I wonder if they are both variants of the name Elen? What do they mean? Are they common in Slavic and Spanish speaking countries, or is that just Irina? What we call Irene? Very curious!
2006-08-23 12:43:37 · 2 answers · asked by robert r 5 in Social Science ➔ Other - Social Science
Yelena and Irina are very popular names among people speaking Eastern Slavonic languages (Belarussian, Russian, and Ukrainian). The etymology is unclear. The majority seems to think that both names come from Greek (Yelena means "the light one" or "the shining one", Irina, "peace"). The minority points out that both names can be derived from the Old Slavonic; Yelena sounds a lot like "deer" (the word subsequently morphed in Russian, but remained almost intact in Polish), while Irina (in its Belarussian pronunciation at least) is very similar to "fierce one".
2006-08-23 13:19:34 · answer #1 · answered by NC 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yelena
origin: Portuguese, meaning: light, variant of the name Helen
Irina
origin: Slavic, meaning: peaceful
2006-08-23 12:59:52 · answer #2 · answered by panic-over-nothin 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋