The names Arya and Theon have
reportedly taken a rise in the charts with parents taking inspiration from the wonderful '
A Song of Ice and Fire' book series, better known to TV audiences in its adaptation form, '
Game of Thrones'. While both of these names are lovely, the series is actually filled with excellent real-life potential. One of my favourites happens to be the sister of Arya, Sansa.
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Sansa Stark as played by Sophie Turner
in 'Game of Thrones' |
Sansa (pronounced SAHN-suh) is not a made-up name like I originally thought when I first read the books but instead is of
Sanskrit origin and means 'praise, invocation, charm'. The name is also similar to the
Latin name
Sancia which means 'sacred'. George R.R. Martin drew a lot of inspiration for the names of his characters from history and it could very well be that he was inspired by a member of the infamous Borgia Family,
Sancia of Naples, who was married to Gioffre Borgia (Sansa's first love interest in the fantasy series is named Joffrey, an alternative spelling to Gioffre).
I also happen to find Sansa as an alternative to Sarah. While neither Sansa or Sancia has been popular in the charts, Sarah is currently #39 on the US Charts and #36 in Australia and despite the different meanings (Sarah means 'princess' but considering Sansa is a
Princess of the North in the book series) I think that Sansa could make a perfectly good tribute to any Sarah namesake. And for anyone who likes the connotations derived from the name
Apple, Sansa is a variety of the fruit.
This happens to be one of my top names and I would very willingly use it on any child. It evokes sweetness and like its meaning, it has a ton of charm. With Arya on the rise, I would very much like to see the same happen to this name.
I love 'A Song of Ice and Fire'! I slightly prefer Arya just because the character is so much spunkier, but Sansa is such a lovely name. Even more so know that I've heard some of the history behind the name :)
ReplyDeleteThe Gioffre/Joffrey connection is interesting too.
It's also funny because GRRM foreshadowed Arya's crossdressing with her name. Arya is a MALE Persian name that means "faithful friend" (which she is, so long as you're mutual friends).
DeleteNow there's a genius bonus.
Also, Theon is an interesting case since his name means "untamed" in Ancient Greek. Considering that he's been in different situations where people have tried to "tame" him in one way or another (Ramsay being the most brutal example, but his father also counts in the way that he wanted Theon to act in a certain way even though he didn't earn his son's love after he abdicated all responsibility over him, even Starks could be said to have tried to "tame" Theon by trying to "civilize" him and not make him act like an Ironborn in a subconscious way). Since Theon's escaped Ramsay and forcefully tried to retain his identity, Theon shows his namesake in that he refused to let Ramsay "tame him" by refusing the Reek identity at the end.
I really like these little genius bonuses that GRRM gives us.
I have really started to like Sansa ever since reading these books!
ReplyDeletethere is many sources cliam different origins about the name sansa
DeleteI don't know what it is with this Danaerys obsession... personally after reading the books Sansa sounds like a by far more interesting character. I know Arya is brave but don't factor out little Sansa either
ReplyDeleteWait a minute, I'm confused. What does she mean by "And for anyone who likes the connotations derived from the name Apple, Sansa is a variety of the fruit."
ReplyDeleteHow is this name derived from Apple? I love the name Apple, as well as what it stands for. And I also love Sansa.
There are a variety of apples like Pink Lady or Grannysmith apples. One of these varieties are called Sansa apples.
DeleteMy first daughter is called Ariya but I named her before reading the books. Now I have read and wathed I really like the name Sansa and if I had another girl one day I would definitely consider it as her name
ReplyDeleteI probably worded it wrong in the post but there is a type of apple known as Sansa which is a cross between a Gala and Akane apple that was developed in Japan. Hopefully that clears that up. I can see how my sentence may be a bit confusing.
ReplyDeleteI have a 4 month old daughter, and we named her Sansa. I love the name, and our daughter charms everyone who sees her. The only draw back is we're in Canada so the pronunciation is like Santa with an s instead of like salsa with an n, lol.
ReplyDeleteWe had a beautiful girl yesterday. She was born in the cold winter of Chicago and promptly brought a snow storm on the day she was born. She’s definitely charmed us all and this was the best name for her. we named her SANSA ! Queen of the North !
DeleteJust gave birth to my baby girl 17/3/14. I'd read all of the Game of Thrones books and have seen the tv series. My partner and I adored the name Sansa from the beginning and once we knew our baby was a girl, it was her name without question. My little Sansa Rose is beautiful, and my pride and joy xx
ReplyDeleteI have named my second daughter sansa as chosen by her uncle(mama) and I love this name. My first daughter is named sanvi the name of goddess lakshmi. Both sisters have names that sound good together.
ReplyDeleteI breed German Shepherd Dogs. My youngest bitch is Sansa, named because even at only 9 weeks (when I bought her) she looked nothing like a puppy; she looked like a miniature adult with classically beautiful facial bones and markings. Turns out that her temperament is all Daenerys: "I am the queen!" lol
ReplyDeleteI breed German Shepherd Dogs. My youngest bitch is Sansa, named because even at only 9 weeks (when I bought her) she looked nothing like a puppy; she looked like a miniature adult with classically beautiful facial bones and markings. Turns out that her temperament is all Daenerys: "I am the queen!" lol
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ReplyDeleteI breed German Shepherd Dogs. My youngest bitch is Sansa, named because even at only 9 weeks (when I bought her) she looked nothing like a puppy; she looked like a miniature adult with classically beautiful facial bones and markings. Turns out that her temperament is all Daenerys: "I am the queen!" lol
ReplyDeletePregnant with suprise gender. Considering sansa too if its a girl. My mothers name is Susan and my mother in law sandra so theres also a little wordplay combo of the two names :-)
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ReplyDeleteI can tell you, as a Sanskritist, that Sansa is most certainly NOT a Sanskrit word of any kind. If it were, the construction would be saṃ-sā (just as Sanskrit is written saṃs-kṛtam and samsara). It cannot be anything other construction, because N and S would never naturally occur together within a root word. Saṃ- is a prefix meaning "with" (its Latin form is cum-). That leaves "sā," which cannot be derived from any root and is completely meaningless. There is a Hindi word sāṃs (saans), which means breath, but it has no final a, and it comes from the Sanskrit word śvāsá (pronounced shwaasha), through Prakrit sāsa. In other words, there is nothing in this, either.
ReplyDeleteTo me personally, Sansa evokes Italian sanza ("without"). It fits her character perfectly (she is profoundly defined by her loss of first Lady and then her family). It's also pronounced correctly and is properly European. Usually, the author uses actual other forms of existing names (Joffrey is Old French for Geoffrey, and so forth.) Sansa is unusual in not having a fairly obvious origin. But it's also entirely possible that he simply made the name up for the sound. It certainly isn't related to any other established names.
The only other etymology I could think of would be šȁnsa/șansă, which is are Eastern European words meaning "chance, luck, opportunity" -- a perfect match for her role as a character, but again, it's not pronounced correctly.