|
||||
 [ 2 syll. dap-hne, da-ph-ne ] The girl name Daphne is pronounced as DAEFNiy KEY. Daphne is mainly used in the English and German languages. It is of Old Greek origin. Derived literally from the word 'daphne' which means laurel, laurel tree. The name was borne in Greek mythology by a nymph who was turned into a laurel tree by her father to escape Apollo's unwanted attention. The laurel became sacred to the heartbroken Apollo, who made a crown out of her leaves; thus the laurel wreath came into use as a victor's crown at the ancient Pythian Games held in Apollo's honor. The given name was first taken up among English speakers in the 18th century, and it was popular in the late 19th century when plant names were in vogue. Daphne has 17 forms that are used in both English and other languages. Forms of Daphne used in English include Daffi, Daffie, Dafnee, Daphe, Daphine, Daphiny, Daphna, and Daphnee. Other English forms include the short form Daph, the pet forms Daff and Daffy, and the variant spellings Dafne (also used in German, and Italian), Daphney, and Daphnie. Foreign forms of the name include the Albanian and Slavic Dafina, the Hebrew Dafna, and the French Daphné. Daphne is a rather popular baby girl name. The name jumped in popularity from the 1930s up to the 1960s. Its usage peaked modestly in 1962 with 0.056% of baby girls being given the name Daphne. It had a ranking of #266 then. The baby name has experienced a fall in popularity since then. In 2008, its usage was 0.028% and its ranking #536, but it was nonetheless the most widely used among all girl names in its family. Baby names that sound like Daphne include the English Dafnee, the English Daphnee, the English Daphney, the French Daphné, the English Daphnie, the Hebrew Dafna, the English Daphine, the English Daphna, the English Devan, the English and Irish Devin, the English Devon, the English Devonne, the English Devyn, the Slavic Divna, the Albanian and Slavic Dafina, the English, German, and Italian Dafne, the English Daphiny, the English Davena, the English and Scottish Davina, and the English Davinia. A famous person named Daphne is Actress Daphne Zuniga, born 28 October 1962, San Francisco, California. KEY: Pronunciation for Daphne: D as in "dee (D.IY)" ; AE as in "at (AE.T)" ; F as in "fee (F.IY)" ; N as in "knee (N.IY)" ; IY as in "eat (IY.T)"   |
