A Greek
historian in the time of Nero and the name of the woman who first spun silk,
this historic name would make a unique choice and strong choice.
Pamphile (pronounced: PAM-feh-lee) is
an Ancient Greek name and bears the meaning of ‘friend of all’. Whilst
quite the unique name now, the name was notably given to two relatively famous
women of the Ancient Greek world. The first was a woman who solely went by the
name of Pamphile as is noted by the natural philosopher, Pliny the Elder, in 70
BC. He stated that she invented silk weaving on the Greek island of Kos. Not
only does Pliny credit this woman from the island of Kos as the inventor of
silk weaving but so does the famed Aristotle.
The other
Pamphile was Pamphile of Epidaurus st
century who lived during the reign of Nero. Considered to be Egyptian by birth
of descent, her principal work is seen as the Historical Commentaries which was a history of Greece comprising of
thirty-three books. A literary work that was quoted by her contemporaries and
later writers, this Pamphile is also noted to be very loyal to her husband,
always found in each other’s company, even when she was writing.
who was a historian in the 1
An alternative
feminine version of the name is Pamphila
as well as the masculine alternative of Pamphilos.
All three of these names have never seen popularity. There are also
alternatives in other languages such as the masculine Italian and Spanish form of Panfilo, a name which was used in the
14th century by the Italian novelist Boccaccio in his work The Decameron.
Whilst not a
popular name nowadays, this rare gem could make an excellent choice for a girl
today and I would be delighted to see it used as this name has positive meaning
and two strong historic name sakes.
