Greek Girls’ Baby Names: 21 unexplored ancient treasures

Echo and Thalassa are my favorites

I know that ‘officially’, yes, the name Xanthe (my name) is pronounced ZAN-tha, but I don’t know anyone who uses that pronunciation.

My name is pronounced ZAN-thee (and the three other Xanthes I know all use that pronunciation as well). I personally have a biased opinion but I think it makes the name a bit better I definitely like it that way.

I love Echo -> I just wish her story weren’t quite so sad.

A lot of these names are great. I actually have a cousin named Echo. We’ve never met, but I so desperately want to know if she likes it or not!
-Athena

The EU prefix, which means good or noble, is actually pronounced with two syllables. Since we’ve embraced the “YOU” sound for these names, I think it is more than acceptable to pronounce the above X-names with a Z. There are many different pronunciations for names adapted from Ancient Greek names, including my own real name. Go with what you prefer, and your child will love having a unique, ancient name.

i love Charis and anatola

I know a Greek girl named Eirini.

What about Danae (dah-NAY)! The Greek goddess of music and poetry. Amazing name!

Callisto/Kallisto is my favourite Greek girl’s name and one of my all time favourite girls’ names. It has been for years. I do also love Andromeda and Persephone and often spend time thinking about if I could ever get away with using them!

I know a girl from the Netherlands called Danae. She said her Mother is obsessed with Greek mythology.

I also love Io, but would probably use a longer name (like Iolanthe or Iona) and call her Io for short.

I have always liked Acacia (my mum used to joke about having twins called Acacia and Hebe) and Elektra. I liked Persephone as well until I found out it meant ‘bringer of death’. I’m having a hard time letting go of it. Alethea is also nice.

I’ve loved Alethea for years- I thought I made it up originally, but I love the meaning and nicknames Ally and Thea. Echo, Zenobia and Phaedra (nn Fay) are also among my favorites.

Persephone and Jocasta are beautiful, but I can’t bring myself to use them. Demetra though, is in my top three!

I do love Greek names, especially since I was a Classics student.

I just have to be a touch miserable, and point out that while Alala is a Greek name, Mars is the ROMAN name for the Greek god Ares.

That being said, I would love to use almost any of these names!

I love Acacia, didn’t realize it was Greek.

I really love Eulalia but prefer the Spanish spelling, Olalla. I think the pronunciation is a bit more intuitive

A lot of these are so, so pretty. I love Ianthe and Alethea.

I would stay far away from Clytie though. Yikes.

The only one I would really consider using is Diantha.

I don’t see why a name referring to a goddess of war or meaning “bringer of death” should be an “unfortunate” thing or keep us from using it. War and death are necessary parts of life. The ancients recognized the necessity of acknowledging and embracing difficult things like conflict and death. In the modern world we decided we can stick our fingers in our ears or look at our iPhones and pretend like nothing bad is supposed to happen. The ancients knew better.

I think Persephone is a lovely name and her mythology is incredible. If you love it I would use it.

I love Alethea & Zenobia.

Echo, Electra, Io & Phaedra are all on my list! : ) I love ancient Greek-ery.

I prefer the historic Greek name Elara over Alala (and over my own Greek names actually)

Alethea is so pretty! I always associate the name Theodosia with that Molly Ringwald movie “For Keeps”. It’s a major point of contention that her husband would “dare” fill out the birth certificate with a name like Theodosia I remember even as a kid thinking how nice it was. Theodosia…Thea!

I have long loved Greek Mythology and Penelope has long been on our list – but it’s climbing the charts, so it may soon be forced off our list.

From this list I like Electra (which sounds great with our last name), Io and Gaia – but none of these would work in our area.

That being said, my bf is of Greek decent through her 1st generation mom, and I’ve long thought of choosing a Greek name to honor them. Besides Penelope we have these two on our list:

Phoebe – she was one of the first Titans and grandmother to these deities: twins Apollo and Artemis, and Hecate.

Daphne – she was a Naiad (type of water nymph) who was so beautiful that she was relentless pursued by Apollo. She saught escape into the Earth where a Laurel tree sprung to give Apollo something to focus his attention on.

Super dork, I know. But I love the “e” ending of Penelope, Phoebe, and Daphne. And we would consider using any of these 3 for a future daughter.

#1 – Cytheria (or, Cytherea, if you prefer a more direct transliteration) is a lesser-known epithets of the goddess Aphrodite, for her birthplace, Cythera. If I have a daughter, this will 100% be her first name

#2 – Anakalypteria (AH-nah-kah-lip-TEHR
-ee-yah)means “unveiling” in ancient greek. It is a long name at 7 syllables, but has lots of great nickname potential and she certainly won’t have to share her unique name with any other girl on the playground.

#3 – Soukia (Soo-KEE-ah)A great alternative to the popular Sophie, it means “calmness”

#4 – Eleutheria (Eh-loo-THEH -ree-ah)means “liberty, freedom” and was also an epithet for Artemis, the goddess of the hunt.

#5 – Elysia (eh-LEE-zee-ah)a feminization of Elysium, or, the Elysian fields, where the “blessed” went in the afterlife). A nice alternative to Alyssa or similar names.

(I was a Classics major…I have so many dorky ancient greek and latin names up my sleeve it really isn’t funny)

My eight week old’s middle name is Efthalia (Ef-tha-LEE-ya) which is my MIL’s name. We chose it as an honour name but it’s really grown on me.

I love Anatola!

I LOVE Acacia, Xanthe and Echo…..Her story is so sad though. I’m kind of a greek mythology nerd.
-gracie12

I love almost all of these names ^_^

That being said, I’m seconding that you’re mixing Roman and Greek mythology in the Alala entry. Mars is Roman, you mean to say Ares.

Xanthe is pronounced ZAN-thee in Greek (as are any other names ending in -e).

Echo is on my list as a middle name. Persephone is my top pick for a future daughter. Love Greek names.

OK, Dantea, thanks–it’s now fixed.

I really love Alethea, but I have two friends with the name and they’ve always hated their name. So…..I won’t use it even though I love it. There must be something that I can’t see about it.

I like Ariadne. Also Phaedra and Elara.

Charis – I love it

Oooh, I love Ariadne too! I grew up with an Arete, which I think is related to Aretha, another lovely Greek name. She pronounced Arete “ah-reh-tah” which probably isn’t the proper Greek, but I always like the sound.

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Many lovely names – Phaedra, Echo, Charis, Thalassa, Zenobia, Pandora and I love Io to death (Iola is good, but Io, is well, Io)

I love Greek names! All of the names were beautiful.

Alethea (Thea)
Echo ( I really love this one) : D
Celeste (Isn’t this Latin? Coincidently, this is my name)
Most Greek names are incredibly beautiful and deserve to be used.

greek names are really interesting ^^ … another greeek girl name I like is charybdis/kharybdis

I grew up with a Danae all throughout school and always loved it! Substitute teachers always butchered it as “Dana”, though. I personally love Philomela, whose story is also classically tragic, and Atalanta, who could outrun all the boys in a foot race! Either way you slice it, the Greeks have great stories and great names…