Ancient Germanic Female Deities

Loki and Idun by John Bauer

Here is a list of ancient Germanic goddess and personifications. There is some overlap with the goddesses of the Norse pantheon, and I've limited it to those names that I think would wear well today on modern babies. Of the following names, only the following were used in 2016. Sol was given to 91 girls, Ran to 5 girls, Saga to 9 girls, and Beyla to 6 girls.

Beyla - as a possible agricultural personification, her name could mean "cow," "bean," or "bee," but she has been associated with bees and mead, so my guess is "bee." However, there's been a proposed connection to the reconstructed Proto-Norse name Baunila, which means "little bean." This is also a Spanish and Italian girls name.

Fulla - possibly means "bountiful." Her other name is Volla, which I think is equally accessible as a name. She is a virgin goddess in Old Norse mythology.

Gersemi - means "treasure." She is daughter of Freyja.

Hariasa - pronounced HAR-ee-ah-sah, this sounds a bit like Harriet. Strictly a Germanic goddess, not much is known about her.

Idunn - from Norse mythology, this is the goddess of apples and youth, wife of the god Bragi. The core idea of her may go back even further in time.

Nanna - quite possibly means both "woman, mother," and "daring one, she who empowers." The most well known fact about Nanna was her deep love for her husband, the god Baldr.

Ran - a personification of the sea, her name is pronounced to rhyme with "con" or the name Han (Solo). Her name means "robber." Her husband is Aegir.

Saga - pronounced the same in English, this name might be the most intuitive for Americans. Her name means "seeress," like an oracle. It was proposed that Saga was another name for the goddess Frigg, Odin's wife, but Saga was seen as a sage and possibly had a great command of poetry.

Sif - Thor's wife. Her name means "affinity, connection by marriage." She was known for her amazing golden hair.

Sigyn - pronounced SIG-in, this was Loki's wife. Her name means "victorious female friend." She may date back to a much older Germanic pagan goddess.

Sol, Sunna - Sunna is pronounced SOON-uh. Meaning "sun," she is the sun personified in Germanic myth. She may date all the way back to the Nordic Bronze Age.

Tamfana - tahm-FAH-nuh, whose name might mean "pine tree." She was probably a moon goddess or mother goddess, and may have originally been linked to older goddesses, maybe even the Punic and Phoenician goddess Tanit.

Zisa - which I recently wrote about here, was likely Ziu/Tyr's wife. She has her own unique Germanic story.

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 ...

Elowen

Elowen is a recent Cornish baby name meaning "elm." It may not take off in America like the last Cornish hit, Jennifer, but it's certainly pretty. She's part of a "linguistic revival," as Appellation Mountain puts it here . Her nickname could be Ellie, Elle or Ella, or a more unusual choice, Wendy. The pronunciation of Elowen is "ell-LOH-en," though most Americans will probably stick with "ELL-oh-wen." Please note that it is not spelled Elowyn. There is a similar name, Eowyn, but if you spell it Elowyn it will no longer be the Cornish name meaning elm tree, just some creative name. Other great Cornish names include Penrose, Chesten (the Cornish form of Christine), Demelza, Denzel, Hammitt, Kerensa/Kerenza, Meraud (very similar to French gem name Emeraude, both meaning emerald, but Meraud is pronounced "meh-row"), Merryn, Morwenna, Tremain, Emblyn, Jory, Massen, Treeve and Cotton. Here's 's a link to a post on Cornish n...

Massimo

Today's name: Massimo (male) Pronunciation: MAH-see-moh Potential nicknames: Masi, Simo, Max Origin: Along with Massimiliano, Massimo is the Italian variant of the Latin name Maximilian (which was the name of three Roman emperors and a few saints), meaning "greatest." Popularity: Massimo did not rank on the top 1000 baby names in 2010, but there were 148 baby boys born named Massimo and 5 named Massimiliano. In 2011 there were 107 named Massimo. Fun fact: (1) The name Maksim is also a variant of Maximilian. (2) Massimo has been the surname of many powerful Roman families. (3) Saint Massimo, a 5th century bishop. (4) Massimo D'Alema, Italian Prime Minister. (5) Massimo Capra, Canadian celebrity chef. .

Once Upon a Time Baby Names

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