Friday, March 20, 2015

Taxonomy...-nymy?

It never ceases to amaze me how many names are also animal genera. Quite a few taxonomic names might make good people-names, too, it turns out.
Many of these of course have other references, but what do they all have in common? They're butterflies!

  • Adelpha
  • Aella
  • Alaena
  • Aldania
  • Alenia
  • Alesa
  • Allora
  • Amauris
  • Anetia
  • Aphrissa
  • Arcas
  • Archon
  • Ariadne
  • Aricia
  • Arita
  • Arletta
  • Arnetta
  • Aurina
  • Bia
  • Brenthis
  • Bruna
  • Calisto
  • Calliana
  • Caria
  • Castilia
  • Catia
  • Cethosia
  • Charis
  • Colias
  • Cordelia
  • Coreana
  • Cressida
  • Cyrenia
  • Dion
  • Dione
  • Drucina
  • Elina
  • Elodina
  • Enantia
  • Erynnis
  • Eucheira
  • Euthalia
  • Glennia
  • Greta
  • Herona
  • Iliana
  • Imelda
  • Inessa
  • Iolana
  • Iridana
  • Issoria
  • Jera
  • Joanna
  • Juditha
  • Justinia
  • Kallima
  • Leona
  • Levina
  • Losaria
  • Lucia
  • Lucida
  • Lycas
  • Lysandra
  • Marela
  • Mathania
  • Memphis
  • Micandra
  • Milena
  • Miyana
  • Morys
  • Myrina
  • Myrinia
  • Nelia
  • Nessaea
  • Nicolaea
  • Ocaria
  • Odina
  • Oleria
  • Olynthus
  • Palla
  • Pamela
  • Patia
  • Patricia
  • Phaedra
  • Pierella
  • Pontia
  • Ravenna
  • Rohana
  • Sabina
  • Sephisa
  • Sovia
  • Suniana
  • Teria
  • Terra
  • Thecla
  • Thereus
  • Thessia
  • Thisbe
  • Timelaea
  • Trina
  • Una
  • Urbanus
  • Vanessa
  • Viola
  • Yramea
  • Yvretta
  • Zaretis
  • Zea
  • Zela
  • Zera
  • Zerene
  • Zintha

Monday, March 16, 2015

Usual Nickname, Unexpected Name: Etta/Ettie

Despite the fact that Etta rose higher than any of her long forms, I still think of her as a nickname. I'm not sure why--because -etta is a diminutive suffix, perhaps?
Anyway, she's usually listed as a nickname for Henrietta on sites and in books, but there are tons of fun possibilities...


  • Agneta (ahng-NET-ah, Swedish)--form of Agnes. Other forms include Aunetta (Finnish).
  • Aleta (ah-LET-ah, English, Scandinavian)--form of Adelaide or Alethea. Also spelled Aletta.
  • Aniceta (ah-nee-SEH-tah, Spanish; ah-nee-TSEH-tah, Polish)--from Greek, "unconquerable"
  • Annetta (ah-NET-tah, Italian)
  • Antonietta (ahn-tohn-YET-tah, Italian)
  • Arletta (ar-LET-tah, English)
  • Benedetta (beh-neh-DET-tah, Italian)--feminine of Benedict
  • Bernetta (bur-NET-tah, English)--form of Berenice/Veronica
  • Caieta (kye-ET-ah, Latin)
  • Claretta (clah-RET-tah, Italian)
  • Concetta (kon-CHET-tah, Italian)
  • Coretta (koh-RET-tah, English)
  • Dionetta (dee-oh-NEH-tah, Italian, English)--form of Denise/Dionysia
  • Elettra (eh-LET-trah, Italian)--form of Electra
  • Elisabetta (eh-lee-zah-BET-tah, Italian)--form of Elizabeth. Other forms include Alžbeta (Slovak), Elżbieta (Polish), Elisaveta (Macedonian), & Yelizaveta (Russian).
  • Etelka (ET-el-kaw, Hungarian)
  • Etelvina (et-el-VEE-nah, Spanish)--from Germanic, "noble friend"
  • Eteri (eh-teh-ree, Georgian)--"air, ether"
  • Étiennette (ay-tee-en-ET, French)
  • Fiammetta (fee-ah-MET-tah, Italian)--"little flame"
  • Fioretta (fee-oh-RET-tah, Italian)--"little flower"
  • Floretta (floh-RET-tah, English)
  • Georgeta (jor-JEH-tah, Romanian)
  • Giosetta (joh-ZET-tah, Italian)
  • Iveta (ee-VEH-tah, Czech, Latvian, Slovak)--form of Yvette
  • Jacquetta (jah-KET-tah, English)--form of Jacqueline
  • Julieta (joo-lee-ET-ah, English. Portuguese; hoo-lee-EH-tah, Spanish)--also spelled Julietta
  • Lauretta (law-RET-tah, lohr-ET-tah, English; low-RET-tah, Italian)--form of Laura. Another form is Loretta.
  • Lucetta (loo-SET-tah, English)--form of Lucy
  • Margaretta (mar-gah-RET-tah, English)--other forms include Margareta (Dutch, German, Scandinavian), Margrete (Scandinavian), Marjeta (Slovene), Marketta (Finnish), & Merete (Dutch).
  • Marietta (mah-ree-ET-tah, Italian)
  • Nicoletta (nee-koh-LET-tah, Italian)--other forms include Nikoleta (Greek) & Nicoleta (Romanian)
  • Odetta (oh-DET-tah, English)
  • Pauletta (paw-LET-tah, English)
  • Rosetta (roh-ZET-tah, Italian)
  • Stenetta (sten-EH-tah, Scandinavian)--from Old Norse, "stone"
  • Violeta (vee-oh-LEH-tah, Bulgarian, Lithuanian, Romanian, Serbian, Spanish)--Italian form is Violetta.
  • Žaneta (zhah-NET-ah, Czech, Slovak)--form of Jane/Jean/Joan. Another form is Żaneta (Polish)

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Big A, little a

What begins with A?
Lots of smallish girls' names, and they also end that way:

  • Abha (ahb-hah, Hindi)--"light, luster"
  • Achsa (AHK-sah, [Biblical] Hebrew)
  • Ada (AY-dah, English; AH-dah, German, Polish, Scandinavian, Turkish) [multiple derivations]
  • Adla (AHD-lah, Swedish)--form of Adela/Adelaide
  • Adva (ahd-vah, Hebrew)--"little wave"
  • Aella (EYE-lah, [ancient] Greek)--"whirlwind"
  • Agda (AG-dah, Swedish)--form of Agatha
  • Aida (ah-EE-dah, English, Italian)--from Arabic, "returning"
  • Aika (ah-ee-kah, Japanese)
  • Ailsa (AYL-sah, Scottish)
  • Aina (EYE-nah, Finnish, Spanish; ah-ee-nah, Japanese) [separate derivations]
  • Aira (EYE-rah, Finnish)
  • Aisha (ah-EE-shah, Arabic)--"life, alive". Other forms include Asha (Swahili).
  • Alba (AHL-bah, Italian, Latin, Spanish)
  • Alda (AHL-dah, Italian, Portuguese)
  • Alka (AHL-kah, Croatian)
  • Alma (AL-mah, English; AHL-mah, Italian, Scandinavian, Spanish)
  • Alta (AL-tah, English)
  • Alva (AHL-vah, Scandinavian)--from Old Norse, "elf"
  • Ambra (AHM-brah, Italian)--form of Amber
  • Anca (AHN-kah, Romanian)
  • Anna (AN-nah, English; AH-nah, everywhere else)--Also spelled Ana. Other forms include Ania, Anka, & Anya.
  • Ansa (AHN-sah, Finnish)
  • Arja (AHR-yah, Finnish)
  • Arla (AHR-lah, Swedish)
  • Arna (AHR-nah, Germanic, Scandinavian)--"eagle"
  • Arwa (UR-wah, Arabic)
  • Åsa (OH-sah, Norwegian, Swedish)
  • Asha (AH-shah, Hindi)--"hope"
  • Asta (AHS-stah, Scandinavian)--form of Astrid and other Ast-names. 
  • Auda (OW-dah, Germanic)--form of Otto/Odette
  • Audra (OH-drah, Lithuanian; AW-drah, English) [separate derivations]
  • Aura (OW-rah, Finnish)
  • Aušra (OH-shrah, Lithuanian)--"dawn"
  • Ava (AY-vah, English; AH-vah, German, Persian, Scandinavian) [multiple derivations]
  • Avra (AH-vrah, Greek)--"aura, breeze"
  • Aya (ah-yah, Japanese, Scandinavian) [separate derivations]
  • Ayça (eye-jah, Turkish)--"crescent moon"
  • Ayla (AY-lah, English; eye-LAH, Turkish) [separate derivations]
  • Azra (AZ-rah, Arabic, Bosnian, Turkish)