ANCIENT GREEK NAMES

Marios Verettas was born in Athens Greece. He studied stage direction

and has staged many theatrical plays for children in numerous schools and
public organizations all over the country of Greece.
He has traveled around the world and he speaks six languages.
He has written about forty popular books and five plays. He has also
translated more than two hundred books from English and French language
and has edited several hundred books as well. He has also written a great
number of articles for newspapers and magazines and has worked for the
National Radio of Greece for a number of years.
In 1996, he started his own publishing house in Athens where he pu-
blishes his books and the works of other Greek modern pioneering writers.
He publishes also the quarterly philosophical magazine “The Garden of Epicurus”
Marios Verettas lives in Athens and struggles to get the modern Greeks become more acquainted with
the richness of ancient Hellenic civilization.

Other books written by the same author (in Greek language)

The Manuscripts of the Dead Sea (1978, 1988, 1997, 2005)

The Healers of Philippines (1979)
The Art of Sailing (1982, 1990, 2001, 2003, 2005)
The Great Responsibility (1983)
The “Civilisation” of the Barracks (1984, 1998)
Sylvia (1985)
Alger 6:30 (1985)
Radioactivity (1988)
Mara – St. Juste – Robespierre (1989)
The magic beauty of Bali (1991, 2001)
Eros and Psyche (1992)
Tales of Bali (1996)
The Greek India (1996, 2001)
The Great Greek Names Dictionary (1997, 1999, 2004, 2006, 2008)
The Ragman’s Egg (1997)
Invasion to the Ants-Planet (1997)
The Smog-Trolls (1997)
Polytheism and Philosophy (1998, 2004, 2008)
The Great Greek Harlots Dictionary (1998, 2003, 2007)
I was born a Hellene (2000, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008)
The Great Greek Localities Dictionary (2000)
The St. Paul’s suspicious visit in Athens (2001, 2003, 2006, 2008)
The St. Paul’s suspicious visit in Thessalonica (2001, 2004, 2007)
The St. Paul’s suspicious activity in Ephesus (2001, 2005)
The St. Paul’s suspicious stay in Corinth (2003, 2008)
The St. Paul’s suspicious passage of Cyprus (2003, 2006)
The St. Paul’s suspicious coasting of Crete (2004, 2008)
The Bible and the Greeks (3 volumes) (2001, 2002, 2004)
Carnival, the oldest Greek festival (2003, 2006, 2008)
Atalanti (2003)
Danae (2003)
Parparui (2003)
Jesus Christ and the Greeks (2005, 2007)
We the Epicureans (2006, 2007)
Marriage in Ancient Greece (2006)
Ancient Greek insults Dictionary (2007, 2008)
Maria (the history and the meaning of a popular name) (2008)
The Garden of Epicurus (quarterly philosophical magazine) (2007, 2008)
 MARIOS VERETTAS

ANCIENT
GREEK NAMES
DICTIONARY OF ANCIENT GREEK NAMES
WITH THEIR MEANING & HISTORY

ATHENS 2008
 First Publishing in Greek 1997
Second Publishing in Greek 1999
Third Publishing in Greek 2000
Fourth Publishing in Greek 2005
Fifth Publishing in Greek 2008

First Publishing in English 2009

ISBN 978-960-6712-33-3
© Copyright 2009 by Marios Verettas

Verettas Publishing
851 00 KOSKINOU RODOS
tel. 0030 22410 72648
e-mail: info@verettas.gr
www.verettas.gr
 Through the pages of this illustrated dictionary,
you can enjoy the beauty of the ancient Greek names.
You can learn their meaning and their history.
In addition, if you like, you can name your children
according to a meaningful historical
or mythological Greek name!..
 A
Abderus [= pure, clean] Son of god Hermes.
He was torn to pieces by the king’s
Diomedes horses, when he and Heracles
went to seize them.
Acacallis [= calm and pretty] Daughter of
Minosand Pasiphae. Lover of Apollo, mo-
ther of Miletus and Amphitryon.
b) Nymph, lover of Apollo, mother of Phyla-
cus and of Philandrus
Academus [= peaceful site] Athenian hero.
When the Dioscuri threatened Athens seek-
ing their sister Helen, Academus discovered
the place where her abductor Theseus had
hidden her. For this deed the Lacedaimo-
nians, as well as the Athenians, honoured
him, and dedicated a grove to him, at a dis-
tance of 1 km NW from Athens. Much later
Plato settled and taught there, and his
school was named an Academy.
Acalanthis [= goldfinch] One of the nine
daughters of King Pierus of Emathia. The
Muses transformed her into a bird.
Acamas [= indefatigable] Son of Theseus and
Phaedra. He fought in the Trojan War with
Diomedes where he fell in love with
Priam’s daughter Laodice. She bore him a
son. After the fall of Troy he took Clymene
as booty, and brought back to Athens
Theseus’ old mother, Aethra, who had
accompanied Fair Helen to Troy.
b) Son of Antenor and Theano, one of the
best Trojan warriors.
Acanthis [= goldfinch] Daughter of Autonoos
and Hippodameia, sister of Acanthus. The
gods transformed her into a bird.
Acanthous [= thorny, prickly] Son of Auto-
noos and Hippodameia. His father’s horses
devoured him. He gave his name to the city
of Acanthis in Chalcidice.
Acarnan [= adorer of god Carnos] Son of
Alcmaeon and Callirrhoe, grandson of
Amphiaraus. Leaving Psorida he settled in
Courtes which he renamed Acarnania.
Acaste [= quiet, calm] One of the daughters
of Oceanus and Tethys.
Acastus [= quiet, calm] Son of Pelias and
Anexibia, King of Iolcus. He took part in
the chase of the Calydonian Boar and also
in the campaign of the Argonauts. When the
Argonauts returned to Iolcus Medeia
deceived her sisters and forced them to kill
aged Pelias. Then Acastus banished Jason
and Medeia from Iolcus and initiated funer-
al games in honour of his father. With
Astydameia he had three children, Actor,
Laodameia and Sterope.
Aceso [= healer, curer] Goddess of surgery.
Acestor [= silent narrator (ironically)]
Surnamed “Sacas” Athenian or immigrant,
tragic poet whom Aristophanes derided as
crude and barbarous.
Acestorides [= son of healer] Athenian ruler
during the 69th Olympiad.
b) Athenian ruler during the 76th Olympiad.
Achaia [= loud] A title given to Demeter.
Achaios [= loud] Son of Xuthus and Creusa,
10
ACHE
grandson of Helenus. He gave his name to
Achaia, and more generally to all Greeks.
Achelous [= bearer of water] God of the
rivers of that name in Acarnania, Pelopon-
nesus and Thessaly. He was a son of
Oceanus and Tethys, or of Helios and Gaea,
husband of Perimede, father of Orestes,
Hippodamus and of the Sirens.
Achilles [= owner of grazing grounds or he
who brings pain] The most glorious hero of
the Trojan War, son of Peleus and Thetis the
daughter of Nereus. He was killed by Paris.
Many locations bear his name.
Acmon [= thunderbolt] Brother-in-arms of
Diomedes. The goddess Aphrodite trans-
formed him into a bird.
Acontes [= javelin–thrower] Son of the
Arcadian King Lycaon who, with his broth-
ers was struck by a thunderbolt cast by
Zeus.
Acragas [= the top of the earth] Son of Zeus
and the Oceanid Asterope, he gave his
name to the river, mountain and city of
Sicily.
Acraia [= supreme] One of the Nereids.
b) Daughter of Asterion, sister of Euboea,
nurse of Hera.
Acratus [= pure] A sacred figure of baccha-
nalian worship. There were temples in his
honour at Piraeus.
Acrias [= highest, supreme] One of the suit-
ors of Hippodameia, killed by her father
Oenomaus.
MARIOS VERETTAS
Acrisius [= thoughtless] King of Argos, son
of Abandus and Ocelia, descendant of
Danaus, brother of Proitus and father of
Danae. He was killed by his grandson, the
hero Perseus.
Acron [= top, height] A physician who, dur-
ing the time of Pericles saved the Athenians
from the plague.
Acrotatus [= very high] A Spartan, son of
King Cleomenes II, who fought in Sicily as
ally of the followers of Acragantas
b) Spartan king, grandson of the above.
Actaia [= the woman who lives at the beach]
One of the Nereids, daughter of Nereus and
Doris.
b) One of the fifty Danaides betrothed to Pe-
riphantus.
Actaion [= the man who comes from the
beach] Son of Aristaeus and Autonoe. He
was a famous hunter, but he chanced to see
the goddess Artemis’s brother in the nude.
In her anger she transformed him into a
stag, where upon his 500 hounds devoured
him.
Actaius [= the man who comes from the
beach] The first King of Attica, father of
Erysichthon and of Agraulus
b) Husband of Glauce and father of Telamon
Actoras [= leader, chief] King of Phthias, son
of Myrmidon and Peisidice, father or
grandfather of Eurytion.
Actoris [= the baker] Faithful serving-maid
of Penelope
Acumenus [= famous] Athenian physician,
friend of Socrates.
Acusilaus [= audible] A historian from
Argos. He wrote the famous history of
Athens, and revised into prose the poems of
Hesiode.
b) Athenian orator during the time of the
Roman dominion.
Ada [= fearless] Carian woman, daughter of
Hecatomnus and wife of King Idriea, who
she succeeded at the time of Alexander the
Great.
Adamas [= indomitable] A Trojan, son of
Asius.