Agatha (given name)

Agatha

An Orthodox icon of St. Agatha of Sicily, the saint responsible for the wide usage of the name Agatha
Gender female
Language(s) Ancient Greek
Origin
Meaning "good"
Other names
See also Ag, Aggy, Aggi, Aggie

Agatha (/ˈæɡəθə/[1]), Agata, or Ágata is a feminine given name derived from the Ancient Greek word ἀγαθός (agathos), meaning good.

It was the name of St. Agatha of Sicily, a third-century Christian martyr. The name has been rarely used in English-speaking countries in recent years.[2] It was last ranked among the top 1,000 names for girls born in the United States during the 1930s.[3]

Russian name

In Russian, the name "Ага́та" (Agata) was borrowed from the Western European languages, and derives from the same Ancient Greek root from which older names Agafya[4] and Agafa[5] also come. Its masculine version is Agat.[6] In 1924–1930, the name was included into various Soviet calendars,[7] which included the new and often artificially created names promoting the new Soviet realities and encouraging the break with the tradition of using the names in the Synodal Menologia.[8]

Its diminutives include Agatka (Ага́тка), Aga (А́га), and Gata (Га́та).[5]

People

Fictional characters

Regional variants

Diminutive variants

See also

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Wells, John (26 March 2010). "Agatha and Helena". John Wells's phonetic blog. Retrieved 22 April 2010.
  2. ↑ Behind the Name
  3. ↑ Behind the Name
  4. ↑ Nikonov, p. 63
  5. 1 2 Petrovsky, p. 38
  6. 1 2 3 4 Superanskaya [1], p. 251
  7. ↑ Superanskaya [2], pp. 22 and 278
  8. ↑ Toronto Slavic Quarterly. Елена Душечкина. "Мессианские тенденции в советской антропонимической практике 1920-х - 1930-х годов" (Russian)

Sources

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/26/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.