Ancient Greek Names

A child was named on the seventh or tenth day after birth. The father chose the name and could could change it later if he wished. The eldest son was usually named after his paternal grandfather and subsequent children after other relatives. It was quite rare for a son to be named after his father although a derivative of the name or one containing one of the same elements might be used.

Name Elements

Male

From the late C5th BC, Athenian males were often identified by adding their father's name in the genitive case or that of their deme or tribe to their personal name. Foreigners also took the name of their town of country - Herodotus of Halicarnassus, the historian who lived in Athens. Nicknames were also common and could sometimes virtually supersede the original name. The philosopher 'Plato' was given this name which means 'broad' or 'wide' at the gymnasium and his own name, Aristocles after his grandfather, was hardly used.

Forms of names from older translations which are familiar in England are often being replaced by more phonetically correct versions. The ending '-dros' has been replaced by '-der' in English (Alexander for Alexandros) since medieval times. The hard 'k' sound has conventionally been written, and sometimes pronounced, as 'c' (Thucydides for Thukydides). Where a consonant preceded it, the '-os' ending was quite often dropped (Philip for Philippos). The final '-s' was not pronounced in names such as 'Krateros', hence the confusion over Alexander the Great's dying words - did he leave his kingdom to 'Krateros', his trusted soldier, or to 'kratisto', the strongest? The final '-n' is also dropped in some cases (Phaedo for Phaidon).

Main index

Ancient World index

Greek index

This collection of names compiled by Kate Monk. Copyright January 1997, Kate Monk. Last updated May, 99. Copies may be made for personal use only.

tekeli.li home|Onomastikon home