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:
These are from England before 1250:
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.
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
These are from England before 1250:
- Teffania
- Thephania
- Theffanie
- Theophania
- Teffan
- Teph'na
- Thiphania
- Tiffan
- Tiffania
- Tiphina
- Tyffayne
- Tephaine
- Teffaine
- Tephaine
- Theffaine
- Theophaine
- Thephaine
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.
2 comments:
Is there any connection between Tiffany and Stephanie?
Very informative!
Isn't funny how we come to like or dislike a name because we like or dislike a person with the same name.
Most Tiffany’s I know, or have met, turned out to be complete b*tches. As a result, I can’t stand the name Tiffany.
Post a Comment