ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1184 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1184 ************************************ From: 30 Jul 1998 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked us about the Russian name , which you thought might be a feminine form of . We're sorry to say that is not a feminine form of , and in fact there is no feminine form of that name in period. As a rule, Russian masculine names do not have feminine counterparts. You may be thinking of the surname (note the difference in spelling), which means "daughter of Ivan". The name is constructed by adding <-ova>, meaning "daughter of", to . You could certainly use , but you would need to combine it with a given name. We found the following spellings of in "A Dictionary of Period Russian Names" by Paul Wickenden of Thanet. This is an excellent source for names, and includes information about both name elements and how to put them together to make a complete name. It is available on-line at: http://www.sca.org/heraldry/paul/ Here are the forms of we found (s.n. Ioann): Evanova (Evanova zhena). Second Half of 15th Century. Ioanova (Great Princess Olena Ioanova, placed in a nunnery). 1331. Ivaniaia. 12th Century. Ivanova [from Ivan] (Ovdot'ia Ivanova doch'). 1568. Ivanovna [from Ivan] (Marfa Ivanovna, great elder). 1618. Ivanovskaia [from Ivan] (Ografena Ivanovskaia zhena Volinskogo). 1536. Ivan'kovaia (wife of Ivanko). No later than 14th Century. Ivashkova [from Ivashko] (Ogashka Ivashkova zhena). 1634-42. Again, should you choose the surname , you would still need a given name to go with it. Paul Wickenden's on-line "Dictionary" is an excellent place to browse for one. The introduction contains a very good explanation of how women were named in Russia before 1600. We hope this has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you. Predslava Vydrina, Arval Benicoeur, Alison Macdermot, AElfwyn aet Gyrwum, and Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn contributed to this letter. In service, --Walraven van Nijmegen Academy of S. Gabriel