Skip to main content

Yvonne & Yvette

yew tree magick yvonne yvette 

Yvonne (ee-VON) and Yvette (ee-VET) are the medieval French feminine forms of Yvon and Yves, from Germanic Ivo, meaning "yew." The meaning is not "archer," it is what archery bows are made of: yew. Both can have the nicknames Yvie (EE-vee) or Yva (EE-vah) which you could choose to make easier to spell by using Evie or Eva. Yew is coniferous, like pine trees, and is known as the tree of mourning and the "tree of resurrection and eternity," symbolizing the Tree of Life. For more information on the tree in legend, please visit The Goddess Tree.

Yvonne is one of many names to travel to England after the Norman Invasion. After a while it was no longer popular, but saw a revival in the 20th century, and it was big with the French Creole community in the south (as evidenced by the Hank Williams song). At first glance Yvonne appears vintage, along with twin Yvette, but it is still used sparingly today and may see more use thanks to the vintage trend, the V trend, and the 100 year rule. In 2011 it was given to 127 baby girls, and Yvette to 191 girls. Yvonne first appeared in 1892, and last ranked in 2002. It made its way up to #76 in 1937, marking the height of its popularity, then slowly traveled back down into the 200's by 1977. Yvonne was most popular in France in the 1900's when it was a top 10 name, was "hip" in the 60's in America, but it is now seldom used. To be clear, Yvette is a diminutive of Yvonne. The spelling Ivonne ranked twice on the SSA top 1000 in the U.S. - 1992 & 1993.

Yew Yvonne Yvette

List of namesakes, which includes several actresses, singers, and dancers:

Yvette Mimieux, American actress of French and Mexican ancestry
Yvette Fielding, TV presenter
Yvette Vickers, pin-up model
Yvette Nipar, American actress
Yvette Nelson, model/actress/singer
Yvette Clark, politician
Yvette Cooper, politician
** Blessed Yvette of Huy was a Christian prophet and achoress from Belgium

Yvonne Elliman, 1970s singer
Yvonne Arnaud, French actress
Yvonne Borree, American ballet dancer
Yvonne Ryding, Miss Universe 1984
Yvonne DeCarlo, Canadian actress
Yvonne Chaka Chaka, South African singer
Yvonne Choutou, ballet dancer
Yvonne Craig, ballet dancer and actress
Yvonne Minton, Australian opera singer
Yvonne van Gennip, Dutch speed skater in the Olympics
Yvonne Strahovski, Australian actress

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

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 ...

Witchy Baby Girl Names!

Circe Invidiosa by John William Waterhouse Have a little girl due in October? Looking to name a character? Here's my [seemingly endless] list of witchy-sounding baby names. Most of them also fit in the "clunky but cool" category, or "vintage." Most plants, trees, herbs, spices, flowers, gems, space and nature names fit the bill, because in stories and current practice these things are useful to witches. I've put any actual witch names from legend, myth, literature, movies, etc in bold and up front. I have not considered the names of actual, living people or their Pagan names, and I've left out any characters that only have a surname, or truly ridiculous given names. In the second half you'll see a list of names that, to my knowledge, have not been used for witch characters. Please know that this is not a complete list. Wikipedia has an almost complete list you can view  here . Tabitha, Samantha, Endora, Clara, Serena  (Bewitched) Katrina...

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." Sh...