Ol'ga

Olga comes from Slavic soil, though its root traveled. The Old Norse "Helga," meaning holy or blessed, reached the lands of Rus with Varangian traders and settled into Slavic speech as Olga. The short meaning stayed close to that source: holy, blessed.

The name's most documented bearer is Saint Olga of Kiev, who ruled Rus in the tenth century and became one of the first among its rulers to accept Christianity. She was later canonized. The sense of "blessed" gained a real historical face.

In Poland the name keeps a Russian association, though it lives comfortably in Polish registers. Its diminutive, Oleńka, softens the two firm syllables of Olga into something warmer. On an imieniny card, Oleńka fits where the full name would sit stiff.

Olga is short. It holds an old meaning: holy.