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Pronunciation | /ˈhɛðər/ |
---|---|
Gender | Female |
Origin | |
Word/name | English derived from Middle English, hather |
Meaning | Named after the plant Heather, which are a variety of small shrubs with pink or white flowers which commonly grow in rocky areas |
Region of origin | Scotland |
Other names | |
Related names | Heath (Masculine form) |
Heather is a common English feminine given name.
The name Heather refers to a variety of small shrubs with pink or white flowers which commonly grow in rocky areas. The brush is native to Scotland and England, but it is more commonly found in Scotland due to its rocky territories. The name is derived from Middle English hather. [1]
Heather has several other definitions. The most commonly known is as a reference to a color mixture; it is most often a pale shade of blue from blue itself to pink to even purple mixed with gray. However, many times it refers to any color that includes gray or gray streaks within it, such as what is known as heather fabric.
The masculine form of the name is Heath.[ citation needed ]
Newspapers.com records the use of "Miss Heather" in reference to a girl's name as early as 2 August 1852, in The New York Times . An infant by the name of Miss Heather Campbell arrived on a ship from Glasgow in New York, with her mother. [2]
The American Social Security Administration's records show it to already be in use in 1935, though it was rare at the time coming in at #997, barely making the top 1000 names of that era. [3] [4] The name is currently popular among the people of Generations X and Generation Y. [4] The name itself peaked in popularity at #3, in 1975. [4]
Heather, though a name found primarily in English speaking countries, has other variants simply because of its definition as a flowering plant. However its foreign names often closely resemble other words with meanings so is difficult to distinguish a given variant's origin as arising from the flower, or from that of another word. For example, the name Heidi in German resembles Heidekraut, which is the German word for the Heather shrubs, [5] though the name Heidi is usually thought to mean "of noble birth" (a diminutive of the name Adelheid). The 1988 dark comedy film, Heathers , satirized the name by associating it with "in-crowd" cliques of teen-age high school girls.
The name Erica actually has two meanings, one of which is related to the Heather plant whose Latin name is Ericaceae. Its other meaning of "ruler" is similar to that of the German meaning of Heidi. This leaves the impression that the shrub name and the meaning of "a noble" or "ruler" are similar, or it is a large coincidence.
Betty or Bettie is a name, a common diminutive for the names Bethany and Elizabeth. In Latin America, it is also a common diminutive for the given name Beatriz, the Spanish and Portuguese form of the Latin name Beatrix and the English name Beatrice. In the 17th and 18th centuries, it was more often a diminutive of Bethia.
Bianca is a feminine given name. It means "white" and is an Italian cognate of Blanche. It is known in the Anglosphere as a character in William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. It came to greater notice in the 1970s, due to public figures such as Bianca Jagger.
Aanya, Anya, Ania or Anja is a given name. The names are feminine in most East European countries and unisex in several African countries.
Natasha is a name of Latin origin. The name is the diminutive form of Natalia.
Teresa is a feminine given name.
Katie is an English female name. It is a form of Katherine, Kate, Caitlin, Kathleen, Katey and their related forms. It is frequently used on its own.
Victoria is a feminine given name. It is also used as a family name.
Jamie is a unisex name. Traditionally a masculine name, it can be diminutive form of James or, more rarely, other names and is of Scottish Gaelic origin. It is also given as a name in its own right. Since the mid-20th century it has been used as an occasional feminine name particularly in the United States.
Renée is a French feminine given name and surname.
Tara is a given name with multiple meanings in different cultures.
Tina is a female given name. It is diminutive for names such as Albertina, Bettina, Christina, Christine, Kristina, Martina, Valentina, Faustina, etc. Its masculine counterpart is Tino or Tin. In Finland and Estonia, the name is written as Tiina. The word itself may have originated from Old English Tyne/Tyna/Tina, meaning river.
Angela is a female given name. It is derived from the Greek word ángelos (ἄγγελος), meaning angel from Greek belief systems. In the United States, the name "Angela" was at its most popular between 1965 and 1979, when it was ranked among the top 10 names for girls. Between 1922 and 2021, in the United States, the name was ranked in the top 35 names for girls.
Jenny was originally the diminutive form of Jane, but it is now associated with Jennifer.
Zoe, Zoey, Zoie, Zoi, Zoé or Zoë is a female first name of Greek origin, meaning "life". It is a popular name for girls in many countries, ranking among the top 100 names for girls born in the United States since 2000. It is also well used in other English-speaking countries including Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, as well as in other countries including Argentina, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland. In 2022, Zoe was the 20th most popular name given to girls in Canada, while Zoey was 42nd.
Ellie or Elly is a given name. The name stands on its own or can be a shortened form of any of the numerous female names beginning with the syllable El-, in particular Elizabeth, Eleanor, or Elvira. It can also be a short form of Elaine, Elena, Eliora / Eliorah, Michelle, Elnaz, Amelia, Elham, Elaheh, Eliana, Eloise, Emelia, Elisa, Ellisha, Elisha, Elesha, Shelly, Eleni, or Petronella and as a masculine name of Eleazer, Elliot, Elron, or Elston. In Greek mythology, Ellie (Helle) was the daughter of Athamas and Nephele; sister of Phrixus.
Stephanie is a female name that comes from the Greek name Στέφανος (Stephanos) meaning "crown, wreath, garland". The male form is Stephen. Forms of Stephanie in other languages include the German "Stefanie", the Italian, Czech, Polish, and Russian "Stefania", the Portuguese Estefânia, and the Spanish Estefanía. The form Stéphanie is from the French language, but Stephanie is now widely used both in English- and Spanish-speaking cultures.
Mitchell or Mitchel is an English, Scottish and Irish surname with three etymological origins. In some cases, the name is derived from the Middle English and Old French name Michel, a vernacular form of the name Michael. The personal name Michael is ultimately derived from a Hebrew name, meaning "Who is like God". In other cases, the surname is derived from the Middle English words michel, mechel, and muchel, meaning "big". In some cases, the surname was adopted as an equivalent of Mulvihill; this English-language surname is derived from the Irish-language Ó Maoilmhichíl, meaning "descendant of the devotee of St. Michael".
The given name Lisa can be a short form of Elisabeth, Melissa or Elizabeth. In the United Kingdom, the name Lisa began to gain popularity during the 1960s, by 1974 it was the fifth most popular female name there, and a decade later it was the 14th most popular female name there. However, by 1996 it had fallen out of the top 100. Similarly, in the United States it was the most popular female name for most of the 1960s and in the top 10 through most of the 1970s before falling.
Kelly is a given name of Irish origins, derived from the Irish surname Kelly. As a name of Irish origin, the Kelly surname is partially an anglicised version of older Irish names, especially Ó Ceallaigh, though the name Kelly is also present to a lesser extent in other Celtic cultures. Kelly is historically a male-only name, but has been used as a female given name since the 1960s, though with a significant minority usage as a masculine name, especially within Celtic families.
Stella is a female given name. It is derived from the Latin word for star. It has been in use in English-speaking countries since it was first used by Philip Sidney in Astrophel and Stella, his 1580s sonnet sequence. Use might also have increased due to Stella Maris as a title for the Virgin Mary by Catholics. Alternately, it is a feminine version of the Greek name Stylianos, meaning pillar.