|
Origin: |
Clementine is a feminine form of Clement, an anglicised form of the Latin Clemens. In Latin clemens meant "merciful, gentle, mild" and is the basis for the word clement in English. The Romans personified clementia "calmness, gentleness" as their goddess of clemency, leniency, mercy, forgiveness and salvation. She was often depicted with her sister Justitia "justice." Clementine is also the name of a citrus fruit -- a cross between a mandarin orange and a sweet orange -- said to have been named for Father Clement Rodier, who found the species in the garden of his orphanage in Algeria. |
|
Usage: |
Clementina is attributed to an early saint -- one of the eleven thousand maidens who travelled, and were martyred, with Saint Ursula on pilgrimage to Rome. However, her name is very hard to find in most lists of saints. We do find Clementina in use in small numbers in the Middle Ages on the Continent (particularly by royalty), but this was more likely thanks to the popularity of the cult of 1st century pope St Clement during the Middle Ages, resulting in more than forty churches being dedicated to him. In fact, the most common feminine form to be found in medieval records in Britain was the Latin Clementia or Clemencia, but in actuality these women would have been known by the vernacular form Clemence. In George Redmonds rankings for 1377-81, comprising 1000 names from 10 English counties, Clemence ranks at #44 which he categorises as "infrequent." Both Clement and Clemence gave rise to a bevy of derivative surnames, including Clem (a medieval pet-form), Clemm, Clemence, Clemans, Clemons, Clemmans and Clemmens. The name Clemence continued in use right up until the 17th century. It appears in six out of sixteen decades in Smith Bannister's rank of top 50 names from 1538 to 1700 in England: 1550-9: #14; 1560-9: #22; 1570-9: #17; 1580-9: #32; 1600-9: #35; 1610-9: #39. After this date, it no longer appears in the rankings. Clementina began to pick up usage in Britain in the 18th century. Writing in 1863, Charlotte Mary Yonge tells us that it was "rendered popular for a time in honour of the Italian lady in Sir C. Grandison." The History of Sir Charles Grandison is an epistolary novel by Samuel Richardson first published in February 1753. This may have had some impact on the name, but there are plenty of baptism records for Clementinas in Britain earlier in the 18th century. More likely, Clementina was adopted thanks to Maria Clementina Sobieska (1702-1735), a Polish princess and wife of James Francis Edward Stuart, Jacobite pretender to the British throne. Certainly, even in the 19th century, we find Clementina (and Clementine) in high concentration in Scotland which had strong Jacobite links. click to enlarge
Clementine itself came into use during the 19th century, adopted from the French Clémentine, which was also in some use among European royalty. It was not as common as Clementina, as data from the 1881 census shows (right). Clementine peaked in the 1880s and contemporary newspapers at the time would suggest that this was influenced by Princess Clémentine of Orléans (1817–1907) and Princess Clémentine of Belgium (1872–1955) as they were both featured in several articles during this decade. Births for Clementina and Clementine in England and Wales:
One notable Clementine born at its peak was Clementine Churchill, Baroness Spencer-Churchill (1885–1977), the wife of Sir Winston Churchill who was a peeress in her own right thanks to her charitable works. Though the name Clementine had all but died out by the 1930s, the small revival in the 1940s was most likely thanks to her. The pronunciation of Clementine is up for debate -- those -ine names can be tricky. Some pronounce Clementine to rhyme with Josephine, in the French style ("een"), while others rhyme it with Caroline (like "line" and "fine"). In general, it is pronounced KLEM-ən-teen (rhyming with Josephine) in Britain after the French, and was the pronunciation used for Baroness Spencer-Churchill. In America, however, it is commonly KLEM-ən-tīn (rhyming with Caroline), as seen in the America folk song "Oh My Darling, Clementine." Since 1996, Clementine has been steadily rising from its lowest point of #946 (22 births) in 1997. It broke the top 500 in 2010 and by 2014 ranked #415. Clementina, on the other hand, is now rare and has been given to no more than 6 babies in any given year since 1996, well below the top 3000. In 2015, Clementine ranked #395 (116 births) in England and Wales and #806 (3 births) in Scotland. |
|
Famous Bearers: |
History: * Princess Clémentine of Orléans (1817–1907), princess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Contemporary: * Clémentine Célarié (b. 1957), French actress. Literature and Other Media: * Clementine, the heroine of a series of children's books by Sara Pennypacker. |
|
Variants: |
Clemence, Clemency; Clémentine (French), Clementina (Italian, Spanish, Portuguese), Klementyna (Polish), Klementina (Slavic) |
|
Pronunciation: |
KLEM-ən-teen / KLEM-ən-tīn (English) klem-on-TEEN (French), KLEM-ən-tee-nə (German) [key] |
| Possible diminutives: |
Clemmie, Clem, Citty/Kitty, Mena, Minnie, Tina |
|
Sibling Names: |
Marguerite Rosalie Iona Beatrice Arabella Margaux |
|
Name Lists: |
|
If you like Clementine you may also like: |
Thanks to Lottie for requesting this name.
