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Original poster

Thoughts on: Athena, Alethea, Artemis and Juno for a girl

69 replies

sanserif · 16/08/2011 13:42

So we want to go with an Ancient Greek or Roman (pref Greek) name since DH is 1/2 Greek and his name's Greek and our son has an Ancient Greek name. We've got a boy's name, I think, but am struggling to settle on a girl's name with less than a month to go!

Thoughts? Does Alethea just sound like you have a lisp and are trying to say Alicia? Is Artemis too hippy-dippy (goddess of the hunt/wilderness)? DH thinks Athena is too common.

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MrsvWoolf · 16/08/2011 21:57

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vadasultenfuss · 16/08/2011 22:07

Aphrodite?

I love greek names!

MightyAphrodite · 17/08/2011 07:53

Kalliroi, shortened to Iro?

EskimoPie · 17/08/2011 08:02

Persphone?

EskimoPie · 17/08/2011 08:03

Ooops - Persephone!

InstantAtom · 17/08/2011 08:27

Calliope too similar to callipers.

Original poster
sanserif · 17/08/2011 10:13

Persephone's not bad actually. Missy is a frightening nickname.

OP posts:
FebreezeYourJeans · 17/08/2011 10:21

Artemis is glorious and I have harbour a secret longing to have another girl and call her Juno.

randomimposter · 17/08/2011 11:08

Was at school with an Athene. Always thought it was lovely.

RnB · 17/08/2011 11:39

We clearly have very similar taste in names as my boys have Latin names and my daughter is Artemis! Plus Juno was a favourite but DP didnt like it...(have told him another DD will be Juno whether he likes it or not Wink)

Artemis is a gorgeous name - go for it.

Interested to know what your son's name is?

SaffronCake · 17/08/2011 12:19

Does Alethea just sound like you have a lisp and are trying to say Alicia? Yes, that was the first thing I thought when I read it in the title.
Is Artemis too hippy-dippy (goddess of the hunt/wilderness)? Not unless Diana is, they were more or less identical Goddesses but in different societies. What put me off using it for my daughters was the phrase "hard to miss" in a London accent sounds just like Artemis. Not so brilliant when my daughters are likely to be over 6 feet tall as adults.
DH thinks Athena is too common. I'm not sure it is common, unless it's common in Greece. I've only ever met one Athina (with an i), who was a Greek doctor working in London so I certainly wouldn't say common was my first thought. Like Artemis the spelling is uncomplicated, which is in its favour.
Juno This is good. I find it hard to categorise why, it just IS good. I like it.
Aurora went wrong for me with Disney's Sleeping Beauty. The whole Disney princess thing really isn't for us.
Persephone This is possibly one of the most beautiful sounding names ever coined, and one of the darkest, most unpleasant myths. Persphone was what we would now think of as mythology's Jaycee Lee Dugard. She was kidnapped for at least half the year to be the "wife" of the Satan-like underworld God. Unlike Duggard she grew bitter and vengeful, later doing a fair bit of killing herself. The name is totally off limits for me, no amount of spin I could ever dream of would make that an alright thing to call my daughter.

minipie · 17/08/2011 12:26

Ooh, Athene is lovely. Much better than Athena, which has too many poster shop connotations for my generation.

Agree with Saffron that the myths would put me off certain names - Persephone being one of them.

TruthSweet · 17/08/2011 19:06

I actually have an Alethea, who's sometimes called Thea and yes, occasionally people do think she's called Alicia (if they aren't really paying attention to you) but then again I get called Kirsty, Vicky, Lucretia (wtf Confused) and I'm a Verity so I don't think it's confinded to non-English/unusual names.

I find stressing the Ah-lee- thea helps.

LynetteScavo · 17/08/2011 19:07

Juno and Artemis are fabulous!

TruthSweet · 17/08/2011 19:10

I should say I don't mind in the slightest that other people don't like Alethea, it's horses for courses. Grin

CountBapula · 17/08/2011 19:29

How about Daphne? I love it and she comes off very well in the myth, I think.

RhinestoneCowgirl · 17/08/2011 19:34

I like Juno particularly, nearly got called Ismene myself.

harbingerofdoom · 17/08/2011 19:41

Have you thought of Althea rather than Alethea. It is still a classical name and I think means good and wholesome/healer.

MissHonkover · 17/08/2011 19:42

Antigone?

mrsravelstein · 17/08/2011 19:44

i like juno, but the only little girl i know called it is a rather plain tomboy and it seems like a big name to live up to, as would any of the greek goddesses, although i agree they are very pretty names

TruthSweet · 17/08/2011 20:36

Harbinger - I know an Althea too. It's quite funny to have an Alethea and an Althea in the same room - they are not the usual sort of names around here (Olivia, Maisie, Daisy, Lily, et al)

harbingerofdoom · 17/08/2011 21:12

TruthSweet-what's the difference in the girls/families/

TruthSweet · 17/08/2011 22:01

I don't know, I am as ordinary as the next person but I love Homer/Greek myths/Gilgamesh so am drawn to names reflecting that interest.

I expect some people are drawn to names in our current culture so they self-perpetuate until a new naming style evolves, some are drawn to family names so they reappear down the generations and some love new/unusual names so start their own name trends as people hear of these names and chose them for their own children.

Unless I have misunderstood your question?

harbingerofdoom · 17/08/2011 22:10

Are you Alethea or Althea?

I'm

TruthSweet · 17/08/2011 22:14

DD2 is Alethea (she's 3) and the Althea we know is a baby.

My name is the Latin version of Alethea (another reason why we chose it - DH and I both have virtue names so wanted to pass that on to one of our children)