Skip to main content

Sebastian & Sebastiana

Today's name: Sebastian (male)
Alternate spelling: Sebastien

Potential nicknames: Bastian, Seb, Bas, Seba, Shea, Baz, Sebas, Sebasti, Sebi, Basi, Base, Asti, Ian, Bash

Pronunciation: seh-BASS(t)-chen

Origin: (1) Greek, meaning "revered." (2) Latin derivation of Sebastianus, from the Greek word "sebastos," meaning venerable. (3) Latin variant of Sebastianus, meaning "from Sebastia" or "man from Sebaste." Sebastos was the Greek translation of the Roman Emperor title Augustus.

Popularity: There were 6,323 baby boys named Sebastian in 2010 in the U.S., ranking at #68, which is still the same ranking for 2011. There were also 6 baby girls named Sebastian as well.

Fun fact: (1) St. Sebastian is the Patron Saint of soldiers. (2) Some of you might remember Sebastian the crab, from "The Little Mermaid," whose full name was Horatio Thelonius Ignacius Crustaceous Sebastian. (3) La Sebastiana is the name of one of poet Pablo Neruda's residences in Chili. (4) There is a main belt asteroid called 1482 Sebastiana. (5) King Sebastian ruled Portugal between 1554 and 1578. (6) Composer Johann Bach's middle name. (7) Shakespeare used this name twice, for his plays Twelfth Night and The Tempest. (8) Oscar Wilde used the name Sebastian Melmoth as an alias when he was released from prison. (9) John Sebastian was a musician whose band, The Lovin' Spoonful, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2000. (10) Sebastian Cabot was a Venetian explorer born in 1474.

Female version: Sebastiana, an Italian and Spanish variant, with only 5 girls given the name in 2015 and less than ten each year this decade. There is also Sebastienne, the French variant, which is unheard of in the U.S. Neither has ever ranked in the 1000. Other versions that have rarely been used are Sebastianella and Bastiana.

.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

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. .

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...