Charmian

English

Etymology

Diminutive form of Ancient Greek χάρμα (khárma, “joy”). According to Plutarch, the name of a servant and advisor of Cleopatra.

Proper noun

Charmian

  1. A female given name from Ancient Greek.
    • c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
      Help me away, dear Charmian, I shall fall:
    • 1979, Mary McMullen, But Nellie Was So Nice, Doubleday, page 23:
      Charmian Lyle had given herself her first name at the age of sixteen, upon encountering it in an English novel. Her baptismal name was Ethel. When her husband Walter was extremely angry with her, he called her Ethel. Charmian, she thought, suited her much better. She didn't think she looked, felt, or sounded like Ethel. Nor like her middle name, which she really detested, Edna.

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