ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2869 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2869 ************************************ 2 Apr 2004 From: Josh Mittleman Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a classical or early medieval Greek man from Sparta. Here is what we've found. We have found no evidence that was used as a given name. It is the name of an island, the largest of the Cyclades [1]. The name is sometimes transliterated , particularly in some Eastern European languages [2]. Greek mythology mentions a man named , after whom the island is supposed to have been named [3]; but there is no reason to believe that such a person really existed: Poets frequently invented heroic figures to explain place names. It is not unlikely that the place name gave rise to surnames, originally used by people from that island who moved elsewhere. If that possibility interests you, we can research it further. We have found a few similar-sounding given names that also might interest you; however, we should warn you that all of them were very rare. All of these were recorded in Greece before 600 AD; but our source does not tell us exactly when. appears once in records from central Greece. and appear once each in the Aegean Islands; and was recorded three times in Attica [4]. If you'd like to choose a name that was more common in the Peloponese (the region containing Sparta), you might want to consider the list of names at: http://www.lgpn.ox.ac.uk/publications/vol3a/topm_s.html We hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if you have any questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Juliana de Luna, Maridonna Benvenuti, and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 2 Apr 2004 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Naxos, The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2001 (WWW: Bartlesby.com, 2004). http://www.bartleby.com/65/na/Naxos.html [2] For example, see the Polish webpage http://wiem.onet.pl/wiem/00b80f.html [3] Lemprie\re, John, _Classical Dictionary of Proper Names Mentioned in Ancient Authors_ (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1978), s.n. Naxus. [4] Fraser, P.M., and E. Matthews, "The Lexicon of Greek Personal Names" (WWW: Oxford University, 1998). might originally have been an adjective meaning "from Naxos". http://www.lgpn.ox.ac.uk/