Teodora

Teodora comes from Greek. It joins theos, meaning god, with doron, meaning gift, so the name reads as gift of god straight from its parts. The variant Dorota holds the same two pieces in reverse order, while the short form Dora keeps only the ending.

The best documented bearer is the Byzantine empress Teodora, who ruled beside Justinian in the sixth century. She began as an actress and rose to shape the laws of an empire. Her name was old already.

In a Polish class register today a Teodora sits among the Zofias and Julias, and once a year the imieniny calendar gives her a date of her own. Whatever a girl grows into, the two Greek words behind her name still say the same thing: gift of god.