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ArchivesRe: Anaïs
in reply to a message by Sehentsin
Without more evidence, I myself am rather skeptical of the "Anahita" derivation.
By far the most famous person named Anais is the writer Anais Nin. Though she was born in France and raised there, her parents were immigrants to France from Cuba, and according to the Wikipedia page about her she had one of those incredibly long string of names upper-class Spanish speakers sometimes give their children: Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira. You will see that every one of her other five names is in the Spanish form, so my personal guess had always been that the name could be a telescoping of "Ana Isabel".
However, I see in Googling this morning that the actual earliest easily found example of Anaïs is the French actress Anaïs Pauline Nathalie Aubert, who usually went by the stage name Mademoiselle Anaïs. She was born in 1802 and died in 1871.
So far I unfortunately have not been able to find even the names of the parents of Mademoiselle Anaïs, so can't find any indication of whether or not she was actually born or baptized under that name. There was another French actress named Anaïs Fargueil (1819-1896), but it is possible that she was named after Mademoiselle Anaïs since that actress actually first became famous around age 14 in 1816. There was a French composer who went by the name Anaïs Marcelli (1809-1878), but she was born as Anne Laure Joséphine Hure and could have been inspired to adopt her pen name from Mademoiselle Anaïs.
Any way, since we know the composer was actually born as Anne, and since all the French sources found so far do seem to simply say Anaïs is a form of Anne, I think that is the best guess until further information is developed. Perhaps some reader of this thread who's from France can find more information about Mademoiselle Anaïs that would show who her parents were and whether or not she was actually baptized under that name. Also whether or not any one can find an example of a woman in France definitely called Anaïs before 1802. I know I've seen the interpretation that it is a medieval Occitan form of Anne, but have never seen anyone give an actual example of a woman called Anaïs from southern France in medieval times. But I am very skeptical as to how and why her parents would have named her from a short form of the Greek name of an ancient Iranian goddess when she was born in a small northern French town in 1802.
By far the most famous person named Anais is the writer Anais Nin. Though she was born in France and raised there, her parents were immigrants to France from Cuba, and according to the Wikipedia page about her she had one of those incredibly long string of names upper-class Spanish speakers sometimes give their children: Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira. You will see that every one of her other five names is in the Spanish form, so my personal guess had always been that the name could be a telescoping of "Ana Isabel".
However, I see in Googling this morning that the actual earliest easily found example of Anaïs is the French actress Anaïs Pauline Nathalie Aubert, who usually went by the stage name Mademoiselle Anaïs. She was born in 1802 and died in 1871.
So far I unfortunately have not been able to find even the names of the parents of Mademoiselle Anaïs, so can't find any indication of whether or not she was actually born or baptized under that name. There was another French actress named Anaïs Fargueil (1819-1896), but it is possible that she was named after Mademoiselle Anaïs since that actress actually first became famous around age 14 in 1816. There was a French composer who went by the name Anaïs Marcelli (1809-1878), but she was born as Anne Laure Joséphine Hure and could have been inspired to adopt her pen name from Mademoiselle Anaïs.
Any way, since we know the composer was actually born as Anne, and since all the French sources found so far do seem to simply say Anaïs is a form of Anne, I think that is the best guess until further information is developed. Perhaps some reader of this thread who's from France can find more information about Mademoiselle Anaïs that would show who her parents were and whether or not she was actually baptized under that name. Also whether or not any one can find an example of a woman in France definitely called Anaïs before 1802. I know I've seen the interpretation that it is a medieval Occitan form of Anne, but have never seen anyone give an actual example of a woman called Anaïs from southern France in medieval times. But I am very skeptical as to how and why her parents would have named her from a short form of the Greek name of an ancient Iranian goddess when she was born in a small northern French town in 1802.
This message was edited 4/4/2024, 9:11 AM
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