Inspired by Greek names- feminine and spunky

Girl Names
1

I’ve been feeling a bit bored with my girls’ list lately so I decided it was time for a little changing of the guards, at least below the top 5 to 7. Yesterday, someone pointed out that I have a lot of Greek names on my girls’ list, and even some of the names that aren’t Greek have a Greek feel (such as [name_f]Sabrina[/name_f] or [name_f]Cosima[/name_f]). I see this as extremely fitting (and somewhat destiny) because I’m going to be studying abroad in [name_m]Cyprus[/name_m] next semester!

Some of these include [name_f]Iris[/name_f], [name_f]Eleni[/name_f], [name_f]Cleo[/name_f], Megara, and [name_f]Daphne[/name_f]

I’ve been searching through lists of Greek names and these inspired me:
[name_f]Nephele[/name_f]/Nefeli
[name_u]Artemis[/name_u]
[name_f]Ariadne[/name_f] (possibly my favorite name ever but unusable :()
[name_f]Xanthe[/name_f]
[name_f]Cassiopeia[/name_f]/Casiopea
[name_f]Thalia[/name_f]
[name_f]Hermione[/name_f]

So while I work on finding a nice Greek boy while abroad ;), what other Greek or Greek-inspired names would you suggest for me?

Thank you!

2

[name_f]Phoebe[/name_f]
[name_u]Hero[/name_u]
[name_f]Hera[/name_f]
[name_f]Athena[/name_f]
[name_f]Calliope[/name_f]
[name_f]Persephone[/name_f]
[name_f]Althea[/name_f]
[name_f]Circe[/name_f]
[name_f]Ianthe[/name_f]
[name_f]Phaedra[/name_f]
[name_f]Gaia[/name_f]
[name_f]Callisto[/name_f]
[name_f]Penelope[/name_f]
[name_f]Pandora[/name_f]

3

Some ideas
[name_f]Alessia[/name_f]
[name_f]Demi[/name_f]
[name_f]Demetria[/name_f]
Aglaia
[name_f]Evangelia[/name_f]
[name_f]Astraea[/name_f]
[name_f]Leandra[/name_f]
[name_f]Eudora[/name_f]
[name_f]Gaia[/name_f]
[name_f]Atalanta[/name_f]
[name_u]Calypso[/name_u]
[name_f]Chloris[/name_f]
Aella
[name_f]Thessaly[/name_f]
[name_u]Hero[/name_u]
[name_f]Agatha[/name_f]
Korinna
Eumelia

4

I cried in the nice Greek boy part ”

Some options

Melite (meh-[name_u]LEE[/name_u]-tee)
[name_f]Leda[/name_f]
Leto
[name_f]Leta[/name_f]
[name_f]Theodosia[/name_f]
Hedyle (ee-dee-lee)
[name_f]Evangelia[/name_f]
[name_f]Dionne[/name_f]
[name_f]Persephone[/name_f]
Agape (greek word for love)
Elpida (greek word for hope)
[name_f]Eirene[/name_f] (ee-ree-nee, greek word for peace)
Aelia
[name_f]Aliki[/name_f] (greek version of [name_f]Alice[/name_f])
[name_u]Artemis[/name_u]
[name_f]Aura[/name_f]
[name_f]Vasiliki[/name_f] (my name)
Vasileia
[name_f]Danae[/name_f]
[name_f]Dorothea[/name_f]
[name_f]Evita[/name_f] (we also use it as a nn for Paraskevi)
Kyriaki
[name_f]Evanthe[/name_f]
[name_u]Hero[/name_u]/Iro
[name_f]Thalia[/name_f]
[name_u]Calypso[/name_u]
Kalliopi
[name_f]Margarita[/name_f]

5

[name_m]Hi[/name_m], if you don’t mind me giving my opinion. I just love Greek mythology. They embody human ideas and attributes and therefore make meaningful names (at least in my mind). I have given this some thought lately being a “to be” dad. I wanted to give you a relatively short list of names that I wont use. But I wont use them because I am a conservative chicken. The creative part of me loves these names (but that part of me is a powerless wimp). My wife and I (see another forum recently) are seriously considering “[name_f]Penelope[/name_f]” as the smart, bold and loyal loving wife of [name_m]Odysseus[/name_m]. That is about as adventurous as I have the guts for.

I saw above the name [name_f]Demetria[/name_f] for a girl. Apparently that name had a little traction in the 70s. To be perfectly honest with you I have no idea why the name [name_u]Demeter[/name_u] (which is the Goddesses real name) doesn’t get way more love. I think it has to do with the fact people are confused about the pronunciation. It is said “Deh-Meet-[name_m]Ah[/name_m]” (at least with an Australian accent for the “er” – but that is the right emphasis of syllables). In that respect, [name_u]Demeter[/name_u] sounds like [name_f]Melita[/name_f], [name_f]Anita[/name_f]… etc. Beautiful names! Please look this [name_f]Goddess[/name_f] up too, she is one of the most beautiful in the Olympic pantheon. She is not as demur as [name_f]Hestia[/name_f] (which btw is a name that would grow on you – she isn’t talked about much in Greek stories but the [name_m]Roman[/name_m] counterpart is well known for their priestesses - [name_f]Vesta[/name_f] and the Vestal virgins) but not as aggressive as [name_f]Athena[/name_f] or [name_u]Artemis[/name_u].

If you are Australian (like me) you cannot have the name “[name_f]Eurydice[/name_f]” (pronounced “You-[name_f]Ree[/name_f]-Dis-ee”) but this name is also really rare and beautiful. In Australia a young girl by that name was attacked and killed recently so would carry that association but outside of that you are free to enjoy the name. [name_f]Eurydice[/name_f] was an oak nymph and the inspiration for [name_m]Orpheus[/name_m] (the only non-violent of Greek heroes that I am aware of) – his heroism was entwined in his bravery in love and his inspired music. [name_m]Orpheus[/name_m] went to the underworld and came back from it, enthralling Cerebus (the three headed dog – think [name_m]Harry[/name_m] potter and the chamber of secrets) and even Hades (as cold as he is to emotion) with his inspired music to rescue [name_f]Eurydice[/name_f] from the grip of death itself. He almost succeeded. Sad story, but one of the few from Greece not drenched in blood.

[name_u]Artemis[/name_u] to me is a fantastic, crafty, bold modern woman archetype. Fantastically beautiful but confident and competent in the most amazingly feminine way (its quite unbelieveable really) – I see the same kind of femininity from [name_f]Athena[/name_f] but she was more “wise” and [name_u]Artemis[/name_u] was more “instinct”. These names are “bad ass” to me. But unless you know of mythology, most people have no idea who they are (even though both were in Zues’ pantheon – for some reason people know of [name_m]Poseidon[/name_m] but not others). Something interesting you may not know is that the Romans had names for all the Hellenic Gods and Godesses and called [name_u]Artemis[/name_u] “[name_f]Diana[/name_f]” a much more well-known name. Intertwined with some other influences, [name_f]Athena[/name_f] was relabelled by the Romans as “[name_f]Minerva[/name_f]”. Unfortunately for me [name_f]Minerva[/name_f] was the name of our intranet at our university --with its associations with wisdom-- so it would be like me naming a child “[name_f]Ciri[/name_f]” or “[name_f]Cortana[/name_f]” or something ruined by technology and my wife veto’d that name – its stunning in my opinion ("[name_f]Minnie[/name_f]" for short <3). So if you are conservative like I am and want to conjure the same personalities then often the Romans have beautiful names too.

I love the name Circe (pronounced “Sir-Say”). Unfortunately, the real character is a bit of a witch. Well that is what they would call her nowadays. She transmuted men into pigs (literally) and is all-round a somewhat unpleasant character with a few redeeming qualities – she has her fair share of fans. She held Odysseus hostage for ages in the Odyssey. She is embroiled in a number of stories. The only thing I will say about this name is unfortunately (or maybe fortunately depending on how you look at it) when you say it out aloud it sounds like Cersei (of the Lannister variety – from Game of Thrones… you know the one that murders people and blows them up as an evil villain?).

One name Thalassa is also a name you don’t hear… ever. She was the primordial sea Goddess. There isn’t much else to say about Thalassa, her name literally means “the sea” aside from being the Goddess in mythology. Depending on the historian, she is thought to be the mother of Aphrodite (the personification of beauty herself). I could never call a child Aphrodite, the poor child at school would be teased for that I think. Thalassa is a nice way to get that meaning in.

Here is one that even nameberry doesn’t have but if you say it out aloud is gorgeous. The name is “Mnemosyne”. The “M” is silent. If you know a “mnemonic devise” that word comes from this name. It means what she was the presiding Goddess of; “Memory”. It is pronounced “Nem-Oss-in-ee”. Beautiful in the vein of names like “Tawnee” or something. She was also one of the primordial Goddesses. She did not interest herself too much in the titanomachy as her personality to me seems somewhat ethereally above all of that. Zues had nine children to her (the daughters of memory, that is). They were the nine muses. The Goddesses inspiring all of human creativity, science and art. Muses have beautiful imagery. For example, names like Calliope –the muse of epic poetry-- (suggested above – even in the top 1000), Cleo – the muse of history (also nice – and unfortunately tied to Cleopatra which is a name that I don’t like aesthetically) and Thalia – the muse of comedy (suggested above also… very playful), they all have appeal. One of the muses that I dont see anywhere at all (even on nameberry) is [b]Melpomene /b its a beautiful name. If you have ever seen the greek play masks (one is comedy and one is tragedy, Melpomene is the tragedy for the Thalia’s comedy).

I have been writing for a while now (and I should be getting work done). I love so much about this. I could do a set of male names too but for now I need to get work done. I will say, if you want to hear lots of nice names. I got interested in this from an Audiobook by Stephen Fry called “Mythos”. I think hearing these names in a refined British accent (rather than my hillbilly Australian accent) has done a lot to endear them to me.

6

Take it from a Greek girl, it’s hard to find a nice Greek boy haha.
I think you’ve probably heard all the mythological names, so I’ll just suggest the names of people I know in real life.
[name_f]Katerina[/name_f]
Iocaste/[name_f]Jocasta[/name_f]
Nausicaa
[name_f]Io[/name_f]
[name_f]Eleonora[/name_f]
[name_f]Violeta[/name_f]
[name_f]Paola[/name_f]
[name_f]Myra[/name_f] (mai-rah not mee-rah)
Theonoe
Vaia (vye-ah)
Aspasia
Despina
[name_f]Melina[/name_f]
[name_f]Demetra[/name_f]
[name_f]Susannah[/name_f]
[name_f]Roxane[/name_f] (ro-xah-nee)/[name_f]Roxana[/name_f]
Marilena
[name_f]Cleo[/name_f]
Chrysanthe
[name_f]Marina[/name_f]
Lukia (loo-kee-ah)
Evanthia
[name_f]Olympia[/name_f]
[name_f]Christiana[/name_f]
[name_f]Georgina[/name_f]
Merope
Polyxena
Effrosini (Euphrosine in Greek)
[name_f]Antigone[/name_f]
[name_f]Xanthe[/name_f]
[name_f]Alcyone[/name_f]
[name_f]Urania[/name_f]
[name_f]Evangelia[/name_f]
[name_f]Evelina[/name_f]
Zozefina

7

My list is almost all Greek names, I love them a lot!

[name_f]Acacia[/name_f]
[name_f]Althea[/name_f]
Aldora
[name_f]Alexandria[/name_f]
[name_f]Antigone[/name_f]
[name_f]Artemisia[/name_f]
[name_f]Astra[/name_f]
[name_f]Atalanta[/name_f]
[name_f]Athena[/name_f]
[name_f]Athene[/name_f]
[name_f]Calliope[/name_f]
[name_u]Calypso[/name_u]
[name_f]Cassandra[/name_f]
[name_f]Callista[/name_f]
[name_f]Cassia[/name_f]
[name_f]Cleo[/name_f]
[name_f]Circe[/name_f]
[name_f]Daphne[/name_f]
[name_u]Demeter[/name_u]
[name_f]Demetria[/name_f]
[name_f]Delphine[/name_f]
[name_u]Echo[/name_u]
Enyo
[name_f]Eos[/name_f]
[name_f]Eudora[/name_f]
Eudosia
[name_f]Eurydice[/name_f]
Euterpe
[name_f]Evadne[/name_f]
[name_f]Gaia[/name_f]
[name_f]Harmonia[/name_f]
[name_f]Helena[/name_f]
[name_f]Helene[/name_f]
[name_f]Hestia[/name_f]
Hippolyta
[name_f]Ianthe[/name_f]
[name_f]Ino[/name_f]
[name_f]Iolanthe[/name_f]
[name_f]Io[/name_f]
[name_f]Ione[/name_f]
[name_f]Iona[/name_f]
[name_f]Isadora[/name_f]
[name_f]Kaia[/name_f]
[name_f]Lyra[/name_f]
[name_f]Neomenia[/name_f]
[name_f]Nereida[/name_f]
[name_f]Niobe[/name_f]
[name_f]Nyx[/name_f]
[name_f]Oceana[/name_f]
[name_f]Odelia[/name_f]
Odysseia
[name_f]Olympia[/name_f]
Otrera
[name_f]Pandora[/name_f]
[name_f]Penelope[/name_f]
[name_f]Persephone[/name_f]
[name_f]Petra[/name_f]
[name_f]Phoebe[/name_f]
[name_f]Philomena[/name_f]
[name_f]Rhea[/name_f]
[name_f]Sapphira[/name_f]
[name_f]Selene[/name_f]
[name_f]Thea[/name_f]
[name_f]Thisbe[/name_f]
[name_f]Xena[/name_f]
[name_f]Xiomara[/name_f]
[name_f]Zenobia[/name_f]
[name_f]Zephira[/name_f]
[name_f]Zephrine[/name_f]

8

So many great ideas here!! @bellerose and @emmievis, lol ah maybe I’ll just have to find a nice American boy who appreciates Greek names as much as I do (so far, nice American boys have been hard to find too!).

@gia.berry, I love [name_f]Phoebe[/name_f], [name_u]Hero[/name_u] (would use as a nickname for [name_f]Hermione[/name_f], if I used [name_f]Hermione[/name_f]), [name_f]Hera[/name_f], [name_f]Athena[/name_f], [name_f]Ianthe[/name_f], [name_f]Phaedra[/name_f], and [name_f]Gaia[/name_f]!

@greyblue, I love [name_f]Alessia[/name_f], [name_f]Astraea[/name_f], [name_f]Gaia[/name_f], [name_f]Atalanta[/name_f] (total GP), [name_u]Calypso[/name_u], Aella, and [name_f]Thessaly[/name_f]!

@bellerose, I’ve never heard Melite before but I love it! Also love [name_f]Leda[/name_f] and [name_f]Leta[/name_f] (I think I prefer [name_f]Leta[/name_f] but both would be said almost the same in my accent). Aelia, [name_u]Artemis[/name_u], [name_f]Evanthe[/name_f], [name_u]Hero[/name_u], and [name_u]Calypso[/name_u] are great! I’ve also never heard [name_f]Eirene[/name_f] before but it’s gorgeous!

@spirit_wasa, oh my gosh, such great ideas! [name_f]Hestia[/name_f] is cool, as is [name_f]Vesta[/name_f]. [name_f]Athena[/name_f] and [name_u]Artemis[/name_u] are some of my favorites too. I also like [name_f]Diana[/name_f] but I wish everyone would say it with the same accent as in Wonder Woman haha! [name_f]Minerva[/name_f] is cool but I go back and forth about whether the “erv” part bothers me. I love [name_f]Circe[/name_f] too but the mythology figure isn’t great and I also worry it would be mistaken for the similar Cersei (I don’t/didn’t follow Game of Thrones at all). [name_f]Thalassa[/name_f] is so gorgeous!
It’s funny that you mention [name_f]Cleopatra[/name_f] with [name_f]Cleo[/name_f] because I’ve been majorly crushing on [name_f]Cleopatra[/name_f] lately. I love them both! [name_f]Thalia[/name_f] is also a favorite. The muses have such great names!

@emmievis, I love [name_f]Katerina[/name_f], [name_f]Io[/name_f], [name_f]Myra[/name_f], Theonoe, Vaia, Despina, [name_f]Cleo[/name_f], Chrysanthe, [name_f]Marina[/name_f], [name_f]Olympia[/name_f], and [name_f]Xanthe[/name_f]!

@lauren.ley, I love [name_f]Artemisia[/name_f] (another GP), [name_f]Astra[/name_f], [name_f]Athena[/name_f], [name_f]Calista[/name_f], [name_f]Cassia[/name_f], [name_f]Cleo[/name_f], [name_f]Daphne[/name_f], [name_u]Echo[/name_u], [name_f]Gaia[/name_f], [name_f]Ianthe[/name_f], [name_f]Iolanthe[/name_f], [name_f]Kaia[/name_f], [name_f]Lyra[/name_f], [name_f]Olympia[/name_f], [name_f]Petra[/name_f], [name_f]Phoebe[/name_f], [name_f]Philomena[/name_f], [name_f]Rhea[/name_f], [name_f]Selene[/name_f], [name_f]Thea[/name_f], [name_f]Thisbe[/name_f], [name_f]Xena[/name_f], and [name_f]Zenobia[/name_f]!

9

A new one I’ve heard on YouTube is [name_f]Alethea[/name_f]!