matryoshka doll

Traditionally a matryoshka doll is given as a gift to new-born infants, implying fertility, eternal life and timelessness. The name matryoshka has two legendary meanings. The first is said to mean grandmother, because the largest doll in the set represents the oldest women in the family and because traditionally the grandparents have hand-crafted the dolls for their grandchildren.

and david on the mental floss blog says

The history of the matryoshka is a bit hazy, with different sources claiming different inventors. It seems nested boxes were first invented in China about 1000 A.D. Then, in the early 1800’s the Chinese created wooden nesting dolls which were later perfected by the Russians at the turn of the century. One name that comes up a lot if you research nesting dolls is Sergei Maliutin, a painter from a folk crafts workshop in Russia who is said to have built the first real matryoshka in 1890. The name, matryoshka (pronounced ma-TROYSH-ka), comes from the proper name, Matryona or Matriosha, a name associated with a rustic (usually rotund) Russian woman.

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