#misc names

Athena is a super ancient name of disputed origin. The dispute originally revolved around whether the Greek goddess was named after the city of Athens or it was named after her, though precedent now suggests the deity was named after the city. As for the city’s name, that’s so ancient that it predates the Greek language and no one is quite sure what it means. Tons of scholars have advanced tons of different (mostly debunked) theories including things like “flower” and “without death.” 

Others have suggested the goddess’ name may be syncretically connected to that of another ancient goddess such as Neith or Ḫannaḫanna.

Plato famously believed that Athena’s name came from the Greek roots a theonóa, “the mind of God,” which fits neatly into her mythological origin story of springing from Zeus’ head.

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Windsor is most familiar as the surname of the British royal family since 1917. It’s a place name that means “riverbank or slope with a windlass” in Old English and accordingly comes from the same etymological root as the word “winch.”

The etymological track goes something like:

Windles-ore → Windlesora → Windsor