I was talking with my friend, whose native langauge is Persian and happens to be a namenerd, and to my other friend who happens to be a namenerd too and likes to collect Ancient Greek and Persian names
Me, as a huge history nerd (especially of names from Ancient Empires and times and languages), have already Ancient Greek and Roman names in my (just for collecting and etymology fun, namenerdly historical love, reasons) and since I am interested in etymology, linguistics too, and since I have recently got into the history of Ancient Persian Empires, what are some names from the era? Does anyone know?
I can only think of Darius and Roshanak. And Ava. Ava has a very beautiful meaning in this case.
Sorry if I spammed so much today, but I actually love collecting names like this to study the meaning behind them, and in general since I am interested in the historical eras, not for naming real children (If I would, I would use my realistic lists, with actual relations to my culture; but for simple studying and research and interest, there is nothing wrong with it, in my opinion). I am a huge namenerd and historical, linguistic nerd, again.
So:
What does everyone think of Ava and Roshanak and Darius?
What are some other names you maybe are knowledge of?
[name_f]My[/name_f] favorite Persian names are [name_m]Mirza[/name_m] (my favorite masc name at the moment!) [name_f]Pari[/name_f] (word name meaning fairy; I would use this as a nickname for Amparo) and Zartosht (the name of Zarathustra, learned about this one from @baya44).
I also love [name_u]Arya[/name_u], Atefe, Shokufe, Zhaleh, [name_f]Katayun[/name_f], Siavash, Kianoush, [name_m]Jahan[/name_m], Fereshte, Afsaneh, [name_f]Lale[/name_f], and [name_f]Anahita[/name_f]. (I donât have a consistent preference for the ou/u and e/eh transcriptionsâfor some reason, I think Zhaleh looks better with the h but Shokufe without it!)
Some of these might be more modern or Arabic derived than youâre looking for. I think you would appreciate the names from the Shahnameh and the 1001 Nights (Shahrazad, Shahriyar, Dinarzad). [name_m]Cyrus[/name_m] was Dariusâ predecessor if you like emperorsâ names.
[name_f]Roshanak[/name_f] is new to me! I love it immediately, with the unexpected -k ending.
[name_f]Ava[/name_f] and [name_m]Darius[/name_m] are some of my favorite names. [name_f]Ava[/name_f] feels so elegant to me, and my great-grandfather was [name_m]Dario[/name_m] so Iâve thought about [name_m]Darius[/name_m], [name_f]Dari[/name_f], Daryush to honor him. I love how much history is associated with this family of names.
I donât know a thing about Greek or Persian names myself, but I wanted to comment anyway to say this is such a great and exciting thing to do! Names as historical artifacts are so fascinating. I think itâs so wonderful that they excite you in this way. Iâm excited to read replies here to see what this post gives you!
Iâm not Iranian but I love Persian names! Some of my favorites are [name_f]Niloufar[/name_f], [name_f]Nasrin[/name_f], [name_f]Shirin[/name_f], [name_f]Parvaneh[/name_f], [name_f]Parisa[/name_f], [name_f]Laleh[/name_f], Minoo, [name_f]Marjan[/name_f], [name_u]Reza[/name_u], and [name_m]Mirza[/name_m]! I also know people named [name_m]Parviz[/name_m], [name_f]Roya[/name_f], and Mahfer.
[name_f]Anahita[/name_f] (Iranian goddess of water)
[name_m]Arash[/name_m] (archer from Iranian legend)
Ardashir (founder of the Sassarian Empire)
Babak (Ardashirâs father)
[name_m]Farid[/name_m] (13th century poet)
Fereydoun (king from a 10th century epic)
[name_f]Katayoun[/name_f] (queen from a 10th century epic)
[name_m]Kaveh[/name_m] (blacksmith in a 10th century epic)
[name_m]Mani[/name_m] (founder of Manichaeism)
Mehrab (king from a 10th century epic)
[name_m]Rostam[/name_m] (hero from a 10th century epic)
[name_u]Sam[/name_u] (hero from a 10th century epic)
Shahrazad (storyteller from The 1001 Nights)
[name_f]Shams[/name_f] (Iranian goddess of the sun)
[name_f]Shirin[/name_f] (legendary character)
Siavash (prince from a 10th century epic)
Sohrab (son of Rostam)
[name_f]Roshanak[/name_f] is intriguing and magical. [name_m]Darius[/name_m] is mystical but grounded!!
This pronunciation and meaning of [name_f]Ava[/name_f] is lovely (though Iâm sure it would be confused with [name_f]Ava[/name_f] (ay-vuh)
A few other Persian names I know of and like:
[name_u]Dana[/name_u] (rhyming with [name_f]Lana[/name_f], not day-nuh)
[name_u]Hadi[/name_u]
[name_u]Mina[/name_u]
[name_f]Nasrin[/name_f]
Delara
[name_f]Nazli[/name_f]
[name_f]Pari[/name_f]
[name_f]Darya[/name_f]
Mehrnaz - âcomfort in the sunâ - This is the name of a character in the 10th-century Persian epic the Shahnameh .
Bahar - âspringâ
Golnar - âflower pomegranateâ
Mihrimah - âsun and moonâ
Jahanara - âto adorn the worldâ
Parvaneh - âbutterflyâ
Golbahar - âspring flowerâ
Roshanara - âto adorn with lightâ
Setareh/Sitara - âstarâ
Zahir - âsupporter; helperâ
Dilbar - âone who captures heartsâ
Behnoosh - âgood nectarâ
Alizeh - âwindâ
Insiya - âhumanityâ
Shahnoor - âking of lightâ
Badr-un-nissa - âfull moon amongst womenâ
Mahdokht - âdaughter of the moonâ
Zaroon - âvictorâ
Javansher - âyoung lionâ
Kainaat - âuniverseâ
Mahpara - âpiece of the moonâ - Thereâs also the similar (but unrelated) Mahpari which means âfairy of the moonâ.
Yes! There are a lot of names that are derived from Pari, such as Parisa (âlike a fairyâ), Pariruh (âsoul of a fairyâ), Paribanu (âfairy ladyâ), Parisima (âfairy faceâ) and Parizad (âchild of a fairyâ). There are probably more.
@heartwings, I wasnât aware of the connection between [name_f]Anahita[/name_f] and AnaĂs / [name_f]AnaĂŻs[/name_f] before you mentioned this. It looks like Behind the Name lists [name_f]AnaĂŻs[/name_f] as possibly derived from [name_f]Anahita[/name_f], but Iâm not too sure (and I would guess that if it is, it would be through Anaitis, a greek transcription of Anahita). Iâve also seen [name_f]AnaĂŻs[/name_f] listed as a Provençal or medieval [name_u]French[/name_u] form of [name_f]Anna[/name_f].
Ava has a very beautiful meaning in this case.
Iâm excited to read replies here to see what this post gives you!