In the movie Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, the character voiced by Helena Bonham-Carter is Campanula, which raised the question of how many other names are derived from flowers.
Apparently there are hundreds of them. It's a broadly cross-cultural phenomenon. Mostly for girls (Heather, Iris, Olive, Violet, Rose, Lily, Daisy ...), apparently few for boys. I found a list for dogs (presumably female dogs), some unusual ones (Anemone - really??), and even baby names inspired by food (Kobe, Barack, Katniss, Colby, Brie, Ginger and various herbs and spices).
Image via.
It's so broadly cross-cultural that you'll find names for girls in such broadly disparate cultures as China, India, and Native Americans. Xochitl, for example, is Nahua (commonly and incorrectly labelled as "Aztec") for literally just "flower".
ReplyDeleteI had a look at the site for boy's names and they only have the one name, Seymour, and they even spelt it wrong.
ReplyDeleteA vireya is a tropical rhododendron.
ReplyDeleteI love that movie! specially campanula. Thank you for posting this!! <3
ReplyDeleteI was surprised to learn, decades after reading Lord of the Rings the first time, that Lobelia Sackville-Baggins is named after a flower.
ReplyDeleteAlso, one of my favorite names from the Muslim world, Nilufar, is Persian for "lily".
Didn't know Barack was a food :)
ReplyDeleteThe title of the article is misleading: to cite only the most glaring example, Barack means Lucky in its original Arabic, it can't be said to be "inspired" by Hungarian booze!
ReplyDeleteSimilarly, Clementine was a girl name before it was a fruit name (in honour of Brother Clément Rodier, the fruit's inventor).