Friday Fun: Your First Name

[Martin Bayer _MoroSystems_ s_r_o__]

I live in the Czech Republic and today is my name-day. It brings me to my today's question which is What is the meaning of your first name? Additional question could be "Do you celebrate name-day in your culture/country?"

My first name is Martin. Originally it was derived from Mars, the Roman god, but in the Europe it is probably more connected with St. Martin of Tours, who was the soldier of the Roman cavalry but converted to Christianity and became a bishop in Tours.

Looking forward to your answers :)

[Yatish Madhav]

Thanks for this, @Martin Bayer _MoroSystems_ s_r_o__  - interesting.

Yatish according to many means Lord of devotees and originates in Sanskrit, in India. Some have also told me it means Success or "The Great One" :)

I also googled it now and found this - https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Yatish - Hilarious!

[Martin Bayer _MoroSystems_ s_r_o__]

@Yatish Madhav NICEEEE !!! :) It is kind of commitment to wear this name :)

[Valerie Knapp]

Happy Name Day @Martin Bayer _MoroSystems_ s_r_o__ !

Thanks for this fun topic. The history of my name is that for many generations, the first born female in the family was called Mary and my mom *hated* this tradition so she chose something totally random for me instead, Valerie.

Wikipedia says it means strong and brave. I'll take that! :)

[Martin Bayer _MoroSystems_ s_r_o__]

I hope @Valerie Knapp this awareness will help you in the future when the situation will require these two characteristics :)

[Rilwan Ahmed]

Rilwan is a arabic which means grace, pleasure, satisfaction.
Due to conversion from Arabic to English, it is written as Rizwan, Ridwan also. In Arabic it is written as رِضْوَان

[Saralie S.]

A Name Day sounds so cool! I wish I could say my name has a meaning, but it unfortunately doesn't. But my father came up with the name! It's pronounced "saruh-lee". I'm not quite sure if we celebrate name day in the U.S., but I wish we did!

[Laura Holton _ACE Rotterdam_]

This is such a fun topic @Martin Bayer _MoroSystems_ s_r_o__ and I'm learning more about my name! I always new about the meaning and history of Holton but not really about Laura. So here it goes...

📜 The meaning of Laura 📜

The name Laura is the feminized form of laurus, Latin for "bay laurel plant", which in the Greco-Roman era was used as a symbol of victory, honor or fame. The name represents the embodiment of victory and strength.

The name Laura is not in the Bible. However, the tradition of placing laurel leaves on one's head as a sign of victory is ancient, and the original Latin word “Laurus” shows up in the Bible.

"Laura is a hauntingly evocative perennial, never trendy, never dated, feminine without being fussy, with literary links stretching back to Dante." A frequent Top 20 name from 1963 to 1986, reaching Number 10 in 1969, Laura remained in the Top 100—minus a brief stretch from 1935 to 1944—until as recently as 2001.

And apparently the Christian name days for Laura are:

• January 15: Sweden
• January 18: Estonia, Finland
• January 22: France
• April 18: Latvia
• June 1: Czech Republic
• June 5: Slovakia, Slovenia
• June 17: Hungary, Lithuania, Poland
• August 10: Austria, Germany
• October 19: Lithuania, Italy, Spain, England

There you have it folks, I'm not trendy but never outdated, I'm feminine but not fussy, and I embody victory and strength 😄

[Yatish Madhav]

Haha love it! Brillant @Laura Holton _ACE Rotterdam_ 

[Martin Bayer _MoroSystems_ s_r_o__]

Very interesting facts @Laura Holton _ACE Rotterdam_ , thank you :)

[Nic Brough -Adaptavist-]

Mine is a Greek name that means "Victory of the People" - the name joins "Nike" / victory (god of) to "laos" / people

Not sure if that feeds into my competitive instincts when playing games, but hey ;-)

The UK doesn't do name days.

Also I didn't get my current name for a couple of weeks after I was born, because my mother couldn't decide on one that would annoy her mother-in-law the most.  Granny was demanding I was going to be called John, after my grandpa, and his grandpa, and his grandpa.

[Martin Bayer _MoroSystems_ s_r_o__]

Hi @Nic Brough -Adaptavist- this is the best reason to not to have a name for a baby for weeks I ever heard :D

[Andy Gladstone]

Great topic @Martin Bayer _MoroSystems_ s_r_o__! 

I have two sets of names, my given English name Andrew Mark and my Hebrew name, חיים מאיר (pronounced Chaim Meir). The two names are completely unrelated to one another. The English name is because my parents liked it, the Hebrew name was because I was named for two deceased members of my mother's family. 

Andrew Mark is formulation of two common names. They were 21st and 26th most popular names in the United States in the year of my birth, 1978. I've gone by Andy since 3rd grade due to there already being an Andrew in the class when I switched schools entering 3rd grade. I went by Andy stripes for a few years due to my mother's propensity for dressing me in striped shirts.

My Hebrew name has more meaning and significance. The words Chaim Meir can literally be translated as life (Chaim) from light (Meir). I look at this as my calling and my path to walk in life. I must bring light to others, and thereby improve their lives. It's a responsibility to live up to every day.

I do not believe that there is any celebration of name days in the United States. There is nothing that I am aware of in Judaism either - but the giving of the name to achild after birth is a significant moment that is celebrated with family and friends. 

[Martin Bayer _MoroSystems_ s_r_o__]

Hi @Andy Gladstone I like the story of your hebrew name, it is inspiring :)

[Summer Hogan]

This is a great story @Andy Gladstone. Very interesting! 

[Trudy Claspill]

My first name "Trudy" is often a diminutive for Gertrude, but my parents named me simply Trudy.

Gertrude is a Germanic name that means something along the lines of "spear maiden" or "spear of strength.

I was given this name by my parents because they were trying to find a name that was not already given to any other member of their extended families. My brother (born first) was named after our father, but there was one member of the extended family that insisted he must've been named after some great-uncle with whom he shares his middle name. 

My parents thought they were so clever in picking my name, until that same one member of the family insisted I was named after my grandfather who was called "Rudy".

My name is unusual within my generation in the US, and so it tends to be remembered more readily. I have appreciated that I am often the only "Trudy" most people know. And if somebody calls out "Trudy!" in a crowd, there is a pretty good chance they are calling out to me. :-)

[Martin Bayer _MoroSystems_ s_r_o__]

@Trudy Claspill yeah, there is always someone "smart" in the family :D

[Mayur Jadhav]

Mayur is an Indian Name (Sanskrit) which means Peacock.

[Gaurav]

Additional fun fact, 'Peacock' is the national bird of India!!

[Martin Bayer _MoroSystems_ s_r_o__]

Thank you guys for interesting facts, I had no idea :)

[Teodora V _Fun Inc_]

Teodora comes from Greek, and it means "A gift from God" (I doubt my relatives agree with that!). It has an interesting way of celebrating here in Bulgaria.

My name day moves every year depending on Easter, and it's also called a "Horse Holiday". In almost any village there is a horse race and all horses wear flowers and their mains are braided with colorful threads. 

It's a fun holiday and when I feel like celebrating, I'm going somewhere to watch the races :) 

[Martin Bayer _MoroSystems_ s_r_o__]

Hehe, very interesting. In the Czech Republic, every name (not every but the usual ones) has simply the date and it is celebrated the same day every year. The poor "Horymir" who is celebrated on February 29th :D

[Gaurav]

My first name 'Gaurav', originates from the native language of Hindi/ Sanskrit which means 'honour', 'pride' or 'respect'.

Although there is no specific day that goes by my name, but each national festival is a day of pride so in a way, is connected to my name.

[Martin Bayer _MoroSystems_ s_r_o__]

Nice, it is good to be creative to find a reason to celebrate :)

[Dave Liao]

My first name (David) is pretty Google-able and not too interesting. 🤣

But I do celebrate my name-day! Who doesn't like a birthday cake?

[Martin Bayer _MoroSystems_ s_r_o__]

Hi @Dave Liao , we do not have birthday cakes when celebrating name-days but we do give presents to the person who celebrates the name-day, so we have doubled reason to spend some money and ideas to make somone happy :D

[Brant Schroeder]

@Martin Bayer _MoroSystems_ s_r_o__ Happy name day.  I just Googled the meaning of my name and it seems it is of Norse origin and means sword or fiery torch.  Guess I learned something today.  

[Martin Bayer _MoroSystems_ s_r_o__]

That's the main reason for the topic, to learn something about yourself :)

[John Funk]

My parents actually named me John Mark, but I dropped the middle name about Junior high school. Both names are Biblical and pretty common names in the US. Some of my siblings still call me John Mark.  :-)

[Matt Doar]

Ah, middle names. I'm actually named John Matthew but I go by Matt or Matthew.

This is a nuisance when dealing with US bureaucracy such as Social Security Admin which no longer recognizes middle names as a valid part of your full name. Doh!

[Martin Bayer _MoroSystems_ s_r_o__]

Yeah, it is not probably very practical to have the middle name but it sounds better when you say it :D.

[Matt Doar]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_name#Middle_name_as_primary_forename list some USians who use their middle name. Not sure what they do about their Social Security cards. For example

• Ted Cruz (Rafael Edward Cruz)
• Mitch McConnell (Addison Mitchell McConnell)

[Alex Koxaras _Relational_]

Happy name day @Martin Bayer _MoroSystems_ s_r_o__ !

We too celebrate name days in Greece, although this celebration is connected to the religion... (silently stops speaking about religion..)

Alexandros (in Greek Αλέξανδρος) - Alex:

The name derives etymologically from the root of the verb alexo (αλέξω), which means repel, protect, ward off and the name anir (man) in Ancient Greek. Consequently it means "the one who violently repels men (=enemies)", thus the very brave and powerful warrior.

The above is an (almost) exact translation of what my name means. Can't stop laughing at how Greeks inserted the word "violently" on the translation, since this word isn't a part of my name. :) 

"Ohhh Persians fear the almighty Alexander the Great who will violently repel you from this land"

[Martin Bayer _MoroSystems_ s_r_o__]

Thank you @Alex Koxaras _Relational_ for the interesting information. I'm just curious if there will be some names created in our age. It could mean something like "the smartest man in the room who always beat everyone in the argumentation" :D

[Kerli Loopman]

I have researched my names history before and i found that name Kerli may come from Gertrud and Lydia but I googled it today and found something new! 

"Meaning of Kerli: Name Kerli in the Indian  origin, means Means A Golden Necklace. Name Kerli is of Indian origin and is a Boy name. People with name Kerli are usually Judaism  by religion."

In Estonia it is a girl name though and 1522 females have this name in Estonia. Kerli is 117th most popular female name.

We have only 1.3M population.

[Martin Bayer _MoroSystems_ s_r_o__]

Hi @Kerli Loopman niceee :)

[Summer Hogan]

Given that my name is Summer, I was going to say that it is pretty self explanatory, but then I found this for baby name meanings and I learned something new today! 

Summer is a girl's name of British origin that signifies the beauty of the sought-after season. Reminiscent of relaxing days, gentle breezes, and ambient light, this could be the perfect name for a little one who arrives during the warmer months.

I got my name because my mom had named my sister and when I came it was his turn. I was born in November so I was not born during a warmer month. He just liked the name and I became Summer! 

[Wojciech Wardaszko _HeroCoders_]

My name might be interesting to you @Martin Bayer _MoroSystems_ s_r_o__ as I have it after one of the first Czech saints - better known in the Western world by his ordained name Adalbertus, Wojciech was the guy to christianize Poland. 

The literal meaning is "joy of combat" or "joy of war" - but it didn't come true for st. Wojciech/ Adalbert and it's certainly not true for me. I do enjoy combating problems though :)

[Jack Brickey]

My given name is Jonathan. Meanings include: Gift from God, God's given, or a handful of other variations. I'll take it! 😉

[Abhay Gupta]

The name Abhay is primarily a male name of Indian origin, and it means "Fearless".

In the Hindi / Sanskrit language, fear is "Bhay". And for the opposite, you add "A" to it, so it becomes Abhay.

Adding an "A" is a common way in the Hindi/Sanskrit language to create opposites. Another example is the word Samay that means timely, and Asamay that means untimely.

Note that I have explained above in English language, but it is not how it is actually written in Hindi

• English - Abhay
• Hindi - अभय

[Max Foerster - K15t]

Maximilian has its origin in Latin. Supposedly from the Roman name "Maximilianus" which came from "Maximus" - "the greatest". I never celebrated my name day but now I know that it's on October 12 in Germany.