5 Super Cool Theo Names (But Not Theodore)

Growing up, I knew of a guy named Matt my age. Interestingly, he was always referred to as Matt, and I always assumed that Matt was short for Matthew.

Turns out his name was Matthias, and I was none the wiser for this.

I also knew a Theo, but I’m pretty certain that his name is just Theo, not Theodore. This train of thought took on a life of it’s own after a brief conversation with a French friend the other day, who during the course of this aforementioned conversation mentioned the psychologist Théodule Ribot.

I love the name Theodore as much as the next person, and indeed the same can be said for Theo, but it’s fun to look at some other names which could give rise to the nickname Theo.

The name Theodore comes of Greek origins and means gift of God. He’s relatively popular in England&Wales, having ranked at #124 in 2011 – but you’re more likely to meet a baby Theo than Theodore these days as Theo ranks higher at #50.

1. Théodule

The top name since he inspired this post, and as you might guess from the accent, is used in the French-speaking word, deriving from Greek and meaning slave of God.

2. Theodoric

Unlike the name above, this one has no connections to either Greece or France, instead being of Germanic origins and meaning ruler of the people.

3. Theodotus

This name does come from Greek, and means given to God. Notable for belonging to a handful of early saints and martyrs, but this hasn’t transferred into him being a popular name for the modern child.

4. Theophanes

Another name of Greek origin, this one means manifestation of God. We have both a 14th century Greek painter and an 8th century saint.

5. Theokleia

This is one for the girls, said either thee-oh-KLAY-ah or teh-oh-KLEH-ah. She also comes from Greek, meaning glory of God. An alternative version of the name is Thekla.

Weekend Post: The World Beyond Ella Pt.II

 

Kala and Tarzan, from dvdizzy.com

As previously mentioned, I’m not a big fan of the name Ella, but I do find myself fond of several similar names to her. A few weeks ago, I wrote Pt.I of this series which discussed names similar to Ella, in that they too began with the letters El. It therefore seems apt to devote Pt.II of this series to names which end -la, as Ella does.

But this could get a little complicated since many -la names are also -ella names. Think Gabriella, Arabella and so forth, so I’ve resolved this by excluding all such from this list for fear of clutter. It’s not exactly the perfect solution, but frees me up to devote more time to other -la names worthy of attention. This is by no means a complete list, rather a selection of familiar and less-familiar names which end in -la, you may also query as to whether some could truly be alternatives to Ella, but that isn’t really the aim of this post. The aim is to explore names with similar characteristics to Ella, which are of the following do have:

Alaula – Hawaiian name meaning either sunset glow or light of the dawn.

Beulah – Biblical name meaning married. There’s a similar looking name, Betula, which comes from Latin and means birch.

Calendula – A botanical name for the English marigold.

Casmilla – A variant of the name Camilla. There’s also the name Milla, which is a short form of the latter name.

Carla/Carola – Both originally derive from the name Charles, which means man.

Delilah – Biblical name means delicate, weak and thin.

Embla – A name from Norse Mythology, where Embla was the name of the first human female, formed from an elm tree.

Fionnuala – Irish name meaning white shoulder. Variations include Fionnghuala, Finnguala, Finuall and, sigh, Fenella. She also shortens to Nuala, noo-la.

Iola – Likely to be a variation of the name Iole, which is a Greek name meaning violet. The name Viola is worth a mention here, too, alongside the Romanian name Viorel which also means violet.

Kala – Hawaiian version of Sarah, and a Sanskrit name meaning art form, virtue. Also the name of Tarzan’s mother in the Disney film.

Kamala – Sanskrit name meaning lotus.

Lila – She means play in Sanskrit, but may also be taken as a variation of either Leila or Lily. Lila is also the German word for purple. Slightly similar, but not entirely ending -la is the name Lillai, which is a Romani name meaning spring and summer.

Lola – Spanish pet-form of the name Dolores, which means sorrows.

Nahla – Arabic name meaning either drink or bee.

Orla – Also spelt Órlaith. She’s an Irish name meaning golden ruler – I sometimes see the meaning is altered to golden princess.

Perla – Italian form of the name Pearl

Petula – An elaboration of the name Petal, notably seen on British singer Petula Clark.

Thekla – Contracted form of the name Theoclea, which means God’s glory.

Theophila – Feminine form of the name Theophilus, which means friend of God.

Tuathla – Old Irish name meaning ruler of the people. Sometimes seen anglicised to Tuala.

Tula – Sanskrit name meaning balance, scales and likeness.

Twyla – Of uncertain origins, but she has been linked to the name Étoile and Twilight as possibly being an offshoot of either of them. Also spelt Twila.

Ursula – Latin name meaning bear.

Vela – The name of a constellation, originally part of Argo Navis which was later divided into three pieces, creating Vela, Carina and Puppis.

Willa – Feminine form of the name William.

Home

Du pain.

I spent a good deal of my France trip snowed-in, but that didn’t hold me back when it came to spotting some interesting tidbits and names to share. Truth be told, I actually got home last night, but opted to save this post until today.

One of the first names I want to mention is Cocatrix. In between snowstorms I managed to make it to a chateau, in which a mini-artsy area resides. One of the rooms revolves around a creature called the Cocatrix. It’s meant to be an investigation into seeing how much information one needs to throw at someone before they come to believe in an imaginary creature. It was an interesting concept, although I’m still a fan of the whole pretty-paintings style of art. As a name, it’s worthy of thought. Nameberry ran a post this week featuring Cora. In this name she is very much smooshed with another darling-of-the-moment: Beatrix.

Then we have Beyly. Before you all rush to comment on how horrified you all are to see Bailey mutilated in such a way, I ask you to consider the following information: I saw it as someone’s surname, not firstname. Speaking of differing spellings, I also came across a Jheni, a Devid and a Dorine – the latter had a sister named Clémence and both were under 6 years of age.

Moving swiftly to French names, since they’re at their most abundance in France. I managed to meet no less than 4 ladies named Mireille; a Cécile; an Alfre; a Muriel; a Nathalie; a Gilles; an Olivien and a Sandrine. Actually Alfre doesn’t really belong to this set of names since I’m thinking it could be a slight variant of Alfr, which is a name from Norse mythology and means elf. The name Alfie derives from Old English, but too shares the elf meaning. Either way, to me Alfre feels French, but that may be because I’ve spent all week speaking French, where one of the major groups of French verbs are ones ending -re (the other two being -er verbs and -ir verbs): mettre (to put/place), prendre (to take), vivre (to live), suivre (to follow) – to name just a few popular verbs oft heard. There’s an actress called Alfre Ette Woodard.

Not so much a name, but in the time there I came across the French word Pomélo – rather reminds me of Pomona and Pomeline, but it has no relations to apples, rather it’s the French word for a type of grapefruit.

A few more notable names I noticed:

• Bafétimbi. The name of a French footballer, currently playing for Lyons and the national team.
• Clovis. Admittedly, the name of the neighbour’s poodle.
• Edda. The name of a small child’s doll from a supermarket trip.
• Hannelore. Tween/Teen-aged girl – referred to as Laure.
• Ludovic. Nicknamed Ludo.
• Maberly. The name of a lady who served me in a shop.
• Melhi. Bus driver.
• Sidse. A half-German female.
• Thekla. A toddler.
• Timandra. The name of a lady in the editorial credits for a magazine I read in France. The title of said magazine eludes me.
• Vicco. 30-something male.
• Widget. Author of an article I read whilst in France, this was the name given but I could see the argument of it being a nickname.