In 2014 I featured a series of blog posts introducing you to 2,014 names. For the most part they were names that were brand new to me as well. Some names may be more familiar but I found the meaning or origin or some other aspect of the name made it worthy of inclusion here. You may love some of the names, you may hate some, but hopefully you enjoy learning about all of them.

Sunday, April 27, 2014

7 Names at the end of the day (though really they're for tomorrow)

GIRLS




Zeruiah - Hebrew, meaning "perfumed with mastic". Mastic is a
Mediterranean tree of the cashew family that yields mastic and has aromatic leaves and fruit, closely related to the pistachio.

Aikaterini - Greek, some think it may derive from Hekaterine which comes from 'hekateros' meaning "each of the two". Hekateros was the 'daimon' spirit of the rustic dance of quickly moving hands and possibly of the skill of hands in general. Hekateros' name is connected with the Greek words hekateris, a dance of swiftly moving hands (kheirôn kinesis) and hekatereô, meaning to kick the rump with one heel after the other in a dance. Hekateros was also a word meaning each of two, or with both hands. Alternatively the name might mean "the marvellous hundred", from the words heka, hundred and teras marvel, and refer to the hundred skillful fingers (daktyloi) of his ten sons and daughters.

Hecate
It may come from Hecate, the name of the goddess of witchcraft, tombs, crossroads, demons, and the underworld which may derive from 'hekas' meaning "far off".

Aikaterini might be related to 'aikia' meaning 'torture'.



It might also be Coptic, rather than Greek, meaning "my consecration of your name" (I like this option since Katherine is believed to come from Aikaterini and St. Katherine of Alexandria was an Egyptian saint of the early Christian church). For a long time Katherine has been associated with 'katharos' meaning 'pure'.





St. Katherine of Alexandria 

St. Katherine's wheel - shown broken in the painting - was the torture device that broke when she touched it, the sword represents the one used to behead her (since the torture wheel did not work), and her unbound hair her unmarried status. She was one of the saints that advised Joan of Arc. Her finger bones are preserved in Rouen, France and her head and other relics at St. Katherine's Monastery on Mt. Sinai in Egypt.


Beehive Peak which is near Mt. Catherine, where I grew up in UT
Another possible origin is the Armenian word 'gadar' meaning 'peak' or 'summit'. The Armenian form of Katherine is Gadarine and the ending, if combined with the meaning 'peak' or 'summit' would be "she is the summit" (or "she is the peak").






Bindi


BOYS

Caden

Demosthenes

Ecky - North Country nickname for the Greek name Hector.

Finloe -
Manx, meaning "fair Lugh". Lugh was an ancient sun god on the Isle of Man.

Lugh

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