The Slavic form of Timothy, from Greek Timotheos meaning 'honoring God.'
Timofey is the distinctly Russian form of Timothy, tracing its lineage back to the ancient Greek Timótheos — a compound of timáō, meaning "to honor," and theós, meaning "God." The name therefore carries the meaning "one who honors God," a designation of devout reverence that made it popular in early Christian communities. Saint Timothy, the beloved companion and correspondent of the Apostle Paul, ensured the name's spread across the entire Christian world, from Rome to Constantinople and eventually deep into the Slavic lands.
In Russia, Timofey has been a steady presence across the centuries, carried by peasants and nobility alike. It appears in the registers of old Moscow and in the records of Cossack settlements. The name has a certain rugged warmth in Russian culture — it doesn't project aristocratic hauteur so much as honest, steadfast character.
Composer Timofei Dokshizer, the celebrated Soviet-era trumpet virtuoso, gave the name a particular artistic luster in the twentieth century. Outside Russia, Timofey is one of those Slavic names that feels genuinely exotic to Western ears while remaining completely pronounceable — the stress falling naturally on the second syllable: ti-MO-fey. As parents in English-speaking countries have grown more adventurous with Eastern European names, Timofey has emerged as a sophisticated alternative to the more familiar Timothy, offering all of the name's ancient spiritual heritage with an unmistakably Slavic soul.