Cynthia

Cynthia comes from the Greek Kynthia, and was a title of the goddess Artemis. It means "woman (or goddess) of Kynthus." Kynthus was the mountain on which Artemis was supposedly born. The name wasn't used in the Middle Ages, but reappeared in the 17th and 18th centuries to some extent. Because Artemis was a virgin goddess, and Queen Elizabeth I was the virgin queen, Raleigh, Spenser and others used "Cynthia" to refer to the queen. Many wives of U.S. plantation owners gave the name Cynthia to slaves in the 19th century; many slaves of that time were given names from classic literature. Cynthia has been used steadily if not overwhelmingly since then. It had a brief surge of popularity in the U.S. in the mid 1900's, making it to #10 in the 1960's. Currently it remains comfortably in the top 300; used but not overused. Cynthia is a somewhat versatile name, bringing with it the nickname Cindy, which as a name in its own right has become nearly as much used as Cynthia.