Ariadne f
From classical mythology: the name of a daughter of the Cretan king Minos. She gave the Athenian hero Theseus a ball of wool to enable him to find his way out of the Labyrinth after killing the Minotaur. He took her with him when he sailed from Crete, but abandoned her on the island of Naxos on the way back to Athens. Greek lexicographers of the Hellenistic period claimed that the name was composed of the Cretan dialect elements ari- an intensive prefix + adnos holy. The name survived in the Christian era because of St Ariadne (d. c.130), an early Phrygian martyr.
Derivatives: French: Arianne. Italian: Arianna.
First names dictionary. 2012.