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HelpFairytale names - Would you use them?
- Which names would you actually consider using (if any) & why?
This hasn't gotten a response on the other board, any comments?
I love the classic DISNEY fairytales & have just started to read the original Grimm Brothers' versions, and I was wondering if anyone knew the answers to the following questions?
- Everyone knows Sleeping Beauty as Aurora, when did the switch from Briar Rose to Aurora happen & why? Meanings?
- Was Cinderella's name always that? It just means ash girl!Info???
- Same as above question for Snow White.
- Is Belle from Beauty & the Beasts name simply Belle or is it short for Isabelle (which is French)? or as one very irrate woman told me "Annabella" ?
- what are other fairytale names with original meanings, different origins, or have been changed over the years, etc. I'd love a comprehensive list & any help would be greatly appreciated?
This hasn't gotten a response on the other board, any comments?
I love the classic DISNEY fairytales & have just started to read the original Grimm Brothers' versions, and I was wondering if anyone knew the answers to the following questions?
- Everyone knows Sleeping Beauty as Aurora, when did the switch from Briar Rose to Aurora happen & why? Meanings?
- Was Cinderella's name always that? It just means ash girl!Info???
- Same as above question for Snow White.
- Is Belle from Beauty & the Beasts name simply Belle or is it short for Isabelle (which is French)? or as one very irrate woman told me "Annabella" ?
- what are other fairytale names with original meanings, different origins, or have been changed over the years, etc. I'd love a comprehensive list & any help would be greatly appreciated?
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Replies
I like:
Aurora (from Sleeping Beauty)
Ariel (Little Mermaid)
Snow White...this one's a little too "out there" for me, but I like the
sentiment...what about using two names that together mean
"snow white", for instance.... Neva Bianca
Gretel (Hansel and Gretel)
Aurora (from Sleeping Beauty)
Ariel (Little Mermaid)
Snow White...this one's a little too "out there" for me, but I like the
sentiment...what about using two names that together mean
"snow white", for instance.... Neva Bianca
Gretel (Hansel and Gretel)
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Disney kept Briar Rose as the name Aurora was using when in hiding from Maleficent (sp). It is only mentioned once that her name is Briar Rose and from that point on the fairies refer to her as Rose. The Prince is named Phillip (in the movie-not sure of the tale-so many reprints).
Cinderella had a real name and then the stepsisters and stepmother named her Cinderella because she was always covered in ashes.
Snow White is named Snow White. I seem to remember reading somewhere (maybe the fairy tale) that her mother pricked her finger while sewing (like embroidery or something) and the red blood on the white aida cloth were signs of her fair-skinned, red-lipped daughter.
Just Belle. French for Beauty. Beauty and the Beast.
I named my own dd after Briar Rose (but just used Briar). I'd always wanted to use a Disney name for one of my kids, and Aurora was just a bit too popular for me. Ariel the same.
Cinderella had a real name and then the stepsisters and stepmother named her Cinderella because she was always covered in ashes.
Snow White is named Snow White. I seem to remember reading somewhere (maybe the fairy tale) that her mother pricked her finger while sewing (like embroidery or something) and the red blood on the white aida cloth were signs of her fair-skinned, red-lipped daughter.
Just Belle. French for Beauty. Beauty and the Beast.
I named my own dd after Briar Rose (but just used Briar). I'd always wanted to use a Disney name for one of my kids, and Aurora was just a bit too popular for me. Ariel the same.
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Belle is the French for "beautiful". :) Beauty is "beauté".
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Philip had no name in the original
As for Snow-White, her mother did indeed prick her finger sewing. Her blood dropped on either the snow on her windowsill or her snow-white sewing fabric, depending on the version of the tale, and the beauty of that combined with the ebony windowsill or sewing frame (depending on the version) made her wish for a child as red as blood, as white as snow, and as black as ebony. Strangely, when the child was born, she was named after only one of these attributes.
Another story featuring a snow-white, blood-red child is "The Juniper Tree", where the mother cuts her finger peeling apples. The child is a boy, however, which is interesting. The story itself is quite gruesome (it even features the murder and cannibalism of the little boy), but naturally has a happy ending.
And of course there's the Snow-White of "Snow-White and Rose-Red", the sister to the Rose-Red of the title. These children were named after the white and red rose bushes their mother grew.
I already explained Cinderella in my own post.
Miranda
As for Snow-White, her mother did indeed prick her finger sewing. Her blood dropped on either the snow on her windowsill or her snow-white sewing fabric, depending on the version of the tale, and the beauty of that combined with the ebony windowsill or sewing frame (depending on the version) made her wish for a child as red as blood, as white as snow, and as black as ebony. Strangely, when the child was born, she was named after only one of these attributes.
Another story featuring a snow-white, blood-red child is "The Juniper Tree", where the mother cuts her finger peeling apples. The child is a boy, however, which is interesting. The story itself is quite gruesome (it even features the murder and cannibalism of the little boy), but naturally has a happy ending.
And of course there's the Snow-White of "Snow-White and Rose-Red", the sister to the Rose-Red of the title. These children were named after the white and red rose bushes their mother grew.
I already explained Cinderella in my own post.
Miranda
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1. No one knows. Disney did it. She was originally Little Briar Rose. Disney did keep Rose as Aurora's alias though. The prince wasn't named
2. Nope. It was originally Yeh-shen. And she lived in the middle of 9th-century China
3. Maybe. She may have been originally Little Snowdrop (or Snow-drop), or may have been Little Snow White from the start. There's disagreement
4. It's Belle. It's a literal translation into French of Beauty's legitly original name... Beauty
5. Not a Disney adaptation, but: Rapunzel was originally Petrosinella (named after parsley--"petrosine"--rather than the obscure (today) vegetable, rampion)
6. Ariel was just called the Little Mermaid in Andersen's original story... and she died in the end of that. The prince had no name, and the Sea Witch wasn't a major player at all
7. Jasmine was originally called Badroulboudour, I believe. "Aladdin" isn't a fairy tale, but rather a story made up by an author many years after the original 1001 Arabian Nights' stories were compiled. In the original, Aladdin and co were also all Chinese
8. Not a fairy tale, but Pocahontas was given the English name of Rebecca when she traveled to England with John Rolfe
SurLaLune has tons of fairy tale info: http://www.surlalunefairytales.com. Be sure to read the history links of the stories, and the annotations when present.
Aurora is a fine name, as is Jasmine. I'd use Ariel on a boy or Ariela / Ariella or Arielle on a girl. Cinderella was used from time to time in the 19th-century, but I wouldn't use it today, however pretty it sounds.
Miranda
2. Nope. It was originally Yeh-shen. And she lived in the middle of 9th-century China
3. Maybe. She may have been originally Little Snowdrop (or Snow-drop), or may have been Little Snow White from the start. There's disagreement
4. It's Belle. It's a literal translation into French of Beauty's legitly original name... Beauty
5. Not a Disney adaptation, but: Rapunzel was originally Petrosinella (named after parsley--"petrosine"--rather than the obscure (today) vegetable, rampion)
6. Ariel was just called the Little Mermaid in Andersen's original story... and she died in the end of that. The prince had no name, and the Sea Witch wasn't a major player at all
7. Jasmine was originally called Badroulboudour, I believe. "Aladdin" isn't a fairy tale, but rather a story made up by an author many years after the original 1001 Arabian Nights' stories were compiled. In the original, Aladdin and co were also all Chinese
8. Not a fairy tale, but Pocahontas was given the English name of Rebecca when she traveled to England with John Rolfe
SurLaLune has tons of fairy tale info: http://www.surlalunefairytales.com. Be sure to read the history links of the stories, and the annotations when present.
Aurora is a fine name, as is Jasmine. I'd use Ariel on a boy or Ariela / Ariella or Arielle on a girl. Cinderella was used from time to time in the 19th-century, but I wouldn't use it today, however pretty it sounds.
Miranda
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Thanks Miranda & everyone else!!!! :)
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I love the names Briar Rose, Aurora, Ella (not Cinderella) and the long forms of Belle (Isabelle, Annabel, etc). Belle seems like a nn to me.
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