Because of the blog today about [name]Easter[/name] names, I decided to start this thread. The blog focused entirely on the [name]Christian[/name] things associated with [name]Easter[/name] but [name]Easter[/name] began as a [name]Pagan[/name] holiday relating to the [name]Goddess[/name] Eostre so there are names associated with the origins of this holiday too. I thought that it would be nice to get the opinions and thoughts on this holiday from some one who isn’t [name]Christian[/name] out there.
[name]Pascha[/name] – Latin – “passover”
Anastasis – Greek – “upstanding”
Eostre was the dawn goddess of fertility and there are a lot of variations to her name that would make lovely names:
Eastre – an ancient word for [name]Spring[/name], ay-stray
Some other godessess celebrated in the [name]Spring[/name]:
[name]Aphrodite[/name] – aph-roh-dite-ee – Greek [name]Goddess[/name] of love and beauty – also called [name]Cytherea[/name] and Cypris
Astarte – as-star-tee – deified evening star
[name]Demeter[/name] – deh-mee-ter – [name]Goddess[/name] of the Harvest and presided over the fertility of the earth
[name]Persephone[/name] – per-seph-oh-nee – [name]Goddess[/name] of [name]Spring[/name] Growth, she rises from the underworld during the [name]Spring[/name] and [name]Summer[/name] months to be with her mother, which causes the flowers to grow and the earth to have springtime.
Hathor – Egyptian goddess of love, beauty, music, motherhood, and joy
Ishtar – Babylonian [name]Goddess[/name] of fertility, war, love
[name]Cybele[/name] – the Phrygian fertility goddess, had a consort, Attis, who was believed to have been born via a virgin birth. Attis was believed to have died and been resurrected 3 days later each year during this period. (these myths came about centuries before [name]Jesus[/name] would have been born) [name]Cybele[/name] and Attis are both lovely names.
Asherah – Semitic mother [name]Goddess[/name] – lovely way to get to [name]Ash[/name] or [name]Asha[/name]
[name]Alba[/name] is a word also associated with the [name]Easter[/name] holiday, and it means Sunrise.
There are 2 origin stories for the name of the day [name]Sunday[/name].
It is derived from the name of the Scandinavian sun [name]Goddess[/name] Sunna/Sonne which would make a cute name.
It is derived from “[name]Sol[/name],” the [name]Roman[/name] God of the [name]Sun[/name]." Their phrase “Dies Solis” means “day of the [name]Sun[/name].” [name]Sol[/name] (pronounced Soul) is a great boys name.
So there’s my take on it. I hope no one gets offended by this, as I know most of you are probably [name]Christian[/name], but this is my holiday too, so I wanted to get my say and my names out there in case any one was interested.
I definitely appreciate a different perspective. I’m Jewish myself… there are some great Passover-inspired names such as [name]Aviva[/name] and [name]Pesah[/name].
I think you should do an [name]Easter[/name] name thread yourself then with all the lovely Jewish words and names associated with [name]Easter[/name]. Maybe I’ll collect them all and put all of these on my blog.
Thank you for starting this thread - I am sure there are tons of Christians on here too, but not all of us are and I love this selection of names you’ve included here. [name]Alba[/name] is a favorite of mine and whenever I see the word [name]Easter[/name] anywhere, I immediately think of Astarte. Also, just to speak to the previous poster - [name]Aviva[/name] is a serious favorite of mine as well.
Thanks! I loooove [name]Cybele[/name].
I also want to mention [name]Ceres[/name] and [name]Cerelia[/name].
[name]Ceres[/name] was the goddess of agriculture, grain crops, fertility and motherly relationships. The Romans saw her as the counterpart of the Greek goddess [name]Demeter[/name]. It’s where the world cereal came from. I guess it really isn’t [name]Easter[/name] related, but since you mention [name]Demeter[/name]…
[name]Cerelia[/name] is a [name]Roman[/name] Harvest Festival honoring [name]Ceres[/name] and it means “relating to Springtime”
Another [name]Easter[/name]-type route to [name]Ash[/name] - Ashtoreth is a Phoenician goddess associated the moon, fertility and reproduction. She is also the personification of a star. I think Ashtoreth is actually a form of the aforementioned Astarte.
I’m [name]Christian[/name] but I still thought this was very interesting! I was thinking of names that mean life, like [name]Zoe[/name], the name that I’ve been asking about lately, or [name]Anastasia[/name], someone said that it means Resurrection, but it seems related to Anastasis. Other names that mean life like [name]Liv[/name] and [name]Vivian[/name] came to mind too. I don’t know if that helps or not.
I met girls in Mexico named [name]Alba[/name] and Cibeles.
Thank you all for responding and not being offended! As far as I’m aware, amenspanglish, [name]Anastasia[/name] is the english translation of Anastasis.
Amberdaydream – you’re right, Ashtoreth is a variation on Astarte.
Niteowl13 – I love [name]Cerelia[/name]! I didn’t think to include the [name]Roman[/name] variations, thank you so much for mentioning!
I’ll be including these [name]Sunday[/name] on my name blog which is in my signature! Everyone feel free to include your [name]Christian[/name], Jewish, [name]Pagan[/name], Catholic, or whatever you affiliate with names here and I’ll include them all.
My cousin gets hay fever so when I asked her about springtime/[name]Easter[/name] names she snapped, ‘Pollen.’ Lol. I suppose flower names are used all year round but in spring, I think [name]Petal[/name] or [name]Fauna[/name] sound cool.
I forgot to say - love the name [name]Persephone[/name]! There is also her [name]Roman[/name] equivalent Proserpina / Proserpine. I suppose [name]Sunday[/name] itself could be an [name]Easter[/name] name? Or even Friday (which, as of late, is probably associated with that song…)
[name]Flora[/name] was the [name]Roman[/name] goddess of flowers. Her festival was called the [name]Floralia[/name] and is celebrated in spring.
Lots of animals are born in spring so I think a name like [name]Fawn[/name] or Owlet would be cute for [name]Easter[/name] (not exactly usable, but cute.)
I actually think Pollen would make a cute name. Here are some other “[name]Easter[/name]” names with non-[name]Christian[/name] associations. Nook of names listed Leveret on one of their lists and I find that lovely! It would make a great [name]Easter[/name] or [name]Spring[/name] Equinox name too.
Aditi (name of the Hindu goddess of the sky and fertility)
[name]Anahita[/name] (undefiled; name of the Persian goddess of water and fertility)
Anat (name of a Assyrian fertility goddess)
Bahar (spring) > Persian
Blerina (greenery) > Albanian
[name]Chloris[/name] (green; name of a goddess of vegetation)
Chun (spring) > Chinese
Crina (lily) > Romanian
Gulbahar (spring rose) > Persian
[name]Harley[/name] (meadow of hares) >English
[name]Haruko[/name] (spring child) > Japanese
Hina (green sunlight) > Japanese
[name]Idun[/name] (name of the Norse goddess of [name]Spring[/name] and Immortality, it also mean “to love again.”)
Kielo (lily of the valley) > Finnish
Ljerka (lily) >Croatian/Serbian
[name]Lys[/name] (lily) > Frisian/French
[name]Midori[/name] (green) > Japanese
[name]Ova[/name] (egg) > Latin
Pranvera ([name]Spring[/name]) > Albanian
[name]Rabi[/name]'a (springtime) > Arabic
[name]Spring[/name]
Usagi (rabbit) >Japanese
[name]Verna[/name] (spring) > Latin
Vesna (name of the Slavic goddess of the springtime, also means “spring.”)
Wisenna (an obscure Polish name derived from Vesna, pronounced vee-[name]SEN[/name]-neh-nah)
Thank you so much for this thread! I’ve been searching for an [name]Easter[/name] name for myself as I was born on [name]Easter[/name] [name]Sunday[/name] but have not found one I particularly like. I’m really loving Ostara.
Thanks! That is what I was thinking! I look forward to reading your blog post this [name]Sunday[/name]! We have a (guy) friend named [name]Domingo[/name] which my husband calls [name]Sunday[/name] as a nn. Maybe [name]Domingo[/name] (the Spanish word for [name]Sunday[/name]) could be added to the list? Good luck!
I have some suggestions:
[name]Chloe[/name] as in [name]Chloris[/name]
[name]Demetria[/name]/[name]Demetra[/name] for [name]Demeter[/name]
[name]Solana[/name] for [name]Sol[/name]
[name]Kerensa[/name] which means [name]Love[/name] in Cornish to represent the goddess of [name]Love[/name] and Beauty, a combo could be [name]Kerensa[/name] [name]Belle[/name] for example.
Dantea, I’ll see if I can put something together with some Hebrew and Yiddish names! [name]Long[/name] day at work today, though, not coherent enough tonight.
[name]Dimanche[/name] is French for [name]Sunday[/name]. I think it is in the database. I know [name]Mardi[/name] ([name]Tuesday[/name]) is in the database, but it looks and sounds very similar to “mardy”.
