Gender: Female
Origin: Lithuanina
Meaning “dawn”
(OWSH-rah)
The name comes directly from the Lithuanian word for dawn.
It was the name of the first ever Lithuanian language newspaper and the first national newspaper for Lithuania.
The first issue was published in 1883. It was a significant event in modern Lithuanian history and marked the rebirth of Lithuanian nationalism which eventually resulted in Lithuania’s independence. The name most likely caught on as a first name after this event.
In Poland, the name is rendered as Auszra.
Similary, there is also the ancient Lithuanian female name, Aušrinė (owsh-REE-nay).
In Lithuanian mythology, she was a goddess who personified the planet, Venus, (the morning star).
Some scholars contend that she was a goddess of beauty, youth and health and was revered as the Queen of the Stars.
It is believed that she was the daughter of the goddess Saulė (the sun), and Perkunas, (the god of the sky and lightning).
She was the sister of Jupiter, Mars, Mercury and Saturn.
Legends hold that when the moon divorced the sun, he fell madly in love with Ausrine.
He kidnapped her and in revenge, her father Perkunas, struck the oak god Azuolas with lightning, making him bleed upon Aušrinė’s lily white gown, rendering her impure.
As a result, the moon was no longer interested in marrying Aušrinė.
Both names designated name-day is April 27.
(Upper left, first issue of the Lithuanian language newspaper, Ausra.)
Masculine forms include: Aušris, Aušrinis, Aušrys, and Aušrius.
Another feminine form is Aušrė and Aušrelė.
Translations
These are potential translations of the name in other languages:
- Aushra, Oshrelle, Ozra (English)
- Auchra, Auchrèle, Auchrine, Auchrée (French)
- Auszra, Auszryna (Polish)
- Auschra, Auschrele, Auschrine (German)
Calques
Calques are names that are directly translated into the target language, the following are Calques of the above name
- Fajr, Sahar (Arabic)
- Alba (Catalan, Italian, Spanish)
- Dawn (English)
- Aube, Aurore (French)
- Shachar (Hebrew)
- Eos (Greek)
- Hajnal (Hungarian)
- Aurora (Latin)
- Ausma (Latvian)
- Liwen (Mapuche)
- Zora (Old Church Slavonic)
- Jutrzenka (Polish)
- Usha, Ushas (Sanskrit)
- Gwawr (Welsh)
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