Hello, friends! This is a (loose!) translation of an article about Greek mythology names, and a rare view into name popularity data in Greece.
If you want to go straight to the data, no worries, but there’s some interesting history I wanted to talk about, specifically about Ancient Greek names and their historical significance!
This gets long, so I’ll put it under a summary…
Summary
First, some context: Greek traditions around names have always been strict. For many centuries after Christianisation, your baby’s name had to be a) Christian, and b) after your mother or father. So, Maria’s daughter named Anna would name her daughter either Maria, or her husband’s mother’s name, and then that baby daughter would name her daughter Anna or her husband’s mother’s name. This custom is still the norm in the country, although it has become more common to break tradition!
The article discusses how after they (mostly) died out with the establishment of Christianity, Ancient Greek names first made a significant resurgence in the 1700s, as a result of a) the ideas of the Age of Enlightenment and b) the revolutionary thinking of the time (the Greek revolution / War of Independence started in 1821). Fun fact: most of the ships used for naval battles during the war were re-named after Ancient Greek women!
The use of these names was so common then, that in 1819 the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox church even went out of his way to renounce it, but no one really listened 
Why did they make a comeback? At the time, the revolutionaires were inspired by the idea of themselves as the descendants of the Ancient Greeks, and therefore having the right to fight for the freedom of their ancient, sacred lands. Using Ancient Greek names – for boats or babies – was an expression of that connection and the implication that we deserved to be free.
For similar reasons, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Ancient Greek names were very popular in historically & demographically Greek areas that remained occupied by foreign powers after the end of the revolution. They used these names to show they shared the same historical & cultural inheritance as the citizens of the new Greek state, and consequently deserved to be united.
Another (less) fun fact: Ancient Greek names were then banned by the church from 1934 to 1997.
And the third wave is happening now! Comparing data from 2010-2012 and 2020-2022, the use of Ancient Greek names had increased by 28%. From a combination of factors! 1) The further separation of the church and state, as well as a decrease in religiosity 2) the (still ongoing) normalisation of breaking the tradition of naming the baby after a grandparent, 3) general trends and parents wanting to choose more unique names.
Onto the names! These are the 150 most popular names for babies born from 2020 to 2022, in order of popularity.
For anyone who needs it, here’s a (not so brief) pronunciation guide!
G: Normally makes a sound similar to a German/French R, but it makes a Y sound when next to an I, Y or E – Georgia is yeh-or-YEE-ah
D = “th” like in “this”
NT = D (Ntina = dee-nah)
MP = B (Mpampis = bah-bees)
CH = Something between an English H (like in “hat”) and a Slavic “kh” sound
EI = “ee” (Leia = lee-ah) unless the I is accented
Y = “ee”, never “eye”
I = “ee”, never “eye”
OI = “ee” as well…
GG = a hard G (like in “goat”)
OU = oo (like in “boo”)
AI = eh (like the E in “bed”)
E = also eh like in “bed”
A = always “ah”, never “ay”
But if anyone has more pronunciation questions, feel free to ask!
I’ve added accent marks to indicate the syllable stress (e.g. Aretí would be ah-reh-TEE, not ah-REH-tee).
Finally, I added in brackets the “casual” and conversational form of the name, if it has one. Several of these full names are only for the birth certificate, and are almost never actually used in conversation.
Girls
- María
- Eléni
- Aikateríni (Katerína)
- Ioánna
- Anastasía
- Vasilikí
- Ánna
- Sofía
- Konstantína
- Dímitra
- Evaggelía
- Eiríni
- Georgía (Giorgía)
- Christína
- Aggelikí
- Neféli
- Déspoina
- Melína
- Panagióta
- Zoí
- Lydía
- Ariádni
- Alexándra
- Marína
- Danái
- Myrtó
- Foteiní
- Athiná
- Paraskeví
- Nikoléta
- Theodóra
- Athanasía
- Iliána
- Ártemis
- Elisávet
- Michaéla
- Írida
- Stylianí (Stélla)
- Elefthería
- Kyriakí
- Natalía
- Afrodíti
- Iléktra
- Kalliópi
- Evgenía
- Stavroúla
- Ólga
- Valéria
- Antonía
- Andriána
- Margaríta
- Elpída
- Agápi
- Alíki
- Amélia
- Rafaéla
- Evelína
- Chrysoúla
- Stefanía
- Emméleia
- Emmanouéla
- Rafailía (Rafaéla)
- Aretí
- Vasileía
- Viktória
- Ifigéneia
- Argyró
- Olívia
- Nikolétta
- Sotiría
- Charíkleia
- Efthymía
- Mariánna
- Élena
- Dáfni
- Chrysánthi
- Faídra
- Eftychía
- Aimilía
- Markélla
- Élli
- Pinelópi
- Nìki
- Ismíni
- Dionysía
- Nektaría
- Spyridoúla
Boys
- Geórgios (Giórgos)
- Konstantínos
- Ioánnis (Giánnis)
- Dimítrios (Dimítris)
- Nikólaos (Níkos/Nikólas)
- Panagiótis
- Chrístos
- Aléxandros
- Vasíleios (Vasílis)
- Ággelos
- Athanásios (Thános/Thanásis)
- Michaíl (Michális)
- Mários
- Fílippos
- Evággelos (Vaggélis)
- Antónios (Antónis)
- Theódoros
- Anastásios (Anastásis)
- Emmanouíl
- Andréas
- Spyrídon (Spýros)
- Stéfanos
- Stávros
- Ilías
- Charálampos
- Máximos
- Pétros
- Stylianós (Stélios)
- Apóstolos
- Achilléas
- Pávlos
- Sotírios (Sotíris)
- Rafaíl
- Odysséas
- Oréstis
- Orféas
- Elefthérios (Leftéris)
- Iásonas
- Thomás
- Leonídas
- Loukás
- Dionýsios (Dionýsis)
- Fótios (Fótis)
- Grigórios (Grigóris)
- Áris
- Nektários
- Kyriákos
- Márkos
- Taxiárchis
- Aristeídis
- Éktoras
- Christóforos
- Efthýmios (Efthýmis)
- Sávvas
- Efstrátios
- Efstáthios (Státhis/Efstáthis)
- Iáson (Iásonas)
- Aléxios (Aléxis)
- Lámpros
- Dimítris
- Iraklís
- Panteleímon (Pantelís)
- Gerásimos
Would love to hear everyone’s favourite boy and favourite girl name, or any general thoughts! Мuch love.
) [name_f]Lovely[/name_f] choices as well, I really like [name_f]Myrto[/name_f]!