The name is a rare Croatian masculine name, composed of the Old Slavonic elements, tuga (sorrow, grief) and mil (dear, beloved).
Its designated name-day is September 15th and is mainly used in Northern Croatia.
A feminine form is Tugomila
Other potential forms include:
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The name is from the classical Greek, related to Apollo. It was borne by several early Christian saints. The most notable being St. Apollinaris of Ravenna, a Syrian Christian missionary to Ravenna who was martyred there and thereafter became the city’s patron saint.
The French form Apollinaire is linked to the Franco-Polish poet, Guillaume Apollinaire. He lived from 1880 to 1918. He was born Wilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki.
Apolinary was common in Poland during the late 19th-century and early 20th-centuries, it is now obsolete. Diminutives include: Apolinek, Apollinek, Apolin, Apollin, Polin, Polinary, Polinarek, Polinaruś, Poli, and Polik.
In Italy, Apollinare was mainly used in the Romagna region due to it being the name of their patrion saint, but it has since fallen out of use.
Apollinaire sporadically appeared in the French Top 1000 between 1900 and 1926 and peaked at #403 in 1923. In 2024, 5 babies were given this name.
Neither its masculine form nor its feminine form had much usage in the English-speaking world. It was mostly used in families of Greek or Eastern European background during the late 19th-century.
Designated name-days include July 20th, July 23rd, and September 12th
Other forms include
Its feminine form is Apollinaria, which is also borne by an early Christian saint.
Other feminine forms include:
A traditional feminine diminutive form in Russian is Polina. Polish diminutives include: Apollinka, Apollina, Apolinka, Apolla, Apola, Pola, Polka, Polcia, Polina, and Polinka. Modern Greek diminutives include: Nαρία (Naría), Πόλλα (Pólla), or Λίνα (Lina). Potential English short forms would include: Apple, Pollie, Polly, and Narey, or Narie.
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Bonaventure is the French and English form of the Medieval Italian male name, Bonaventura. It is ultimately made up of the Latin words, bonus “good” and venturas “the things that will come, the future.” A 13th-century Catholic Saint bore this name. He is considered a Doctor of the Church and known for authoring the biography of St. Francis of Assisi.
The name experienced widespread use throughout Catholic Europe until it fell out of use by the early 20th-century. It was the middle name of actor, Spencer Tracy (1900-1967).
The designated name-day is July 15th and September 11 in Croatia.
In recent years, it was the name of one of the ill-fated Lisbon sisters. This character appeared in Jeffrey Eugenides’ novel, The Virgin Suicides (1993). She is referred to as “Bonnie,” for short.
Other forms include
Italian short forms are Ventura, Venturo, and Venturino, also used as independent names.
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The name is composed of the Old Slavonic elements, stracho (fear) and mir (peace). Strachomir is the Polish form, it is first recorded in Poland in 1386 but has since fallen out of use.
It spun off the Medieval Czech and Polish male name, Strachota, which was used as a vernacular form of the Greek name, Methodius which also means “fear.” A hypothetical female form would be Strachomira.
Hypothetical Polish diminutive forms would be, Stracha, Strachot, Strasz, Straszech, Straszek, and Straszko.
The South Slavic forms are Strahimir Страхомир, Strahomir Страхимир, and Strashimir Страшимир.
Strashimirite is a type of mineral which was discovered by Bulgarian minereologist Jordanka Minčeva-Stefanova who named it after Bulgarian minerologist, Strashimir Dimitrov (1892–1960).
Strashimira Страшимирa is a Bulgarian feminine form and it is borne by Bulgarian volleyball player, Strashmira Filipova (b. 1985).
The designated name day in Croatia is September 9.
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Bogoljub is composed of the South Slavic elements, bog (God) and ljub (love). It was originally a South Slavic vernacular form of Theophilus and Amadeus.
Its designated name-day in Croatia is March 7th and March 30 in Slovenia.
Common diminutive forms include: Bole, Bogo, Bogi, Bojan, Bojica, Bojko, Ljubo and Ljuban.
It is borne by Serbian Statesman, Bogoljub Jevtić (1886–1960), Serbian Businessman, Bogoljub Karić (b. 1954), and Serbian basketball player, Bogoljub Marković (b. 2005).
Its feminine form is Bogoljuba, and affectionate forms include Boba, Bojana, Bojka, Ljubica.
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Both come from the Greek, θεός (theos) meaning “god” and δόσις (dosis) meaning “giving.” Both the male and female form were borne by several Christian saints and Medieval rulers. In the English-speaking world, a notable bearer was Theodosia Alston Burr (1783-1813), the daughter of Aaron Burr and an American socialite who mysteriously disappeared in a ship-wreck. Her fate has been a source of speculation for two centuries, but she most likely died in the wreck. She is also the subject of the Broadway opera song from Hamilton, My Theodosia.
It’s female version has experienced usage in the English-speaking world since the 15th-century. It has spun off several diminutive off-shoots, which later became independent names, such as Docie/Dosey, Doshie, Dosha, Docia and Theda.
Theodosia appeared in the U.S. Top 1000 Most Popular Female Names between 1880-1895, it peaked at number #547 in 1880. It’s offshoot of Doshie appeared in the U.S. Top 1000 between 1880-1905 and peaked at #640 in 1884 whereas Doshia peaked at #582 in 1881 and Docia at #317 in 1880.
Theda (THEE-dah) was the name of silent film actress, Theda Bara (born Theodosia Burr Goodman, 1885-1955). Theda appeared in the U.S. Top 1000 between 1880-1948 and peaked at #350 in 1916. Theda Bara may have helped sustain the usage of the name in the United States, but it seems to have been common enough long before she graced the silver screen.
In the 1988 movie For Keeps, starring Molly Ringwald, a teen couple are faced with an unexpected pregnancy, in which they name their daughter Theodosia, short form Thea, it is a last minute decision decided by the father who gets the name from his deceased grandmother of the same name.
It is the name of the main character of the R. L. LaFevers 2007 children’s novel, Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos, which spun off a tv series.
Its pronunciation in the English-speaking world fluctuates depending on the region and personal preference, from THEE-oh-DOH-see-uh, to THEE-oh-DOH-shuh and THEE-oh-DOH-zhuh, the sky’s the limits.
Its masculine form has always been prevalent in eastern Christian countries but did not pick up the same momentum in the English-speaking world as its feminine counterpart did.
Female forms
Male Forms
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The name is of uncertain origin or meaning, but has been attested in Venice since the 16th-century. It was the name of Loredana Marcello (d. 1572), the wife of Doge Mocenigo of Venice. It is suspected to be derived from the surname, Loredan, which was the family name of a noble family in the Republic of Venice. According to legend, they derived their name from the Latin Laureati, Lauretani (laureled), owing to the idea that they descended from “fame and glory.”
The name went from being an obscure regional name to a popular name throughout Italy due to Luciano Zuccoli’s novel, L’amore di Loredana (1908). It was also used earlier by French author George Sand in her novel, Mattea (1833), but the name never became widespread in the French-speaking world.
At the turn of the 20th-century, when it first became popular in Italy, it may have been used by devout Catholic families, especially in the South of Italy, who mistakenly believed it referenced, Loreto, as in Our Lady of Loreto.
The designated name-day in Italy is December 10th.
The name is also used in Albania, Romania, Slovenia and the other former Yugoslav countries.
Slovenian forms include: Loridina, Lorica (loh-REET-sah) & Lorka.
An obscure Italian variation is Oredana and the masculine Oredano.
The French form is Lorédane and its masculine form of Lorédan.
Italian short forms include: Dana, Lora & Lori.
There is an Italian masculine form, though rare, which is Loredano and also the Croatian, Lordan.
It is borne by Swiss female rapper of Albanian descent, known simply as Loredana (b. 1995).
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Nectar is the English form of the Greek Nektarios Νεκτάριος, which is derived from νέκταρ (nektar), meaning “nectar, the drink of the gods. Nectar is not a name that has ever been in common use in the English-speaking world, but since it is the name of several Eastern and Western Christian saints, the proper English male translation of the name would be Nectar; or it would have appeared thus in the calendar.
It was borne by St. Nectaire of Auvergne, a 4th-century Christian missionary to the Gauls in what is now the Massif Central region of France. According to Gregory of Tours, he was sent by Pope Fabian, along with his brothers, where he transformed a temple that was dedicated to Apollo on Mont Cornadore into a cathedral that still stands, and was subsequently beheaded by the local Gaulic chieftain. The commune of Saint-Nectaire in the Puy-de-Dôme department of France gets its name from him, as does the cheese of the same name; or the latter technically comes from the Marshal of Senneterre, which is a linguistic corruption of Saint-Nectaire.
Male forms include:
Feminine forms include
A modern male Greek diminutive form is Nektary and the Russian diminutive form for both the male and female form is Nechka.
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Spyridon is a Byzantine Greek male name which comes directly from the Greek word σπυρίδιον (spyridion), meaning “basket.” Other sources suggest it is a hellenised form of the Latin Spiritus (spirit). It was popularized by a 4th-century Greek saint who played a key role in the Council of Nicaea. He is revered as the patron saint of Corfu and of potters.
His feast day is December 12.
Spiro & Spyros are its short forms, while Spyridoula is the femininine form.
Spiro was borne by the 39th vice president of the United States, Spiro Agnew (1918-1996).
It was borne by Spyridon Louis, the first modern Olympic Gold medalist in the 1896 Summer Olympics.
Forms and usage include:
Italian feminine forms include: Spiridiona & Spiridona.
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Adonis is borne in Greek mythology by the god of beauty and desire. According to the most popular myth, he was born of the incestuous union of Theias and his daughter Myrrha. Myrrha had tricked her own father into having sex with her. The gods transformed Myrrha into a myrrh tree after Theias attempted to kill her whilst pregnant with Adonis. Adonis was beloved of Aphrodite and mothered by Persephone, but he was subsequently killed by a boar when Artemis, or in some versions, Ares, sent a boar to kill Adonis out of jealousy. When Adonis died, Aphrodite cried tears which mingled with Adonis’ blood, producing the Anemone flower. Aphrodite instituted the Adonia festival in his commemoration, whereby all women had a mass mock funeral of Adonis by growing plants in potsherds on their rooftops and performing a mass funeral ritual as soon as the plants sprouted.
It is likely Adonis was imported by the Greeks from the Phoenicians, the latter being the descendants of the Sumerians, Mesopotamians & Babylonians. It is believed by most scholars that Adonis is an adaptation of the Sumerian story of Dumuzid & Inanna (later Tammuz & Ishtar), in which a ritual funeral rite was also performed by women across the former Babylonian empire. Adonis itself is a Hellenized form of the Canaanite, adon, which means “lord” and was often used as an appellation by the Canaanites for the god Tammuz. The Jews adopted this appellation for Yahweh in the form of Adonai (my lord).
Adonis is borne by an 8th-century French saint of Vienne. He is also listed as Adon & Ado. Adonis has sporadically been used as a given-name in Greece, anglophone, francophone & hispanophone countries. The French feminine off-shoots, though rare these days, are Adonise (AH-do-NEEZ) and Adonie, and were actually prevalent in 18th-centurry Quebec & New Orleans. An obscure Italian feminine form is Adonella.
There is the male Biblical Hebrew name, Adonijah meaning (my lord is Yahweh). It is borne by a son of King David and was Hellenized in the Septuagint as Adonias.
Other forms include:
Currently, Adonis is the 242nd most popular male name in the United States and the 461st most popular in France.
Other forms include:
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