Lebed

Lebed is a transliteration of the Cyrillic Лебедь, meaning "swan" in Russian, Ukrainian, and other Slavic languages that use Cyrillic script. The term functions both as the name for the animal and as a productive element in personal and place names.

As a surname, Lebed appears among Russian and Ukrainian individuals. The most well-known bearer is Alexander Lebed (1950–2002), a Russian general and politician who served as governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai and ran for president in 1996.

As a toponym, the root is found in several place names in Slavic-speaking regions. In Ukraine, the city Lebedyn (Лебедин) derives from the same root, reflecting a common practice of naming places after animals or natural features. Other localities with related names exist in parts of the former Soviet Union and neighboring areas.

In linguistic and cultural contexts, the word lebed appears in literature and folklore as a symbol of grace and beauty, paralleling its status as a common surname and place-name element. Variants and related surnames in English-language sources include Lebed, with longer forms and related surnames such as Lebedev arising from the same Slavic root.