Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2020 October 3

= October 3 =

Tigran as Armenian given name
Does anyone know if Tigran was a relatively common Armenian given name before about 1962, when Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian popularized it by winning the World Chess Championship, thereby becoming a huge national celebrity? Does the name mean something like "Tiger" and are given names like that common in other languages (Tiger Woods notwithstanding)? Does it come across about the same way as Leonard (or Leo, Leonid, etc.) which derive from the Latin root of "Lion"? Thanks. 2601:648:8202:96B0:0:0:0:DDAF (talk) 20:39, 3 October 2020 (UTC)


 * It's a very common Armenian name dating back to the ancient Armenian kings named Tigranes. See Tigran (name). It's actually Iranian in origin and probably has something to do with archery, and not, as it would seem at first glance, the Tigris or tigers (unless the word "tiger" comes from the same root). See wikt:%D5%8F%D5%AB%D5%A3%D6%80%D5%A1%D5%B6. Adam Bishop (talk) 21:11, 3 October 2020 (UTC)


 * This website has its popularity rankings in Armenia for the period of 1918 to 2000. There was a small jump in ranking in 1963 compared to 1962, but its popularity had been steadily increasing for the previous two decades. 58.6.214.57 (talk) 12:39, 5 October 2020 (UTC)