Name «Dunai»

The name "Dunai" has an interesting origin connected to the names of water bodies. In Ukraine, river names and large water bodies could become personal names. For example, in 1649, a Cossack from the Poltava regiment named Hurynenko received the name Dunai. In the 16th and 17th centuries, this name was also used in Russia. In Bulgaria and Serbia, the hydronym "Dunav" or its equivalent "Dounko" became a personal name. In the Bulgarian language, the male name "Dunai" and the female name "Dunava" are still used today as a wish, with the hope that life will be eternal, like the river Danube.In Poland, the name "Dunaj" was also used in the 14th and 15th centuries. In Ukraine, in 1281, a boyar and voivode of Volodymyr Vasilovych appeared under this name.The name "Dunai" originates from the name of the river Danube, which in the Middle Ages was also used to denote the country encompassing the Lower Danube basin. There is also a suggestion that the name might have arisen based on general terms like "dunay," meaning "great water," "flood," "inundation," or "great flow."