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).
He also "invented" a few female names along the way. These six names mostly owe their use to the Brilliant Bard.
𝗢𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗮 "𝗣𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗲" - from 𝘛𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘧𝘵𝘩 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 - 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 ελαία (“elaia”) “olive tree”, itself a universal symbol of peace.
𝗠𝗶𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮 "𝗟𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘆 & 𝗔𝗱𝗺𝗶𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲" - appropriately named, the ever-lovely and admirable character of Miranda is the beautiful fifteen year old daughter of Prospero in 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘛𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘴𝘵.
𝗜𝗺𝗼𝗴𝗲𝗻 "𝗠𝗮𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻, 𝗚𝗶𝗿𝗹, 𝗗𝗮𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗲𝗿" - the lovely heroine of Shakespeare's play 𝘊𝘺𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 whose name comes from the ancient Irish-Gaelic inghean “maiden, daughter, girl” (Imogen is the daughter of Cymbeline, Celtic King of the Britons, and the embodiment of all that can be admired in a woman).
𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗮 "𝗔𝗹𝗹-𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁" - from 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘳, Cordelia is the daughter who proves faithful to her father in the end and is thus regarded as the one pure of “heart” (from Latin 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘴).
𝗩𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗮 - the heroine of 𝘛𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘧𝘵𝘩 𝘕𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, Viola is the flower that most symbolizes "𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁𝘆 & 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀."
𝗝𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗮 "𝗦𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗦𝗲𝗲" - the rebel daughter of Shylock in 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘝𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦, her name was most likely sourced from the Old Testament, from Hebrew 𝘠𝘪𝘴𝘬á𝘩, “she will see; foresight.”