Ancient Greek names and what they mean

Your name may be only a sound to you. For an ancient Greek, a name, an ὄνομα, was usually made of real words. Oxford’s Lexicon of Greek Personal Names lists almost 400,000 ancient Greeks. Its authors explain that Greeks made names by changing and joining nouns, adjectives and verbs.

Many names have two parts. Here are five famous ones, with the usual explanation:

• Φίλιππος (Philip): φίλος, friend, + ἵππος, horse. “Friend of horses”.
• Νικόλαος (Nicholas): νίκη, victory, + λαός, people. “Victory of the people”.
• Σωκράτης (Socrates): σῶς, safe, + κράτος, power.
• Ἀριστοτέλης (Aristotle): ἄριστος, best, + τέλος, aim. “The best aim”.
• Περικλῆς (Pericles): περί, “very”, + κλέος, glory.

Other names are a single word: Εἰρήνη means “peace” and Σοφία means “wisdom”. Some hold a god: Θεόδωρος is “gift of god”. But be careful. Scholars warn that names are harder to explain than ordinary words, so some of these meanings are only the best guess.

Ancient Greeks did not have family names like yours. A person usually had one name. So how could you tell two men called Περικλῆς apart? You added the father’s name. The historian Thucydides writes Περικλῆς ὁ Ξανθίππου, “Pericles, the son of Xanthippos”.

In Athens, a man could also add his home district. A speech kept with the works of Demosthenes gives the three parts: Μαντίθεον Μαντίου Θορίκιον, “Mantitheos, son of Mantias, from Thorikos”. The later writer Diogenes Laertius begins his life of Aristotle with Ἀριστοτέλης Νικομάχου καὶ Φαιστίδος Σταγειρίτης: Aristotle, son of Nikomachos and Phaistis, from Stagira.

Greek surnames came much later. The Oxford lexicon says that they became widespread only around the War of Independence, about 1832. Many of them still point back to a father or an ancestor, like the old way of naming: think of surnames that end in -όπουλος or -ίδης.

In Athens, a baby could get its name at a celebration on the tenth day, the δεκάτη. In that same speech, a son says that his father held the tenth-day celebration and gave him his name. In Aristophanes’ comedy Birds, a character says that he has just held the tenth-day sacrifice and named his new city “like a child”.

Aristophanes’ Clouds also jokes about choosing a name. A country man marries a rich woman from the city. When their son is born, they quarrel. She wants a name with ἵππος in it, such as Ξάνθιππος. He wants Φειδωνίδης, after the grandfather. In the end they agree on Φειδιππίδης. It is a joke, not a record, but it suggests that a grandfather’s name could matter.

Real families did this too. Socrates’ father was Sophroniskos, and so was one of his sons. Aristotle’s father and his son were both called Nikomachos. Pericles’ father and one of his sons were both called Xanthippos. A name could also come from the mother’s side: Herodotus says that Cleisthenes of Athens was named after his mother’s father.

A name could even end up in court. Two half-brothers both used the name Μαντίθεος. One of them argues that nobody could tell which of the two the city was calling for its duties or for a trial.

Later, Christianity changed Greek names. The Oxford lexicon says that Christianity and antiquity are the two main influences on modern Greek names. By the 13th century, Ιωάννης, Γεώργιος, Δημήτριος and Μαρία were firmly in first place. Many Greeks are named after a saint, and they may celebrate their name day, their γιορτή, like a birthday.

The family habit lasted too. A Modern Greek dictionary gives this example under παππούς, grandfather: Ο εγγονός παίρνει συνήθως το όνομα του παππού του, “A grandson usually takes his grandfather’s name”.

Ancient names did not disappear. The Oxford lexicon says that names such as Aristoteles, Sokrates, Xenophon and Demosthenes were “never forgotten”, and that they were given more widely from the 18th century. The letters barely changed: Περικλῆς is written Περικλής today, with one simple accent. The sound did change: Greeks today say Sokrátis and Aristotélis.