Greek and Slavic form of Plato, from 'platos' meaning 'broad' or 'wide-shouldered.'
Platon is the original Greek form of a name the English-speaking world knows as Plato, and it carries one of the most extraordinary intellectual inheritances of any name in human history. The name derives from the Greek "platys" (πλατύς), meaning "broad" — tradition holds that the Athenian philosopher Aristocles (428/427–348/347 BCE) received the nickname Platon on account of his broad shoulders from his wrestling trainer, though later ancient sources suggest it may have referred to the breadth of his forehead, his style, or his philosophical reach. Whatever its original application, the name Platon became inseparable from the man who founded the Academy in Athens and reshaped Western philosophy.
As a given name distinct from the famous philosopher, Platon has remained in continuous use in Greek Orthodox Christian culture, in Russia (Платон, a common aristocratic name through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries — notably borne by Metropolitan Platon of Moscow and the philosopher Platon Levshin), and in Eastern European Catholic communities. In Russia the name peaked in the Imperial period and was associated with the nobility and clergy; it retained enough currency to be used by Tolstoy for Platon Karataev, the peasant sage in War and Peace whose simple goodness embodies a kind of spiritual wisdom — a characterization that is itself a quiet homage to the philosopher. In the contemporary world Platon is experiencing a modest revival, particularly in Greece and among Greek diaspora families who want a name that is unmistakably Hellenic and carries civilizational weight.
The name is also known internationally through the work of the celebrity portrait photographer known simply as Platon (Platon Antoniou), whose bold images of world leaders have made the name newly vivid. It remains a rare and considered choice — the sort of name that announces its bearer as someone given a serious inheritance to live up to.