2529: sinai Nov 15, 2021

Sinai is certainly a famous place due to its significance in the Bible, but the etymology of it is unclear. The area was known in Ancient Egypt as a place for mining turquoise as was called 'Biau' (mining). It is therefore thought that the Hebrew סיני (sinei) is from the name of the moon-deity of the Mesopotamian pantheon (and its ancient Egyptian equivalent Thoth), who was ‎associated with the area by locals, given that the desert on the peninsula around the mountain in Hebrew is known as מדבר סין (midbar sin) and nearby is the desert מדבר סיני (midbar sinei).

2482: Cleopatra: Not Exactly a Name Sep 28, 2021

Although the name Cleopatra is famous, most of her female relatives and ancestors were Cleopatra, her own full name being Cleopatra VII Philopator (Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ). Later she took on the title Theā́ Philopátōra (Θεᾱ́ Φιλοπάτωρα). Likewise, all her male relatives and ancestors were Ptolemy (Πτολεμαῖος) such as her brother and husband Ptolemy XIII Theos Philopator. Many of them therefore had other, secondary names with Cleopatra or Ptolemy acting as family names or even titles, though for women Arsinoe (Ἀρσινόη) or Berenice (Βερενίκη) also were options.