Everyday LifeGreek → English
Eunice
/ˈjuːnɪs/noun
A female given name of Greek origin.
The Greek roots
εὖ
eû
well, good
νίκη
níkē
victory
Literally: “good victory”
The story of the word
Two of the commonest building blocks in Greek naming, εὖ and νίκη, joined to promise that the victory came out well. Paul's second letter to Timothy names Eunice as the young man's mother and Lois as his grandmother, and that single verse carried the name into Christian Europe. English speakers took it up after the Reformation along with the rest of the New Testament's supporting cast.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
- First recorded
- 16th century
Same family
NicholasBereniceEugeneeulogy
In a sentence
Eunice signed the card from all four of them.
Her grandmother was a Eunice, and so was every second woman in the parish register.