The name of the city originates from the Vilnia River, from the Lithuanian for ''ripple''. The city has also had many derivative spellings in various languages throughout its history: ''Vilna'' was once common in English. The most notable non-Lithuanian names for the city include ,  (''Viĺnia''), , ,  (''Vilno''),  (''Vilne''). A Russian name from the time of the Russian Empire was Вильна (''Vilna''), although Вильнюс (''Vilnyus'') is now used. The names ''Wilno'', ''Wilna'' and ''Vilna'' were also used in older English, German, French and Italian language publications when the city was one of the capitals of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and an important city in the Second Polish Republic. The name ''Vilna'' is still used in Finnish, Portuguese, Spanish, and Hebrew. ''Wilna'' is still used in German, along with ''Vilnius''.