Interesting Name Facts with Julie Hackett
Names Coined by Shakespeare

Did you know that William Shakespeare is credited with adding literally hundreds of new words to the English language? In many cases, he turned nouns into verbs (like gossip, elbow and friend) he added the "un-" prefix (unaware, undress, unreal), he put words together (bedroom, lackluster) or created funny descriptors "green-eyed" (jealousy) and "wild-goose chase" (a hopeless quest).โฃ
โฃHe also "invented" a few female names along the way. These six names mostly owe their use to the Brilliant Bard.โฃ
โฃ๐ข๐น๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฎ "๐ฃ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฒ" - from ๐๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต - the lovely young Illyrian Countess whose wealth and beauty attract the pursuit of many would-be suitors; historians believe Shakespeare wanted an exotic-sounding name for his Illyrian noblewoman, and drew upon the Greek ฮตฮปฮฑฮฏฮฑ (โelaiaโ) โolive treeโ, itself a universal symbol of peace.โฃ
โฃ๐ ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฎ "๐๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐น๐ & ๐๐ฑ๐บ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ" - appropriately named, the ever-lovely and admirable character of Miranda is the beautiful fifteen year old daughter of Prospero in ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต.โฃ
โฃ๐๐บ๐ผ๐ด๐ฒ๐ป "๐ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป, ๐๐ถ๐ฟ๐น, ๐๐ฎ๐๐ด๐ต๐๐ฒ๐ฟ" - the lovely heroine of Shakespeare's play ๐๐บ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ whose name comes from the ancient Irish-Gaelic inghean โmaiden, daughter, girlโ (Imogen is the daughter of Cymbeline, Celtic King of the Britons, and the embodiment of all that can be admired in a woman).โฃ
โฃ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐น๐ถ๐ฎ "๐๐น๐น-๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐" - from ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ, Cordelia is the daughter who proves faithful to her father in the end and is thus regarded as the one pure of โheartโ (from Latin ๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด). โฃ
โฃ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ผ๐น๐ฎ - the heroine of ๐๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต, Viola is the flower that most symbolizes "๐บ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐๐๐ & ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ถ๐๐ต๐ณ๐๐น๐ป๐ฒ๐๐."โฃ
โฃ๐๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ "๐ฆ๐ต๐ฒ ๐ช๐ถ๐น๐น ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ฒ" - the rebel daughter of Shylock in ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ, her name was most likely sourced from the Old Testament, from Hebrew ๐ ๐ช๐ด๐ฌรก๐ฉ, โshe will see; foresight.โ
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