Thursday, March 02, 2006

Victorious People

It's amazing what you can find on the Internet these days. For instance there are numerous sites that explain the origin of your name. Sites like http://www.thinkbabynames.com or http://www.behindthename.com. Just type in 'Name' followed by your name in Google and you get plenty of sites to choose from.

Of course I Googled my own name 'Niels'. It is of Danish origin and is a derivative of the Greek name 'Nikolaos' which means "victory of the people". 'Nike' means victory - now you can finally understand why a popular sports brand choose that name - and 'Laos' meaning people.

Saint Nicholas was a 4th-century bishop from Anatolia who, according to legend, saved the daughters of a poor man from lives of prostitution. He is also known as Santa Claus (from Dutch Sinterklaas), the bringer of Christmas presents. He is the patron saint of children, sailors and merchants, and Greece and Russia. Nicholas was also the name of two czars of Russia and five popes.