Tamara (name)
Encyclopedia
Tamara is a female given name
in various languages. In Arabic, Georgian
, Hebrew, Russian
and other Slavic languages
, Italian
, Armenian
and other European languages, Tamara is derived from the Biblical name "Tamar
", meaning palm tree. The name also occurs in Sanskrit
meaning spice. In Telugu
, Tamil
and Malayalam, Tamara refers to the lotus flower.
The name Tamar has been one of the most popular female names in Georgia
because of Saint Queen Tamar in the 12th century. In Armenia the name Tamar was the name of the Princess of Akhtamar Island (present-day Akdamar Island
) which was named after her.
Variations include Tamar
, Tamra
, Tamera
, and Tamora. In North America
Tamara is pronounced Tam-uh-ruh or Tuh-mare-uh; in the United Kingdom
and Australia
it is sometimes pronounced as Tuh-mahr-uh; and in Russia
Taw-mahr-uh. In Arabic it is pronounced Tah-mar-ah.
The most common nickname for Tamara is Tammy or Tam, but other nicknames exist, such as Tamuna (თამუნა) in Georgia, Toma
in Russia, Mara
, Tama or Tara
.
One notable occurrence of the name 'Tamora' in literature is a character in Shakespeare's "Titus Andronicus
." In this play, Tamora is an ambitious and vengeful woman. Her sons plan to rape the daughter of Titus Andronicus but Tamora refuses the girl's pleas to stop them. Titus, in revenge for the brutal rape and disfigurement of his daughter, kills the young men, has them baked into a pie, and serves the pie to Tamora. Titus tells her that she just ate her sons immediately before killing her, too.
The name was popular in the United States during the second half of the 20th century, peaking in the 1970s. This popularity however, was brief, and the name is now extremely uncommon for babies born in America: in 2010, the name fell off the Top 1000 SSA Baby Names list, with fewer than 250 baby girls named Tamara that year. In Eastern European countries like Georgia, Russia, Croatia
, Serbia
, Slovenia
, Poland
, Armenia
and the Czech Republic
it has been a common name for centuries. In Australia
it was very popular during the 1980s and early 1990s.
In England, Tamara is the goddess of rivers and streams. The River Tamar
which forms the border between Devon and Cornwall derives its name from this spirit.
Given name
A given name, in Western contexts often referred to as a first name, is a personal name that specifies and differentiates between members of a group of individuals, especially in a family, all of whose members usually share the same family name...
in various languages. In Arabic, Georgian
Georgian language
Georgian is the native language of the Georgians and the official language of Georgia, a country in the Caucasus.Georgian is the primary language of about 4 million people in Georgia itself, and of another 500,000 abroad...
, Hebrew, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
and other Slavic languages
Slavic languages
The Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, Armenian
Armenian language
The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities in the Armenian diaspora...
and other European languages, Tamara is derived from the Biblical name "Tamar
Tamar (name)
Tamar is a female name of Hebrew origin, meaning "date" , "date palm" or just "palm tree". There are two characters in the Bible with this name, see Tamar . Variants include "Tamara" and "Tamera"...
", meaning palm tree. The name also occurs in Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
meaning spice. In Telugu
Telugu language
Telugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...
, Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...
and Malayalam, Tamara refers to the lotus flower.
The name Tamar has been one of the most popular female names in Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
because of Saint Queen Tamar in the 12th century. In Armenia the name Tamar was the name of the Princess of Akhtamar Island (present-day Akdamar Island
Akdamar Island
Akdamar Island also known as Aght'amar or Akhtamar, is the second by size of four islands in Lake Van in the south of Eastern Anatolia Region, Turkey, about 0.7 km2 in size, situated about 3 km from the shoreline. At the western end of the island a hard, grey, limestone cliff rises 80 m...
) which was named after her.
Variations include Tamar
Tamar (name)
Tamar is a female name of Hebrew origin, meaning "date" , "date palm" or just "palm tree". There are two characters in the Bible with this name, see Tamar . Variants include "Tamara" and "Tamera"...
, Tamra
Tamra
Tamra is an Israeli Arab city in the North District of Israel located in the Lower Galilee north of the city of Shefa-'Amr and approximately east of Akko . The name Tamra means date palm in Arabic...
, Tamera
Tamera
Tamera is a peace research village with the goal of becoming “a self-sufficient, sustainable and duplicatable communitarian model for nonviolent cooperation and cohabitation between humans, animals, nature, and Creation for a future of peace for all." It is also often called a “healing biotope." ...
, and Tamora. In North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
Tamara is pronounced Tam-uh-ruh or Tuh-mare-uh; in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
it is sometimes pronounced as Tuh-mahr-uh; and in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
Taw-mahr-uh. In Arabic it is pronounced Tah-mar-ah.
The most common nickname for Tamara is Tammy or Tam, but other nicknames exist, such as Tamuna (თამუნა) in Georgia, Toma
Toma (name)
In European and Assyrian usage, the name Toma is a version of Thomas, originating from Aramaic t’om’a, meaning ‘twin’.-People with this surname:*Adrian Toma , Romanian football player...
in Russia, Mara
Mara (name)
Mara is an Irish: shortened form of O’Mara; Hungarian: from a pet form of the personal names Márkus or Márton , or from a short form of the old ecclesiastical name Marcel; and Czech : from a pet form of the personal name Marek or Martin.Mara as a girl's first name is pronounced MAHR-ah...
, Tama or Tara
Tara (name)
Tara is a given name with multiple meanings in different cultures.It is also sometimes a nickname for Tamara, as an alternative to Tammy. In the Royal Engineers it is a common for a Sergeant Major to be referred to as Tara, after the wrestler who was a Sergeant Major and served in Burma during...
.
One notable occurrence of the name 'Tamora' in literature is a character in Shakespeare's "Titus Andronicus
Titus Andronicus
Titus Andronicus is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, and possibly George Peele, believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first tragedy, and is often seen as his attempt to emulate the violent and bloody revenge plays of his contemporaries, which were...
." In this play, Tamora is an ambitious and vengeful woman. Her sons plan to rape the daughter of Titus Andronicus but Tamora refuses the girl's pleas to stop them. Titus, in revenge for the brutal rape and disfigurement of his daughter, kills the young men, has them baked into a pie, and serves the pie to Tamora. Titus tells her that she just ate her sons immediately before killing her, too.
The name was popular in the United States during the second half of the 20th century, peaking in the 1970s. This popularity however, was brief, and the name is now extremely uncommon for babies born in America: in 2010, the name fell off the Top 1000 SSA Baby Names list, with fewer than 250 baby girls named Tamara that year. In Eastern European countries like Georgia, Russia, Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
, Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
and the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
it has been a common name for centuries. In Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
it was very popular during the 1980s and early 1990s.
In England, Tamara is the goddess of rivers and streams. The River Tamar
River Tamar
The Tamar is a river in South West England, that forms most of the border between Devon and Cornwall . It is one of several British rivers whose ancient name is assumed to be derived from a prehistoric river word apparently meaning "dark flowing" and which it shares with the River Thames.The...
which forms the border between Devon and Cornwall derives its name from this spirit.
List of people with the given name Tamara
- Tamara Barnett-HerrinTamara Barnett-HerrinTamara Barnett-Herrin is a London-based singer-songwriter, who has sung with the group Freeform Five on the album Strangest Things which was released in 2005...
, British singer-songwriter - Tamara BraunTamara BraunTamara Braun is American actress. She is best known for her roles on General Hospital as Carly Corinthos from 2001 to 2005, along with her roles on Days of our Lives as Taylor Walker and Ava Vitali. She is also known for her role on All My Children as Reese Williams.-Biography:Braun was born in...
, American soap opera actress - Tamara Bunke, better known as Tania the Guerrilla, a communist revolutionary
- Tamara DanzTamara DanzTamara Danz was the lead singer and lyricist of the East German rock group Silly. She died at age 43 of breast cancer.- Life and work :...
, German rock singer - Tamra DavisTamra DavisTamra Davis is an American film, television and music video director.-Biography:She is known for directing films such as Billy Madison, CB4 and Half Baked and television shows such as My Name Is Earl and Everybody Hates Chris. She also directed the film Crossroads, starring Britney Spears.She...
, American film director - Tamara DhiaTamara DhiaTamara Dhia is an Iraqi American actress and film producer.- Career :Tamara was raised in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, her parents left for the United States in the 1980s....
, Iraqi-born American actress and film producer - Tamara DrasinTamara DrasinTamara Drasin , often credited as simply Tamara, was a singer and actress who introduced the song Smoke Gets in Your Eyes in the 1933 Broadway musical Roberta.-Early life:...
, Ukrainian-born singer-actress - Tamara EcclestoneTamara EcclestoneTamara Ecclestone is an English-Croatian socialite, television personality and model.-Early life:Tamara Ecclestone was born in Milan. Ecclestone is the elder daughter of Croatian former Armani model Slavica Ecclestone and middle daughter of "Formula 1 Supremo" Bernie Ecclestone...
, English-Croatian socialite, television personality and model - Tamara JaberTamara JaberTamara Jaber , is an Australian pop singer-songwriter who rose to fame as a member of pop group, Scandal'us. She is also a former member of pop duo Scarlett Belle.- Early life :...
, Australian Singer - Tamara KarsavinaTamara KarsavinaTamara Platonovna Karsavina was a famous Russian ballerina, renowned for her beauty, who was most noted as a Principal Artist of the Imperial Russian Ballet and later the Ballets Russes of Serge Diaghilev...
, Russian ballerina - Tamara Johnson, American indoor volleyball player
- Tamara LarreaTamara LarreaTamara Larrea Peraza is a female beach volleyball player from Cuba, who won the gold medal in the women's beach team competition at the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, partnering Dalixia Fernández...
, Cuban beach volleyball player - Tamara de LempickaTamara de LempickaTamara de Lempicka , born Maria Górska in Moscow, in the Russian Empire, was a Polish Art Deco painter and "the first woman artist to be a glamour star."- Early life :...
, Polish art deco painter - Tamara Marthe, known as Shy'mShy'mTamara Marthe better known as Shy'm , born on 28 November 1985, is a French pop chanteuse. She released her debut album, Mes Fantaisies, in 2006 which rose to #6 in the French chart...
, French singer - Tamara McKinneyTamara McKinneyTamara McKinney is a former alpine ski racer, a member of the U.S. Ski Team from 1978-89. She was the overall World Cup champion in 1983, the only American woman to hold that title for a quarter century, until Lindsey Vonn in 2008....
, American skiier - Tamara MelloTamara MelloTamara Beccam Mello is an American actress. Her career began in 1993 with appearances on various television programs and films...
, American actress - Tamara MellonTamara MellonTamara Mellon, OBE is the Chief Creative Office and co-founder of Jimmy Choo, a luxury brand that offers designer shoes, handbags and a range of accessories .-Early life:...
, president and founder of designer shoes company Jimmy Choo - Tammy Faye Messner, American televangelist and reality TV star
- Tamara MkheidzeTamara MkheidzeTamara Mkheidze was a Georgian arachnologist.- Life :Tamara Mkheidze grew up in Kutaisi and later studied zoology at the Tbilisi State University...
, Georgian arachnologist - Tamar of GeorgiaTamar of GeorgiaTamar , of the Bagrationi dynasty, was Queen Regnant of Georgia from 1184 to 1213. Tamar presided over the "Golden age" of the medieval Georgian monarchy...
, Queen of Georgia - Tamara MoskvinaTamara MoskvinaTamara Nikolayevna Moskvina , née Bratus is a Russian pair skating coach and former competitive skater. In pair skating with partner Alexei Mishin, she was the 1969 World silver medalist and Soviet national champion. In ladies singles, she was a five-time Soviet national champion...
, Russian pairs figure skating coach - Tamara MossTamara MossTamara Moss is a Dutch-Indian model.-Career:Tamara has done cover shots for L'Officiel, Elle and Femina.She is the new face for the Provogue Women’s Wear Spring Summer ‘09 collection.-External links:*...
, Indian model - Tamera MowryTamera MowryTamera Darvette Mowry-Housley is an American actress. She first gained fame for her teen role as Tamera Campbell on the ABC/WB sitcom Sister, Sister...
, American actress - Tamara RojoTamara RojoTamara Rojo is a Spanish prima ballerina, and is currently a Principal Dancer with the Royal Ballet in London.Rojo was born in Montreal, Canada, to Spanish parents who moved back to Spain when she was four months old...
(born 1974), Spanish ballerina, principal dancer with The Royal Ballet, London - Tamara SalmanTamara SalmanTamara Salman 1967 is half-Iraqi, half-British holding an alumna of Romeo Gigli and Prada. As creative design director for Liberty of London, her role is to update the brand's image and revive its signature prints. She has worked in textile design for the past 12 years at some of Europe's most...
, Iraqi-born designer - Tamara SherTamara SherTamara Goldman Sher, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist and Vice President for Research at The Family Institute at Northwestern University. She is a leading researcher in the fields of Behavioral Medicine and Couples Therapy...
, American psychologist - Tamara SkyTamara SkyTamara Sky is a Puerto Rican professional disc jockey and model.-Career:Sky has been Miss Puerto Rico Bikini and is of Puerto Rican origin....
, DJ and model - Tamara TaylorTamara TaylorTamara Taylor is a Canadian television actress.Born in Toronto to a black Canadian father and a Scottish Canadian mother, her most famous role is that of Dr. Camille Saroyan, head of the Forensic Division, on the forensic crime drama Bones...
, Canadian actress - Tamara TodevskaTamara TodevskaTamara Todevska , known as Tamara, is a Macedonian pop singer. She was born to a Macedonian father and a Serbian mother from Turkey. Her sister is the well known Macedonian pop singer Tijana Todevska-Dapčević.-Early life:...
, Macedonian pop singer - Tamara ToumanovaTamara ToumanovaTamara Toumanova was an American ballerina and actress. "Toumanova" was a stage name proposed by Olga Preobrazhenskaya, after her mother’s family name of Tumanishvili.-Personal life:...
, Georgian-born ballerina and actress, active in Paris and Hollywood - Tamara TunieTamara TunieTamara Renee Tunie is an American actress. She is best known for her portrayal of attorney Jessica Griffin on the CBS soap opera As the World Turns, and medical examiner Melinda Warner on the NBC police drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit...
, American actress - Tamara WitmerTamara WitmerTamara Witmer is an American model, actress and reality television star. She is best known for her appearance as Playboy's Playmate of the Month, Miss August 2005, and was also the cover girl for the October 2006 issue....
, American actress and model
See also
- Tamsin (disambiguation)
- Tara (disambiguation)
- PalmyraPalmyraPalmyra was an ancient city in Syria. In the age of antiquity, it was an important city of central Syria, located in an oasis 215 km northeast of Damascus and 180 km southwest of the Euphrates at Deir ez-Zor. It had long been a vital caravan city for travellers crossing the Syrian desert...
- Tamara (disambiguation)