Names from Operas

Aida

Arabic; Italian; Lithuanian

"returning visitor; happy; echo"

Aida is a melodic name largely associated with the title character of the 1871 Verdi opera, an enslaved Ethiopian princess who dies to save her people. In the past, her name was rarely heard outside…

Liza

Diminutive of Eliza and Elizabeth, Hebrew

"pledged to God"

Liza's heyday was the mid-1970s, following on the heels of super-popular sister Lisa. But thanks to the fact that it never became superpopular, Liza remains a name not especially tied to one…

Iolanta

Iolanta is a graceful feminine name with roots in medieval European literature and Greek mythology. It's a variant of Yolanda or Iolanthe, deriving from the Greek elements 'ion' (violet flower) and…

Thaïs

Greek

"beloved"

A paramour of Alexander the Great and the heroine of a Massenet opera, this name is nothing if not dramatic.

Rusalka

Slavic mythological name

In Slavic mythology, Rusalka is the equivalent of the Little Mermaid — she's a water nymph who falls in love with a land-dwelling man and eventually dies of a broken heart. Her tale was made into an…

Mélisande

French, from Greek

"honeybee"

Romantique French name invoking Debussy's haunting score for the opera Pelléas and Mélisande.