KAREN MAGGIO

Danish equivalent of Katherine. It was first introduced to the English-speaking world by Scandinavian settlers in America; it has been used in Britain only since the 1940s, but had become very popular by the 1960s.

Italian: from a nickname or personal name from the month of May, maggio, from Latin Maius (mensis), from Maia, a rather obscure goddess of fertility, whose name is derived from the same root as maius ‘larger’ and maiestas ‘greatness’. This may have been bestowed on someone born or baptized in the month of May, or it may have been used to refer to someone of a sunny disposition, or who had some anecdotal connection with the month of May, such as owing a feudal obligation then. In Roman Catholicism, May is specially associated with the Virgin Mary, so the name may well have had a religious significance.