What is the meaning of your name? Does it have a story behind it? Why did your parents name you that? What do you like about it? Do you share it with a celebrity?

By: | Post date: November 2, 2016 | Comments: No Comments
Posted in categories: Personal

Nick. From Greek Nikolaos, Victory of the People. The name shows up in antiquity, in its Attic variant Nikoleōs, and got enshrined among Greeks via Saint Nicholas. Too vernacular for the late Byzantine historian Chalkokondyles, who flipped his first name around to Laonikos.

Nicolaus in Latin, Nicolas in French and Middle English, as featured in Chaucer’s Miller’s Tale. When the Renaissance came, English scribes realised French had taken out a few Greek h’s. So they put h’s in everywhere. Including Nicholas.

Uri Granta informs me that the Hebrew equivalent is Amichai: If you were to Hebraize your surname, what would you choose? A blessing upon his house: it’s certainly a cooler name than Victor.

Nick Nicholas. See Nick Nicholas’ answer to How did your parents decide on your name? for the story there.

For an added bonus, the surnames of my four grandparents.

Father’s Father: Hadjimarcou. Of Mark the Pilgrim

FM: Haralambous. Of Haralambos, “Shining with Joy” (a saint’s name)

MF: Lykakis. Wolf-son. -akis is the now obligatory Cretan patronymic suffix.

MM: Sfendourakis. Slingshot-son.

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