Tauras is a Lithuanian masculine given-name which comes directly from the native word for “bull” or the now-extinct aurochs, the great wild ox that once roamed Europe. The name descends from the same ancient Indo-European root as Latin taurus and Greek tauros, linking it to the zodiac sign Taurus.
It appears both as a given name and a surname, and even in place-names such as Tauragė (“little bull horn”).
Tauras is also the name of a Lithuanian brewery established in 1860.
Lithuanians celebrate its name-day on 11 May, and it remains in regular use today.
Other masculine forms include: Taurijus, Tauridas, Taurimas, Taũris and Taũrius.
Its feminine form is Taurė.
Other feminine forms include: Taura, Taurida, Taurija and Taurima.
The name is from the classical Greek, related toApollo. 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
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.
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.
J. Uckelman, S.L. Uckelman. “Bonaventure”. In S.L. Uckelman, ed. The Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources, Edition 2023, no. 1. http://dmnes.org/2023/1/name/Bonaventure
The name is Hebrew, either derived from צל (tsel) (shadow) or צלל (tsalal) (to ring like a bell). In Genesis 4:19, it is the name of one of the two wives of Lamech.
Though it never became a widespread Jewish name until recently, it had usage in the Protestant Anglo world since the 16th-century and experienced mild popularity in the mid to late 19th-century. It appeared in the U.S. Top 100 between 1881 and 1886, peaking at #679. It was borne by Zillah Oakes (circ. 1870s), the namesake of the city of Zillah, Washington. It was also borne by New Zealand Politician, Zillah Smith Gill (1859-1937).
In English literature, Lord Byron used it as the name of the wife of Abel in his 1821 play, Cain. It is the name of a servant in Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights (1847), and the name of the titular heroin in the 1865 operetta by Australian composer, William Wilkins Russell. In recent years, it is the name of a character in Madeleine L’Engle’s, A Swiftly Tilting Planet (1978).
It may have occasionally been used as a form or short form of Cecilia.
The name is derived from the Latin perpetuus, meaning “continous; perpetual.” It was borne by a 3rd-century Christian matyr and saint, the companion of St. Felicity and it was also the name of the sister of St. Augustine of Hippo.
Perpetua and its various forms have been in sporadic use throughout the Catholic world. In Italy, it became synonymous with a priest’s housekeeper. This is due to the eponymous character in Alessandro Manzoni’s 19th-century novel, “The Betrothed.“
It experienced sporadic use in England in the 1920s after the release of the now lost 1922 film, Perpetua also known as Love’s Boomerang.
It has recently appeared in English literature as the name of minor characters in Bridget Jones’s Diary (Helen Fielding), and in the Harry Potter series (J.K. Rowling).
It was borne by Scottish landscape painter, Perpetua Pope (1916-2013).
It is the name of Cape Perpetua Oregon which was named for St. Perpetua as well as a typeface.
It’s designated name-day is February 1, March 6th and March 7th.
Pron: Eng (i-DAH-lee-ah; id-DAHL-yah); Pol (ee-DAHL-yah)
The name can have a few different origins and meanings. It does seem to appear in use in Medieval France, in this case, it may be an elaborated form of a Germanic name, perhaps related to a Frankish element, idal (unknown meaning) or the Old Norse ið, meaning “work.” Alternately, it appears in Greek mythology as an epithet for the goddess Aphrodite. In this case, the etymology is from the name of city on the island of Cyprus called Idalion, in which a temple to Aphrodite existed. The etymology of the city name itself is from the Greek Eidon helios, “I saw the sun.”
The name has had use across Europe. In Poland, it came into use in the 19th-century when Juliusz Słowacki used it as the name of a heroin in his 1866 play, Fantazy. It was thereafter used as the name of a character in the 1909 novel, Trędowata by Helena Mniszkówna.
In Poland, it has appeared in and out of the 200 most popular female names between 2010 and 2022, peaking at #172 in 2021.
In 2023, 160 girls were given this name in the United States.
The name is composed of the Germanic elements al (all) and rikr (ruler). It was most notably borne by two Gothic kings, Alaric I and Alaric II. Alaric I was known for leading a rebellion against Rome and sacking it. His Gothic name was 𐌰𐌻𐌰𐍂𐌴𐌹𐌺𐍃 (Alareiks).
An historical curiosity, Alaric has never experienced much usage, however, it has been in the U.S. Top 1000 since 2017, and currently ranks in as 915th most popular male name.
Other forms include:
Alaric (Catalan, French, English, Occitanian)
Alarich (Czech, German, Slovak)
Alareiks (Gothic)
Alarico (Italian, Portuguese, Spanish)
Alaricus (Latin)
Alariks (Latvian)
Alarikas (Lithuanian)
Alaryk (Polish)
Alarih Аларих (Russian, Ukrainian)
Alarik (Scandivanian, Slovene)
Obscure feminine forms include Alarica, Alarika and Alarice.
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
Tayodosiya ታዮዶሲዮስ (Amharic)
Thudusya ثيودوسيا (Arabic, used by Arab Christians)
Balandis comes directly from the Lithuanian word for both the type of bird (dove, pigeon) or the month of April. The word itself is from the Old Prussian root word balts meaning “white.” Both the month and the bird may have gotten this name due to their associations with the colour white.
The name comes directly from the Greek word φαιδρός meaning, “bright.”
It is borne in Greek mythology by the sister of Ariadne and the wife of Theseus. There are several versions of her tragic tale, one is that Aphrodite drove Phaedra to fall madly in love with the latter’s step-son, Hippolytus who rejects Phaedra, and in retaliation, Phaedra claims that Hippolytus attempted to rape her. Theseus who was granted 3 wishes by Poseidon wishes his own’s son death by having Poseidon summon 3 bulls from the sea who subsequently dragged Hippolytus to death. In another version of the tale, Phaedra falls in love with Hippolytus of her own free-will but he rejects her, and the story follows the same sequence of events as above.
The story was retold by Ovid and Senece the Younger and later became the popular subject of plays throughout Europe.
In England and France, the name became more widespread after its use in Jean Racine’s 1677 play, Phèdre and later Algernon Charles Swinborn’s1866 play, Phaedra. Friedrich Schiller also wrote a play and recently it was the subject of the opera written by German playwrite, Hans Werner Henze.
It is also another name for the plant, Bernardia, as well as the name of a genus of butterfly and an asteroid.
In France, Phèdre is a unisex name as it is a translation of both Phaedra & Phaedrus.
Phaedra appeared in the Top 100 Most Popular Female Names in Belgium, ranking in at #87 in 1997.
