Leocadia

Comments (Meaning / History Only)

I recently discovered another possible etymology for the name Leocadia, which I am going to post here in a separate comment, rather than including it in my previous comment (as then that comment would become too long and convoluted). This new possibility for the meaning and origin of Leocadia is as follows:

It could be that Leocadia is the feminine form (with some slight corruption) of Leucadius, which is the latinized form of the Greek masculine name Leukadios (Λευκάδιος). Leukadios is also found variantly spelled as Leikadios, Leikados, Leukades and Leukados. If you look at my previous comment, variant spellings of this name could also have been Leikades, Leikedes, Leikedios, Leikedos, Leukedes, Leukedios and Leukedos, but these don't yield any search results on Google.

Either way, Leukadios is the name of a character in Greek mythology. His name (along with the latinized form of his name) can be found in the "Namesakes" section of this website. In Greek mythology, Leukadios is the son of Ikarios and Polykaste (who are better known under the latinized form of their names, namely Icarius and Polycaste). According to myth, he is said to be the eponym of the ancient Greek island of Leukas, which is nowadays known as Lefkada and is located in the Ionian Sea.

The etymology of his name is a bit uncertain, as there are currently two possibilities (that I know of) in existence for it. I will describe them below.

The first is that his name is derived from Λευκάδος (Leukados), which is the genitive form of Λευκάς (Leukas), the ancient Greek name for the Ionian island that is nowadays known as Lefkada (Λευκάδα in modern Greek). If this is indeed the case, then the meaning of the name Leukadios would essentially be "from Leukas", in a similar fashion to names like Lucas (see Luke in the main database). The island itself derives its name from the Greek adjective λευκός (leukos) meaning "white" as well as "bright, clear, brilliant". This is because the island was named after the white cliffs on its southern coastline.

The second possibility is that the name Leukadios is a regular compound name just like most ancient Greek names. In this case, the first element of the name is most likely derived from the Greek adjective λευκός (leukos) meaning "white" as well as "bright, clear, brilliant". Other Greek words that fit the appearance of the first element would simply *not* make much sense as an element in a given name, such as the noun λεύκη (leuke) meaning "leprosy" and the verb λεύω (leuo) meaning "to stone".
The second element of the name is then most likely derived from the noun κᾶδος (kados), which is the Doric Greek form of the ancient Greek noun κῆδος (kedos) meaning "(the) caring about, care for others" as well as "grief, mourning (for the death of a relative)". As a result, the name Leukadios would then have the (more or less figurative) meaning of "there is joy in caring for others" or "there will be light again after mourning", due to the connotations that the first element has with light (and therefore, joy and happiness).

With that said, I have now shared everything that I know about the (possible) etymology of the name Leukadios and therefore, also everything that I know about the new possible etymology for the name Leocadia. As a result, I will now bring this post to a close - but of course, not without giving you a small list of useful links (see below). In the meantime, I hope that at least some of the information given in this comment will be useful to you. :-)

― Lucille 11/26/2016

I was just browsing through a list of (both ancient and late) Greek given names in the scientific database of Trismegistos People and I came across the masculine name Neokadios (Νεοκαδίος), which of course immediately reminded me of this name (Leocadia) and made me want to take a look at its entry. I see that there appears to be some uncertainty regarding the etymology of the name Leocadia. Given the high degree of similarity between Leocadia and Neokadios, I would say that Leocadia is quite likely entirely (and not partly) of Greek origin, although the second element seems to be a rare one for Greek given names.

I proceeded to do some digging and came across a number of sources with interesting and/or useful information about the etymological origin of Leocadia. I have listed all of them below, but the general gist of them is that Leocadia is the feminine form of Leocadius, which is the latinized form of the Greek masculine name Leokades (also found spelled as Leokedes). That name consists of λεώς (leos) meaning "the people" (it is the Attic Greek form of λαος (laos) "people") and of κᾶδος (kados) meaning "caring about, caring for" (it is the Doric Greek form of κῆδος (kedos) "care about, care for others"). As a result, the meaning of the name is basically "one who cares about the people".

I have been unable to find the Greek spelling for the original masculine name so far, so I put together on my own what I think the spelling could be for it and all its variants (just so we can all have a general idea). I left the diacritics out because that would get a bit too difficult and confusing.

Leokades = Λεωκαδης or Λεοκαδης. Both yield no results on Google.
Leokadios = Λεωκαδιος or Λεοκαδιος. Both yield no results on Google. Interestingly, Google asked me about Λευκαδιος (Leukadios) when I did the search.
Leokados = Λεωκαδος or Λεοκαδος. Both yield no results on Google. Interestingly, Google asked me about Λευκαδος (Leukados) when I did the search.

Leokedes = Λεωκηδης or Λεοκηδης. The first spelling gets results on Google, the second does not.
Leokedios = Λεωκηδιος or Λεοκηδιος. Both yield no results on Google.
Leokedos = Λεωκηδος or Λεοκηδος. Both yield no results on Google.

With that said, here is - finally! - the list of sources. I hope that at least some of them will prove to be useful. :-)

- http://www.trismegistos.org/nam/detail.php?record=33503 (in English; this is the entry for Neokadios, which appears to be a Late Greek name)
- http://www.behindthename.com/bb/fact/63568 (in English; mentions that the name comes from Leokades and consists of the elements "leos" and "kados")
- https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leokadia (in Polish; mentions that Leocadia basically means "deeply concerned with people" in Greek)
- https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leokadiusz (in Polish; mentions that Leokadiusz consists of the Greek elements "laos/leos" and "kedos/kados" and thus means "caring about people")
- "It developed as a feminine form of a Greek name, Leokades, which meant “one who cares about the people.” The Romans used the name in the form Leocadius...", see page 2 of "Obodziński - Leokadia" written by William F. "Fred" Hoffmann: http://www.fredhoff.com/Obodzinski_Leokadia.pdf (in English)
- "Also, the name appears in Latin as Laocadia as well as Leocadia, which makes no sense if it's of Latin origin, but makes perfect sense if it's Greek, since that root _leos_ also shows up as _laos_ in Greek." from http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/POLAND-ROOTS/2006-12/1164991073
- "Wichtige Markierungen für die Chronologie sind die Angaben zu Leokedes (anderswo auch Leokades genannt), dem Sohn des Pheidon = Phaëton...", see page 100 of "Die Geschichte des Altertums in neuer Sicht" written by Herbert Gabriel: https://books.google.nl/books?id=0BfRCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA100 (in German)
* about "leos":
- https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CE%BB%CE%B5%CF%8E%CF%82 (in English; mentions that "leos" is the Attic form)
- http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=lew%2Fs&la=greek&can=lew%2Fs (in English)
* about "kados": http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=ka%3Ddos&la=greek&can=ka%3Ddos (in English)
* about "kedos":
- https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CE%BA%E1%BF%86%CE%B4%CE%BF%CF%82 (in English; mentions that "kados" is the Doric form)
- http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=kh%3Ddos&la=greek&can=kh%3Ddos (in English).

― Lucille 11/19/2016

Here is a warning. In Hungarian this name literally means "he or she will vomit on something". So, if you have this name and you're traveling to Hungary, maybe make up a nickname and use it during your stay. Something like Leo or Leoni should be fine. Or use Leocadia but be prepared for the occasional giggles from the natives.

― Bloo 8/18/2016

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