Name «Lepa»

The name Lepa has South Slavic origins. It is associated with the Bulgarian adjective "леп'гарний," which means "beautiful." Among Serbian male names that contain similar roots, one can find Lepac, Lepoyko, and Lepuy. Croatian versions of this name include Lepan, Lepi, Lepoje, Lepomir, and Leposav.In Ukraine, the male name Lepa began to be recorded only from the 17th century. For example, in documents from 1672-1692, the sons of the serf Gavriil are mentioned: Jur, Lepa, Marko, Rusz from the village of V. Bychki. Over the next centuries, only surnames derived from the anthroponym Lepa were recorded in Marmarosh, while the root vowel demonstrated variations between /и/ and /е/. In the documents, such entries began to appear: in 1715 - the serf Ge. Jo. Lepa from the village of Dragovo; in 1720 - the serf Mate. Lipa from the village of V. Bychki, the serf Roman Lepa from Mizhhiria, and the serf Lipcsa from the village of Onik.It cannot be excluded that the name Lepa in this form could have originated as a result of the Hutsul lowering of the articulation of the sound /и/ in the anthroponym Lipa, which is associated with the word "липа" (linden tree) — a honey-bearing tree.