Ludmila (given name)

Ludmila or Ludmilla is a female given name of Slavic origin. It consists of two elements: lud ("people") and mila ("dear, love"). Because the initial L is mostly soft (palatalized), it is sometimes also transcribed Lyudmila, Lyudmyla or Ljudmila, and is written as Ľudmila or Ľudmyla in Slovak.

Other variants include: Людмила, (Bulgarian, Russian and Ukrainian), Людміла (Belarusian), Људмила (Macedonian and Serbian), Ludomiła, Ludmiła, Ludzimiła, Ludźmiła (Polish), and Ludmilla (Hungarian).

Nicknames in Russian are: Люда (Lyuda), Люся (Lyusya), Мила (Mila)

The most notable bearer is Ludmila of Bohemia, a 10th-century princess and the grandmother of Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia. The feast day for the saint is September 16, which is celebrated as a name day in Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. Other name days include September 17 (Hungary), and February 20, May 7, July 30, and October 26 (Poland).

People with the given name Ludmila or variants include:

Medieval and early modern eras

 * In chronological order


 * Ludmila of Bohemia (c. 860–921), Czech Orthodox and Roman Catholic saint and martyr
 * Ludmila (wife of Mieszko I Tanglefoot) (died after 1210), High Duchess of Poland
 * Ludmilla of Bohemia (died 1240), Duchess consort of Bavaria
 * Ludmilla Elisabeth of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1640–1672), Countess of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and hymn poet

Late modern era

 * In alphabetical order


 * Lyudmila Andonova, Bulgarian high jumper
 * Ludmila Armata (born 1954), Polish-born Canadian painter
 * Ludmilla Assing (1821–1880), German writer
 * Ludmila Bášová, Czech badminton player
 * Ludmila Belousova, Russian figure skater
 * Lyudmyla Blonska, Ukrainian heptathlete
 * Lyudmila Butuzova, Soviet high jumper
 * Lyudmila Byakova, Russian seamstress
 * Lyudmila Chernykh, Soviet astronomer
 * Ludmilla Chiriaeff (1924–1996), Soviet-born Canadian ballet dancer, choreographer, teacher and company director
 * Lyudmyla Denisova, Ukrainian politician and former Minister of Labor and Social Policy
 * Ludmila Engquist, Swedish hurdler
 * Ludmila Ezhova, Russian gymnast
 * Ludmila Ferber, Brazilian singer
 * Ludmila Formanová, Czech middle distance runner
 * Lyudmila Gurchenko, Russian film actress
 * Ludmila Javorová, Czech vicar general
 * Ludmila Oliveira da Silva, Brazilian singer
 * Lyudmila Karachkina, Soviet astronomer
 * Lyudmyla Kichenok, Ukrainian tennis player
 * Lyudmila Kolchanova, Russian long jumper
 * Lyudmila Kondratyeva, Russian athlete
 * Ludmilla Kunzmann (1774–1843), Czech industrialist
 * Lyudmyla Lyatetska (1941–2020), Ukrainian paediatrician
 * Ľudmyla Cervanová, Slovak tennis player
 * Ľudmyla Melicherová, Slovak long-distance runner
 * Ľudmyla Pajdušáková, Slovak astronomer
 * Ludmilla Pajo, Albanian journalist and author
 * Lyudmila Pavlichenko (1916–1974), Ukrainian Soviet sniper during World War II
 * Lyudmila Petrova, Russian long-distance runner
 * Ludmila Polesná (1934–1988), Czechoslovak world champion slalom canoeist
 * Lyudmila Poradnyk, Soviet Ukrainian handball player
 * Liudmila Privivkova, Russian curler
 * Ludmila Prokunina-Olsson (born 1967), Russian medical geneticist
 * Lyudmyla Pushkina, Ukrainian long-distance runner
 * Lyudmila Putina, former wife of Vladimir Putin
 * Lyudmila Rudenko (1904–1986), Soviet chess player and second women's world chess champion
 * Liudmila Samsonova, Russian tennis player
 * Ludmila da Silva, Brazilian footballer
 * Ludmila Semenyaka, Russian ballerina
 * Lyudmila Shevtsova, Russian athlete
 * Lyudmila Stanukinas (1930–2020), Soviet documentary filmmaker
 * Ludmilla Tchérina (1924–2004), French prima ballerina, sculptor, actress, painter, choreographer and novelist
 * Ludmilla Tourischeva (born 1952), Russian Olympic and world champion gymnast
 * Ludmila Vachtová (1933–2020), Czech art historian and critic
 * Lyudmila Verbitskaya (1936–2019), Russian linguist and teacher; president of Saint Petersburg State University
 * Lyudmila Veselkova, Soviet middle distance runner
 * Lyudmila Zhivkova, Bulgarian politician
 * Lyudmila Zhuravleva, Soviet astronomer
 * Lyudmila Zykina, Russian singer

Fictional characters

 * Ludmilla, the main antagonist of Bartok the Magnificent
 * Ludmilla Vipiteno, the "Other Reader" in the novel If on a winter's night a traveler, by Italo Calvino
 * Ludmila Ferro, main antagonist of the Disney Channel Latin America series Violetta