I was part of a discussion not long ago about how to honor a Christopher without using a common Chris-name (like Christian, Kristin, Christine, Crystal, etc), and it got me thinking about using the second element -pher/phoros. The only name I could easily come up with was Lucifer, but that seems like a no-go.
So of course I had to go looking for more, and it turns out it was a reasonably common name element in Ancient Greece. Christopher is "Christ-bearer", and Lucifer is "light-bearer", and it's interesting to see what other things parents wanted their kids to "bear". [yes, if you want to get technical, Lucifer is from Latin, not Greek, but -fer is the Latin cognate of Greek -phor/pher-]
With one exception, all the constructions I found were masculine, some with feminine forms.
I've also included reasonable (IMO) Anglicizations, based on how other Ancient Greek names have been adapted to Modern English (just as a fun exercise for me). :)
- Agathephoros (Agathephore) -- "bearer of good". Feminine: Agathephoris
- Anthesphoros (Anthespher) -- "flower-bearer"
- Aristophora -- "bearing the best" [the one exclusively-feminine construction]
- Chrysiforos (Chysipher) -- "gold-bearer"
- Doryphoros (Dorypher) --"spear-bearer"
- Elpidephoros (Elpidepher) -- "hope-bearer". Feminine: Elpidephoris, Elpidephoria
- Euphoros (Eupher) -- "well-borne"
- Halophoros (Halopher) -- "salt-bearer"??
- Heosphoros (Eospher or Heosphore) -- "dawn-bearer"??
- Kalliphoros (Callipher) -- "bearer of beauty"
- Karpophoros (Carpophore) -- "fruit-bearer". Feminine: Karpophora, Karpophoria.
[carpophore is an actual botanical term] - Kerdophoros (Cerdopher) -- "profit-bearer"
- Nikephoros (Nicopher) -- "victory-bearer". Far and away the most common -phoros name I found! Feminine: Nikephoris.
[Nikifor is the modern Slavic form, Nicefor a Polish form, and Nicéphore a rare French form] - Oinophoros (Oenopher) -- "wine-bearer"
- Onesiphoros (Onesipher) -- "advantage-bearer". Feminine: Onasiphoris.
[Onésiphore is a rare French form, Onisifor a rare Romanian form] - Pamphoros (Pamphore) -- "bearing all"
- Pherekles (Pherecles)-- "bearing glory"
- Pherekrates (Pherecrates) -- "bearing power"
- Pherekydes (Pherecydes) -- "bearing fame"
- Pherenikos (Pherenicus) -- "bearing victory". Feminine: Pherenika.
[although you probably already know this name by its pseudo-Latinized form, Veronica] - Pheretimos (Pheretimus) -- "bearing honor". Feminine: Pheretima
- Phosphoros (Phosphore) -- "light-bearer" [haha, don't use this one on a human, please; in any form]
- Prophoros (Propher) -- "bearing forward"
- Stephanephoros, Stephephoros (Stephanepher, Stephepher) -- "crown-bearer". Feminine: Stephanephoria
- Symphoros (Sympher) -- "bear together". Next most common after Nikephoros.
Feminine: Sympheron, Symphoris - Telesphoros (Telespher) -- "bearing fulfillment" Feminine: Telesphoris, Telesphoria, Telesphora.
[Telesfor is the modern Polish form, Telesforo the Spanish, and Télesphore the French] - Theophoros (Theophore) -- "god-bearer"
[possibly not actually given to children, but it was the adopted title of at least a couple historic figures] - Zoophoros (Zoopher) -- "life-bearer"
Aaaaand now you know what a giant dork does when she's bored. :p
