Names 190-196

Girls

Keely- Irish, from the surname O' Caollaidhe, referring to the male descendant of a person called "the slim one" or "skinny". There is also the form Keighley, which is both a place name and a surname in English. It means "the farm of Cyhha" which was an old personal name. I am not sure when this name came into usage as a first name, but there was a girl that I grew up with named Keely. The name fit her perfectly.

Lettice - a form of Leticia.

Mairwen - Welsh, from Mair, a form of the Hebrew name Mary and Gwen meaning "fair" or "white" or "blessed"


Boys

Napoleon

Careful, careful, with assumptions. Napoleon, the man, may have been Emperor of France, but his name comes from the Italian Napoleone meaning "Naples' lion"  (neo - new, polis - city, leone - lion....... napoleone)

Odón - a form of the name Odo, which is a form of Otto or Otho and derives from the German root meaning "possessor of wealth". Odón spelled like this is the Spanish version, pronounced "oh doan', with the emphasis on the second syllable. Spelled Ödön it is the Hungarian form of Edmond, which means 'wealthy protector'. Though I wonder if that might not also be seen as 'wealth protector' or 'protector of wealth', which to me is a different meaning entirely from 'wealthy protector'. There is a famous saint known in French as Saint Odón of Cluny who lived in the Middle Ages and is also known as Saint Odo of Cluny.

Paris - Greek, meaning "backpack". Now, I did not see THAT one coming. It is related to the myth of Paris, where he is brought home in a backpack after surviving for 9 days on Mount Ida as a newborn (he was prophesied to be the person who would bring about the ruin of his household, so he was to be killed, but no one could bring themselves to kill him and the man sent to do it left him exposed on the mountain. BUT a female bear came and gave him milk and kept him alive. When the man came back and found the baby still alive, he took him home, carrying him in his backpack.)


If you are using Paris as a name to honor the city of Paris, France, the etymology is different. The people of that area were called the Parisii by the Romans and the city of Paris was actually called Lutetia Parisiorum, which means "Lutetia of the Parisii". In the middle of the 4th century AD (about 360 AD) it became known as Paris. Humans are known to have had a settlement there since at least 9000 B.C. As for the meaning, it might come from the Celtic word 'par' which means "boat" (consider the Greek "baris" and that the word barge refers to a type of boat). The coat of arms of the city of Paris features a boat.

Quinlan- Irish, meaning "strong" or "well-formed" or "athletic".