Thursday, May 10, 2018

Uncommon Names from Ancient Persia

Hello, readers!

Along with at least 40 million other fans, I've become a Civilization player. For those who don't know, this game allows you to create your own country and expand throughout the globe - power IS intoxicating. With dozens of world leaders to choose from - Queen Victoria, Gandhi, Gilgamesh - I recently picked Cyrus and was thrust into Ancient Persia.


Jean-Charles Nicaise Perrin, "Cyrus and Astyages," 18th century

One cool aspect of Civilization VI is the amount of named individuals with whom players can interact; as Cyrus, I have a number of spies, delegates, and allies reporting to me with names like Amytis, Drypetis, and Laleh. I'm taking this opportunity to research these awesome names and perhaps find something usable for today!

Male Names:

Ariomardus - A son of King Darius I and his wife Parmys

Arsames - "strength of a hero"

Arsites - "the best"

Bardiya - "highest"

Cambyses - The name of two kings of Persia

Gaumata - A usurper to the crown who may or may not have existed

Hydarnes - Form of the name Vidarna

Otanes - "having good descendents"

Oxyathres - "of a good reign"

Sogdianus - A brief king of Persia who died by "suffocating in ash." Yikes.

Arash - An heroic archer

Dariush - "to possess goodness," a form of Darius

Firdaus - "paradise"

Jalal - "greatness"

Kianoush - "royal"

Rostam - Unclear etymology, but a possible route to the nickname Ross?

Saam - "dark," unrelated to Sam

Soheil - "level, even"

Vahid - "unique"

Zubin - "spear" - one of my favorites from the boys' list!


Female Names:

Artistun - "pillar of Arta," also spelled Artystone

Cassandane - Wife of Cyrus the Great

Drypetis - Daughter of Darius III and Stateira (below)

Parmida - Form of Parmys

Parysatis - Possibly related to "swallow (bird)"

Phaedymia - Daughter of Otanes

Roxana - "dawn," a lovely choice for a modern girl!

Sisygambis - Mother of Darius III

Stateira - Three major Stateiras rank in world history, but the etymology of the name is unclear.

Amytis - "having good thought"

Banu - "lady"

Darya - Form of Darius; another contender for today and a personal favorite.

Firuzeh - "turquoise"

Golnar - "pomegranate flower"

Laleh - "tulip." Just a mite too breathy, but very sweet.

Niusha - "good listener," also a contemporary Russian pop star

Roghayeh - Two possible meanings of "ascent" or "incantation"

Simin - "silvery," serene but a bit too close to Simon

Yasamin - "jasmine flower"

Zareen - "golden" - Oh my gosh, Simin and Zareen would make a great sibset!


Which is your favorite? What Persian names do you find particularly attractive? Tell me in the comments!

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