Damaris - Name

Name

There is no universal consensus about the meaning of her name. Apparently it is the Hellenization of the Celtic name Damara, the goddess of fertility. With the subsequent invasions of the Gauls to Asia Minor and their permanent establishment in the Galatia region, the intermixing of both Greek and Celtic cultures may have given birth to the "Graeco-Celtic" name Damaris.

This was very common in the Hellenistic culture developed by Alexander the Great and his successors. Following this pattern, Artemis of Ephesus, which had previously been assimilated with an ancient local goddess of fertility happens to be the exact parallel with the Celtic deity.

On the contrary, those who support the pure Hellenic origin of the name, state that it is the "modern" Hellenistic form (or contraction) of the classical name Damarete, like Theron of Acragas's daughter who became the wife of Gelo of Syracuse. Others, instead, find it in the word "damalis" which in Greek language means "a heifer", hence the name.

What is not subject to discussion, is that the Indo-European root of the name comes from the word "dompt" meaning "dominant", so a suggested meaning would be "dominant woman".