Name of the Week: Hero

 

  

Origin:

Hero is a name which features in Greek mythology. The most notable was Hero of Sestos, a virgin priestess of Aphrodite who is part of a tragic love story of Romeo and Juliet fame. The story goes that she attended a festival one day where she met Leander of Abydos, and the two fell madly in love. Now it happened that Hero lived alone in a tower in Sestos overlooking the Hellespont and Leander lived opposite the strait in Abydos. At night, Hero would light a torch in her tower — transforming it into a lighthouse — and Leander would swim across the Hellespont, guided by her light.  But as with all tragic lovers, disaster eventually struck. One night, there was a terrible storm and Hero's light was extinguished. Leander drowned, and when a distraught Hero found his body, she threw herself off the tower to join him in the afterlife. It isn't entirely clear what the origins of name Hero are. On the surface looks to derive from the Greek ‘ηρως (heros) "hero" — the source of the word 'hero' in English. However, the name could relate to the name of the goddess Hera. We can find other -o/-a ending variants in Ancient Greece (such as Xenia/Xeno, Kallista/Kallisto, Kleia/Kleio). Hera's name is attested as early as the Bronze Age and, as such, its origin has been lost through the mists of time.  The masculine Greek name Heron almost certainly seems to have derived from ‘ηρως (heros) "hero," but confusingly, it was also rendered as Hero in Latin. For this reason, there as several men named Heron in Antiquity who are known to us as Hero, such as Hero (Heron) of Alexandria (c. 10–70 AD), the ancient Greek mathematician and Hero (Heron) the Younger (fl. 938), a Byzantine land surveyor.

Usage:

The myth of Hero and Leander was used and referenced extensively, even in Antiquity. The Byzantine poet Musaeus wrote a poem about the lovers and this poem was translated into Italian, Spanish and French and was widely known across Renaissance Europe. Playwright and poet Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564-1593) retold the myth in an epic poem Hero and Leander and Sir Walter Raleigh alluded to the story, in his The Ocean's Love to Cynthia. Shakespeare references the myth several times in his plays: Two Gentlemen of Verona, Much Ado About Nothing, Edward III, Othello and Romeo and Juliet. This shows us that he expected his audience to understand the reference and that the myth of Hero and Leander was widely known.  Shakespeare even went further and used Hero as a name for one of his characters in Much Ado About Nothing. His Hero is the only daughter of Leonato, the governor of Messina who becomes engaged to the dashing Claudio. Thanks to the scheming of Don John, Hero is unjustly accused of being unfaithful and is denounced by Claudio at their wedding. Her family fake her death and eventually the truth of her innocence is revealed, leading to a typical Shakespearean Comedy happily-ever-after with several characters coupling up.  As a real-life given name, however, Hero has always been rare. Even in Ancient Greece it was uncommon. The Lexicon of Greek Personal Names has found no record of Hero in use of a given name, though it should be noted that evidence for women's names is harder to come by in general.  In Britain, Hero has been in use since the 17th century, but has always been extremely rare. In the 19th century, Hero has some use, but was eclipsed by Herodias (the feminine form of Herod) and even Heroine.  Hero was also used for both boys and girls, as can be seen from the birth records of Hero Archibald Atwill and Hero Agnes Campbell in 1895. However, the birth records in general conceal the distribution of gender unless there is an obviously masculine or feminine middle name.    Count Female middle names Male middle names 1840s: 1850s: 1860s: 1870s: 1880s: 1890s: 1900s: 1910s: 1920s: 1930s: 1940s: 1950s: 1960s: 1970s: 2 0 2 5 6 9 3 6 1 0 0 3 6 5 1 - - 2 3 3 2 1 - - - - 1 5 1 - 1 - 1 1 - 1 - - - - 1 - Since 1999, Hero has been in small use of girls in England and Wales, but has never ranked in the top 1000. Up until 2015 it had between 1 and 6 births per year, but by 2015 had risen to #2705 with 9 births.  Hero has ranked for boys  in England and Wales since 2008 with no more than 4 births up to 2015.  In 2016, Hero had an equal number of 8 births for boys and girls. Hero for girls ranked #2966 and Hero for boys ranked #2556.

Famous Bearers:

History: * Hero of Alexandria (c. 10–70 AD), ancient Greek mathematician. * Hero the Younger (fl. 938), Byzantine land surveyor. Contemporary: * Hero Beauregard Fiennes-Tiffin (b. 1997), British actor. * Hero Wheeler (b. 2007), daughter of actress Hermione Norris and Simon Wheeler. * Hero Harper Quinn (b. 2011), daughter of Myleene Klass. Literature and Other Media: * Hero, character in Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare. * Hero, a priestess of Aphrodite in the poem Hero and Leander by Christopher Marlowe.

Variants:

Iro (Modern Greek)

Pronunciation:

HEER-ō  [key]

Possible  longer forms:

Hermione, Henrietta, Hespera, Hermine, Herodias, Herodiana, Hereswith, Hermosa

Sibling Names:

Leda     Evanthe     Vesta     Petra     Calla     Ione  Blaise     Theron     Atticus     Evander     Amos     Conrad

Name Lists:

Modern Antiquity

 

If you like Hero you may also like:   Juno, Clio, Dido, Hebe, Lumi, Iole, Zoya, Xanthe, Inez, Leni

Thanks to Sally for requesting this name.