# Svetlana (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/svetlana/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | girls |
| Origin | not recorded |
| Meaning | “light” |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Nicknames | Sveta |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 928 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 0 / 928 (100% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 38, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

Transliteration of Russian Светла́на (Svetlána), from свет (svet, “light”). Made up by Alexander Vostokov in 1802, later borrowed into English and other languages.

## What it means

Svetlana is grouped under light.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 22 | 6,126 |
| 2012 | 40 | 3,910 |
| 2013 | 29 | 4,875 |
| 2014 | 17 | 7,268 |
| 2015 | 26 | 5,282 |
| 2016 | 20 | 6,381 |
| 2017 | 24 | 5,504 |
| 2018 | 29 | 4,759 |
| 2019 | 21 | 5,957 |
| 2020 | 27 | 4,864 |
| 2021 | 22 | 5,726 |
| 2022 | 21 | 5,961 |
| 2023 | 26 | 5,111 |
| 2024 | 23 | 5,590 |
| 2025 | 18 | 6,520 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 3 | 3,998 |
| 2007 | 3 | 5,201 |
| 2008 | 3 | 5,545 |
| 2009 | 4 | 4,564 |
| 2010 | 3 | 5,707 |
| 2011 | 4 | 4,764 |
| 2018 | 4 | 4,684 |
| 2020 | 5 | 3,899 |
| 2023 | 5 | 4,056 |
| 2024 | 4 | 4,843 |

## In other languages

- Armenian: Սվետլանա
- Bulgarian: Светла́на
- Czech: Světlana
- Georgian: სვეტლანა
- German: Swetlana
- Greek: Σβετλάνα
- Hindi: स्वेतलाना
- Polish: Świetlana, Swietłana
- Russian: Светла́на
- Slovak: Svetlana
- Slovene: Svetlana
- Swedish: Svetlana
- Ukrainian: Світлана

## People named Svetlana

- Svetlana Alexievich, Belarusian investigative journalist and non-fiction prose writer (born 1948)
- Svetlana Medvedeva, former First lady of Russia
- Svetlana Dašić-Kitić, Bosnian handball player
- Svetlana Tširkova-Lozovaja, Estonian-Russian fencer and coach (born 1945)
- Svetlana Alpers, artist, art historian and critic
- Svetlana Navasardyan, Armenian pianist
- Svetlana Beriosova, British ballet dancer (1932-1998)
- Svetlana Broz, Bosnian writer and physician
- Svetlana Leseva, Bulgarian female high jumper
- Svetlana Krivencheva, Bulgarian tennis player
- Lana Wood, American actress
- Svetla Bozhkova, Bulgarian discus thrower

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.