Name «Vladyslav»

This South Slavic, Czech, and Slovak equivalent of the Ukrainian name Volodymyr is formed from the Slavic unaccented verb vladѣti ("to own, to rule") and the nominal root slav(a) (see Svob 79; Zhelezn. Types 207).

Influenced by the Czech language, the name spread to Poland in the 12th–14th centuries, where it almost completely displaced the local equivalent Włodzisław. Currently, there are over 312 thousand Vladislavs registered in Poland, whereas only 160 people bear the name Włodzisław (see Grzenia 330–331).

In Ukraine and Russia, the name Vladislav became established mainly due to the South Slavic, particularly Church Slavonic, tradition, and over time it became a general Slavic name.

Distribution of the name Vladislav in Ukraine
The first records of this name in Ukraine date back to the 14th century. While initially, bearers of the name Vladislav mostly belonged to the Polish nobility (see SSUM 1, 179), it also appeared among other social classes.

For example:

• 1570: Vladislav Andriyevich (see Demchuk 37);
• 1575: Vladislav Zbarazhsky (see Arch. YZR VII/1, 216);
• 1645: Władysław Chrebtowicz (see Arch. YZR II/1, 281);
• 1650: Vladislav Nemirich (see Arch. YZR VII/2, 430).

Regional Features
The unaccented form of the name Vladislav was also known in various regions of Ukraine, notably in Hutsulshchyna (see Vincenz 299). In Ternopil, boys were often given this name even in the 20th century (see Svistun 8).