Althea
Greek, "with healing power"
Happy birthday to Althea Rae Duhinio Janairo, better known as Lilo & Stitch actress Tia Carrere! While her snappy stage name comes from a family nickname, her birth name is the one on our watchlist. With its resemblance both to Thea and to trending Al- names like Alma and Alba, we predict Althea will be back in the Top 1000 by 2035. It travels well across cultures, and is the top girl name in the Philippines.
From a Greek root meaning “healing”, Althea is a figure in Greek mythology; another famous bearer is Althea Gibson, the first Black tennis player to win a Grand Slam title. The quotation “Stone Walls do not a Prison make, / Nor Iron bars a Cage” comes from the poem To Althea, from Prison, by Richard Lovelace.
