Akademik

Flora f

Scottish, English, and German: name borne in Roman mythology by the goddess of flowers and the spring (a derivative of Latin flōs flower, genitive flōris). It is also the feminine form of the old Roman family name Flōrus, likewise derived from flōs. There were medieval given names for both sexes from this root, but they have mostly died out (see FLORIAN (SEE Florian), however). Flora was little used in England before the 18th century, when it was imported from Scotland. In 1746 Flora Macdonald (1722–90), daughter of Ranald Macdonald of Milton in South Uist, helped Bonnie Prince Charlie to escape from there to the Island of Skye, disguised as a woman, after his defeat at Culloden. In fact, Flora was merely an Anglicized form of her Gaelic name, Fionnaghal, a variant of Fionnghuala (see FENELLA (SEE Fenella)). However, her fame made the name Flora popular in the Highlands as well as elsewhere.

Pet form: English and Scottish: Florrie (Gaelic Flòraidh).