Nameberry of the Week: Xanthe
April 14
Each Sunday, in replacement of the usual Name of the Day newsletter, we will be featuring a Name of the Week chosen by you!
The Name of the Week will be selected through the “name of the day” thread over on the forums, where you can share a name you are feeling inspired by or loving a little extra that day. One name nominated on the thread each week — determined by what names are getting the most likes — will be featured in this weekly series
This week’s Name of the Week was nominated by @AStudyIn_Scarlet!
Bold and bright Xanthe stands out from the crowd as one of only a handful of baby names starting with X.
While at first glance the unfamiliar spelling may lead to a few confused looks, this Greek name — pronounced “ZAN-thee” — has a sparkly, attractive sound.
Xanthe’s meaning is as radiant as it sounds: “golden, yellow”, derived from the Greek adjective xanthos of the same meaning.
Fitting perfectly into the rising trend we have coined as “Gilded Names” — names with shimmery, golden, sunny meanings like Aurelia, Lux, Goldie, Soleil, and Zora — Xanthe feels especially bright in 2024.
In Greek mythology, Xanthe was an Oceanid — one of the water nymph daughters of the Titan Oceanus and his wife Tethys. Yet another mythological Xanthe was one of the Amazons — a group of female warriors.
In case you missed these Names of the Day:
Nameberry of the Day: Dolores
Mexican actress Dolores del Río died on April 11, 1983, following a career that lasted over fifty years. Born María de los Dolores Asúnsolo y López Negrete in 1904, del Río is regarded as one of the first female Latin American stars to crossover into Hollywood.
Nameberry of the Day: Eudora
Author Eudora Alice Welty was born on April 13, 1908 in Jackson, Mississippi. Eudora’s novel, The Optimist’s Daughter, won the Pulitzer prize in 1973, and she was also notably the first living author to have her works published in Library of America.