[r0m4n0]

My name is Roman (father was Italian born in Rome and identifies as a Roman) and I always find it interesting that people try to speak something that sounds like Russian to me. Never thought about the fact they might think I’m Romanian and are speaking Romanian!

[inkyoto]

Well. The Latin version of Roman is Romanus, which is believed to have descended from Romulus, one of the two legendary founders of Rome.

The popularity of Roman in Eastern and Western Slavic cultures is likely due to the cultural influence of the Byzantine Empire. Roman is also a rather popular name in Spanish speaking Latin American countries (Román) and is not entirely unknown in Germany (same spelling).

[Tade0]

Like others stated, it's more likely they assume you have e.g. Russian roots, as among Slavs that name is the most popular in territories where Cyrillic is the primary script.

Romanian sounds way more like Italian than any Slavic language.

[coccinelle]

I don’t know, I do associate the name Roman with Russia just because the only Roman I can think of is Roman Abramovich.

[mircea]

Romanian sounds like Latin, not like Russian :)