Living Up to Their Name? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Vladimir

A Slavic name, Vladimir literally means 'of great power'. It was the given name of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, who became Lenin, founder of the Soviet Union. Although he frequently wrote his name in Latin, Wladislaus Dragwlya, the Slavic interpretation is Vladimir Dracula, who was also Prince of Wallachia and Vlad III known as the 'obviously-friendly - NOT' Vlad the Impaler.

I guess you could interpret 'the one with peace on one side' in more than one way, and one has to wonder exactly how a certain Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin thinks he lives up to his name.

Answer: Helga

Although primarily found in the Nordic countries, there is a designated 'name day' for Helga in the Baltic countries and as far south as Hungary and Greece as well as in the Scandinavian countries.

Famous people with the name include Princess Helga, also known as Saint Olga (the equivalent name in Eastern Slavic cultures), who ruled Kiev as her son's regent in the middle of the 10th century.

In art, there are the controversial 'Helga Pictures', consisting of more than 240 paintings and drawings by American artist Andrew Wyeth of German model and former nun Helga Testorf, created between 1971 and 1985.

Famous Helgas in fiction include the formidable (and certainly not 'blessed') Helga the Horrible, bossy wife of the title character in the "Hagar the Horrible" cartoon strip. And, for Potter fans, let's remember Helga Hufflepuff, founder of Hufflepuff House, who is described by the Sorting Hat as 'good' and 'sweet', so certainly "blessed" then!

Answer: Bela

The Old Hungarian word for heart was 'bel', although in modern Hungarian the translation is more towards the intestines. Other regional influences include the Slavic word for 'white' and the Turkic word for 'distinguished'.

The Bela who is best-known for the blood-related acting role is Bela Lugosi, who played Count Dracula in the original 1931 film and many times thereafter. He was born Béla Ferenc Dezső Blask in the city of Lugos, then part of the Austria-Hungarian empire and now in western Romania.

Bela Bartok, one of Hungary's most celebrated composers (along with Franz Liszt), was also born in a part of Hungary that is now in Romania, in the small village of Nagyszentmikls in 1881.

The short-lived reign of Bela the Champion, the first Hungarian monarch to bear the name lasted just three years, from 1060 until 1063. Bela the Blind ruled for a decade, from 1031 until 1041, whilst Bela III (the only King Bela without an appellation) reigned from 1172 until 1196. The longest-reigning King Bela of Hungary was also the last, Bela the Second Founder reigning from 1235 until 1270.

Answer: Sophia

Sofia in Spanish, Fia in Swedish, Sohvi in Finnish and Sofya in Turkish are just some of the variations of Sophia.

Famous bearers of the name include the Italian actress born Sofia Villani Scicolone in 1934 in Rome and better known as Sophia Loren. Sofia Coppola, daughter of director Francis Ford Coppola, won the 2003 Bet Original Screenplay Oscar for "Lost in Translation". In 2010, she became the first American woman (and only the third woman overall) to be nominated in the Best Director category and she remains the youngest female nominee for that award.

Royals named Sophia go back to the 17th century: Emperor Frederick William I of Prussia, and both George III and William IV of Britain all had daughters named Sophia. Current variations include the former Sophie Rhys-Jones, Countess of Wessex and wife of Britain's Prince Edward and the Infanta Sofia, born in 2007 daughter of King Felipe V of Spain and second in that country's line of succession when her father succeeded in 2014.

Answer: Niccolo

Niccolo is the Italian variant of Nicholas, which derives from the Greek word for victory, 'nike'.

Philosopher, musician, poet and playwright, but Niccolo di Bernardo dei Machiavelli (born in Florence in 1469) is one of the founders of modern political science and his name is today used primarily as an adjective describing someone as unscrupulous.

Niccolo Paganini, born in Genoa in 1782, was the greatest violin virtuoso of his generation. His 'Caprice No. 24 in A minor' is accepted to be the most difficult piece ever written for the solo violin.

Niccolo Polo and his brother Maffeo were traveling merchants who established trading posts in Constantinople, Crimea and in the western parts of the Mongol Empire in the latter part of the 13th century. Their travels to modern-day Indonesia and China became the basis for Niccolo's son's manuscript, published around 1300, called 'The Travels of Marco Polo'.

Answer: Margarita

Born in 2002, Margarita Elizabeth Rose Alleyne Armstrong-Jones is the youngest child of Viscount and Viscountess Linley and Princess Margaret's only granddaughter. Thirteenth in line to the throne of, she has since slipped down a few places with Prince George and Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, James and Louise Mountbatten-Windsor, Savannah and Isla Philips, and Mia Tindall all jumping ahead of her in the pecking order when they were born.

Blind since birth, the Infanta Margarita (born in Rome in 1939) is the younger sister of King Juan Carlos I of Spain.

Born Margarita Carmen Cansino in Brooklyn NY in 1918, Rita Hayworth made more than 60 films, most notably 'Gilda' in 1946. Her five husbands included both Prince Aly Khan and legendary director Orson Welles.

Answer: Johannes

A popular name in northern Europe and Scandinavia, Johannes is often shortened, to Hans in German, Jens in Danish or Jan in Dutch. Other linguistic variants are John in English, Jean in French, Joao in Portuguese and Giovanni in Italian.
A virtuoso pianist, Johannes Brahms (born in 1833) wrote symphonies, concertos and variations. The large choral piece, 'A German Requiem', is perhaps his most noted work.

Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg (born in Mainz, Germany in 1398) developed the process of mechanical movable-type printing that enabled him to produce the Gutenberg Bible.

Mathematician and astronomer Johannes Kepler (born near Stuttgart, Germany in 1571) was part of a revolution (along with his contemporary Galileo) who moved established cosmology as a science rather than another form of astrology.
Johannes Vermeer (born in Delft, Netherlands in 1632) painted numerous works set within the confines of his own home and is considered one of the greatest artists of the Dutch Golden Age.

Answer: Nana

In Ghana, the name Nana denotes royalty, and it is quite acceptable to refer to a King or Queen by the sobriquet Nana without adding their actual name.

Born Nana Tucker in New York City in 1957, she is known by her stage name, nana Visitor. She played the Bajoran major Kira Nerys in 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' and, in real life married the station's doctor, Sudanese-born actor Alexander Siddig during the filming of the latter series in the show's 8-year run. Actress/dancer Cyd Charisse is her aunt.

Nana Mouskouri was a multi-lingual singer born Ioanna Mouschouri on the Greek island of Crete in 1934. She was fluent in more than a dozen languages including Hebrew, Mandarin Chinese and, curiously, Welsh.

On TV, Nana Moon (played by Hilda Braid) was a regular in 'Eastenders' from 2002 until 2005, whilst Marlena 'Nana' McQueen (Diane Langton) started in 'Hollyoaks' in 2007. Olive Oyl's mother was simply called Nana Oyl.

Let's not also forget an important creation of J.M. Barrie -- Nana is the name of the dog in 'Peter Pan'.

Answer: Gustav

Gustav is an Old Swedish name. It is also fairly common elsewhere, although it is spelled Gustave in French, Gustavo in the Mediterranean languages and Kustaa in Finnish.

The name has been used by numerous Swedish kings dating back to the first monarch of the House of Vasa, Gustav I, who reigned from 1523 until 1560. Kings named with some form of 'Gustav' have ruled Sweden uninterrupted for more than a century starting with Gustav V, at the time of his death the country's oldest-ever monarch and the second-longest ruling (after Magnus IV), whose reign from 1907 until 1950 encompassed both World Wars. Gustav VI Adolf (1950-1973) followed, and then came another variation, Carl XVI Gustaf, who has reigned as King of Sweden since 1973.

Alexandre Gustave Bönickhausen (born in Dijon, France in 1832) is better known today as Gustave Eiffel, the engineer and architect of the most famous landmark in Paris.

Influential novelist Gustave Flaubert (born in Rouen, France in 1821) is best known today for his debut novel, "Madame Bovary", published in 1857.

Gustavus Theodore von Holst (born in Cheltenham, England in 1874) is known today as Gustav Holst, the composer of "The Planets" suite, composed during WWI, although the complete work did not receive its first public performance until 1920.

Answer: Gwyneth

'Gwyn' means white in Welsh, although the precise derivation of the complete name is unclear.

Gwyneth Lewis, born in Cardiff in 1959, became the inaugural National Poet of Wales when the post was created in 2005.

Gwyneth Strong (born in London in 1959) played Cassandra in 'Only Fools and Horses', the girlfriend and eventual wife of Rodney, long-suffering brother of Derek 'Del Boy' Trotter.

Gwyneth Paltrow (born in Los Angeles, CA in 1972) won the 1998 Best Actress Oscar for "Shakespeare in Love" playing opposite Joseph Fiennes. It was her co-stars from other movies, notably Brad Pitt and Ben Afleck, with whom Paltrow had much-publicized relationships before she eventually tied the knot with Coldplay frontman Chris Martin in 2003.

It seems we have come full circle, from 'peace-bearing' Vladimirs who were rather more war-like than their name suggests to a 'pure-white' Gwyneth whose high-profile exploits might suggest a somewhat darker colour.