It consists of two elements: lud ("people") and mila ("dear, love").
Because the initial L is mostly soft (palatalized), it is sometimes also transcribed Lyudmila, Lyudmyla or Ljudmila, and is written as Ľudmila or Ľudmyla in Slovak.
Other variants include: Людмила, (Bulgarian, Russian and Ukrainian), Людміла (Belarusian), Људмила (Macedonian and Serbian), Ludomiła, Ludmiła, Ludzimiła, Ludźmiła (Polish), and Ludmilla (Hungarian).
Nicknames in Russian are: Люда (Lyuda), Люся (Lyusya), Мила (Mila) The most notable bearer is Ludmila of Bohemia, a 10th-century princess and the grandmother of Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia.
Other name days include September 17 (Hungary), and February 20, May 7, July 30, and October 26 (Poland).