Gender male | ||
The male name Kiril (or Кирил or Кирилл) is a common first name in the Slavonic world, in particular in Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Russia. It is also well known in Greece but in different forms like Kyriakos. (Note that in modern Russian the spelling Кирил is considered to be a mistake, the right spelling is Кирилл.)
Kiril has several variant forms: Cyril, Cyrill, Kirill, Kirillos, Kiryl (Belarusian), Kyril, Cyryl (Polish), Kyrill, Kyrylo (Ukrainian) and a diminutive Kiro (common in the Balkan Sprachbund).
Saint Cyril of Jerusalem was a 4th-century bishop and a Doctor of the Church. Saint Cyril of Alexandria was a 5th-century theologian. Another Saint Cyril, known as Kiril, was a 9th-century translator and a Byzantine missionary to the Slavs. He, together with his brother Methodius created an alphabet called Glagolica to serve the needs of the Slavic world, translating the Bible into the Church Slavic language. Later, their students created a simpler and graphically usable alphabet, which is known as the Cyrilic alphabet and is still used by millions of people.