Skip to main content

Rudolpha

Ok, wow. I am seven days behind on my posts. I don't know how I'll catch up!!

Today's name: Rudolpha (since Rudolph is nearly out of the question, but it's still Christmas time)

Pronunciation: ru-DOL-fah

Potential nicknames: Rudy, Dolly, Rue, Rua, Dolpha

Origin: You might be thinking reindeer, but Rudolpha is Old German, the feminine variant of Rudolph, meaning "famous wolf." While Rudolph has many variants, including Rolf, Rudy, Rudolpho, and Rollo, the girl's name Rudolpha is just that.

Popularity: In 2010 and 2011 there were no baby girls named Rudolpha (despite it's rare and cute nicknames). Don't expect it to rise in popularity this century, and it hasn't been popular for a very long time. For boys, Rudolph last ranked in 1992 at #994. In 2013 the spelling Rudolf was only given to 5 boys.

Fun fact: (1) Movie star Rudolph Valentino. (2) Rudolph "Rudy" Giuliani, former mayor of New York. (3) King Rudolph I of Germany. (4) Gerald Rudolph Ford, a past U.S. president. (5) As a surname, and the only famous female namesake, Maya Rudolph, a comedienne, who has children named Jack, Pearl and Lucille. (6) Rudolph Diesel, inventor of the diesel engine. (7) Saint Rudolph. (8) Do I really have to mention Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer?
Labels:

Comments

  1. EmilyDecember 11, 2011 at 9:17 PM

    I find the "dolph" syllable to be rather clunky and unpleasant. I think if someone were wanting to honor an ancestral Rudolph (or Rudolpha), it would be best to go with just Rudy.

    ReplyDelete
  2. CristinaDecember 11, 2011 at 9:30 PM

    I would say it's an aquired taste, and it would be alongside "clunky but cool" names like Claudia, Agnes, or Ida. I happen to like it because of the "u." I *love* the letter u in names. Ursula is one of them, so is Eudoxia, both not so well liked by the majority. I also recently rediscovered Utena from an old show I used to watch.

    ReplyDelete
  3. EmilyDecember 11, 2011 at 11:33 PM

    Now I do love Claudia. I think it's gorgeous but unfortunately would be butchered by some of the local Southern accents.

    "Clawwdya"

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sailor Moon Baby Names

As a long-time fan girl of Sailor Moon, I was thrilled to hear about a potential reboot of the series, which was supposed to be in 2013 and has now been pushed to 2014. It's been over 20 years since Sailor Moon first aired, but many still get a warm fuzzy feeling when they think of the show. What is not often mentioned is how well researched Takeuchi's name choices were. She covered gems, minerals, astrology, mythology and creative word choices. Today I'll talk about Sailor Moon names. Usagi Tsukino- Bunny - Serena - Princess Serenity - Sailor Moon Usagi means "rabbit" in Japanese, referring to the Japanese legend of the rabbit on the moon, and Tsukino means "moon." In the translation of the comics, Usagi was renamed Bunny appropriately. Keeping with the mythological aspects of the moon and both Greek and Roman moon goddesses, Usagi's character was given the concept of "serene," which gave her the name Serena in the American TV series (a...
3 comments
Read more

Galician Baby Names

I grew up on a street that was named an Italian variant of Roger. When I got married and we bought our first house, it turned out to be on Roger Street. Once noting that coincidence, I started searching for other variants of the name. However, female variants turned out to be pretty nonexistent. Save for Roxeria, which I later discovered was the Galician female form, possibly pronounced rohz-AIR-ee-uh. That led me to a few lists of female Galician names, ranging from common to rare. Here is a sampling of names not often heard here in the states... Albina Alda Alma Alodia Aloia Amada Amadora Amalia Amparo Anisia Antia Araceli Aranzazu Artemisa Avelina Azucena Baia Balbina Baltasara Beatriz Benvida Berenice Bieita Branca Braulia Caetana Carola Casilda Casimira Ceferina Celsa Cipriana Cira Clorinda Coralia Cornelia Cosima Davinia Delfina Desideria Dionisia Dominga Dorinda Dorotea Dositea Edelmira Edenia Elba Elvira Emiliana Etelvina ...
2 comments
Read more

Melisande, Melisende

The cover of E. Nesbit's Melisande Melisande (MAY-lee-sahnd French, English tend to say MELL-iss-ahnd)  is the French variant of Amalswintha, and the inspiration for the English name Millicent, meaning "strong worker." There has been some confusion on the name's connection to Melissa, meaning "honey bee." There's a possibility that each spelling variation has a different origin - Melisande from Melissa and perhaps Melisande as cognate with Millicent, but that is speculation, and there could be absolutely no connection to Melissa at all. Melisende was a popular name in France in the Middle Ages. This name has quite the list of credentials, including a play, opera, and fairy tale. Besides the play  Pelléas and Mélisande  by Maeterlinck, the opera by Debussy, and the fairy tale mentioned above, Melisande was the alias of a character in the Broadway show Bells are Ringing , a handmaid in the book Zuleika Dobson by Max Beerbohm, a character in The G...
5 comments
Read more