Entry № 4597 · Greek origin

Iolanthe Iolanthe — Meaning, Origin & Baby Name Popularity

/ eye-oh-LAN-thee /
Gender
Girl
Origin
Greek
Meaning
"Violet flower"
Syllables
2
First recorded
1882 (literary)

A name that means "violet flower".

Iolanthe (Ἰολάνθη) comes from the Greek ion (violet) and anthos (flower) — meaning "violet flower." The name was popularised by Gilbert and Sullivan's 1882 comic opera Iolanthe, about a fairy who marries a mortal.

Iolanthe remains rare but distinctive.

Violet flower. The Gilbert and Sullivan fairy.

The name in its native script.

Ἰολάνθη
Transliteration
Iolánthē
Pronunciation
/ ˌaɪ.əˈlæn.θi /
Root
Grammatical form

What Iolanthe is built from.

Iolanthe is a compound name. Its parts are ánthos — each an attested element with a recorded meaning of its own.

ánthos
Greek
“flower”

Where Iolanthe stands.

Iolanthe does not currently appear in the US Social Security Administration's top 1,000 girls' names, so we don't publish a US rank or birth count for it. That says nothing about the name's standing elsewhere in the world — only that it sits outside the ranked US data we rely on.

Iolanthes before her.

Real people
Iolanthe
Rare; few notable bearers.
In fiction
Iolanthe
Fairy heroine of the Gilbert and Sullivan opera.
1882 opera

Names connected to Iolanthe.

The number behind Iolanthe.

3

The Communicator

In Pythagorean numerology the letters of Iolanthe reduce to 3, The Communicator. This is a traditional interpretive system, not a factual claim about the name.