Emily is the English version of the Latin name “Aemilia” which is the feminine form of the Old Roman family name, “Aemilius” (from the Latin “aemulus” meaning “imitating, rivaling, striving to excel”.. yeh right! If I were to pick a name for myself I'd go for Abigail.

My name is originally from Greek. It means someone who likes horses. Horses were the equivalent of automobiles at the time the name was coined. They named me that after a great-grandfather. The original reference was probably to the father of Alexander the Great, a popular Greek emperor.

As Dan points out, most English speakers have no idea what their names mean or where they come from. Just in case anyone is interested, most commonly used traditional Western European names are originally from Hebrew, and have no meaning in European languages. For example, “Anni” and all its variations (Annie, Ann, Anne, Annette, Hanna, Hannah, etc.) are from a Hebrew word for “grace”. “John” is also based on the the Hebrew word for grace (note the H, usually dropped in European versions; and the double N, reduced to a single N in most European versions. ("Jon", on the other hand, is usually short “Jonathan”, Hebrew for the Lord has given).

The Wikipedia articles provide full details:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_(given_name)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_(given_name)

Thanks Som. Your name sounds like a sanskrit mantra to me.

I don't use the full version of either my first name or surname online. Somashankar Bhattacharya is going to tie most foreign tongues in knots. Both have pure Sanskrit origins, but I'll just deal with the first name.

It breaks down as Som(a) + Shankar(a). The Vedas describe soma as the intoxicating juice of a medicinal herb with extensive ritual usage in worship. It also means the moon as in Monday, which we call somvar. A crescent moon is seen in the matted locks of Shiva. Monday is known to be Shiva's day and Shankar(a) is one of the names of Shiva.

I was born on a Monday, in the ancient city of Varanasi which is well known as the abode of Shiva. I was born in a family of Hindu priests who were great devotees of Shiva. The links are too many to ignore. This was why my grandfather gave me that name (which I have been obliged to abbreviate for nearly every informal situation for the rest of my life).

People often wonder how we can be directly equated to or be named after our gods. It's because unlike Abrahamic rеIigiоns, we have no mandatory prescriptions, prohibitions or the concept of blasphemy (thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain).

My name is Mohsen.It is arabic originally but so common in Iran.it means: a man who does things well.

But I'm not because I'm crazy 😀

@phil

phil ,in Persian phil means elephant

maybe phils like horses? :)