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.

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

New to me, new to you too?

Here are some names I've come across just in the last week that I had not heard before, or so little they seemed new.

Girls

Fergusia- a feminine form of the Gaelic name Fergus, meaning "brave man".


Robina-feminine form of Robin, which is both the name of the bird and an English nickname for the Germanic name Robert, which comes from "hrod" meaning "fame" and "bert" meaning "bright". Robina, according to britishbabynames.com was popular in Scotland in the 17th century. This is how I encountered the name (a Scottish woman from that time period). Unfortunately, I still do not know how it is pronounced.


Boys

Melanchthon- according to information contributed to behindthename.com, this honors the Protestant Phillip Melanchthon, who was German and translated his German last name into Greek using melanos meaning black and chthon meaning earth or land or soil (the German name was Swartzerdt).


Salmon-

Wrixham - Anglo Saxon, from Writtlesham, which comes from "wreoth" meaning "wreath" and "ham" meaning "home" or "dwelling" (Christina Blackie's Geographical Etymology: A Dictionary of Place-names Giving their Derivations gives the meaning as "town of wreaths". Wrixham is spelled as Wrexham in her book).


Grashinham-

Monday, August 11, 2014

1005 Names Learned

We're nearly halfway to our goal with today's 7 names. With the 7 from today I've introduced you to 1005 new names. That leaves 1009 left to learn over the next 4 1/2 months. 


GIRLS


Needo

Orthaea

Pallene




BOYS


Rufinus

Sadales

Tarchon

Ujöp  - Ladino

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Rest and Relax w/ 6 New Names of a Sunday

Mycenaean chariot krater [Mycenaean] (74.51.966) | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

GIRLS

Helenia - Greek, the name of a Laconian festival which celebrated Helena by having virgins ride chariots made of reeds or upon mules. Helen (or Helena) means "light" and she was worshipped as a goddess of light.

Image result
evening in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain
Isperia - Aragonese form of the Greek name Hesperia which comes from the word 'hesperios' which means 'evening'.

Jessabella -


BOYS

Kaaperi

Lanty


NOT SURE ABOUT GENDER

Merdie -with a little investigation Merdie seems to have been used for either men or women. I came across an instance of it used as a nickname for Myrtle. An obituary for a man listed no other given name than Merdie or any other clue as to the name's origin. Myrtle is the name of a plant which was sacred to the ancient Greek goddesses Demeter and Aphrodite. It used to be traditional for brides to carry myrtle for their wedding bouquet.
Illustration Myrtus communis0.jpg
myrtle

Thursday, August 7, 2014

To market, to market, to find some strange names, home again, home again, jiggety-james.

GIRLS

Victorina - Latin, meaning "victory", the mother of Victorinus, one of the Thirty Tyrants.

Wilella - English


Xenoveva - Asturian


BOYS

Yemelyan - Russian

Zagraeus - Greek

Adalbern - Germanic, from "adal", meaning "noble", and "bern", meaning "bear".


Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Some Names for August

GIRLS


Parker

Quinctillia

Rena




 


BOYS


Septerion - Greek


Theocles -

Urukh

6 Names for the 6th of August

GIRLS

Jecca

Kayleeanne

Lenda


BOYS

Mott

Nuncoreus

Oryander

Monday, August 4, 2014

Names for the start of August

GIRLS

Xhuliana - Albanian form of Juliana. Juliana is a feminine form of the Roman 'cognomen' Julianus - cognomen being the third name given to a Roman citizen, initially it was a sort of nickname but eventually changed to serve as a way of identifying one branch of a family from another. Julianus is derived from the Roman surname Julian (which has since evolved into a first name) which means "of the gens Julia" or "a descendat of Julus". Julus or Iulus was supposed to be the son of the goddess Venus and one of the original inhabitants of Rome. The Julians were people who claimed descent from him. So Xhuliana would suggest someone who claimed descent from Julus/Iulus and by extension, from the goddess of love (Venus). Perhaps "descended from the offspring of the goddess of love" would be a good way of interpreting the name. Though I have not found what Julus or Iulus may have originally meant or referred to.

Yalda - Syriac, a form of Middle Aramaic, and the Nestorian Christian name for Christmas (it means "birth"), it is celebrated on the eve of the winter solstice, the longest night of the year.

Zosine - Greek


BOYS



Abdulrahman

Buthyreus

Caraeus