:19:53Z")
Vladimir = Владимир. Close, but not identical. Very probably from the same root source. ---
**Author:** ![kk\_fusion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kk_fusion/32/15276_2.png) [@kk\_fusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kk_fusion)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2022, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-vladimir-and-volodymyr-variants-of-the-same-name/960955/6 "2022-03-12T22:21:20Z")
Apparently not: Владимир and Володимир. The _i_ sounds are identical though. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2022, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-vladimir-and-volodymyr-variants-of-the-same-name/960955/7 "2022-03-13T01:42:08Z")
The first time I saw the name Volodymry (before I knew who he was), I thought someone was combining Vladimir and Voldemort. I know, I know, it doesn’t really work, but it’s what my brain saw when I scanned the line. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2022, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-vladimir-and-volodymyr-variants-of-the-same-name/960955/8 "2022-03-13T02:00:03Z")
Not what? It is the same name (and both can be applied to the same guy), but Russian and Ukrainian are not pronounced (or spelled) exactly the same way. The modern Russian spelling is influenced by Old Church Slavonic. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2022, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-vladimir-and-volodymyr-variants-of-the-same-name/960955/9 "2022-03-13T02:19:51Z")
There goes my “Je suis Volodymyr” idea. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2022, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-vladimir-and-volodymyr-variants-of-the-same-name/960955/10 "2022-03-13T04:58:16Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > . . . Michael (English), Miguel (Spanish), Michel (French), and Mikhail (Russian) all come from the same root name. . . . that root name being the Hebrew name מִיכָאֵל (mi-ca-el), literally meaning “Who is like El?” ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2022, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-vladimir-and-volodymyr-variants-of-the-same-name/960955/11 "2022-03-13T04:59:25Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > . . . that root name being the Hebrew name מִיכָאֵל (mi-ca-el), literally meaning “Who is like El?” Speaking as a “Michael” myself, that’s the first (and one of the very few) bits of Hebrew which I learned. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kk\_fusion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kk_fusion/32/15276_2.png) [@kk\_fusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kk_fusion)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2022, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-vladimir-and-volodymyr-variants-of-the-same-name/960955/12 "2022-03-13T05:40:03Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Russian and Ukrainian are not pronounced (or spelled) exactly the same way. That. I thought that’s what @BigT was asking two posts above. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2022, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-vladimir-and-volodymyr-variants-of-the-same-name/960955/13 "2022-03-13T05:57:42Z")
> [@kk\_fusion](#): > > > [@DPRK](#): > > > > Russian and Ukrainian are not pronounced (or spelled) exactly the same way. > > That. I thought that’s what @BigT was asking two posts above. You are correct. I could tell that it was a name with the same origin. What I wondered is if it was spelled the same in the two languages, and only used different transliteration systems in the Latin alphabet for the two languages. The extra vowel between the V and L intrigued me. I also had a similar idea to @lobotomyboy63, and was hoping they were spelled differently in their native languages. My next question is whether or not Ukrainian would spell Putin’s name the Ukranian way, or the Russian way. And vice versa with Zelenskyy and Russians. ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2022, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-vladimir-and-volodymyr-variants-of-the-same-name/960955/14 "2022-03-13T06:03:39Z")
For years, especially during the Chernobyl crisis, I would read about the city of Kiev, which I always pronounced “kee-yev”. Since the current situation has dominated the news, I’ve heard English speakers call it both “kee-yev” and “keev”, the latter pronunciation becoming more common as the days go by, and the spelling has varied with Kyiv being a strong preference. What is driving this change? Has it always been Kyiv and “keev”, and not enough English speakers knew better, or has the older way been standard for English speakers (as in, we don’t call the capital of France “Paree”) and the current switch is a new thing driven by a desire to do it closer to how it’s done over there, more out of understandable sympathy for their plight than any solid grammatical need? (Will I be shunned if I say it wrong?) ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2022, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-vladimir-and-volodymyr-variants-of-the-same-name/960955/15 "2022-03-13T06:22:21Z")
As I understand it, the Kiev transliteration and pronunciation are Russian in origin. The Kyiv version is Ukrainian, and was mandated by Ukrainian law as of 1995. Which one was used, by whom, has been more and more political, and has obvious ramifications now. > **['Kyiv' or 'Kiev' — Here's why the difference is political | CBC News](https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/cbc-pronunciation-kyiv-ukraine-crisis-explainer-1.6371766)** > > CBC has been using a transliteration based on the Ukrainian spelling of the name of the capital, Kyiv, instead of the Russian one, Kiev. Here's why. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2022, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-vladimir-and-volodymyr-variants-of-the-same-name/960955/16 "2022-03-13T09:47:37Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > My next question is whether or not Ukrainian would spell Putin’s name the Ukranian way, or the Russian way. And vice versa with Zelenskyy and Russians. Russian state media uses the spelling “Vladimir Zelensky” when referring to the Ukrainian president in English, and “Владимир Зеленский” when referring to him in Russian. (See for example [this English article from TASS](https://tass.com/world/1421319) and [this Russian article](https://tass.ru/mezhdunarodnaya-panorama/14053789).) It’s not clear to me whether this is because they routinely translate all names from certain languages into Russian (the same way that English does with royal names), or because Zelensky is in fact a native Russian speaker and may actually use the Russian version of his name when speaking Russian, or because Russian media wants to downplay or deny the fact that Ukrainian is a separate language. I suspect it’s one or both of the first two, since I also see the spelling “Владимир Зеленский” in more neutral sources, such as the [Russian Wikipedia](https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%97%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9,_%D0%92%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B4%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%80_%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87). ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2022, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-vladimir-and-volodymyr-variants-of-the-same-name/960955/17 "2022-03-13T11:59:27Z")
For what it’s worth, the Ukrainian Wikipedia lists Vladimir Putin’s name as [Володимир Путін](https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D1%83%D1%82%D1%96%D0%BD_%D0%92%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%80_%D0%92%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87), using the Ukrainian spelling, so it would seem that in both Russian and Ukrainian it’s standard to translate, rather than to transcribe or transliterate, names from one language to the other. This practice probably holds only for those two languages, though (or maybe other closely related ones, like Belarusian); in both languages “Joseph Biden” gets transliterated as Джозеф rather than translated as Иосиф, Йосип, etc. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2022, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-vladimir-and-volodymyr-variants-of-the-same-name/960955/18 "2022-03-13T15:08:36Z")
Isn’t it essentially the same thing as “Michael” (English) and “Michiel” (Dutch)? Same name, just a slightly different spelling/pronunciation because they’re in separate, but closely related languages? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2022, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-vladimir-and-volodymyr-variants-of-the-same-name/960955/19 "2022-03-13T16:29:09Z")
Yes, that is what I meant. Just like how you might notice some people spell their name Alexander (or Alexandre), while others spell it Oleksandr, with analogous variations in Cyrillic. Princess Olga the Beautiful herself could have been known as Helga, Voliga, Volha, etc.; I wonder what she called herself? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2022, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-vladimir-and-volodymyr-variants-of-the-same-name/960955/20 "2022-03-15T01:42:17Z")
All very interesting. Thanks to everyone who comented on my question.