One of the few Russian boys' names to become fully accepted into the American naming pool, though some might find it a bit heavy-booted, Ivan is now at a very respectable Number 131 on the popularity list, in the Top 200 since 1989, due largely to its popularity in the Hispanic community. Ivan is, of course, ubiquitous in Russian culture. There is one of the brothers in The Brothers Karamazov, the protagonists of Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich, and Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, and the title character in Chekhov's Uncle Vanya. Real life Ivans include writer Turgnenev, biologist Pavlov, tennis player Lendl, and rulers Ivan the Great and --oops--Ivan the Terrible. Vanya is his warm and appealing nickname.
