Weird Name Journey: Isabella

Two major things alter names: time and translation. More than any other type of name, it seems, Biblical names have been subject to both. Today's WNJ is a prime example of that: Isabella.
If you're thinking, "um, Isabella isn't in the Bible.....is it?" you're sort of right.

Let's start with Elisheva. It's the name of a couple characters in the Bible, most notably the mother of John the Baptist. You probably know her as Elizabeth. When the Bible was translated into Greek, Elisheva became Elisabet, and then Elisabeth in Latin and English (in fact, many of the names we think of as "Hebrew" are actually Hellenized and/or Latinized forms). 

Provençal had problems with that final -th, however, so in Southern France, the name became Elisabel. 

It then spread to Spanish and Catalan areas, and then went through something called hypercorrection. Hypercorrection is when linguistic rules are overapplied, particularly to a word or name from a different language. In this case, Spanish speakers may have interpreted Elisabel as "el Isabel" ("the Isabel"), and dropped the non-sensical masculine 'el'. Alternatively, Catalan speakers may have heard Elisabel as "e l'Isabel"("and the Isabel"). Or both could have happened! But for whatever reason, Elisabel became Isabel as it left Provence. 

Isabel caught on like wildfire in the Middle Ages, becoming common throughout Europe. It was then re-Latinized (it wasn't exactly recognizable as a form of Elizabeth if you didn't know Provençal!) to Isabella. 

Weird Name Journey: Chlodovech

Sometimes a name's journey is a straight line. Other times, it's a bizarre inter-cultural mash-up of 'Telephone' and 'Hot Potato'. Chlodovech is the latter. It has two forms in modern English, one much more common than the other--can you guess them beforehand?

Chlodovech (kloh-doh-vek) was an Ancient Germanic name, with the pretty awesome meaning of "famous warrior". Now, a lot of people think that Latin is about the oldest language ever, but a) it lasted quite a while, and b) it's a sister language to Ancient Germanic. They co-existed, and passed words & names back & forth as the Romans did their conquering empire thing. Chlodovech was a royal name to the ancient Frankish family, and were so mentioned in ancient Roman writings. The Romans had a tendency to alter names to fit what they thought names should look like (and to eliminate sounds & sound combinations that were too tricky for Latin speakers), and so they wrote Chlodovech as Clodovicus or Ludovicus.
Clodovicus was shortened to Clovis, and is still used today in French and Portuguese.

Ludovicus.....fun times. It spread back into Germanic areas, where people apparently didn't recognize it as Chlodovech (rather understandable), and so altered it again--Ludwig.
In French, Ludovicus was shortened to Louis, and from there, Luigi in Italian, Luis in Spanish, and Lewis/Louis in English. In Occitan (a Latinate language closely related to Catalan), however, an initial vowel was needed, and so Louis became Aloys (ah-loh-ees).
But then! Aloys was imported back into Latin (yup, still around in the RC church). Aloys was lengthened to Aloysius, which then caught on in many languages, including, one day, English.

Weird Name Journey--Tiffany

Every now and again I come across a etymology that astounds me. Many names are fairly straightforward, some are so old their origins have been lost, while others have followed an odd & twisting journey to the forms we know today. And so, a new series of posts is born. :p

Chances are, unless you're a very devout Christian (in the Western tradition, anyway), you never really observe the holiday Epiphany. Traditionally, it marks the date the Magi came to visit Jesus, as well as his baptism years later by John the Baptist, and his first miracle of water into wine at the wedding in Cana.
In Western Christian churches, the date is set on Jan. 6--the day after the Twelve Days of Christmas--and the Magi's visit is the most emphasized aspect.
In Eastern Christian churches, it is the 3rd most important holy day of the year, celebrated on either Jan. 6 or Jan. 19 (depending on whether the church follows the Julian or Gregorian calendar); and Jesus' baptism is most celebrated.
In any case, you may notice an underlying theme between the 3 celebrated events--Jesus' first Gentile visitors, his baptism, his first miracle--all have to do the revelation that He is indeed the Son of God. And this is where Epiphany gets its name--it means "manifestation, shining upon" in Greek. Another name for Epiphany, fallen into disuse for quite some time now, is 'Theophany'--"appearance of God".

Children born on holy days were often given special commemorative names, especially during the Medieval period--Noel/Noelle & Natalie are still in use in English today; Dominic is quite fashionable; Pascal, although more common abroad, is fairly recognizable; and you'll even find records of girls called Easter.
Where on earth is all this going? Well, in the Middle Ages, Epiphany was more commonly called Theophany (which, back then, would have been roughly pronounced t'hee-OF-an-ee), and English girls born on this feast where often named Theophania. The name didn't last into modern English; however, it must have been decently used, because matronymic surnames derived from it persist. Poor Theophania was all but forgotten until 1961.
And then came Hollywood.

Even if you've not really one for old movies, chances are you recognize Audrey Hepburn and the long cigarette-holder. Breakfast at Tiffany's is still considered a classic. The titular jewelry store was named for its founder, Charles Lewis Tiffany, and this once-obscure surname leapt onto the SSA charts at #782 the year after the film was released.
Although uncommon today, Tiffany peaked at #13 in 1982 and again in 1988; and even spurred a French resurgence of its cognate Tiphaine (tee-fehn), another rare surname and forgotten Medieval prénom.