The name seems odd to me. Vanya is a pathetic, joyless, jealous failure who has done nothing with his life. He attempts murder and misses twice at point-blank range. The play ends after he tries to commit suicide -- and laments that he's a failure even at that.

I have not read it in the original and I know that Chekhov's irony is difficult to translate. I'm sure that the character means something different to Russians. The real POV character of the play bearing his name is his niece Sonya, just about the only admirable character in the play.

Is there more to this that I'm missing?