Question for you name history buffs

PrincessFiona9

This isn't quite a BN question, but how "old" is the name Ariana? I feel like it's pretty modern, but I'm reading a book set in the early 1800's and the main character's name is Ariana. It's been bothering me this whole time that she has such a modern name! haha

krissyh21

This is what I found on it:

 

The name Ariana is of the following Indo-European origins:

Balkan/Welsh origin:

This name's etimology derives from the Illyrians, who had many tribes and clans, one of which were called the Arians, Ari means gold or golden in modern Albanian, which is widely believed to be the successor of the Illyrian language, Arian is the male form of the name and Arianna/Ariana or even Arijana is the female form and is translated as "she who is golden" the male name translates as "he who is golden" in modern Albanian. The male name Arian and the female name Arianna remains popular in modern Albania, Kosovo as well as in ethnic Albania parts of Macedonia and in the surrounding slavic Balkan states of the former Yugoslavia.

The name has been borrowed by many of the neighbouring civilisations but none of these neighbouring languages can give a true translation without changing the name, the closest is modern Albanian as well as Welsh which also translates the name as the precious metal of silver.

Iranian/Greco-Latin origin:

Ariana, the Latinized form of (Greek: ? '??e?a??/Ariane), was also a general geographical term used by some Greek and Roman authors of ancient period for a district of wide extent in Central Asia,^[3] comprehending the eastern provinces of the great Persian kingdom, now Afghanistan, east and southeast of Iran and Tajikistan.^[4] Ariana was also referred to Aria, a small satrapy of the Persian Achaemenid empire.^[4] (See Alexandria in Ariana.)

The root of this Greek term comes from the Old Iranian Aryana- (Avestan: Airiiana-, esp. in Airiian?m vaejo, the name of the Aryans? mother country, whose localization is disputed).^[5] The modern name Iran represents the ancient name Ariana, - a word itself of Avestan origin.^[6] The names Ariana and Aria, and many other ancient titles of which Aria is a component element, are connected with the Sanskrit term Arya-, the Avestan term Airya-, and the Old Persian term Ariya- , a self designation of the peoples of Ancient India and Ancient Iran,^[7] meaning "noble", "excellent" and "honourable".

gimmietimmies

Welsh version is Eirian!!