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Help"It's a shame there are so few butterfly names..." (ETA)
in reply to a message by yasmine
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 there
Indra - of Papilio indra; Indra means "possessing drops of rain"; has beautiful blue spots on a black background
Phoebus - of Parnassius phoebus could give Phoebe; very interesting-looking
Marcellus - of Eurytides marcellus; leads to Marcelline; very striking "Zebra" butterfly
Eurydice - of Colias eurydice; "Dog Face" butterfly, though I don't see a dog; has been featured on U.S. stamps
Olympia - of Euchloe olympia; wings have a sort of marbled vein effect
Cynthia, 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
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 there
Indra - of Papilio indra; Indra means "possessing drops of rain"; has beautiful blue spots on a black background
Phoebus - of Parnassius phoebus could give Phoebe; very interesting-looking
Marcellus - of Eurytides marcellus; leads to Marcelline; very striking "Zebra" butterfly
Eurydice - of Colias eurydice; "Dog Face" butterfly, though I don't see a dog; has been featured on U.S. stamps
Olympia - of Euchloe olympia; wings have a sort of marbled vein effect
Cynthia, 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
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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