Boyan (given name)

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Boyan (Bulgarian: Боян) is a Bulgarian and Slavic male given name. The short form of the name Boyan used in Bulgaria is Bobi or Bobby (Bulgarian: Боби). Its female equivalent is Boyana (Bulgarian: Бояна).

In present days it is used as a given name in Bulgaria written as Boyan (Bulgarian: Боян) and also in all countries of former Yugoslavia, mainly written as Bojan (Serbian: Бојан)/(Slovenian/Croatian: Bojan).

The name is recorded in historical sources among the Bulgarians, Serbs, Czechs, Poles, and Russians.^[1]

Etymology

There is some discussion as to where the name Boyan comes from. The usual explanation is that it is derived from the word boy, which means "battle", and the suffix -ан (-an) which is common in Bulgarian and Slavic names. Together, Boyan means "warrior" or "fighter".

Some people disagree, and think that name originates from two languages: the Proto-Bulgarian language (see Batbayan of Bulgaria), where the name means "military commander" as a noun, and "grisly" and "militant" as an adjective, and the Slavic word boy (Bulgarian Cyrillic: Бой), which means "battle". Others yet believe that it comes from famous khagan of Avars, Bayan I (562-602), who ruled the Slavs in Panonia.

Another possibility for the origin of the name. In the area of modern Czech Republic (Bohemia, in Serbian Bojka ) lived the Celtic tribe Boii. Later this area was inhabited first by ancestors of modern Serbs (White Serbs) and after them Czech tribes. It is possible that the name Boyan originates from the name of this Celtic tribe Boii.

There is also another possibility that the Celtic Bryan or Brian is related to the Bulgarian and Slavic Boyan or Bojan not only in spelling similarity but also in meaning. Therefore according to the Celtic origin of the name Bryan or Brian, the Bulgarian and Slavic name Boyan or Bojan could have the meaning "strong" or "noble".^[2]

Notable Boyans

• Batbayan of Bulgaria, also known as Batboyan or simply Boyan. The first son of Bulgarian khan Kubrat.
• Boyan or also known as Saint Enravota, was the eldest son of khan Omurtag of Bulgaria and the first Bulgarian Christian martyr, as well as the earliest Bulgarian saint to be canonized.
• Boyan, a Russian bard from the 10th century
• Boyan Radev, a Bulgarian wrestler
• Boyan Peykov, a Bulgarian footballer
• Boyan Vodenitcharov, a Bulgarian pianist and composer
• Boyan Tabakov, a Bulgarian football player
• Boyan Yordanov, a Bulgarian volleyball player
• Boyan Iliev, a Bulgarian football player
• Boyan Petkanchin, a prominent Bulgarian mathematician
• Boyan Gaytanov, a Bulgarian footballer
• Boyan Jovanovic, a professor of economics at New York University of Serbian descent
• Boyan Vukelic, a Canadian actor of Serbian descent
• Boyan Dimitrov, a famous Bulgarian mathematician
• Boyanka Angelova, Bulgarian gymnast
• Petro Boyan, a well known Ukrainian opera singer who performed in Canada.

See also

• Bojan (name)
• Bryan (given name), an English and Irish male given name.
• Bulgarian name
• Serbian name
• Slavic names

References