While that which we call a rose would smell as sweet if it were not called a rose, how about an Amelia? Ever wonder what a name means or how it came about?
There seems to be some dispute about the origin of Amelia. One school of thought says the name is Germanic or Hebrew in origin. But I tend more to the idea that is derived from a Roman family name, Aemelia. No matter the route, it all seems to trace back to “amal”, meaning industrious, hardworking, striving, and work. The odd thing is that the work in not what we first jump to when the concept of work is brought up. In this case the work and labor originally in question is that of childbirth!
Amelia has been a name for girls for centuries, but it did not really become popular until the 18th Century when both King George II and King George III named daughters Amelia. It has recently had a bit of a resurgence in popularity. In 2022 alone 12,333 little girls were graced with the name.
Oddly enough, this resurgence seems to trace back to fictional Amelias, the only famous “live” Amelia I could find was renowned aviator Amelia Earhart.
But here are some of the fictional one:
Amelia “Amy” Pond from Doctor Who
Amelia Bedelia – a fictional housekeeper with a book series about her
Amelia Peabody – a fictional detective with her own series of books
Amelia Thermopolis – “Mia”, the protagonist of The Princess Diaries movies.
And now for the flip side!
While that which we call a rose would smell as sweet if it were not called a rose, how about a Zachary? Ever wonder what a name means or how it came about?
Compared with Amelia, Zachary is quite straight forward in where it comes from. Zachary is an English version of the ancient Hebrew name Zechariah, meaning “God has remembered”. It did not really catch on as a boys name until the Protestant Reformation. Actually, it has not become all that popular still, it was the 144th most popular boys name in 2022.
I could only find two famous Zacharys –
Zachary Taylor – 12th President of the United States
Dr. Zachary Smith – fictional craven comedy relief on Lost In Space
