So apparently, my great-great-grandmother, Aglia (sp?) didn’t speak English, so she asked her doctor to name all of her children when they were born. And he gave my great-grandmother and her siblings mythology names.
Their names? Minos, [name_f]Irene[/name_f], [name_f]Rhea[/name_f] and [name_f]Elida[/name_f].
Does anyone know where [name_f]Elida[/name_f] comes from? I’m familiar with the others’ origins, but I’ve never heard [name_f]Elida[/name_f] outside my family.
I also find it interesting that Aglia is really close to Aglaea, the name of one of the Graces. My theory is that maybe that’s why the doctor went with a mythology theme.
And does anyone else have an interesting family name story/tradition?
There is an opera named [name_m]Zeus[/name_m] und [name_f]Elida[/name_f] from the 1920s, however I think [name_f]Elida[/name_f] was created for the opera and is not a true mythological figure.
What an interesting story! I think [name_f]Elida[/name_f] may be a variant of Ellida, which I have been told is a feminine form of the Icelandic male name [name_f]Elli[/name_f]ði. From what I can gather (from behindthename.com), [name_f]Elli[/name_f]ði means fast-sailing ship in Old Norse and it was traditionally used as a ship name. [name_f]Elli[/name_f]ði was the name of Friðþjófr’s ship in the Icelandic saga Friðþjófssaga.
I know an [name_f]Elida[/name_f], who is Puerto Rican. I’m unsure of it’s origin, though…doesn’t sound Puerto Rican [name_f]IMO[/name_f]. I’ll ask her, I’m curious!
I was going to mention the opera [name_m]Zeus[/name_m] and [name_f]Elida[/name_f] too. It was [name_m]German[/name_m]. But [name_f]Elida[/name_f] isn’t a really mythological figure anywhere in Greek myth like the other 3 names. If it were a Greek name, it would be eh-lee-dah.
The closest I can get to it in Greek is [name_f]Elidi[/name_f] which may relate to the valley Ilida in Greece and doesn’t really have a meaning.
My great great grandma [name_f]Annie[/name_f] had an interesting sense of humour when it came to names. She named two of her sons after [name_m]Nelson[/name_m] and [name_m]Napoleon[/name_m] and her youngest daughter, born the day a king was crowned, was named Coronation (nicknamed [name_f]Cora[/name_f])
Thanks everyone! Interesting; I hadn’t heard of the opera.
I should mention that my relatives pronounce [name_f]Elida[/name_f] something like “eh-lee-dah” (they’re [name_m]French[/name_m]/Cajun, so imagine it in that accent.)
and [name_u]Ren[/name_u], that’s awesome. [name_f]Lovely[/name_f] to find out that name-nerding runs in the family! Coronation feels like it should get its own blog post.
I’m going to post a bunch of my family names. Good, bad and weird in a new thread.