Berengaria
Does anyone know where the name Berengaria comes from and what it means?
Replies
It's a feminine form of Berengar/Berenger (Old German, meaning "bear" + "spear"). Someone has submitted Berengar as a user-submitted name on this site - try searching here for it to see their entry.
This is the entry from the Withycombe Oxford:
Berengaria (f.): f. of Berenger (q.v.). The queen of Richard I was named Berengière, which was Latinized as Berengaria. The name did not take root in England, but there have been children named Berengaria in Southampton in the present century after the well-known transatlantic liner of that name.
As another reader pointed out googling is nice, although it's better if you can get backup from something you know is more reliable - I usually don't trust a name site unless it's this one or I can find the same thing in a fairly reliable book.
This is the entry from the Withycombe Oxford:
Berengaria (f.): f. of Berenger (q.v.). The queen of Richard I was named Berengière, which was Latinized as Berengaria. The name did not take root in England, but there have been children named Berengaria in Southampton in the present century after the well-known transatlantic liner of that name.
As another reader pointed out googling is nice, although it's better if you can get backup from something you know is more reliable - I usually don't trust a name site unless it's this one or I can find the same thing in a fairly reliable book.
Thanks :)
Camilla, are you sure Withycombe's book says that Berengaria of Navarre's name was Berengière. I've always read that the French feminine form was Bérengère. Her maternal grandmother had the same name but in the Spanish form, Berenguela. As the royal family of Navarre all had Spanish names at that time Berengaria of Navarre may well have been called Berenguela as well.
Withycombe definitely has the spelling I listed. (Of course no book is perfect, so it's possible that it's not correct.)
Interesting. Thanks for answering.
Try googling things. I found this:
http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/0/Berengaria
http://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/0/Berengaria
Well, I did google it, but at first I couldn't find anything, so I asked here - and then of course I found it myself, haha... But thanks anyway! :)