Ihor

Ihor is the Ukrainian form of Igor, both drawing from the Old Norse Yngvarr, "warrior of Ing," the Germanic fertility god. The twelfth-century Tale of Igor's Campaign, one of the foundational works of East Slavic literature, is a Ukrainian Ihor as much as a Russian Igor. Two syllables with a soft breathed h that distinguishes it from the Russian sibling. In transliteration it signals Ukrainian identity specifically, a small linguistic flag in the spelling itself. Rare in English-speaking countries, common throughout Ukraine. The name carries old saga weight without feeling costumed, economical on the page and sharp-edged in the ear.