What's In A Name: Ferdinand, Ruth

Ferdinand-This name originated in Germanic as a compound, but the first part is hard to pin down. It "might" be related to English "fare." * The Old Germanic ancestor of "fare" meant, "to go, to travel." It "might" also mean "peace" (brought by strong defense against force of arms; thus, "protector, guarantor"), and this would make it related to English "frith" (or "friþ," as it was once written), a word overtaken by the borrowing of the word "peace," a word derived from Latin. The second part of the name goes back to Old Germanic "nanthiz," which meant, "a venture, a risk," which then gave Old English "neðan" (=nethan), a verb meaning, "to be daring, to be bold." Thus the name "Ferdinand" "could" mean "daring or bold traveler," or "bold protector." Germanic tribes entered Iberia and the name caught on there initially as "Ferdinando," later usually contracted to "Fernando." Several kings in Spanish history have been named "Fernando," and in Portuguese history, Ferdinand (Fernão) Magellan, the explorer, is famous. World War I was ignited by the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand (the spelling in German and English are the same). Not a terribly common name in English, except for men of German heritage, and Fernando is more common among American men with heritage from Spanish speaking countries, or with heritage from Portuguese speaking countries, especially Portugal or Brazil, which is the largest Portuguese speaking country. 
 
Ruth-From a Hebrew name which was derived from the transliterated Hebrew word "reut/re'ut," which meant "friend, companion." The name is, of course, well known from the Book of Ruth in the Old Testament of the Bible. "Ruth" was not a very common name among people connected to Christianity until the Reformation and thereafter. The popularity of the "Baby Ruth" candy bar, developed by an American candy company in the early 1920s,* could only have given a boost to the name, as the company "claimed" the candy was named after the daughter of former president Grover Cleveland. Ruth Cleveland had been well known to the public during her father's presidency, which was unfortunately reinforced by her early death from diphtheria, when she was only 12, a few years after Grover Cleveland left office. "Perhaps" some good marketing by the candy maker helped the sales of "Baby Ruths," as the candy bar also was thought by many to be named for baseball player, Babe Ruth, who was becoming ever more famous when the candy bar came onto the market. The candy proved to be a "home run" in sales, "perhaps" boosted by the association with both Babe Ruth and Ruth Cleveland. I must admit, when I was a kid, I thought the candy bar was named for Babe Ruth, and to my recollection, I never heard about the former president's daughter until decades later. 


I consulted the following, so for more information on any of the names see, "A World Of Baby Names" by Teresa Norman, published by Perigee/Penguin Group, New York, 2003. Also, "BabyNamesPedia."

* For the history of "fare," here is the link: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2008/10/taxing-question.html

WORD HISTORY:
Soap-This word, related to "sieve," "seep" and "sift," goes back to Indo European "seip," which had the notion, "to flow through, to drip, to trickle." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "saipon," which meant, "plant or tree resin," also "soap." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "sape," meaning, "reddish or reddish brown resin or salve, soap." This then became "sope," before the modern version. The other Germanic languages have: German "Seife," Low German Saxon "Seep," West Frisian "sjippe," Dutch "zeep," Danish "sæbe," Norwegian and Swedish "såpe," Icelandic "sápe." Long ago, Latin borrowed a form from Germanic, giving the Latin-based languages forms of the word too.