Again and again I am being asked about my name (axinia), so I decided to write a post and let all the curious people just read that 🙂
I was lucky to be given that strange but beautiful name by my parents. Strange because it is not easy to identify the origin and meaning of it. Beautiful – because it is what everyone says 🙂 However, when you know the history, it becomes very easy!
You might be familiar with the word “xenophobia“. “Xenos” is a Greek word meaning “foreign, strange”. The name “Xenia” had come to Russia with the Greek Orthodox Church long ago and was transferred into its Russian version “Axinia” ( in Ukraine it became “Oxana”). Nowadays these versions are independent names, with the following ranking: Oxana – very popular, Xenia – less popular, and Axinia – almost unknown. Personally I have never came across anyone with the same name (and I met several thousands of people, I guess). You can surely find some examples in the Internet, but it is a good luck to meet one in person.
To have such a name is very practical in the modern life – it becomes easily a brand if one wants to, being both unforgettable and powerful (through the combination of “a” and “x”). And I do take advantage of that, as you may have noticed 🙂
In Russia the name became famous after the novel based film “ And Quiet flows the Don” that broght Nobel Prise to its author, M. Sholokhov in 1965. Axinia was the main female character and my parents were somehow related to the author… That way it came to me.
And I really love the name!
And what about your name?
LOVE, axinia
axinia
1000 petals by axinia 
I believe you have a beautiful name.
Lovely name 🙂
Thank you both for your sweet comments – in fact I was not expecting any comemnts for this post 🙂
Yeah, the name seemed ‘Greek’ to me!! 🙂 Now known but still foreign and strange.
[…] Veryan Allen wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptI was lucky to be given that strange but beautiful name by my parents. Strange because it is not easy to identify the origin and meaning of it. Beautiful – because it is what everyone says However, when you know the history, … […]
Lovely name you have and really you are the first person i met with name Axinia. But for Xenia — i have read that name and I feel it is unique and I gave that name to one of my chinese student in china years back and she loved it. I think Xenia here is name of a flower. 🙂
my friends name is axinia, cool dude
OK. I got it.
And you are living up to your name 🙂
oxana is a known name. 😉
but i think, axinia is the most better version 🙂 it sounds like a goddess 🙂
my name “torsten” (without an H) is an nordic name and the translation/meaning is: the hammer of god thor. 🙂
Wortman,
I dont know if it really souns like a goddess, but the “A” in the beginning and the “ya” as the ending make it powerful and beautiful.
I love my name 🙂
Torsten sounds very musculine, strong. The hammer of God! 🙂 But I thing you would prefer better something like “the sword of god”, right?
it sounds like “musculine and strong”? *ouch* 😉
as a child, i was very thinly. to hide behind a lantern was no problem 😉
as a knight, sword of god sounds really better 🙂
but i like this hammer…
verzeih mir grammatikalische zeitenfehler 😉 durch dich fang ich grade mal wieder an, mich mit dem englischen wieder auseinander zu setzen 🙂
My name “priya” means love and affection and I cannot give my full name in the net but it also means the name of hindu god.
Thank you for a beautiful description of your name. Please do visit my poems page too called journal-poems.
“priya” is a wonderufl name – do you know that in Russian “priyatnyi” means “pleasant”??? 🙂
Lieber wortman,
ich hoffe, die Blog-freundshaft mit mir wird dich zur meheren Veränderungen führen 🙂
Zur Namen: in China geben sie dem Kind den Namen, der das Gegenteil von seinem Horskop and physischen zustand ist – eben für den Ausgleich!
🙂
das wird es bestimmt axinia. 🙂
eine wäre z.b. die frage, ob du mir die ehre erweist, dich in meine freundesliste aufnehmen zu dürfen. ich smile auch gaaaanz doll 🙂
ich seh das schon kommen… in drei monaten tipp ich nur noch englisch 😉 siehst ja an meinem neuesten eintrag. nur englisch 🙂 ok, sind nur 2 sätze 🙂
was china angeht, hab ich gehört, einige hundert eltern haben ihren kindern schon den namen “olympiade” (Àolínpǐkè Yùndònghuì / 奥林匹克运动会) verpasst… 😦
mylady, you’re added to my friends 🙂
Hi Axinia, my name is Axinia and I was born in 1962, so it means I had the name before you (smile). For the first time in my life I met somebody named Axinia even though she spelled hers with an “E” it’s less than two weeks since I’ve met her and I stumble on the website with your name which is exactly like mine. I hope this means blessing and fortune. I’m a black South African with a Roman Catholic upbringing, I always thought my name is an “Italianflower representing secret”
Our name is rare and beautiful,
Axinia
thanks, Axinia 🙂 the name is really very very rare (I still never met anyone in person although the name is known in Russia). I only know that this name is popular in Buldaria and Romania.
As for spelling, “axinia” is in fact the French transcription. In English they spell it like “aksinya”..
enjoy your name!:)
ваше имя – такой же вариант имени Оксана, как и Ксюша, Аксинья… У меня тоже много вариантов моего имени Мария: Маняша, Маруся, Машуля, Машуня, Маня, Маняша, Маричка, Маша в конце-концов!
Best wishes;)
Axinia, your name sure is very beautiful! 🙂
You mentioned somewhere that the shortened form of Axinia is Ksuisha (if I got it correctly). But why is the shortened form longer than the original 😕 Or is it shorter when both are written the Cyrillic alphabet?
Also, do all names of Russian women (first and last names) end in an ‘a’? And do Russian girls change their last names after marriage? (I hope they don’t, because I’m sure the men don’t do that, then why should the women do so?)
Nice questions, Raj 🙂
It is true, the shortening for my name is Ksiusha -and it is indeed shorter than Aksinya (5 instead of 7 letters in Russian). And it is also much sweeter 🙂
Russian women normally take the name of the husband, but today more and more do not do that. I did not take the name of my husband too 🙂 Generally I believe it is better to take the more beautiful name, no matter it is husband`s or wife`s. But this is my personal opinion.
Hola,mi nombre es Axinia.Vivo en España(Sevilla) y nunca he conocido a nadie con mi nombre.Queria saber su significado y de donde proviene,ahora gracias a esta pagina se que es de origen griego.Gracias por explicarlo
🙂 amazingly, I understood you comment, Axinia 🙂 Spanish and Italian are indeed very close…
Akshaini = Goddess Parvati . Perhaps your name came from Sanskrit.
Aksina means unfailing. As in Om Aksina sowhrdhaya Namaha !
Whose love and friendship are unfailing.
interesting, Deepa! thank you for this new meaning.
Akshya means not finishing……ever present. akshya patra of droupadi…..by which she has given food to durvasa…..
thanks, dear, another beautiful input!
hi !! mi name is axinia i fom mexico city… i have 22 years old..
Thanks for this lovely post! My mother is Axinia, never heard this name ever! She is 88 years old, she lives in North Bukovina, close to Ukraine. I will pass on your story! May you be happy healthy and wealthy !!
Hei. My name is Axinia too, although it’s not my first name but my last name, the family name. I live in Romania, born in North Bucovina also. I must say I have heard this name as a first name too (only one person that I know). According to this names map > http://nume.ottomotor.ro/ro?search=Axinia&type=text < the name is not that popular throughout Romania. Well, in the end, no matter it's popularity, people always tell me its oddness makes it very interesting and unique in a very very positive way. So you all enjoy your names 🙂
correction: “its popularity
and here’s the map in english : http://nume.ottomotor.ro/en?search=Axinia&type=text
Axinia is very old cossacs name. My be 4000 years old, may be older. For man is Axen, for women Axinia. It’s from time of Aries ( Assen). Cossacs use this name also now. Book of Sholohov is about Don and cossaks.
Hej ! Mitt namn är Lena Ingrid Axinia Fors . Född 1962 i Sverige . Axinia är mitt mellan namn och det fina namnet har jag fått av min mormors mor som var svensk och hette Emma Axinia Jansson .
olá, meu nome é Axinia e também nunca tinha visto ninguém com meu nome até hoje,muito prazer me chamo Axinia e sou brasileira.
Hey,
Omg my name is Axinia too✌❣ and I love my name 🙂
So my name is also axinia. I am Russian. And I know I kind posted this comment a little late. Anyway I was googling the meaning of axinia and found this. It’s funny thta the year you posted this is the year I was born. I always get commmet on my name saying it’s beautiful. My mom really wanted to name me axinia because of a movie. “Axinia” is actually how I spell it because I live in Canada. But I can speak and write in Russian. But yes axinia is a really unique and beautiful name.
Hi Axinia,pleased to hear about someone bearing my name