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[Opinions] Re: Mariposa
Honestly, I really dislike it. It's painfully saccharine and it reminds me of Mari + poser in English. I think it has some awkward connotations in Spanish and Portuguese too. It just doesn't really seem like a name to me - it's definitely better as a middle name, anyway.
I think the name Mary is beautiful on its own. I love almost every variation of Mary, and I'd totally jump at the chance to use one. I kind of like Marion Psyche but I guess that's too Psycho. It's a shame there are so few butterfly names, Psyche and Parvaneh are the only other ones I can really think of that work for me.
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"It's a shame there are so few butterfly names..." (ETA)I felt the same way, so I did a little looking up and came across...Celastrina - of Celastrina argiolus, also known as the Holly Blue, a really beautiful butterfly; have not yet tracked down an exact pronunciation but it reminds me of Celeste (probably comes from the same root) and Trina is in thereIndra - of Papilio indra; Indra means "possessing drops of rain"; has beautiful blue spots on a black backgroundPhoebus - of Parnassius phoebus could give Phoebe; very interesting-lookingMarcellus - of Eurytides marcellus; leads to Marcelline; very striking "Zebra" butterflyEurydice - of Colias eurydice; "Dog Face" butterfly, though I don't see a dog; has been featured on U.S. stampsOlympia - of Euchloe olympia; wings have a sort of marbled vein effectCynthia, Drusilla, Josephina, Alexandra and Vanessa are also included in names of butterflies, but those particular butterflies are more ordinary-looking, not that an "ordinary" butterfly isn't still beautiful.Celastrina aside, these are all legit, and mostly familiar, names for people, but at least I have some new butterfly imagery to go along with them. :)ETA: Just found this: http://www.learnaboutbutterflies.com/Latin%20pronunciation.htm

This message was edited 2/11/2013, 10:18 AM

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Cool! Thanks, those are really interesting associations to have with some familiar names. A lot of butterflies have pretty species names, I like Indra, Eurydice and Olympia. Wonder how people choose these names.You inspired me to see if we have any nice butterfly names here. :) Some genus names:
Hesperia, Thecla, Vanessa, Aglais, Hipparchia, Maniola, Lysandra, Aricia, Issoria and species names: Lucina, Selene, Euphrosyne, Camilla, Iris, Atalanta, Io, Athalia, Aegeria, Semele, Tullia, Galathea, Aglaia
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Lucina, Iris and Tullia are the ones I best like from your research. Galatea is a GP of mine, though I could be persuaded to consider it as a middle name, I suppose; wonder if Galathea is a spelling variant.
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