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 [ 3 syll. al-(t)hea, alt-h-ea ] The girl name Althea is pronounced aeLTHIYah KEY. Althea is of Old Greek origin and it is used mainly in English. The meaning of Althea is 'wholesome, healing'. Derived from the word althein which is of the meaning 'to heal'. Althaia (Old Greek) is an older form of the name. Althaia was the Greek name for the marshmallow plant which was believed to have healing powers. In Greek mythology, Althea was the name of the mother of Meleager the hunter. She was told at her son's birth that he would die only if a certain log of wood remained unburnt; she initially kept it safe but later set it alight in a fit of fury, thereby killing her son. The name was popularized after Richard Lovelace used it as a poetic pseudonym for his beloved in his 17th-century poem 'To Althea, from Prison'. A variant form of Althea is Altea (Polish). In addition, Althea is a short form of Alethea (English). Althaea (spelling variant in English and Italian) is another form of the name. See also the related form, Althena (English). Althea is uncommon as a baby girl name. At the modest height of its usage in 1920, 0.027% of baby girls were named Althea. It was #356 in rank then. The baby name has markedly slipped in popularity since then, and is of only very light use today. Within all girl names in its family, Althea was nevertheless the most popular in 2008. Baby names that sound like Althea include Althaea (English and Italian), Alauda, Aleda (English), Aleida (German, Dutch, and English), Aleta (English and Spanish), Aletha (English), Aletta (French, Frisian, Italian, and Spanish), Alida (Hungarian, Dutch, German, Italian, English, and Greek), Alita (Spanish and English), Altea (Polish), Alwilda (English), Elida (English), Elidi, Elita (English), Élodie (French), Alathea (Greek), Alda (German, Italian, and Portuguese), Aleid (Dutch), Aleit (German), and Aletea. A famous person named Althea is Tennis Player Althea Gibson, born 25 August 1927 - 28 September 2003, Silver, South Carolina. KEY: Pronunciation for Althea: AE as in "at (AE.T)" ; L as in "lee (L.IY)" ; TH as in "theta (TH.EY.T.AH)" ; IY as in "eat (IY.T)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)"   |
