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Girl · Ancient Greek
Euphemia
Say it: yoo-FEE-mee-uh
Meaning
Greek euphēmia, 'good speech, good repute'.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
Used in medieval and Victorian Britain, especially Scotland, often shortened to Effie.
Its wave through time
Rare in the records
In the United States
- 696 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1889, about 1 in 16,200 girls
- 14 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The Early Middle Ages400 to 800
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- The Renaissance1400 to 1600
- The Age of Revolutions1750 to 1837
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Eufemia, Effie, Eupheme, Phemie
| French | Euphémie |
|---|---|
| Spanish | Eufemia |
| Italian | Eufemia |
| Polish | Eufemia |
| Russian | Yefimiya |
| Greek | Effimia |
| Greek | Efimia |
| Scottish | Euphemia |
Famous bearers
- Euphemia of Chalcedon, martyr of 303
- Euphemia de Ross, queen of Robert II of Scotland
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Lives of the saints and early Christian martyrologies
- Calendars of saints and name days
- Parish baptism registers
- Royal and noble genealogies
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.