Category Archives: Polish Names

Rosalia, Rosalie

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Gender: Feminine
Origin: French
Meaning: “rose festival.”
(ROZE-uh-LEE-uh); (ROZE-uh-LEE)

Rosalie Cullen is described as an utterly beautiful yet cold creature. She is the more stand-offish of the Cullen bunch. If you don’t know what I am talking about, I am referring to a character in the popular Stephanie Meyer books, Twilight.

For a character that was supposedly born at the turn of the century, Ms. Meyer certainly named her character well, since Rosalie has not been in the top 1000 names since 1988, coming in at a mere # 942 when it was last seen. In fact, the highest the name ever reached was # 66 back in 1938!

If Rosalie Cullen doesn’t hold enough supernatural appeal for you, then you might want to look into the history of this rare little gem, as the name has enough gothic and romantic charm behind it to fit a beautiful vampire.

It is assumed that the name is just an elaboration of the name Rose, but in actuality, it comes directly from the name of an ancient Roman and Greek festival, the rosalia. Known to the Greeks as the Anthesteria, the celebrations usually took place around the 11th to 13th of January or February. It was basically the celebration of the maturing of the wine stored in previous years. During the festival, the vintages were opened, representing the beginning of Spring. Likewise, on these days, slaves and masters reversed their roles, it was the one and only festival where slaves were allowed to participate. It was also a day that celebrated the expulsion of the lost wondering souls of the dead. It had many similar aspects to Hallow e’en and Mardi Gras. Though a popular festival, the name was never used as a human moniker till perhaps the Middle Ages.

As a give name, it seems to have first appeared around the 1600s after the bones of a mysterious hermit saint were found in a cave in Sicily.

Known affectionately in Sicily as La Santuzza, (the Little Saint), all that is known of St. Rosalie is that she and her family were of noble blood and were French-Norman immigrants who had settled in the city of Palermo.

St. Rosalie chose to live a life as a hermit, and tucked herself away in a cave till she died.

Legend has it that she was lead to the cave by angels. On the cave wall, she wrote, “I, Rosalia, daughter of Sinibald, Lord of the Roses, and Quisquina, have taken the resolution to live in this cave for the love of my lord, Jesus Christ.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Rosalia).

In the 1600s, Palermo had been struck by the plague, and, according to legend, the saint appeared to a hunter dying from the pestilence. She led him to the cave where her bones were found. Rosalia then instructed the hunter to transport her bones back to Palermo and to have them carried in a procession throughout the city. The hunter did what she asked and supposedly, the hunter, and the city, were cured of the plague. Since then, St. Rosalie is honoured as the patron saint of Palermo, and each July 15, a huge festival is held in her honour to commemorate the event.

Known as the festino, it is still a big holiday in Sicily, and even throughout the United States, the same festival is celebrated by Italian Americans, only it has been switched to honour Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, while St. Rosalie’s feast is held off till the beginning of September.

Another interesting side note is that St. Rosalie is also designated as the patron saint of evolutionary studies, due to the fact that a scientist by the name of G.E. Hutchinson conducted a study of a pool by the saint’s cave where he observed water boatmen.

The name was never really used in the English speaking world till the influx of Italian immigrants to the United States at the turn of the century.

In 2006 French popularity lists, Rosalie came in at # 342.

Currently, in Slovenia, its contracted form of Zala is the 8th most popular female name, (2008).

Other forms of the name include:

  • Rosalia (Afrikaans/Catalan/German/Italian/Sardinian)
  • Rozalija (Croatian/Latvian/Serbian/Slovene)
  • Rozálie (Czech: raw-ZAHL-yeh)
  • Rosalie (Danish/Dutch/French/English)
  • Rozália (Hungarian/Slovak)
  • Rosolia (Italian: obscure)
  • Rozalia (Polish/Slovene)
  • Rosália (Portuguese)
  • Rusulìa (Sicilian)
  • Zala (Slovene: originally a diminutive form, now used exclusively as an independent given name)
  • Rosalía (Spanish)

An Italian masculine form is Rosalio.

Camilla

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Gender: Feminine
Origin: Latin
Meaning: Unknown
(kah-MIL-lah)

Camilla, a little stodgy, a little dramatic, and a little British nobility, most of the English speaking world would probably associate her with Camilla Parker-Bowles, now the legitimate wife to Prince Charles.

Then we have Camille, a classy French feminine name that brings to mind pastellic landscapes and Claude Monet, but wait, Camille is actually a masculine name!

The origins of Camilla goes back to the very foundations of Rome itself.

In Roman mythology, Camilla of the Volsci was a pre-Roman princess. Her father, Metabus, was deposed by his own people; running for his life, along with his infant daughter, he tied Camilla to a spear and consecrated her to the goddess Diana, in hopes that the goddess would intercede for his only child’s life. In exchange, he promised that Camilla would be Diana’s loyal servant and forever remain a virgin in the goddess’ honour. Attached to the spear, Metabus threw Camilla to the otherside of the River Amasenus, and Camilla survived unscathed.

In Virgil’s the Aeneid, it is confirmed that Camilla is the loyal servant of Diana, but also a great warrior. It is said that she is so swift, that she can run across a body of water without getting her feet wet. She allied herself with the other pre-Roman peoples in order to defeat the Trojans who had recently taken refuge in Rome and were gradually taking power.Camilla was killed by Arruns in battle, and Diana in rage had another servant of hers, Opis, kill Arruns to avenge Camilla’s death.

In later years, Camilla became a Roman cognomen being masculinized to Camillus. The exact origins and meaning of the name are unclear. It is believed that it is of Etruscan origins and that its meaning has been lost to history.

In France, Camille was a male name, (and still is considered a male name but has recently become more common on females). It wasn’t until the turn of the century that its usage on females arose. In France’s top 100 female names of 2006, Camille came in at # 7. Even so, for the sake of policy, this blog will list Camille as a masculine name.

Notable males with this include, Camille Saint-Saëns, a famous composer. Camille Nimr Chamoun, former president of Lebanon. Nicholas Camille Flammarion, a French astrononomer. Camille Desmoulins, a close associate of Georges Danton, (he was a journalist who played a role in the French Revolution), as well as French impressionist painter, Camille Passarro.

Its notable female bearers cannot go unignored. It was borne by French sculptor, Camille Claudel, and it is also borne by American feminist, Camille Paglia.

Camilla has other masculine forms. In Polish and Czech it is Kamil (kah-MEEL) and it is fairly popular name in both countries, as is its feminine counterpart, Kamila.

Lebanese Christians also favor this name because it works well in the Arabic language, yet fits into the edicts of their faith. While St. Camillus de Lellis, (whose feast day is July 14), is a popular Catholic saint, Kamil also coincides with the Arabic word meaning “whole; complete; or perfect,” so for many Middle Eastern Christians, its a 2-for-1 name.

There is also the Italian male form of Camillo and the Spanish Camilo.

Camellia is often times seen as a cognate of Camilla. Its actually a botanical name that really has no etymological relations to the ancient name. It was named for botanist Rev. George Joseph Kamel.

Other forms of the name include:

  • Kamilia (Bielorusian)
  • Kamila (Bosnian/Czech/Slovak/Polish)
  • Camilla (Danish/English/German/Italian/Latin/Norwegian/Swedish)
  • Kamilla (Finnish/Icelandic/Hungarian)
  • Kamilė (Lithuanian)
  • Kamilija (Lithuanian)
  • Kamilijana/Kamilijona (Lithuanian)
  • Camila (Spanish/Portuguese)

Masculine forms include:

  • Kamil (Czech/German/Polish)
  • Camille (French)
  • Kamill/Kamilló (Hungarian)
  • Camillo (Italian)
  • Camillus (Latin)
  • Kamilas/Kamilis (Lithuanian)
  • Kamilijus (Lithuanin)
  • Camilo (Spanish/Portuguese)

Possible nickname options are Cammie, Cam, Milla, and Millie.



Stella

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Gender: Feminine
Origin: Latin
Meaning: “star.”

This pretty, vintagy appellation with the stellar meaning was first introduced as a given name way back in the 16th-century. Sir Philip Sidney gave this name star-power when he used it for one of his sonnets Asphodel & Stella. To further boosts the name’s popularity, it has references to the Virgin Mary, derived from one of the many epithets to the mother of Christ, Stella Maris (Star of the Sea), is a sort of poetic reference to Mary as a guiding light for lost souls. Due to these connotations, the name caught on big time in places as far south as Spain and all the way east in Poland. Despite its literary references in England, the name never really caught on, in fact, in Great Britain today, Stella is the name of a ledger, which makes the name somewhat of a turn off for British parents. While in the United States, the name has had somewhat of a history since the turn of the century. Thanks to an influx of Polish immigrants, the name became very popular in the United States, Stella being a very popular Polish given name at that time, either being an anglicization for Stela or Stanislawa. Due to its enormous popularity among the Polish community, the name became a sort of stereotype name for Polish women from the 1920s-30s. Today, the name has lost those stereotypes, but for the granddaughters and great grandaughters of those very same immigrants, the name has held a lot of charm and appeal, holding fuzzy warm memories of old world grandmas for a whole new generation of parents. This might explain its sudden resurgence in popularity. In 1999, Stella sat at a mere # 725 of the Top 1000 names in the United States. Fast forward 9 years and it nows sits at # 186 of the top 1000 female names of 2008, and will probably rise. It has the same feel as other popular vintagy names such as Ava, Grace and Sophia. So don’t be surprised to see little Stellas coming to a school near you very soon. Though the name has Polish roots for many Americans, the name is considered rather old fashioned in Poland these days, meanwhile just further north in Sweden, the name has caught on quite a bit. It came in at # 33 in 2007 among the Top 100 female names of Sweden. Down under, in Australia, the name comes in at # 99. If you are concerned about the possible future over popularity of this name, then you might like the more unusual alternatives of Estelle, Estella and the Spanish Estrella (es-STRAY-yah). There is the Portuguese elaborate form of Stelina, and there is the Romanian Steliana, though that has a completely different etymology from Stella, it is derived from the Greek Styliani which is a feminine form of Stylianos meaning “piller.”

Other pop culture references are Stella Dubois Kowalski from Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Called Desire. It is also borne by the daughter of Paul and Linda Macartney.
Its designated name day is July 14.

Jagoda

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Gender: Feminine
Origin: Polish/Serbo-Croatian
Meaning: “strawberry” in Serbo-Croat and “berry” in Polish
(yah-GOH-dah)

July is Strawberry season, so I thought I’d give the time of day to write about this name. In Poland the name actually started out as a form of Jadwiga, but with its coincidental meaning of “berry” in Polish, it broke off as an independent name. In Serbo-Croatian the name specifically means “strawberry.”

Margiris, Margier

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Gender: Masculine
Origin: Lithuanian
Meaning: “forest dweller.”
Lit (mar-GEE-rees); Pol (MAR-gyare).

The name was borne by a medieval Lithuanian prince who was known for his heroic stand off at the Pilenai Fortress against the Teutonic Knights (d. 1336). Rather than be taken hostage, he and his subjects killed themselves and then burnt themselves in the fortress. There is a famous epic Polish poem which chronicles his exploits, entitled Margier it was written in 1855 by Wladyslaw Syrokmla. Seldom heard in Poland today, the name is still fairly common in Lithuania and its designated feast day is July 12.

Kalina

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Gender: Feminine

Origin: Polish/Ukrainian/Bulgarian
Meaning “guelder rose.”
(kah-LEE-nah)
The name first became popular in Poland after Henryk Sienkiewicz used this name for a heroine in his novel Quo Vodis. Since the setting was Ancient Rome, he latinized the name to Calina. The name is also used in the Ukraine and is the title of a popular folk song Kalinka. In Bulgarian its the name of the Rowan tree. Its designated name day is July 11.

Olga

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Gender: Feminine
Origin: Russian
Meaning: “holy”
(OLE-gah).

This harsh and rather under appreciated Russian classic is actually a Slavicized form of the equally unpopular Scandinavian name, Helga, which means, “holy.”

The name was first introduced into Eastern Europe around the 10th-century, thanks in part, to St. Olga of Kiev, (d. July 11 969).

St. Olga was a Russian woman of Viking descent who married Duke Igor of Kiev. When her husband died and her son Svytoslav was too young to rule, she was designated regent of the duchy. Olga was not a force to be reckoned with, when she first assumed the throne, she spent several years finding the killers of her husband and executing them. She is known for performing the first political reform in Eastern European history by changing the system of tribute gathering.

As an old woman, Olga had converted to Christianity and became one of the first Russian rulers to take on the new religion. She was known for her proselytizing and her hard work in converting her grandson, Vladimir of Kiev and some of her subjects. In fact, the Orthodox Church had proclaimed her an Equal-to-the-Apostles and her feast day is July 11.

The name is still popular throughout Eastern Europe.

Other forms of the name include:

  • Vol’ha Вольга (Belarusian)
  • Olga Ольга(Bulgarian/Croatian-Serbian/Czech/German/Hungarian/Macedonian/Polish/Portuguese/Romanian/Russian/Scandinavian/Slovene/Spanish)
  • Helle (Danish)
  • Helka (Finnish)
  • Oili (Finnish)
  • Olja (Finnish)
  • Helga (German/Danish/Icelandic/Norwegian/Swedish)
  • Hella (German/Scandinavian)
  • Ólgha Όλγα (Greek)
  • Elga (Italian)
  • Hege (Norwegian)
  • Helgi (Old Norse)
  • Áile (Sami)
  • Láilá (Sami)
  • Ol’ga (Slovakian)
  • Ol’ha Ольга (Ukrainian)

Olya is the common Russian diminutive form.

Dobroslav

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Gender: Masculine

Origin: Czech/Slovak
Meaning: “good glory.”
(DOH-broh-SLAHV)
The name is an ancient Slavic name composed of the elements dobro meaning “good” and slava meaning “glory.” The feminine form is Dobroslava. The Polish forms are Dobroslaw and Dobroslawa (do-broh-SWAHF); (do-broh-SWAH-vah). The designated name day is July 11. The names are also used in Serbia and Croatia. The names were borne by Dobraslav II and Dobroslav III of Dujkla (a former Kingdom in Serbia).

Iphigenia, Iphigénie

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Gender: Feminine
Origin: Greek
Meaning: “strong born.”
(if-fih-JEN-yah); (EE-FEE-ZHAY-NEE)

Iphigenia is a latinized version of the Greek, Iphigeneia, which is composed of the elements iphios (ιφιος), meaning “strong, stout” and genes, (γενης), meaning “born”

The name is borne in Greek mythology by the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, when Agamemnon had offended Artemis by hunting a deer in her sacred grove, it was decided that it appeasement, Iphigenia had to be sacrificed.

In Homer’s the Illiad, her name is Iphianassa which may be of the same etymological root.

It is also the name of a French opera which is based on the above legend.

In Boccaccio’s the Decameron, it is the name of a beautiful damsel, loved by the unlettered and ignorant Cypriot youth by the name of Cymon.
Through the power of love, however, Cymon becomes a polished and literate nobleman and marries Iphigenia.

This tale was the inspiration of many artists, most notably, Benjamin West, John Everett Millais and Frederic Leighton.

Other forms of the name include: (Note: Keep in mind that some of these forms are not widely used in their home countries)

  • Ifigènia (Catalan)
  • Ífigeneia (Czech)
  • Iphigénie (French)
  • Ifigenia (German/Italian/Polish/Romanian/Scandinavian/Spanish)
  • Iphigenie (German)
  • Ifigeneia Ἰφιγένεια (Greek: Modern)
  • Ifigenija (Lithuanian)
  • Ifigénia (Portuguese: European)
  • Ifigênia (Portuguese: Brazilian)

Its designated name day in France is July 9.

Possible nickname options are Iffy and Genie.

Bohuslava

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  • Gender: Feminine
  • Meaning: God’s glory.”
  • Origin: Czech0-Slovak, Ukrainian
  • (bo-hoo-SLAH-vah)

The name is a feminine form of Bohuslav which is derived from the old Slavonic elements bog meaning “god” and slava meaning “glory.” In the Czech Republic, its designated name day is July 7. The Polish forms are the popular Bogusław and the feminine Bogusława (boh-goo-SWAHF); (bo-goo-SWAH-vah).

Bohuslav was borne by famous Czech Composer Bohuslav Martinů (1890-1959). It was also borne by Polish magnate Bogusław Radziwiłł (1620-1669).