Character Name
Raina
Raina Raina carries the Slavic-Latin concept of queenliness alongside Shaw's comic deflation of romantic pretension — his Raina begins the play as an impossibly idealistic young woman and ends it as someone capable of recognizing genuine worth beneath unheroic surfaces. The Latin regina root gives the name an expectation of dignity and command, while the Slavic associations connect it to the forested, fiercely independent cultures of Eastern Europe. It suits protagonists whose romantic idealism is their most charming and most dangerous quality.
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Famous characters named Raina
Raina Petkoff
Arms and the Man — George Bernard Shaw
The romantic Bulgarian heroine who discovers that the unheroic Swiss mercenary Bluntschli is more appealing than her idealized image of a warrior, in Shaw's anti-romantic comedy of the Serbo-Bulgarian War.
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More Latin names
Rufo
“From the Latin Rufus meaning "red-haired" or "red", from the root rufus/ruber related to redness. Rufus was a common cognomen in ancient Rome identifying red-haired members of a family, and was borne by several Roman historical figures. The name entered the Christian tradition through Rufus of Antioch, mentioned in Saint Paul's Letter to the Romans.”
Chester
“From the Old English Ceaster, the name given to Roman-walled cities and derived from the Latin castra, meaning "military camp" or "fortress." Chester in Cheshire, England, was the Roman fort city Deva Victrix. The surname Chester derives from someone who came from that city, and it entered use as a given name in 19th-century America, where it was borne by President Chester A. Arthur.”
Luigi
“The Italian form of Louis, from the Old High German Hlodwig composed of hlod meaning "fame, glory" and wig meaning "war" — thus "famous in battle". The name passed into Latin as Ludovicus, into French as Louis, and into Italian as Luigi. It was borne by eighteen kings of France and by Saint Luigi Gonzaga, the Italian Jesuit patron of youth.”
Marcella
“The Italian and Spanish feminine form of Marcellus, a Roman family name derived from Marcus — itself related to Mars, the Roman god of war, or possibly from the Etruscan. Marcella was the name of a wealthy fifth-century Roman widow who converted her household into a monastic community and was a disciple of Saint Jerome, making the name associated with learned female piety.”
Magnolia
“From the genus name Magnolia, the flowering tree named by the botanist Charles Plumier in honour of the French botanist Pierre Magnol (1638–1715). The word Magnolia is thus a Latinised form of the French surname Magnol, from the Occitan magno, related to the Latin magnus, "great." As a feminine given name, Magnolia is a floral name in the tradition of Violet, Lily, and Rose, used primarily in the American South, where the magnolia is the state flower of both Mississippi and Louisiana.”
Caesar
“Caesar is a Roman cognomen of uncertain etymology, possibly derived from the Latin word "caesaries" meaning "head of hair", or from "caedere" meaning "to cut", possibly referencing a caesarean birth in the family line. It became a title synonymous with supreme imperial authority, carried by Julius Caesar and all Roman emperors thereafter.”
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