Yefim
A Hebrew name carried through Russian, meaning "in good spirits". In Poland it barely registers: only 44 men have it, and none have been named it in years, so most Poles will never meet one.
Yefim Pronunciation
Yefim is pronounced ih-E-feem (/ɨˈɛfim/).
What Yefim means
Where Yefim comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Yefim is a Russian name with a Hebrew root. In Russia it settled fully into daily use, common enough that a teacher reading a class register would not pause over the spelling. Here the name stands without diminutives or variants. It stands alone.
The sense that trails Yefim is "in good spirits." That reading grew around the name rather than marking its origin. Someone called Yefim carries a small promise of good humor, whether or not the day cooperates.
The name is short. Four letters in English, a few more in Cyrillic. The Soviet chess grandmaster Yefim Geller, born 1925, carried it onto the world stage. The Hebrew source gives it age, and Russian use gave it a face. Say the name and you have nearly said "in good spirits" already.
How many people are named Yefim
1 in 485141 men in Poland is named Yefim. 44 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #5822 among male names.