Tiffany/Stephanie

Sarah asked if Tiffany was related to the name Stephanie and I knew it wasn't but I wasn't sure exactly how it wasn't. So, what started as a simple answer got complicated. You probably won't care and that is why I answered the question succinctly in the first sentence. To spare you the trouble of reading the rest of this. Now if only I could find a way to not want to write it. Then my laundry would be finished in a timely manner.

Tiffany, as we now know, is derived from the Greek name, Theophania, a name given to girls born on the feast of the Theophany. The Theophany was a day celebrating the manifestation of God in the form of Jesus (theo meaning 'God' and epiphaneia meaning 'manifestation').

Stephanie was first used as a girls' name in France and finds its root in the Greek name Stephanos. Despite the similar "phanos" component Stephanos and Theophanos are not related. Stephanos, appears to mean 'crowned with a wreath' with the word stephos meaning either 'twist' or 'wreath' or something that would indicate a garland or the making of a garland.

I got really caught up in why there are two forms of the name Stephanos in France. There is Estienne which became Etienne and there is Stephane. I'm sure there is a perfectly reasonable explanation given the many different forms of the language we now call French that existed before France was France but I'd sure like to know how it came to pass. I found out how Estienne became the modern Etienne but not how Stephanos became Estienne (or Esteban as it is in Spanish).

Tiffany

Tiffany is one of the original names deemed "downwardly mobile" by noted name researchers Linda Rosenkrantz and Pamela Redmond Satran. It tends to conjure images of 1980s excessive consumerism or teen queen ditziness or gum-snapping trailer park moms in tube tops and dangly earrings. It does not tend to conjure images relating to ancient Christian ceremony and yet, the name Tiffany finds its root in exactly that.

Tiffany began life as the name , Theophania. It was given to girls born on January 6, the date of the Epiphany to Western Catholics and Theophany to Eastern Orthodox churches. For our purposes, let's focus on the word theophany which means, "manifestation of God" and is the name of the feast which celebrated the manifestation of God in the form of Jesus. (Note: The Epiphany/Theophany is sometimes referred to as Twelfth Night but Twelfth Night is actually the night before, the night of January 5.)

The following names are among some that can be found in documents starting from the 13th century in France:

• Tyfainne
• Typhainne
• Typheinne
• Tifaine
• Tiphaine

The name Tuffayna appears on a list of prostitutes from the southern French region of Toulouse (where Occitan was the language) from 1514.

These are from England before 1250:

• Teffania
• Thephania
• Theffanie
• Theophania

These are from England from 1250 - 1450:

• Teffan
• Teph'na
• Thiphania
• Tiffan
• Tiffania
• Tiphina
• Tyffayne

These are from Brittany sometime between 1384 - 1600:

• Tephaine
• Teffaine
• Tephaine
• Theffaine
• Theophaine
• Thephaine
  

Its not difficult to see how Tiffany evolved from Theophania though I wonder how it is that Tiffany became the favored form once standardized spelling gained popularity. This is not exactly a scholarly work...just a blog post so I won't be answering that question here any time soon.

How did Tiffany go from a name with deeply spiritual significance to Christians to its current status? Apparently, Tiffany, for whatever reason, fell out of favor everywhere as the Middle Ages came to a close (as a given name, this doesn't address Tiffany's status as a surname as in the case of Louis Comfort Tiffany). It does not appear in the top 1000 girls' names in the US until the 1960s. Probably not coincidentally, the movie, "Breakfast at Tiffany's", hit theaters in 1961 (the lead female character's name in the movie is Holly and not Tiffany but the movie seems to have given both names a boost). Tiffany at that time was associated with luxury and elegance and good taste.

Well, one person's "tasteful" is another person's "classy" and so went Tiffany. Tiffany had class coming out the yin-yang, it seems and by the 80s you couldn't swing a dead cat in a KMart without hitting a Tiffany. It was also during the 1980s that the Tiffany brand began a global expansion that might have brought a Tiffany store to a mall near you.

All good things must come to an end and in 1990, after peaking at number 16, Tiffany began a steady tumble down the charts coming to rest currently at number 212.

Maya

Maya has only recently come into the greater consciousness of American baby namers, appearing in the top 1000 names only as recently as the 1970s. Early usage has been attributed to a fanciful extension of the name May but I think its just as plausible that immigrant populations from Germany, Poland and Scandinavia brought the name into regular, if infrequent, usage. Not coincidentally, as multiculturalism gained popularity, so did Maya.

Many cultures have some form of the name Maya.

• Maia is a figure in both Greek and Roman mythology (the month of May is named for the Roman Maia in particular).
  
• Queen Maya was the mother of Buddha.
  
• It is sometimes cited as a Hebrew name relating to the word, mayim, meaning 'water', however, this particular usage appears to be a modern one.
  
• The name Maya occurs in Japan but does not appear to be a traditional Japanese name. Usage may be influenced by Mount Maya, a Japanese mountain named for the mother of Buddha.
  
• Maija is a Finnish pet name for girls named Maria. Maja is similarly employed in places as varied as Germany, Poland, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia and Russia.
  
• Maya is a short form for Amalia in Spanish while Amaia/Amaya are of Basque origin.
• Maya is argued to have an Arabic origin as well but this is disputed. A similar Arabic name, May, and a Lebanese singer by the name of Maya, appear to be the source of confusion. Usage of the name Maya in Arabic speaking countries appears to be modern and not traditional.
  

Anecdotally, this name seems to appeal to multiracial and multicultural families in particular. Of the Mayas I know or have known or know of:

• One is half Asian Indian, half Caucasian-American.
• Two are half Lebanese, half Caucasian-American.
• One is half Japanese, half Vietnamese.
• One is Arabic-American.
• One is half African-American, half Jewish.
  

Rising from relative obscurity before the 1970s, Maya has become quite popular coming in at number 62 for the year 2007 (actually a slight drop from 2006 probably reflecting a leveling more than an actual drop). This is the sweet spot for a popular name. Popular enough to be familiar and easily recognizable but not so popular as to be annoying.

I am currently working on a re-organization of the 2007 popularity list that will combine name spellings and groupings (ie Sophie/Sophia/Sofie/Sofia will be considered one name). I'm interested to see what happens to Maya on the new list.

Bertha - By Special Request

In Norse mythology, Bertha, is the goddess of spinning. Perchta is the goddess of spinning and weaving in Teutonic mythology. The Old High German name, Perchta, is listed alternately as: Berctha, Percht, Berchte, Berahta, Perahta etc. Norse is a language descended from the same Proto-Germanic language as Old High German.

Because of the similarities between the goddesses Bertha and Perchta and their shared ancestral language they are thought to be variations on the same lore and thus, are believed to share the same Old High German root, behrat, meaning 'light'.

Because the German and Norse language contain no dental fricatives (as a result of the High German consonant shift occuring in the 3rd - 5th centuries AD which preceded written records) the pronunciation of Bertha outside of English speaking languages is closer to Berta (Think Mathilda, Mathias etc.)

Bertha was probably introduced outside of Germanic territories by the Saxons and Vikings. Queen Bertha of Kent, who was canonized, was very influential in introducing Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England. Famous Berthas have included: several saints, 2 queens of France and a Byzantine empress.

The name Bertha enjoyed enormous popularity in the U.S. and Britain in the late 1800s but began a steady decline starting around the 1930s. This was possibly due to the widespread use of the name "Big Bertha" used to refer to some forms of artillery used during the First World War. It had slipped off the top 1000 names completely by the 1990s. It is definitely a name in danger of extinction. It has not seen a revival even though a trend for other names from the era of its heyday have enjoyed renewed popularity.