Tag Archives: Female Names

Beatrice, Beatrix

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Gender: Feminine
Origin: Latin
Meaning: “blessed; traveller, voyager.”
Eng (BEE-uh-TRISS); (BEE-uh-TRICKS)

The name is of somewhat debated meaning, some sources list it as a derivative of the Latin word beatus meaning “blessed” while other sources claim that it is a feminine form of the Latin name, Viator which means, “traveller” or “voyager.”

The famous Italian poet, Dante Aligheri, author of the Inferno, and other works, used Beatrice Portinari, (a local noblewoman whom the author was in love with), as a recurrent theme in his writings. The name has been consistently popular in Italy since the Middle Ages, she was especially popular in the rest of Europe during the Middle Ages as well, but has gone in and out of fashion since, depending on the country. It was particularly popular in England before the Reformation, where it experienced a revival in the 19th-century. Peter Rabbit author, Beatrix Potter, bore the name (1866-1943).T he name is also borne by several early Christian saints, and it is currently borne by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.

Beatrix has not ranked in the U.S. top 1000 since 1883! As of 2005, however, Beatrix was the 88th most popular female name in Hungary. Her counterpart of Beatrice faired much better in the U.S. statistics, though not anywhere near the top 100, Beatrice at least ranks in at # 833 (2008). In 2006, Beatriz was the 59th most popular female name in Spain.

Other forms of the name include:
  • Batirtze (Basque)
  • Beatriu (Catalan)
  • Beatrijs (Dutch)
  • Beatrix (Dutch/English/German)
  • Béatrice/Béatrix (French: bay-ah-TREES/bay-ah-TREEKS)
  • Beke/Beeke (Frisian: diminutive forms are Bekje. Pronounced BEH-ke)
  • Beatrisa (German)
  • Beatríke Βεατρίκη (Greek: Modern)
  • Beatricse/Beatrisz/Beatrix (Hungarian: a Hungarian diminutive is Trixi)
  • Beatrice (Italian/English/Romanian/Swedish: in Italian, pronounced, bay-ah-TREE-chay. Bice is a common diminutive form, though in recent years, it is considered dated, and the diminutive form of Bea has taken its place instead)
  • Bicetta/Cettina (Italian: originally diminutive forms, now used as independent given names, though, very obscure)
  • Beatrise (Latvian)
  • Beatričė (Lithuanian)
  • Beatriċi (Maltese: the pronunciation is somewhat similar to the Italian)
  • Beatrycze (Polish: beh-ah-TRIH-cheh)
  • Beatryks (Polish: beh-ah-TRIKS)
  • Beatris (Provencal)
  • Beatrisa Беатриса (Russian)
  • Beatrìci (Sardinian)
  • Beitris (Scottish)
  • Beatrica (Slovene: beh-ah-TREET-sah)
  • Beatriz (Spanish/Portuguese: Spanish Iberian: bey-ah-TREETH, Spanish Latin American: bey-ah-TREES; Portuguese Iberian: bee-ah-TREEZH)
  • Beatrixe (Swiss-German)
  • Betrys (Welsh)

The names, Beata and Viatrix, have also been linked with Beatrice.

Common English diminutives are Bea, Bee, Trixie and Trissie. A Portuguese short form is Bia.

Name-days are: January 17 (Lithuania), February 13 (France), July 29 (Lithuania/Poland), December 2 (Sweden).

Carya

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Gender: Female
Origin Greek
Meaning: “hazelnut.”
(KAR-yuh)

In Greek mythology, this was the name of another girl who was transformed into a tree, (in this case a hazelnut tree), to avoid rape by Apollo.

It is believed that the origins of the figure may have actually been a pre-classical nature goddess who presided over nut trees. The name was later used as an epithet for the goddess Artemis.

Artemis Caryatis is sometimes believed to have gotten this epithet from the town of Karyai, still others contend that Artemis Caryatis was just a merger between the goddess Artemis, and the Carya of the nut-tree myth.

Excavations in Greece have found open air communes that were used for the caryatids, or the priestesses of Carya. The caryatids were used to represent the columns which support the marble porches of the pantheon in Athens.

Oźwiena

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Gender: Female
Origin: Old Slavonic
(oshe-VYEH-nah).

The name is borne in Slavic mythology by a minor goddess who was similar to the Greek, Echo.

Her role in the pantheon was connected to human communication and the divulgation of discourse and action. She was seen as the goddess of gossip, who was unable to keep secrets or private conversation. If she disliked someone, she would distort the meaning of their words.

She was also the goddess of fame and glory, the one responsible for retelling the deeds of fallen heroes.

The name is not in usage in any of the Slavonic countries. The above form is Polish. Other forms are:

  • Ozvěna (Czech)
  • Ozvena (Slovakian)

Dryope

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Gender: Female
Origin: Greek
Meaning: “tree face; tree voice.”
Eng (DRY-uh-PEE).
Δρυόπη

In Greek mythology the name is borne by the daughter of King Dryops. She was a shepherdess who had become a close companion of wood land nymphs.

According to one legend, while Dryope was dancing in the meadows among the nymphs, she caught the attention of Apollo, who transformed himself into a tortoise in order to get close to her. The nymphs found the animal and made it into a pet. They brought it to Dryope to play with. When Dryope had placed the tortoise on her lap, it changed into a serpent, scaring the nymphs away. Apollo then raped Dryope who became pregnant with Amphissus.

Amphissus later became a local king and built a temple in honor of Apollo, and Dryope was whisked away into the woods by the nymphs, where she herself became a nymph.

In her place, a poplar tree and a spring appeared. Amphissus dedicated a shrine to the nymphs and his mother, a place where women were forbidden to enter.

According to Ovid’s account, Dryope was craddling her newborn son Amphissus, by a lake, when she noticed a lotus tree. The lotus tree was the nymph Lotis, in disguise, who was trying to hide from the advances of Priapus.

Dryope picked a flower from the tree, but when she did, the tree started to tremble and bleed. The blood of the tree made Dryope glued to the spot, and she gradually started to turn into a poplar tree. Just as the as the bark was about to entwine her neck, she called out to her husband, Andraemon, to warn him to care for her son and to never pick flowers.

Other forms of the name include (NOTE: these forms exists but have not had a long history of usage):

  • Driope (Catalan/Italian)
  • Drüopé (Hungarian: phonetic spelling)
  • Dríope (Spanish/Portuguese: DREE-oh-pay)

Atticus

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Gender: Male
Origin: Greek
Meaning: “from Athens.”
(AT-tik-kus)

    The name has its origins in an ancient Roman cognamen, in addition to it being a popular Greek name, used in reference to someone who hailed from the Greek region of Attica, where Athens is situated.

    It was borne by Titus Pomponius Atticus, (35 BC). Saint Atticus of Constantinople (a.d. 425); Herodes Atticus, a Greek rhetorician (101-177) B.C.; Atticus the Philosopher, a companion to Plato (175 B.C.)

    In modern popular culture, it was the name of Atticus Finch, in (To Kill a Mockingbird), and the main title character of the novel by Ron Hansen, Atticus.

    The feminine form is Attica which was a common female name in Ancient Rome.

    During the last five years, the name has become increasingly more common in the United States, it currently ranks in # 689 and seems to be rising.

    Atticus is also a brand of clothing, founded in 2001, by Blink-182 band members Tom DeLonge and Mark Hoppus.

    Another form is the Serbo-Croatian, Atik.

    Thoosa

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    Gender: Female
    Origin: Greek
    Meaning “swift.”
    Eng (THOO-sah); Grk (thoh-OO-sah)

    Rendered in Greek as Thoösa Θόωσα, it is borne by a sea nymph in Greek mythology. She was the daughter of Phorcys and Ceto and beloved by the god Poseidon. She was associated with currents and swiftness. By Poseidon she bore the cyclops, Polypemus. She was also the sister of Echidna, and Scylla and was often depicted as a mermaid-like creature.

    In recent years, it is the name of an English brand of womens’ running wear, founded in 2006 by CEO Caroline MacNally.

    The name is rendered in Spanish as Toosa, (not by any means a common name), and in Lithuanian as Teosa (also very obscure).

    Rhode/Rhoda

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    Gender: Female
    Origin: Greek
    Meaning “rose.”
    (RO-dee); (ROH-dah)

    The name of a sea nymph and also possibly an ancient primordial sea goddess, according to Greek mythology, Rhode was one of the oldest of the Oceanid nymphs and was said to be the daughter of Poseidon/Oceanus and Tethys. She is sometimes claimed to be the daughter of Halia and Poseidon, Amphitrite and Poseidon or the daughter of Aphrodite.

    It is even suggested by some scholars that Rhode, Halia and Amphitrite might have been one and the same sea goddess who was later replaced by the Olympic pantheon and relegated to a sea nymph.

    Rhode’s cult was especially popular on the Isle of Rhodes where it was believed she was the wife of the sun-god, Helios and one and the same with the goddess Athena. She was the mother of the Curetes of Crete. It is also suggested that the Island of Rhodes gets its names from her.

    There is also the more modern Biblical form of Rhoda, (RO-dah).

    In the New Testament it was the name of a maid who lived in the house of Mary, mother of John Mark. In the English speaking world, Rhoda came into usage in the 17th century, she has not ranked in the U.S. Top 1000 since 1975 when she came in at # 777. The highest she ever ranked in U.S. naming history was # 159 in 1881. In the 1970s Rhoda was the name of a character in the popular sitcom of the same name.

    Halia, Leucothea

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    Gender: Female
    Origin: Greek
    Meaning “briny.”
    (HAHL-yah; HAY-lee-ah); (loo-KO-thee-uh)

    The name is found in Greek mythology as the name of a sea nymph native to the Isle of Rhodes, sometimes believed to be one of the original Telchines (indigenous Rhodian gods).

    According to Olympic-Rhodian legend, Halia was the favorite of Poseidon and was believed to be the personification of sea salt. She had six sons and one daughter: Rhode.

    Her six sons’ forbade the goddess, Aphrodite, from landing on their island. In retaliation, Aphrodite drove the six boys into such madness that they raped their own mother. Halia committed suicide by throwing herself into the sea. Her sons were buried in the deep sea caves beneath the island, and it was believed by the Rhodians that Halia was reincarnated as the goddess Leucothea, who they worshipped with great honour.

    Leucothea means “white goddess.” It believed that Leucothea was a title given to various sea nymphs who were later transformed as goddesses.

    Coincidentally, hali’a, a Hawaiian word turned given name, is from the Hawaiian verb meaning “to remember one fondly.” Or if spelled halia, it is a past imperfect verb of hali meaning “to carry”, or “to bear.”

    Other forms of Leucothea include the original Greek Leukothea (Λευκοθέα), the Spanish Leucótea (very obscure) and the Lithuanian Leukotėja (also very obscure).

    Psamathe

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    Gender: Feminine
    Origin: Greek
    Meaning: “sand goddess”
    Ψάμαθη
    (SAM-uh-THEE)

    The name is derived from the Greek psammos meaning sand, and the Greek theia meaning “goddess,” hence: “sand goddess.”

    The name is found in Greek mythology as the name of the goddess of sand and beaches. She was the wife of Proteius, who was the seal herder of Poseidon. Psamathe had one mortal son and a nymph for a daughter.

    She was assaulted on the beach by King Aeacus. She tried to escape his advances by transforming herself into a seal, however, Aeacus was able to overcome her, and she became pregnant with a son whom she named Phocus meaning “seal.”

    Psamathe is also the name of a moon.

    Another form of the name that appears is Psamanthe (sah-MAN-thee).

    Other forms that exists but not necessarily in usage are:

    • Psàmate (Catalan)
    • Psamathée (French: psah-mah-TAY)
    • Psamate (Italian/Spanish)
    • Psamatė (Lithuanian)

    The name would make a more unique alternative to the more popular Samantha.

    Possible nickname options are Sam and Sammie.