Butterflies have been used in art for centuries, right back to Egyptian frescoes in Thebes over 3,500 years ago. It is thought that the image of the butterfly is one of the few examples of a motif used purely for its aesthetic qualities rather than for religious symbolism.
Several surviving mosaics show that the ancient Greeks represented the goddess Psyche ("soul") with having butterfly wings. Interestingly, the greek name for a butterfly was itself ψυχή (psyche) "soul".
Both the Greeks and the Romans represented the souls of deceased loved ones with butterflies. We also find this in Japan, where butterflies represent the personification of a person's soul.
More recently butterflies have been associated with regeneration and renewal, due to it's changing forms through evolution.
Translation
Across the globe we can find girls being given the name "butterfly" in their native language. As far as translations go we can look to Chou and Chouko "butterfly child" in Japanese, Flutura in Albanian, Kelebek in Turkish and Parvana / Parvaneh in Persian. Mariposa is the Spanish name for a butterfly as well as a species name.
Genus
Several genus names for butterflies originate as first names, particularly from ancient Greek mythology, including: Aporia, Aricia, Calisto, Cressida, Cynthia, Dione, Enos, Eurybia, Euthalia, Ferentina, Greta, Hesperia, Justinia, Lucinia, Lysandra, Marpesia, Melete, Menander, Methone, Thecla, Thisbe, Una and Vanessa.
Digging a bit deeper, there are also some rather intriguing finds from the crop of genus names such as:
| Adelpha Aglais Anetia Aphrissa Caria Celastrina |
Cissia Cynea Eresia Erora Erynnis Eucheira |
Euchloe Eunica Eurema Issoria Junonia Lasaia |
Lucida Melanis Mesene Micandra Nica Ocaria |
Pontia Xenandra Zera Zerene Zerynthia Zizina |
Species
As with genus names, a great number of butterfly species names are also personal names:
| Adrasta Alexandra Alexis Amelia Angelia Anicia Annabella Annette Antonia Aphrodite Apollo Arethusa Argus Artemisia Astarte Atalanta Athalia |
Bellona Bettina Briseis, Caelina Camilla, Carissima Chryseis Cinxia Clodius Clothilda Clytemnestra Clytie Cybele Delphia Dorcas Electra Emilia |
Eulalia Euphrosyne Eurydice Falerina Fatima Freija Genoveva Hecate Icarus Io Iole Iris Ismeria Josephina Julia Julitta Juno |
Linda Laertes Lisa Lua Lucinda Lucinia Luna Maera Margaretta Megara Melanthe Messalina Morgane Niobe Pamela Pandora Paulina |
Phaedra Pomona Selene Semele Sybilla Theona Theseus Thirza Titus Tullia Urraca Vesta Xenocles Zilda Zilpa Zina Zunilda |
For further name-fodder you might consider:
| Aristor Atala Atena Atesa Aurantia Aurinia Avalona Azia |
Britanna Celida Cilissa Clarensis Cordillera Crisia Delila Dinora |
Eimeri Elada Elathea Eucharis Gemina Indica Jemina Karsandra |
Keila Leanira Levana Lollia Nea Rumina Selika Telea |
Thordesa Tiessa Velina Zaela Zea Zebina Zela Zelica |
Vernacular Names
All butterflies have a vernacular or common name, many of which, such as Edith's Copper, Queen Alexandra, or Adelina Metalmark, contain a first name:
| Aaron Acacia Adelina Agave Alcmena Alberta Aletta Alex Alexandra Anna Ambrosia Apollo Ares Asa Aster Avalon Aurelius Austin Beatrix Carla Carolina Cassius Cecilia |
Celia Chara Christina Cleon Cleopatra Coral Dina Donella Dorcas Doris Edith Edward Elsa Esma Esperanza Estela Estelle Ethelda Eufala Eunice Ezra Flora Georgia |
Giulia Harmonia Harvey Henry Heraclea Hermes Hermione Horace Indra Ira Isabel Isabella Isidora Jacqueline Jason Joseph Joyce Julia Juniper Juno Jutta Kathleen Laura |
Laverna Lavinia Leander Leda Leila Leona Leonard Leonor Lila Lilly Linda Lucia Lyra Magdalena Magdalia Marina Mariposa Mary Melissa Mimosa Minverva Mylitta Olive |
Olympia Orion Pamela Paula Pearl Peter Prosepina Rita Rosita Rubina Saffron Sally Salome Sara Sheridan Stella Sylvan Sylvia Victorine Viola Violet Xenos Zephyr |
