Pagans often choose new names when they choose to dedicate themselves to the Craft. There are a variety of reasons for this but the most important one is that it’s a new path, a whole new way of living - and as such, deserves it’s own identification. Rikka on Witchvox says, “A magickal name can help define you in your new life, it can affect what others think of you and you can use this to your advantage.” Most importantly, what she doesn’t say, is that affects what you think of yourself.
My birth name conjures images of strife and unhappiness, arguments and low self-esteem. Add to that, I’m named after someone I don’t even like at all, and it adds the images I associate with her as well. There is no reason in the world I would want that in a Circle, or anywhere else. I hate it so much that I’m going to legally change it one day.
For a long time, in ritual at any rate, I used a name I wasn’t completely comfortable with. I still am not. It doesn’t fit me. But one I picked up in the SCA, and often used online, invaded my life to a greater and greater degree until I began to use that name even offline. Before long, I was using only that name and to this day, use it by preference.
Viriatha de Cordova. This is who I am, who I choose to be.
Viriatha is the Latin feminine form of Viriathus, a Lusitanian leader who fought the Romans in western Iberia (Spain and Portugal). Not only was a he a great leader and successful general but Wikipedia has this to say about the etymology of the name itself:
There are several possible etymologies for the name Viriathus.[1] The name can be composed of two elements: Viri and Athus. Viri may come from:
My birth name conjures images of strife and unhappiness, arguments and low self-esteem. Add to that, I’m named after someone I don’t even like at all, and it adds the images I associate with her as well. There is no reason in the world I would want that in a Circle, or anywhere else. I hate it so much that I’m going to legally change it one day.
For a long time, in ritual at any rate, I used a name I wasn’t completely comfortable with. I still am not. It doesn’t fit me. But one I picked up in the SCA, and often used online, invaded my life to a greater and greater degree until I began to use that name even offline. Before long, I was using only that name and to this day, use it by preference.
Viriatha de Cordova. This is who I am, who I choose to be.
Viriatha is the Latin feminine form of Viriathus, a Lusitanian leader who fought the Romans in western Iberia (Spain and Portugal). Not only was a he a great leader and successful general but Wikipedia has this to say about the etymology of the name itself:
There are several possible etymologies for the name Viriathus.[1] The name can be composed of two elements: Viri and Athus. Viri may come from:
- the Indo-European root *uiros, “man”, relating to strength and virility;
- the Celtic *uiro- ‘man’; and the older forms viros, viri, viro, viron from which derived the Old Irish word for man, fir;[2]
- from *uei-, as in in the viriae or Celtiberian “twisted armbands” used by warriors (Pliny XXIII, 39);[3]
- the Latin viri meaning man, hero, person of courage, honor, and nobility.
Cordova was something I chose because of the city in Spain. When the Europeans retook the Iberian Penninsula from the Islamic Caliphates, they found a great many scrolls and books in the libraries of Cordova, including mathematics and the Arabic numeral system. A great deal of European Renassaince learning was inspired by the knowledge they pilfered from conquered Islamic territories at the time.
Strength. Honor. Education. It’s a great name.
Strength. Honor. Education. It’s a great name.
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