Vsevolod

Vsevolod grows from two old Slavic elements: vse, meaning all, and volod, to rule. The whole says something close to ruler of all. That is a large promise to fasten to a small child.

The name belonged to princes. Vsevolod I held the throne as Grand Prince of Kiev until his death in 1093, a ruler remembered for his learning and his command of foreign tongues. It stayed alive in Russian and Ukrainian families long after the crowns were gone. In the last century Vsevolod Meyerhold rebuilt Russian theatre with startling new methods before the Soviet state executed him in 1940.

In Poland you will rarely meet it. A teacher scanning the class register might stumble on the four syllables. The name has no Polish diminutive to soften it, no shortened pet form waiting nearby. What it offers instead is its plain old meaning, władca wszystkiego, ruler of all.