[groovy2shoes]

I think it's a form of Joseph, with a Slavic diminutive suffix. Josef + -ka ("little Joseph", or "Joey").

If that's the case, then the reason Iosevka and Iosefka would be variations of the same name is that, in many Slavic languages, voiced consonants typically become devoiced in clusters before unvoiced consonants. So they'd both sound the same, despite the spelling difference (according to English spelling rules, they'd sound more or less like Yosefka).

[brokenkebaby]

I don't know every Slavic language, but know a few. There are rules of transformation of sounds which can make -ph to become -f, or -p, while -v is very-very unlikely. And the fact that in some languages "v" can be pronounced as "f" before unvoiced is not really applicable here - it doesn't make "f" to become "v". I think it's just a randomly generated Slavic-looking name. The author is Chinese btw

[rebolek]

In Czech (but may be true for other Slavic languages, at least western ones):

* Josef - male form

* Josefa - female form

* Josefka - diminutive female form

so Iosevka to me looks like English spelling of Josefka

If you're curious, male diminutive forms of Josef are: Josífek, Jožin, Jožka, Pepa, Pepík and about 100 others.

[1MachineElf]

Thank you!