On My Mind: 10-4-20

Hermine from GBBO Season 8

Bona - I stumbled across the unusual name while researching royals and found out there is not only one but two Princess who bore it! The first Princess was Bona of Savoy, Duchess of Milan, who lived from 1449 to 1503 and married into the famous Sforza family. The second was Princess Bona, or Maria Bona, of Savoy, who married Prince Konrad of Bavaria. She lived from 1896 to 1971. Bona is Latin and means "good", "noble", or "kind". In Italy when you call a girl "Bona" you mean that she is beautiful.

Hermine and Sura - I've started the newest season of the Great British Bake Off, one of my favorite shows ever, and as usual there are some interesting names in the mix! I'm especially intrigued by Hermine, the French and German feminine form of Herman, meaning "army man", and Sura, which is Arabic and means "Highness of Status" or "Glory".

Gudrid - Gudrid Thorbjarnardóttir (Guðríður Þorbjarnardóttir), a Viking born in Iceland and the granddaughter of a Scottish slave, is considered one of the most well-traveled people of the Middle Ages. She and her husband, Thorfinn Karlsefni, traveled to "Vinland", an area of coastal North America 500 years before Columbus would set foot there. It was in Vinland where she would eventually give birth to their son, Snorri, in what is considered the first European birth in the Americas outside of Greenland. Gudrid comes from the elements guð, meaning "God", and fríðr, which means "beautiful". In Iceland she is known by her byname - víðförla - "far-traveled".