Name of the Week

Heavenly Aurora is an elegant gem from a classical age
which is currently on the upswing.

 

Origin:

Aurora was the eponymously named Roman Goddess of the dawn who travelled across the sky each morning to herald the arriving son from the east. Her siblings were Sol (Helios) "the sun" and Luna (Selene) "the moon." She was equivalent to the Greek goodess Eos (Greek for "dawn"), and indeed both appear to have been descended from a Proto-Indo-European Goddess of the dawn. Both the Latin words aurora and Greek eos have been traced to the PIE *ausus- (*h₂ewsṓs) "dawn," which can also be found in the Sanskrit ushas, Old Irish usah, Germanic ostre and Lithuanian auszra. Ultimately, the name is though to derive from PIE *aus- "to shine" i.e "The Shining One" and is connected to *awso- "gold."  This ancient goddess of the dawn was clearly a very important figure for Indo-European populations as she is reflected in numerous cultures and traditions. Almost exclusively, she is depicted as a beautiful young woman and is often involved in spring, the new year and has aspects of a goddess of love and fertility (perpetuating the idea of continual renewal). In some cases, the dawn goddess is imprisoned for a time, to be liberated by a heroic deity.  The Italian fairy tale Sole, Luna e Talia (1634) by Giambattista Basile tells the folk story of a beauty named Talia who is put into a deep sleep by a splinter of flax. In the tale, Talia's son and daughter are named Sole "sun" and Luna "moon." This fairy tale was later adapted in 1697 by Charles Perrault as The Sleeping Beauty; a tale we still recognise today. In Perrault's tale, the beauty has no name, but her children are named Le Jour "the day" and L'Aurore "the dawn." Tchaikovsky's ballet (1889) and other versions gave the name Aurora "dawn" to the beauty herself.  Essentially, given the connection to the sun and moon, and the theme of imprisonment (by sleep) and renewal (by awakenment), the folk tale of The Sleeping Beauty can be considered an extension of the dawn goddess mythology.

Usage:

As a given name, Aurora didn't come into general use until the 17th century, when it was used in Sweden, Italy and Spanish-speaking countries.  In Britain, Aurora wasn't used until the 18th century, though it was rather uncommon. It maintained much the same steady by low usage over the following two centuries. The births for Aurora in England and Wales per decade show just how much: 1840s: 4 births 1850s: 13 births 1860s: 23 births 1870s: 33 births 1880s: 25 births 1890s: 28 births 1900s: 31 births 1910s: 35 births 1920s: 18 births 1930s: 8 births 1940s: 13 births 1950s: 18 births 1960s: 23 births The slight rise from the 1860s may have been partly thanks to Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poem Aurora Leigh in 1856 and Mary Elizabeth Braddon's novel Aurora Floyd in 1863. The highest number of births in any given year was in 1909, when seven girls were registered with the name. This was perhaps influenced by Panizza's 1908 opera Aurora.  Since 1996, Aurora has been on a notable upward curve most likely thanks to the popularity of the trend for names beginning with vowels, and ending in -a.  Aurora ranked #1168 with 16 births in 1996 in England and Wales and stayed pretty much consistent until it reached #645 (54 births) in 2007.  In Scotland, Aurora had a birth count between 2 and 5 from 2005 to 2011. It rose in 2012 to 12 births (#335). In 2013, Aurora reached the top 300 for the first time, ranking #257 with 187 births in England and Wales and #319 (12 births) in Scotland.

Famous Bearers:

History: * Countess (Maria) Aurora Königsmarck (1662–1728), mistress of Augustus the Strong, king of Poland and mother of Marshal Saxe.  * Aurora Wilhelmina Koskull (1778–1852), notable Swedish aristocrat and politically active salonist. * Aurora Karamzina (1808–1902), a Finnish Swede philanthropist and noblewoman. * Aurora Cáceres (1877–1958), a Peruvian-European writer of the "modernismo" literary movement. * Aurora Nilsson (1894–1972), Swedish writer. * Aurora Reyes Flores (1908–1985), a Mexican painter and member of the Mexican muralism movement. Contemporary: * Aurora Levins Morales (b. 1954), a Puerto Rican writer and poet. * Aurora Robles (b. 1980), Mexican supermodel. Literature and Other Media: * Aurora Leigh, the eponymous character in Elizabeth Barrett Browning's epic poem of the same name (1856). * Aurora Floyd, the eponymous character from Mary Elizabeth Braddon's novel of the same name (1863). * Princess Aurora, main character in Tchaikovsky's ballet The Sleeping Beauty (1889). * Aurora, a 1908 opera by Ettore Panizza. * Princess Aurora, main character in Disney's Sleeping Beauty (1959). * Aurora Sinistra, the astronomy professor in J.K.Rowling's Harry Potter series. * Aurora, a superhero in the Marvel comics universe. Other: * Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights.  * HMS Aurora, several Royal Navy ships.

Variants:

Aurore (French)

Pronunciation:

ə-ROR-ə [key]

Possible  Diminutives:

Aura, Rory

Sibling Names:

Charis     Livia     Eliana     Hebe     Alethea     Lyra  Roman     Sol    Evander     Raphael    Felix    Maximus

Name Lists:

Slickly Continental   Upright Elegance   Gods and Goddesses   Names from Harry Potter

 

If you like Aurora you may also like:  Aurea, Romola, Clio, Larisa, Aria, Luna, Juno, Penelope, Leonora, Evanthe

 

Thanks to Misa for requesting this post.