Laimonis (name)

Infobox Given Name Revised
name = Laimonis


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pronunciation=
gender = Male
meaning = happy, blessed
region = Latvia
origin =
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Laimonis is a Latvian masculine given name, borne by more than 1,800 men in LatviaPMLP database] . The name means "lucky", "happy" or "blessed" and is related to the ancient Latvian word "laima" ("happiness", "joy" or "luck", or the goddess of the same).

Laimonis is one of the relatively few names still in modern use from among the very many names of Latvian origin revived or invented during the Latvian National Awakening of the late 19th century. [A number of other names derived from the same root are mostly now rare or obsolete, apart from Laima itself, which is still well-established as a modern Latvian woman's name. Laimīgais (which occurs in 1761 as an equivalent of Felix, "happy" in Latin, in the "Jaunā un vecā laika grāmata uz to 1761. gadu", the first Latvian calendar) and Laimīgs - alternative forms of the common modern Latvian word for "happy" - both occur in the 18th century, along with Laimīts. The men's names Laimdonis, Laimdots, Laimgaids, Laimiņš, Laimis, Laimnesis and Laimstars, and the women's names Laimgaita, Laimīte and Laimonda, were all either revived from medieval sources or invented in the late 19th or early 20th century] .

Its nameday is celebrated on 29 October.

Among the best-known of those with this name is Laimonis Laizāns (b. 1945), the highly regarded Latvian football goalkeeper.

Notes

ources

* [http://www.pmlp.gov.lv/lv/statistika/personvardu.html Pilsonības un Migrācijas Lietu Parvalde (PMLP): Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs personal name database] lv icon

References

* Latkovskis, Leonards, 1971: "Latgalu uzvordi, palames un dzymtas II". Munich: Latgalu izdevniecība lv icon
* Siliņš, K., 1990: "Latviešu personvārdu vārdnīca". Rīga: Zinātne lv icon