Fan art of the bear from Masha and the Bear is always nice to see.

Thanks! I think there are unfairly few drawings with this bear, so I want to make up for it.

Question, does the bear in the original version of the folktale have a name?

Yes, his name is Misha. But if you are not from Russia or CIS countries, it will be difficult to understand why his name is like that. But I'll try to explain)). In Russia there is such a male name - "Mikhail". There are several derived names from this name, one of which is diminutive - "Misha". And in Russian, the bear is written as "Medved". But in Russian, words may differ slightly in pronunciation, mainly in vowel sounds. And it turns out you can say "Medved" or "Midved". And somehow historically it turned out that the solid "-dved", began to be called "-sha". And now in Russia there is an animal - "Medved", the name is "Mikhail", and the word "Misha", which can mean both. Somehow this is how I manage to explain)).

I've heard that Mishka means something like "little bear".
Is Misha a term of endearment as well as a description?

Yes, that too. But it is not a description.