Marharyta

Marharyta begins in Greek, in the word margaritēs, which means pearl. Greek writers used it for the smooth thing that grows inside a shell, and the name spread from there. When it reached Ukrainian the sound shifted: the hard Greek g gave way to a soft, breathy h, and Margarita became Marharyta.

A pearl was rare and costly in the ancient world, and the word held that value. The meaning has barely drifted. In Greek and in the languages that borrowed it, Marharyta still means pearl.

On a school register in Poland you might now find a Marharyta, brought by a family from Ukraine. The spelling looks foreign until you say it. Then you hear the Greek word for pearl.