# Given name etymologies and variants help



## 5jellys

Hi,
Does anyone know the meaning of the male Romanian name Scarlat? Also the name Catul, which I think means a puppy or young animal, is that really a Romanian name? I read it was in this one source but I'm really not sure. Does anyone know some variants of the name Codrin. I know Codru and that Codruț is a diminutive.

Also I've been looking everywhere for names that are uniquely Romanian. I've found Luminița, Viorica, Lăcrămioara, Doina, Crina, Codrin, Viorel, Brăduț, Manea, Doru, Dorel, and Crin? Anyone know anymore.

Thanks


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## farscape

Welcome the forum 5jellys,

First, let's go over some ground rules: please re-read the forum rules about single topic per discussion thread and what is the purpose of the WR forums.

I will moderate this discussion heavily to ensure it doesn't run astray: people posting in this thread should expect many changes and deletions as a result of trying to have one cohesive thread for such a complex topic.

Now a bit of info regarding what you're looking for:

Scarlati or Scarlatti is an Italian name but I have encountered it as a Romanian family name in the form of Scărlătescu or even Scarlat, but never as a first name (again, my experience, sample of 1).

Catul is not a Romanian name, rather a Roman/Latin one. I know of two Romanian people with the name Catul, one real - the painter Catul Bogdan - and one a character in the Lorelei novel by Ionel Teodoreanu, with the same name, professor Catul Bogdan. Definitely not a puppy name.

What is the purpose of this research, if you don't mind me asking? There are several online resources which will explain to some extent the etymology of Romanian names - dictionary style.

Alina, Cosmina/Cosmin, Costin, Costion, Codin are other candidates for a list of "authentic" Romanian names.

farscape - moderator


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## 5jellys

Thank you for answering some of my questions.

I'm researching this for a story I'm writing.

According to the Romanian wikipedia there are quite a few people called Scarlat:
Scarlat - Wikipedia

And on Catul I've read that Catul is derived from the Roman name Catullus which meant "puppy or young animals". Which might be where the word for puppy, cățeluș, comes from.


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## farscape

I see... the Scarlat names from Wikipedia belong to people from the 19th century or earlier. Depending on when your story takes place, that may or may not work.

In any case, if you're looking for authentically sounding Romanian names, these all will do: Ion, Maria, Mircea, Ileana, Smaranda, .., all Gheorghe and Constantin based variations... just say when and I'll stop  Tanța and Costel are a famous fictitious pair 

Catul -> cățel... (lat. Catellus) I thought of it but still not a person's name by any means.

Later,
f


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## 5jellys

Do you have any more names? Also does Cosmin have any diminutives?


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## jazyk

A list of Romanian names here: Listă de prenume românești - Wikipedia


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## 5jellys

Thanks, but I already looked through that list.


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## irinet

Cosminel_* is a diminutive for *_Cosmin.


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## 5jellys

Cosminel, thanks! I really like when the diminutives are longer than the name itself. English doesn't have much of those.


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## irinet

*1. *_*Scarlat *_could be of Persian origin, of what I've read. Prosperous people would have this distinctive name.
In Medieval England, it was known as a very _expensive reddish wool._

*2.* Those names you have been listed belong to our amazing folklore: _Doina_ is a folk literature species, for instance.

Other names are flower names that symbolize the tight Romanian bondage with Nature: _Codruț_ (= little forest), _Brăduț_ (little fir-tree).

*3. *Yes. You have _little John_, and we have _Ionuț. _We also have the short _Nelu _for John, and the diminutive, _Neluțu_.

For long _Nicholas - Nicolae_, we have have the short name _Nicu (Nick)_, and the diminutive _Nicu*şor*_. _Peter_ is _Petru_ - _Petri*şor*_. _Tudor_ has _Tudor*aş*, Dorin is Dorin*el.*_

As with girl's names, for Georgie - Georgeta, we have _Geta/Gica - Getuța/Gicuța_, _Maria_ - _Mărioara/Mari_,  a.s.o. _Ann_ would be _Anca_/_Ana_ - _Ancuța_/_Anişoara_.

As Farscape pointed out, there is a large variety of diminutives for our names, and it is true that there is an imbalance of what we can dear or not most in our language because such long names as _Valentin(a), Octavian, Nicolae, Violeta, Elena (Ela - Lena), Nicoleta (Nico), Margareta, Georgeta, Ionela, Petronela, Sebastian (Sebi), the pair name Constantin - Constantina (Tanța) _cannot be attached diminutive-markers. Instead, those names can be shortened first, and it is only then that we can attach to some front/back clipped names, those diminutives you are interested in like, _Octav, Sebi, Vio, Vali, Mari, Gica - Gic*uța*, Nela - Nel*işor*, Len*uța*.
_
Though true, this rule is not always valid as we have _Gheorghe - Ghiță - Gheorgh*iță*_.

On the other hand, I can say that long names like _Vior*el*_, _Marc_*el*,_ Gabri_*el*_,_ _Marc*el *_or _Vior*ica, Luminița, Lăcrămioara *(a beautiful flower name) _do possess _intrinsic_ diminutival suffixes.

I hope this will help.


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## 5jellys

Thanks for answering my Scarlat question! I did think the name was very smiliar to the word scarlet but I wasn't sure. Reading more about it now, you're probably right, apparently the english word scarlet comes from the old Middle English word scarlat. The color scarlet got its name from the scarlet wool which was commonly a bright red color.

Also, I guess it was obvious, but I didn't notice a lot of the names like Luminița, Viorel, Lăcrămioara had the common Romanian diminutives at the end. I really like the Romanian diminutives, they have a really nice sound, so it explains why these were some of my favorite names


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