Given name & surname · also Slavonic
Svetlana
“a brilliant star's light”
Svetlana is a variant of Sveta. One Slavic interpretation is “a brilliant star's light.”
Original GreekΣβετλάνα
Meaning & origin
What it means
Svetlana is a variant of Sveta. One Slavic interpretation is “a brilliant star's light.”
Explained through its name family
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Greek.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1967. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Svetlana through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 928
- 0 boys · 928 girls
- Most popular year
- 2007
- 51 babies
- 2025
- 18
- #6,520 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −9%
- Steady
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 18 U.S. birth records for girls, ranking No. 6,520 among girls’ names. Average annual use for girls was 9.1% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for girls was 51 in 2007. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 16,716 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Svetlana’s family of names
Svetlana has a short form in Lana. Svetlana shares a linguistic root with Světlana. In Slovak usage, Svetlana has a conventional equivalent in the English form SVITLANA.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Svetlana has relatives in 15 languages. Lines run from its Ancient Greek roots to each of them.
18 related names in 15 languages. Point at a dot, or tab to the map and use the arrow keys.
Nicknames & forms 9
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
- Lanashort form
- Svettlanalikely variant
- Svetllanalikely variant
- Svetadiminutive · English, Slovak
- Svetlankadiminutive · Slovak
- Svétluskapet form
- Svétlusepet form
- Svétlankapet form
Show 1 moreShow fewer
Spellings & scripts 2
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 18
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
See also 2
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
People named Svetlana
- Svetlana AlexievichBelarusian investigative journalist and non-fiction prose writer (born 1948)
- Svetlana SavitskayaSoviet cosmonautborn 1948
- Svetlana AlliluyevaJoseph Stalin's daughter (1926–2011)
- Svetlana KuznetsovaRussian tennis playerborn 1985
- Svetlana IshmouratovaRussian biathleteborn 1972
- Svetlana KhodchenkovaRussian actressborn 1983
- Svetlana GerasimenkoUkrainian soviet and Tajik astronomer1945–2025
- CecaSerbian singerborn 1973
- Svetlana KhorkinaRussian artistic gymnastborn 1979
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
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