Ivan (Cyrillic: Иван / Іван) is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name Iōánnēs (English: John) from Hebrew יוֹחָנָן Yôḥānnān meaning 'God is gracious'.

[1] This Slavic version of the name originates from New Testament Greek Ἰωάννης (Iōánnēs) rather than from the Latin Io(h)annes.

The name is common among Slovenes, Croats, Russians, Ukrainians, Bulgarians, Belarusians, Macedonians, Serbs, Bosnians, Montenegrins, and to a smaller extent Czechs[2][3] and Slovaks.

die Ivans) was also occasionally used by various parties during World War II as a general name for the Soviets.

Slavic male diminutives (including historical) are Vanya or Vanja, Ivaniš, Ivanko, Ivanča, Ivanče, etc.