Dora (given name)
Dora (Greek: Δώρα) is a female name of Greek origin being a shortened form or derived from Dorothea (Dorothy), Theodora[1] meaning "Gift" or in its full form "God's Gift", from δῶρον, doron, "gift"[2] + θεός, theos, "god".[3] The name Dora can also be a short form of Isadora, Isidora and other such compound names. The earliest form of the word doron is the Mycenaean Greek 𐀈𐀨, do-ra, meaning "gifts", written in the Linear B syllabic script, but it is not an anthroponym, it is only the plural (δῶρα) of said word;[4] on the other hand, the names Theodora and Amphidora are attested in Linear B as 𐀳𐀃𐀈𐀨, te-o-do-ra, and 𐀀𐀠𐀈𐀨, a-pi-do-ra, respectively. The masculine counterpart of the latter, i.e. Amphidoros, is also found: 𐀀𐀠𐀈𐀫, a-pi-do-ro.[5]
In Albanian language, "Dora" means "hand". In the Russian language, Dora can be a diminutive of the male first name Agafodor.[6]
People
- Dora Altmann (1881–1971), German actress
- Dora Anastasiou (born 1988), Cypriot beauty queen
- Dora Bakoyannis (born 1954), Greek politician
- Dora Barrancos (born 1940), Argentine academic and politician
- Dora Bryan (1923–2014), British actress
- Dora Carrington (1893–1932), British painter
- Dora Gabe (1886–1983), Bulgarian Jewish poet
- Dora Greenwell (1821–1882), English poet
- Dora Hand (c. 1844–1878), American dance hall singer in Dodge City, Kansas
- Dora d'Istria (1828–1888), Romanian-Albanian writer
- Dora Kyriakou (born 1967), Cypriot sprinter
- Dora Lewis (born 1862), American suffragist
- Dora Maar (1907–1997), French model and photographer
- Dora Mavor Moore (1888–1979), Canadian actress
- Dora Montefiore (1851–1933), English-Australian suffragist, socialist
- Dora Musielak, Mexican-American aerospace engineer, historian of mathematics, and book author
- Dora Pejačević (1885–1923), Croatian composer
- Dora Knowlton Ranous (1859–1916), American actress, author
- Dora Russell (1894–1986), British author*
- Dora Stratou (1903–1988), Greek dancer and folklorist
- Dora V. Wheelock (1847–1923), American activist and writer
Fictional characters
- Dora Marquez, title character of Dora the Explorer
- "Dora the Female Explorer", a song by British band Stackridge from their debut album Stackridge
- Dora Winifred "D.W." Read, character in the Arthur book and television series
- Dora Orefice, character in the Life Is Beautiful movie
See also
- Dora (disambiguation)
References
Notes
- Dora, Behind the Name
- δῶρον. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project.
- θεός in Liddell and Scott.
- "The Linear B word do-ra". Palaeolexicon. Word study tool of ancient languages. Raymoure, K.A. "do-ra-qe". Minoan Linear A & Mycenaean Linear B. Deaditerranean.
- "te-o-do-ra-qe". Raymoure, K.A. "a-pi-do-ra". Minoan Linear A & Mycenaean Linear B. Deaditerranean.
- Superanskaya, p. 24
Sources
- А. В. Суперанская (A. V. Superanskaya). "Современный словарь личных имён: Сравнение. Происхождение. Написание" (Modern Dictionary of First Names: Comparison. Origins. Spelling). Айрис-пресс. Москва, 2005. ISBN 5-8112-1399-9