Once Upon a Time Baby Names

Welles is an Old English surname meaning "spring of water." Wellesley is a variant, commonly found as a surname as well. As a surname Welles dates back to 1086 and is credited to a well (spring) in Lincolnshire. As far as Wellesley goes, there were 5 girls given the name in 2015, none in 2016, 5 in 2017and 6 boys in 1923, that is all. For Welles, there were 46 boys given the name in 2017 and no girls. There's really only one namesake with Welles as a first name - Welles Crowther, an American who died saving others during 9/11. Wellesley is perhaps more well known as the surname of the Dukes of Wellington and there are no well known namesakes with Wellesley as their given name. Welles is a decidedly nickname-free name, while Wellesley can be shortened to Welles.

Grecia (GRAY-see-uh is the most common pronunciation although some do say GRAY-shuh) is a Latin girl's name, variant of Grace, meaning "mercy; favour." Grecia is also the Italian and Spanish word for the country Greece. As far as anyone can tell, Grecia is bestowed as both a variant of Grace and as a place name. Grecia was given to 139 girls in 2017, so it is rare but not unheard of. There aren't many namesakes, but one is Venezuelan-Argentine actress Grecia Colmenares. One of the oldest known persons was Grecia de Briwere (Groecia de Bruere), daughter of Lord Horsley, born about 1176.