Nadiya

Nadiya comes from the Slavic word for hope, the root that also gives Polish its nadzieja. In Ukrainian the word is надія, and the name barely disguises it. To be named Nadiya is to be handed that meaning outright.

There is a Christian history here too. Nadiya, like the Russian Nadezhda, began as a Slavic rendering of the Greek Elpis, itself meaning hope. Elpis was remembered as one of three young martyr sisters, Faith, Hope, and Love, and Slavic churches gave each sister a name in the local tongue. An abstract noun turned into a girl you could actually name.

The shorter form is Nadia, and it travels well. A Nadia in a Polish class register may never write the fuller Nadiya at all. Both spellings still mean the same small, stubborn thing. They mean hope, nadzieja.