Nadezhda (given name)

Nadezhda or Nadežda (Cyrillic: Надежда) is a Slavic female given name popular in Belarus, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine and other Slavic countries to a lesser extent, as well as other former Soviet states such as Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan. The origin of the name in Old Slavic meant "hope", but this meaning was preserved only in Bulgarian, Macedonian and Russian. The name is a translation of the Greek name Ἐλπίς (Elpis), with the same meaning.

The name entered the Russian culture as part of the trio: Vera, Nadezhda, and Lyubov as a calque from Greek of the names of saints Faith, Hope and Charity.

A Russian-language diminutive form of this name is Nadia (Cyrillic Надя). The Belarusian version is Nadzeya (Надзея, Łacinka: Nadzieja, like in Polish), the Ukrainian version is Nadiya (Надія), and the Czech version is Naděžda, where it can also be shortened to Nad'a. In Serbo-Croatian, it can be shortened to more common Nada or Nađa.

Transliteration variants include Nadejda, Nadeschda. Notable people with these names include: