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It was invented by an author but does anyone know where exactly it comes from?
Wiki says it is a cross between Aminta and Arabella.
Makes sense, but I wonder if there is any proof that the author made it up that way?
Please rate my list: https://www.behindthename.com/pnl/6232
Wiki says it is a cross between Aminta and Arabella.
Makes sense, but I wonder if there is any proof that the author made it up that way?
Please rate my list: https://www.behindthename.com/pnl/6232
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Given that Wikipedia cites no sources for that claim, I'd say there's no real proof at all.
The earliest record I can find on familysearch for anyone named Araminta is a wedding in 1709. The bride would have had to be 15 or 16 to have been named after the character in the 1693 play, and while that was unusually young even then, it would not be at all out of the realms of possibility. It does therefore seem likely that the name was invented for the play.
Neither Arabella nor Aminta was in common usage in England at the start of the 1600s (I haven't found a single reference to either in my usual sources), but the names used in plays were often fanciful or deliberately 'foreign' anyway so the coinage needn't be based on that.
The earliest record I can find on familysearch for anyone named Araminta is a wedding in 1709. The bride would have had to be 15 or 16 to have been named after the character in the 1693 play, and while that was unusually young even then, it would not be at all out of the realms of possibility. It does therefore seem likely that the name was invented for the play.
Neither Arabella nor Aminta was in common usage in England at the start of the 1600s (I haven't found a single reference to either in my usual sources), but the names used in plays were often fanciful or deliberately 'foreign' anyway so the coinage needn't be based on that.
This message was edited 6/21/2021, 2:03 AM
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