The name Atalanta is a girl's name of Greek origin. Atalanta and is often added to lists like Mythology Girl Names and discussed in our forums with posts like "Baby a Day".
From the experts:
Atalanta was a beautiful mythological maiden who refused to marry any man who couldn't beat her in a footrace -- quite a role model. This myth is found in Ovid's Metamorphoses and later in Swinburne's Atalantis in Calydon.
The addition of a fourth 'a' takes this out of the area of place names into a more rhythmic and romantic realm.
Lists containing Atalanta:
See All List CategoriesAtalanta in Blog Posts
Atalanta in the Forums
Comments
Kipperbo1 Says:
emilybelle Says:
I heard this on Mary Berry's cooking show... it's the name of her granddaughter! I honestly thought she was just saying Atlanta wrong.
Yessica Says:
Everyone would think Atlanta spelled wrong.
iipostmvh Says:
The story behind the name is quite powerful and therefore would be appropriate for a little girl who you'd like to feel independent and strong BUT the spelling would leave a huge portion of people believing you misspelled Atlanta. You'd have to constantly educate people on the history of the name, else you'd be deemed illiterate.
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Atalanta is romanticized in this version of the myth but in the real story she was fast but not the brightest. Yes she did not wish to marry, but agreed that the first man who beat her in a race could marry her (knowing no man was faster than her), and any man who tried but failed would be killed (so many many men died in this way). So finally one man prays to one of the greek goddesses and she gives him golden apples to distract Atalanta. So basically while she is running (and crushing him) he keeps throwing golden apples in front of her and she runs off the course like ooo shiny like a dog and ends up loosing. If you are considering this name, just giving some info on the real story :)