Hey berries! I thought it would be interesting to research and share information about the naming traditions in Ancient Greece, as I am a history nerd as much as I am a name nerd. I hope you learn something new <3
Naming Men
Firstly, people in Ancient Greece often only had one name. However, they sometimes included a “patronym” or “father’s name” in formal contexts and to aid in identification. Additionally, a name indicating that someone belongs to a certain group or originates from somewhere different than where they currently reside could be included.
For example, Demosthenes, a Greek statesman and Athenian orator, was addressed as “Demosthenes, son of Demosthenes of Paiania” when speaking before the Athenian Assembly.
Naming Women
Women, however, were named differently. Rather than being addressed by their own name like men were, women were referred to as the wife/daughter of ___. They did have their own names, but they were not called these names, except on gravestones and dedications.
It was common for family members to have similar names, which led to many masculine names having feminine counterparts. These feminizations of masculine names were the most common name for women to have.
For example, Nikomachos would become Nikomachē, Athanasios would become Athanasia, and Dorotheus would become Dorothea. There were some feminine names that had no masculine origin, such as Glykera and Hedistē.
Greek Name Types
There were five types of personal names in Ancient Greece: compound names, shortened names, simple names, theophoric names, and lallnamen.
Compound Names
Many Greek names were compounded with two Greek roots. Some examples include:
Demosthenes - demos “people” and sthenos “strength”
Nikomachos - nike “victory” and manche “battle”
Sophokles - sophos “wise/skilled” and kleos “glory”
Polykrates - poly “much” and kratos “power”
Shortened Names
Shortened version of long names were very popular in Ancient Greece, such as:
Kallinikos (and other Kall- names): Kallias, Kallon, and Kallis
Nikostratos: Nikias, Nikon, and Niko
Dimitrios and Dimosthenis: Dimos
Konstantinos: Kostis
Simple Names
Most simple names were nouns and adjectives. For example:
Xanthos - “yellow”
Moschos - “young female cow”
Dorkas - “roe deer”
Simos - “snub nose”
Kephalos - “head”
Gastron - “pot belly”
Batrachos - “frog”
Kopreus - “shitty”
Theophoric Names
Theophoric means “god-carrying” names, and refers to names that derives from gods in Greek mythology. Until the Roman period (31 BCE to 180 CE), Greeks did not use the exact name of their gods, although derivatives were popular. The two most popular names at the time were Dionysius and Demetrios, which came from the gods Dionysus and Demeter.
All major gods, aside from Ares, Persephone, Hades, and Pluto, had theophoric names. -doros “gift of” and -dotos “given by” were added to theophoric names, as well. Examples:
Dionysodoros - “gift of Dionysos”
Apollodotos - “given by Apollo”
Asklepiodotos - “given by Askelpios”
Isidoros - “gift of Isis”
Lallnamen
Lallnamen refers to names derived from the words little children used to address their relatives. They usually included repeating sounds (like mama and papa). These names grew in popularity during the Roman period through the influence of Phyrgian (a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, now Asian Turkey).
Eventually, the use of two names (assumedly a first and a middle name) become popular among the upper class. As Christianity spread, the original meanings of many theophoric names were overridden and reinterpreted in Christian terms. However, many Christians still used theophoric names like Dionysios or Sarapion, choosing to ignore the meaning alltogether.
Thanks so much for reading! I hope you found this as interesting as I did. I’m sorry it’s such a long read, but there was so much information i wanted to include!
What did you find most surprising/interesting? I had no idea that women were referred to differently than men, so I thought that was intriguing!
Anyways, thanks again! <3
@ Kopreus