Evening star., 1923-09-23
NAMES FOR GIRLS
And What They Mean

~ENEVIEVE is particularly popu-
NJ lar in England and the United
States as a name for girls. 1t is said
to have originated in the Franco
German provinces from the old Ger
man winfrid or winfrith. The Eng
lish equivalent is really Winifred, but
this name is generally considered as
entirely separate from Genevieve.
The meaning of Genevieve is given
as friend of peace" Therefore, a
girl of this name should cultivate a
gentle. amlable disposition and avoid
squabbles SO as TO live up to her
name.
The Welsh for Genevieve is Gwen
frewi. frequently abbreviated to
wefred and wenefred. A national
saint bears the full title of st. Wini-
freda and there is a we'll in Flint
shire that is sacred to her. The
legend of an old miracle relates that
this is the spot where Gwenfrewis
head was cut off by Caradoc, Prince
of North Wales. AS her head fell,
a fountain arose. St. Beno was sup
posed to have been passing at the
time and so he set her head on
again and she returned to her home
safe and sound.
Still another Saint Genevieve was
Genevieve of Brabant, wife Of Count
Siegfried of Treves. She lived about
the middle of the eighth century. and
a medieval legend states that Colo,
major domo to Siegfried, falsely ac-
cused her of committing a grave sin
and ordered that she be taken to a
dense forest and beheaded The
executioner, however, did not have
the heart to kill her and left her in
the forest. She lived with a little
son in the cave home of a friendly
deer. Six years later Siegfried was
out hunting in the forest and pursued
this same deer which fed to the cave
for protection. Upon finding his wife
there. Siegfried gladly took her home
with him. During her absence he had
discovered the treachery of Colo and
the innocence of Genevieve. This
I tale has inspired books by Cerisiers
and Simlock, dramas by Tieck and
Hebbel, and an opera by Schumann
Probably the most celebrated OF
Genevieves is st. Genevieve, the pa.
troness of the city of Paris, France
She is picturesquely represented in
Christian art with the devil blowing
out her candle, and an angel lightins
it again. She was predecessor OF
the famous jeanne dare and saved
Paris. from Attila, the Hun. She is
also accredited with having increased
| food supplies in time of famine
averted floods, and furnished hearing
sight and speech to a deaf and dumb
lawyer.
Still another Genevieve has become
famous in history. This is the
Duchess of LonguevilIe, sister of the
great Conde of France. She made
some disparaging remarks about
King Louis, who. hearing them, said
he didn't believe she said them. AL.
though her brother, Prince Conde
urged her to lie when questioned by
the king, she refused to do so, al.
though she fully expected to be sent
to prison for her indiscretion. She
was, however, forgiven by the lenieni
| monarch and was ever afterwar6
known as Truthful Genevieve," q
name which has since become a by.
word in all France.
The motto for Genevieve is "proteci
thy goodness and the flower is TIL,
fragile and fragrant wood violet.
Other forms of the name are the
| colloquial English. Jennifer; French
Javotte, Genevion and vevette; Latin
| Genoveffa and We've; German, Genoe-
IA. veva and yefele; Breton. Faik
Russian. Zenevieva; which shows
| that Genevieve is certainly varied in
form and wide In appeal as q name
ffor girls. re- = T-s- '77~ --1---7r --s--