Greeks Gods and Goddesses

Often people look for names with a certain sound, a certain ere, a certain letter. If you want a name with a fantastic meaning behind it and history Greek Gods and Goddesses may be just the place to start looking. Some of these names previous I had not heard of and am truly falling in love with.

Olympian Gods:

Zeus (Zoo-s)is the god of the sky and ruler of all the Olympian gods. Lord of the sky, the rain god his weapon is a thunderbolt. The name Zeus means living.

Hades (Ha·des) is the the brother of Zeus and was Lord of the Underworld ruling over the dead. He is also God of wealth due to the precious metals and jewels underground.

Hestia (Hes-te-a) is the sister of Zeus and is the God of Hearth, a symbol of the house. In cities there were fires dedicated to Hestia never allowed to be extinguished. This is so children would enter the house and family safely.

Hera (HARE-ah) wife of Zeus she is the Greek Queen of Heaven, due to her husbands infidelities was often names goddess of marriages.

Aris (A-Ris) is the son of Zeus and is the God of War, disliked by both his parents. He was thought of as blood stained and a coward.

Athena (a-THEE-nah) is the daughter of Zeus and Greek virgin Goddess of reason, intelligent activity, arts and literature. She was Zeus's favourite child and so was permitted to use his thunderbolt. She is also supposed to of invented such instruments as the bridle.

Apollo (Ah-POH-loh) is the son of Zeus and Leto. His twin sister being Artemis. He is the God of music and the god of healing, teaching man of medicine. He is also the God of truth and light. He drives the sun chariot across the sky.

Aphrodite (Af-ro-die-tee) is the Goddess of love, desire and beauty. She was said to have been born from the sea foam so Aphrodite also translates to mean 'foam'.

Hermes (HER-mees) was the most intelligent of Olympus Gods and was the messenger for them. The fastest of all Gods he was the son of Zeus and Maia. He is also the god of thieves and commerce, the guide also for dead in the underworld.

Artemis (AR-te-miss) is the goddess of chastity, virginity, hunting, the moon, and the natural environment. She is the daughter of Zeus and her twin brother is Apollo. She is protector of the young presiding over child birth. In contemporary society Artemis may also be a boys name.

Titans

Gaea (GAY-ah) is the Goddess of Earth and mother of all the Titans.

Rhea (REE-ah) was the wife of Cronus. He swallowed all their children. She however tricked him into swallowing a rock saving her son Zeus. Lucky escape! Her names means flowing.

Phoebe (FEE-BEE) is the titan of the moon. The feminine version of Phoebus, meaning bright.

Thea (THEE-AH) is the goddess of whom light derives from. She is the mother of Helios (sun), Eos (dawn), and Selene (moon).

Atlas (AT-LESS) was forced to hold the world upon his back as he supported Cronus over Zeus. Holding the world was a punishment by Zeus. His names therefore has connotations of strength and power.

Metis (MEE-Tis) was the titan of the fourth day as well as planet mercury, presiding over the power of wisdom and knowledge. Zeus ate her as it was heralded that her second child would replace him. This name has also be known to be a boys name.

Other Gods

Demeter (dih-mee'-tur) is the goddess of corn and grain, overall the earth, fertility and agriculture. Her daughter Persephone was kidnapped, she therefore put a curse on earth to make the plants die. It was agreed Persephone would spend six months in the underworld, during this time her mother grieves for her- winter.

Persephone (per-SEHF-ə-nee) is the daughter of Demeter and is the goddess of spring time. She was abducted by Hades into the underworld where she became queen of the underworld for six months a year.

Eros (E-Ros) the son of Aphrodite is the God of Love. His weapon the bow and arrows, stunning coups into uncontrollable love.

Eris (E-Ris) the Goddess of Discord was often snubbed by other Gods. She followed her brother Aris into battle with son strife. The Trojan Horse was a result of of not inviting Eris to a wedding.

Pan the son of Hermes and Penelope was the God of Shepard's. He is perceived as merry and happy frequently dancing with nymphs

Girls Names of the Roaring 20's!

You know how you keep seeing flapper dresses in the shops now? Well they're coming back! And guess what. Baby Names from the 20s are too. They have been for a while and will undoubtely keep coming back.

Need Proof?

Olive is back in the top 1000. Julia Roberts named her starbaby Hazel and SJP just had Marion Loretta. And speaking of starbabies lets not forget about the growing popularity of Violet. Rose has become a staple middle name next to Grace who has also hit the popularity stakes for first names. Lillian and Evelyn are now American favourites with their fellow top 100 members Audrey and Charlotte. And Ruby is close on their tails sitting just outside the top 100.

All of these names are 1920's favourites.

Though you may be a little too late to use these if your are looking to stand out of the crowd we have plenty of other 20s favourites for you to choose from that are equally dazzling and are destined for a comeback. As a sucker for vintage names (I did name my son Edward) Ithem (just perhaps not Fannie, Dorcas or Fairy). My faves are the red.

Agnes

Barbara

Beatrice

Belinda*

Bess

Betsy

Betty

Billie

Clementine

Delores

Donna

Dorothea**

Dorothy

Eleanor

Eulalia

Flora

Florence

Gwendolyn

Harriet

Helen

Henrietta

Louise

Lucy

Mabel

Margaret

Mary

Maudie

Mavis

Mildred

Millicent

Minnie

Nancy

Opal

Pansy

Regina

Roberta

Rosemary

Thelma

Theodora**

Wilhelmina

Wilma

Winifred

*I love this with the darling little nickname Bindi

** It is my ULTIMATE fantasy to have twin girls called Dorothea and Theodora!

Up-to-Date Royal Names

My mum loves reading all the Hello's which have the Royal on the front with titles like "Is William engaged to Kate" etc etc. There are always stories about monarchs from across the globe and some of the names are quite all right! Princess Beatrice is even popular. So here's a taste of what the rich and traditional call their children with some cute nicknames. Tell me what you think!

England:
-Elizabeth and Phillip (Lizzie, Liz, Phil)
-Charles and Camilla (Charlie, Milly)
-William (Wills, Bill)
-Henry (Harry as he is commonly called)
-Andrew (Andy)
-Beatrice (Trixie, Trix, Bea)
-Eugenie

Spain:
-Juan Carlos and Sofia (Sofie)
-Filipe and Litizia (Fil, Lettie
-Leonor (Nora)
-Sofia (Sofie)
-Elena (El, Ellen)

Monaco:
-Albert II (Al, Bert)
-Caroline (Carol, Carry, Car)
-Andrea (Andy)
-Pierre
-Charlotte (Lottie)

Denmark:
-Margrethe (Marg, Margery, Maggie)
-Frederik and Mary (Fred, Freddie)
-Christian (Chris)
-Isabella (Bella, Issy, Belle)
-Joachim

SJP twin girls

(SJP and James)

Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick twin girls have arrive and their names are as sweet as ever!

Her first child names James Wilkie now has twin sisters Marion Loretta Elwell and Tabitha Hodge. Elwell and Hodge are family names.

Marion is of English origin, a variant of Mary and meaning 'star of the sea'. And of course is well known because of Maid Marion of Robin Hood.

Tabitha is of Aramaic origin and means 'gazelle'. I of course have always loved this name from the show Bewitched, Samantha's daughters name.

I think overall James, Marion and Tabitha goes well together.

Congratulations and all the best to them!

Another Name Crush

Its 13 weeks to go! And we thought it was about time to stop making the decision harder for ourselves by continuously adding names to our lists and sit down and nut out our top 10 girls and boys.

I don't know if you have ever tried to choose you favourite name in the world out of I don't a Billion. Its harder than you might think - but we did it. It took the better part of our Sunday but we did it. We now have a top 10 (well 11 for girls) and I think we might be a the right track - no more names that are unusable (like September with Edward for example) and no more names we can't both agree on.

All was well until we turned on the TV. Some renovation competition was on. Just as well we couldn't find the remote (we are so sick of renovations) because one of the judges names caught our attention.

Isn't it a lovely name! It is a variant of Sybil which I'm not too keen on for my own use but don't mind at all. It means 'prophetess, oracle' and is from Greek origins.

What do you think?

Is it worth it spending hours convincing Nathan to get her on the list?

Or do you think that perhaps she is middle name material?

I would LOVE to know.

A Late Helping Hand

Many moons ago we received a question by a reader to help us name her 4th child. And I'm so sorry it has taken so long to get back to Marilyn. You see, we are renovating at the moment to make way for our new baby and it is all a bit stressful.

My first instinct when I got this question was to get my baby name books and have a flick through but this does leave me a limited supply. I think my second instinct might have been a bit more on the money. I don't like to poach ideas from other blogs for originality's sake but my fellow blogger Lola from Lola's Onomastic Fits seems to have quite similar tastes to this reader. So I requested her help to answer this question. Please welcome her as our guest blogger and please visit her blog! This will be a very long and concentrated post!
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I've been asking this question to all the great name-people I can find, so hopefully you have some ideas for me! We're expecting our fourth baby in August and not finding out the gender. I'm looking for girl and boy name ideas that fit well with our current three boys: Abraham Thomas (Abe), Sebastian Dane (Sebby or Seb), and Malachi Norris (Ky). I like names that can be dignified but I also like nicknames that allow a little flexibility/casualness.For girls names, I love nature names like Violet (Lettie)---but is that getting too popular? I also love Daisy but wish I could use it as a nickname for a longer name (Marguerite is one idea, but I think it would confuse people). I like Indigo, Juniper, Calla, and others---but don't know if they fit with my boys' names? I'm not set on a nature name; I also like Jemima and Josephine and many others.So---any ideas?? I would appreciate any feedback you or your readers have. :) Thanks!!
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Lola writes:
Marilyn,
This is indeed a challenge; your boys have fabulous names, one & all, and I'm sure we'll find something equally fabulous for their sibling!

Firstly, I'm not entirely sold on Marguerite, nickname Daisy being confusing. I mean, the French word for Daisy is Marguerite! And while it may confuse a few, I'd consider it a learning experience for those few. Hey, give them a chance to learn something new, right? :) Marguerite is elegant enough to sit well with your boys. And It is sprightly and feminine, to stand apart well. There are also plenty of other nickname options for Marguerite, if she so chose, too. Maggie, Meggie, Maya, Rita. But daisy is my favorite nickname option too.

Now, you also mentioned Violet (Lettie) and wondered if that was getting popular. I'm a Yank and Violet here is leaping up the charts. Violet now stands at 184 of 1000 and that's pretty spectacular to me. Violet didn't chart but sporadically between 1971 & 1998! Spectacular rise here. Makes me wary of it myself.

Now, you also mentioned Jemima & Josephine which completely makes me smile. Josephine is my 5 year old and Jemima is my #3 name for a potential sister. Jemima in particular would be spectacular with your boys. Biblical, naturey (Jemima means Dove) and absolutely beautifully feminine, Jemima would easily be *my* choice if I had your boys.

Indigo is a bit out of step with Abe, Seb & Ky and Indy is quite masculine a nickname to me (I think Jones & 500 right off the bat).

Juniper feels a bit off too, more naturey, not as elegant, and June is a lovely nickname option (as is Juno) but I'd rather see Juno right off with June as a possible nickname. Juno's awesome and feels far more elegant alone than Juniper or June. How awesome is the queen of heaven (according to Roman Mythology), the protectress of women & marriage and the goddess of finance too. Really, just all around strong & elegant!

Calla works too, tiny, elegant and naturey but in a line, Abraham, Sebastian, Malachi & Calla? I want to sing "One of these things is not like the other ones, one of these things just doesn't belong..." like on Sesame Street.

But some other random thoughts:
Oliver - Ol, Ollie
Gabriel - Gabe
Henry - Harry
Raphael - Rafe, Rafa, Ralph
Simeon/Simon - I have one, he goes by Sim fairly often. I still wish I'd gone with Simeon. So much snappier! He could also go by Sy.
Atticus
Dominic - Dom
Phineas - Finn, Finny
Edward - Ed
Demetrius
Jasper
Absalom
Julian/Julius - With your boys, I think Julius fits better but you may prefer the more modern feeling Julian.
Gideon
Barnabas - Barnaby
Edgar
Ephraim (ef-ram)
Moses
Linus
Adrian
Solomon - I've been thinking "Sol is pretty neat" myself.
Samson - Sam

Jemima - Jemma, Jem, Mimi, Mim
Sarai
Josephine - my daughter's name, she goes by Josie, Posy, Poppy, Fifi Effie & Jo. Talk about options!
Solange - Ange, Sol
Chaya
Lillian - Lilly
Miriam - Miri
Zipporah - means "dove" just like Jemima.
Angelina - Ange
Valentina - Val, Tina
Lucia - Lucy
Noemi
Magdalena - Maggie, Lena
Salome
Cecelia - Cecily
Audrey
Phoebe
Susannah - Susie, Sukie, Lily, Rose (Susannah means rose but earlier, meant lily)
Genevieve - Gen, Evie, Eve
Dinah
Esther
Beatrix - Bea, Bee, Trix, Trixie
Elspeth
Amira

But my top 3 for each (for you): Josephine, Jemima & Susanna/h (I prefer Susanna, most people prefer Susannah) with Marguerite a runner up. Raphael, Simeon/Simon & Solomon (with Phineas a runner up).

I hope that at least gives you a starting place, Marilyn (I LOVE your name, too!) and if you need any other thoughts, ideas or just general feedback, feel free to ask, I'd love to help some more!
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NFATE writes:
We are very sorry it as taken this long to get a reply out of us but hopefully the what we lack in punctuality we make up for in quality of our responses.

I really like the names you mentioned. Calla is 100% divine! I think as you have only had boys so far I think you could probably get away with just about anything if its a girl, especially considering the difference in styles of Sebastian, Malachi and Abraham. If I were you I would be considering something quite long though. Perhaps Calla could be used as a nickname for Calliope (Cal-Eee-Oh-Pee) or Calantha?

Violet too is wonderful. I don't think she is getting too popular either. As you might have seen I did a post on her popularity in Australia. Even if she is 'too popular' I think that if you truly love it then you should just go ahead and use her. If your a yank your more likely to run into a little Karen, Jacqueline, Jillian or Angel, and how many of those do you know?

So here are my suggestions. Instead of doing things in the way we usually do them round here (a name then a little bit of information about it) I think for consistencys sake I might just do a big list with nicknames like Lola.

The boys:
Kenneth - Ken
Wesely -Wes
Theodore - Theo, Teddy, Ted
Phillip - Philo, Phil,
Graham - Grey
Declan -Dec
Arthur - Art, Artie
Everett - Rhett
Walter - Walt
Russel - Russ
Ernest - Ernie (Oh I just adore this name! I have been dying to sugest him for ages!)
Gilbert - Gil
Augustus - Gus
Angus - Gus
Callum - Cal
Alistair/Alasdair - Ali
Clifford - Cliff (One of my favourite books of all time is Lady Chatterly's Lover)

The Girls:
Persephone (per-sef-uh-nee)
Anais (ahn-na-ees) - Annie
Matilda - Mattie, Tilly, Tilda
Rhiannon - Rhi
Constance - Connie
Viola - Vie (just incase you want an alternative to Violet)
Giselle - Elle
Aurora - Rory (Laura's beautiful little girl)
Georgia - Gia, George, Georgie
Gwendolyn - Lyn, Gwen, Wendy
Sylvia - Sylvie, Via (on my list)
Ayelet (eye-let or ah-yeh-let) so its like Violet with out the V
Seraphina - Sera, Fifi
Iolanthe - Io
Diana-Di
Ophelia-Fifi
Alice -Ali, Al

Pretty Petrova

I came accross the other day the name Petrova and have decided that I really like it. Though I love (and many names on my lists are flowery, girl names) girly names I like this name because it is strong dignified and very classy in my opinion.

Pronounced Peh-tro-va This name is derived from the name Petra- A greek name meaning stone or rock.(I said it was strong :D).

Petrova is also a Russian name however. In Russia it is a last name and therefore culturally it cannot be used as a first name (only in Russia though). Celebrities with this last name include russian tennis player Nadia Petrova. Petrova or Petrovna is also a feminie Russia name in relation to the Apostle Peter.

Anyone who loves quaint, cute literature perhaps you have read "Ballet Shoes" by Noel Streatfeild- a classic childrens book. (Adapted recently into a movie)

Petrova in this book is one of the adopted Sisters (The Fossils). Her sisters being Posy and Pauline. Using all 'P's' I like Posy but am not sold on Pauline.

But I'm loving Petrova so stop by and tell us what you think :D