Daphne (name)

Daphne is a female given name in Greek origin. It refers to laurel. The name is from Greek mythology. Daphne entered popular use in the late 1800s. In the United States, the name was used for women from Africa that lived in slavery. Such women were classified as Daphne by the enslavers. The enslavers used names from Ancient Greek or Roman classics for that population to show their educations the contemporaries.

United States census records from the 19th century showed most of the females named Daphne before or during the American Civil War were African American and black. Daphne for a name was used also in the United Kingdom in the late 18th to early 19th centuries. That's where a working mother and daughter in Scotland were both named Daphne. The name became popular later for daughters born in Britain to aristocratic families.

Daphne the name is also popular in Canada, France and the Netherlands.