🇺🇦Ukraine / Kyiv

Kyiv vs. Kiev

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What is the correct way to spell and pronounce the capital of Ukraine?

No, this is not a fixture in the Ukrainian football league derby. Kyiv and Kiev are the Ukrainian and Russian spellings of the capital city, respectively. Most Westerners will be more used to the Russian version, but for rather obvious reasons 'Kyiv' is generally preferred in Ukraine. While the spelling issue is quite straight forward and easily explained, when it comes to the pronunciation, we're going to leave the explanation to this professor from Kansas University, as she does a very good job of it:
 

History of Kyiv & How It Got Its Name

So now that you're totally clear on how to both spell and pronounce the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, maybe it's time to find out how the name itself came to be. As with everything in this part of the world, the history Kyiv and how it got its name goes back quite some time, in the former case all the way back to pre-historic times, and in the latter to the 5th century.

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Comments

Svejk

19. 12. 2011

I like Kyiv better than Kiev.

koonkap

27. 3. 2010

Really, Volodymyr? It's a sign provincialism to insist on your own interpretation, since names of cities have varied over the years and the world doesn't march to your drum. Prague is Praha in Czech, Warsaw is Warszawa in Polish, but I suppose these countries are mature enough not to worry that someone else calls it by a historical name which happens to be different.

Joseph Rooney

8. 3. 2010

No argument from me, but there's the whole world out there that uses Kiev. I've got an atlas from the 1950's that uses Kiev. But, hey, if you want us to use Kyiv, then Kyiv it is. Whatever you call it, it's still one of my favorite destinations.

Volodymyr

3. 3. 2010

Kyiv. Simply because, if the representatives of the people say it's capital is to be called Kyiv, then it is to be called Kyiv. Period. Anything else is a deliberate show of disrespect.