Dantelikesit2

Would like for someone to help me out if they could with some name translations.

I was wanting to have my spouse and kids names translated from U.S. English to Ancient Greek so I can eventually wear them as tattoos...

The names are as follows:

Tracey Anne Edwards
Matthew Brennen Edwards
Erika Rene Edwards
Alexandria Michelle Edwards
Clayton Isaac McCoy Edwards

Thanks,

Dante

"Great art is not delivered like the morning paper... It has to be stolen, from Mount Olympus." -Wayne Thiebauld-

Lina

Hi !

I suppose you want a letter for letter translation, for most of these names don't exist in Ancient Greek. Even this way, it's a rather difficult thing to do, because some of the sounds don't exist either ( e.g. [ w ] or [ y ], which is actually a French [ u ] ). So I tried to make it with "i" instead of "y" and "ou" instead of "w", which is what corresponds the most to the English pronunciation.

Here they are, then :

Τρασει Ἀννε Ἐδουαρζ
Ματθεου Βρεννεν Ἐδουαρζ
Ἐρικα Ρενε Ἐδουαρζ
Ἀλεξανδρια Μιχελλε Ἐδουαρζ
Κλαιτον Ἰσαακ ΜκΚοι Ἐδουαρζ

rugbrat1970

Lina,

Could you translate the name "Alexandra" into Ancient Greek? This is also for a tattoo.

Thanks very much

nickel

I agree with Lina; some of these are Anglo-Saxon names with no equivalents in Ancient Greek. In modern Greek, they would be transliterated, i.e. you would have the sounds of these names in Greek characters. Even Matthew would become Μάθιου (i.e. the pronunciation of the name) rather than Ματθαίος (the Greek for the evangelist). Same for Isaac. Isaac Hayes is Άιζακ but the son of Abraham and Sarah is Ισαάκ.

My approach therefore would be what used to be the “translation” of English names up to, oh, about 80 years ago. For example, Edward is Έντουαρντ in modern Greek, but all those kings, up to the one who gave up the throne for the sake of that Simpson woman, were Εδουάρδος. Edwards is actually the genitive of Edward and Εδουάρδου sounds like an excellent Greek surname.
I have chosen the names Άννα, Ματθαίος, Ισαάκ, as they appear in the Bible, and Αλεξανδρία is a saint’s name (for Alexandria).
For Tracey, which is actually a form of Teresa, I propose once more the old name of saint Teresa, Θηρεσία.
Brennen is Irish (it meant ‘prince’ in Celtic), and a simple transliteration will suffice.
Erika is a bit of problem. We have Ερρίκος for Henry, but not a female equivalent. We have Ενριέττα for Henriette but it’s not the same. The modern form would be Έρικα, and I’m almost tempted to suggest Ερίκη, the daughter of a Greek river god. I’ll go with Έρικα for the time being.
Rene is of course Irene, another saint, Ειρήνη (which actually means ‘peace’).
Michelle is the feminine form of the archangel Michael and the Greek is Μιχαέλα.
Clayton is tough. It’s old English for a clay settlement. It’ll have to be simply transliterated, just like McCoy.
So here are my suggestions, the way these names might appear in an encyclopedia (or a Greek birth certificate) written about 200 years ago.

Θηρεσία Άννα Εδουάρδου
Ματθαίος Βρέννεν Εδουάρδου
Έρικα Ειρήνη Εδουάρδου
Αλεξανδρία Μιχαέλα Εδουάρδου
Κλαίητον Ισαάκ Μακ Κόϋ Εδουάρδου

And Alexandra is Αλεξάνδρα.

And here they are in the pretty typeface:

Θηρεσία Άννα Εδουάρδου
Ματθαίος Βρέννεν Εδουάρδου
Έρικα Ειρήνη Εδουάρδου
Αλεξανδρία Μιχαέλα Εδουάρδου
Κλαίητον Ισαάκ Μακ Κόϋ Εδουάρδου

Αλεξάνδρα

Manu_Athens

damn it nickel, that was an amazing post, one of the best i have ever read in such type of forums.
Your thoat is really deep and u seem to have full knowledge of British and Greek traditions.
RESPECT!
Btw are u Greek or not?

nickel

Thank you, Manu_Athens. I am Greek and a resident of an Athens suburb, as a matter of fact.

Surge121

Nickel, could you please translate Christy Marie for me please? This is also for a tattoo. Thank you very much