New Post
Search
Help[Facts] Lydia?
I know that Lydia means "a maiden from Lydia" but Ive also seen a meaning "Beauty." Can someone verify this?
1
Replies
...well, strangely enough, there may be a grain of truth in what you say...
Lydia indeed means "a maiden from Lydia". However, there is a word related to Lydia -- "Lydopathes" -- which in classical Greek means "voluptuous as a Lydian" - apparently chicks from Lydia were quite hot :)
(http://www.perseus.org/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2364054)
Lydia indeed means "a maiden from Lydia". However, there is a word related to Lydia -- "Lydopathes" -- which in classical Greek means "voluptuous as a Lydian" - apparently chicks from Lydia were quite hot :)
(http://www.perseus.org/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2364054)
1
Where did you see the meaning "beauty"? It seems very unlikely to me. The Greek for "beauty" is kallos, which clearly bears no relation to the name Lydia.
Baby name books and websites often invent pretty or cute meanings for names that have 'boring' or unsavoury real meanings. This may be an example of the trend.
♦ Chrisell ♦
All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. - J.R.R. Tolkien.
Baby name books and websites often invent pretty or cute meanings for names that have 'boring' or unsavoury real meanings. This may be an example of the trend.
All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. - J.R.R. Tolkien.
1
I searched the web for sites with the meaning for this name, and I found beauty a few times actually.
1
Yes, that sounds like a made-up meaning. Commercial baby-oriented websites want to sell things (baby products etc), and to attract people they also 'sell' their baby names as a product. For that they need good product descriptions. No-one is going to buy, for example, personalised items for their precious angel daughter Mackenzie if all of those items will proudly display the meaning "Son of Kenneth". So, the sites invent - often out of thin air - nice meanings that will attract buyers. Thus we have:
Mackenzie meaning "Comely" at www.babychatter.com
Mackenzie meaning "Son of the Handsome One" at www.babiesonline.com
Mackenzie meaning "Fair, Favoured One" at www.babynology.com
Etc, etc. The sites often copy off each other (the Fair, Favoured One meaning turns up quite often). Another example is Nevaeh, which is the word 'heaven' backwards. A common misspelling of this is Neveah. For a couple of years, just about every baby name site on the web tried to pass Neveah off as a Slavic name meaning 'butterfly', instead of a backwards misspelling of Heaven. There was no basis in fact for this meaning, and it spread because the sites copied from each other or received emails from people who had seen the 'butterfly' meaning on other sites.
I've had a look at a few "Lydia = Beauty" sites, and the fact that they all give their meanings in the same wording ("Woman from Persia, Beauty.") makes me very suspicious that this is yet another random bit of misinformation spread across many sites.
Either way, Lydia does not mean "Beauty" in Greek or any other language I can think of. The only correct meaning is "of Lydia".
♦ Chrisell ♦
All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. - J.R.R. Tolkien.
Mackenzie meaning "Comely" at www.babychatter.com
Mackenzie meaning "Son of the Handsome One" at www.babiesonline.com
Mackenzie meaning "Fair, Favoured One" at www.babynology.com
Etc, etc. The sites often copy off each other (the Fair, Favoured One meaning turns up quite often). Another example is Nevaeh, which is the word 'heaven' backwards. A common misspelling of this is Neveah. For a couple of years, just about every baby name site on the web tried to pass Neveah off as a Slavic name meaning 'butterfly', instead of a backwards misspelling of Heaven. There was no basis in fact for this meaning, and it spread because the sites copied from each other or received emails from people who had seen the 'butterfly' meaning on other sites.
I've had a look at a few "Lydia = Beauty" sites, and the fact that they all give their meanings in the same wording ("Woman from Persia, Beauty.") makes me very suspicious that this is yet another random bit of misinformation spread across many sites.
Either way, Lydia does not mean "Beauty" in Greek or any other language I can think of. The only correct meaning is "of Lydia".
All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. - J.R.R. Tolkien.
1
That makes a lot of sense. I figured it might be vaguely derived from the actual meaning somehow, though.
1
I agree with most of this, but "Son of the handsome one" is not "invented out of thin air", because "handsome" is indeed one of the possible derivations of Kenneth. So the only problem with that one is the unspoken assumption that when the form Mackenzie was first created people still were cognizant of the original meaning of Coinneach. And of course the "comely" idea is simply leaving off the "son of" and going back to the original Coinneach.
I think there are some authors who have been guilty of making up derivations. Diane Stafford of 40,001 Best Baby Names has so many completely eccentric "meanings" that I think she must have invented some of them herself. But most of these authors are only guilty of choosing what they think is the most attractive meaning from among those they find in the previous sources they consult, without having any knowledge of how to figure out which of those are most likely to be accurate.
I think there are some authors who have been guilty of making up derivations. Diane Stafford of 40,001 Best Baby Names has so many completely eccentric "meanings" that I think she must have invented some of them herself. But most of these authors are only guilty of choosing what they think is the most attractive meaning from among those they find in the previous sources they consult, without having any knowledge of how to figure out which of those are most likely to be accurate.
1
*I* know that, but I was simplifying my explanation for an audience who aren't all pedantic professors :-P
♦ Chrisell ♦
All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. - J.R.R. Tolkien.
All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. - J.R.R. Tolkien.
1