Use this app to quickly look up the correct English spelling of any Ukrainian toponym, personal name, or other word. You can search by typing in Ukrainian, English, or another relevant language — many entries will also match on outdated or incorrect spellings too. Currently, this vocabulary contains 500 items, all carefully reviewed by humans.
Before becoming an independent country, Ukraine spent many decades occupied by the Soviet Union and, prior to that, the Russian Empire. During that period, the Ukrainian language was systemically suppressed, while Ukrainian speakers often found themselves victims of ridicule and persecution. State policies at the time mandated the use of the Russian language in all nomenclature, which lead to the adoption of Russian spelling for Ukrainian names, including in English.
Nowadays, Ukraine strives to assert its own identity, and language remains a crucial part of that struggle. The use of Ukrainian-based transliteration is gradually becoming more prevalent and, as never before, more important.
In the face of Russia's military aggression and continuous attempts to undermine and, ultimately, erase the Ukrainian culture, the choice of spelling is no longer a matter of preference, but a political stance. Taking a moment of your time to ensure that you are writing correctly is yet another small way that you can #StandWithUkraine in its fight for freedom.