Veronica

Where the name comes from

• Ancient Greek (through Latin)
  bringer of victory (from the Greek name Berenike)
  Pherenikē / Berenikē, from pherein 'to bring' + nikē 'victory'
  Most modern references say Veronica is a form of the Greek name Berenike. Berenike was the Macedonian way of saying Pherenike, 'bringing victory.' It was a royal name in Hellenistic Egypt and Syria. One famous bearer was the wife of Ptolemy III of Egypt, about 2,270 years ago.
• Latin
  Popular meaning: 'true image'
  Latin vera 'true' + Greek eikon 'image'
  This explanation comes from the cloth said to show Jesus's face, which was called the vera icon, or 'true image.' Most modern references call it a folk etymology, meaning a later story that made the name fit the relic. A 19th-century scholar, Charlotte Yonge, took the opposite view. She thought the name came from the relic and doubted the Berenike link. The 'true image' idea likely shaped the Latin spelling, with a V instead of a B. The main origin is still debated, so both meanings appear here.

Veronica across traditions

• Christian (Catholic and Orthodox). Saint Veronica is a figure of legend, not of the Bible. The story says she wiped Jesus's face on the way to the cross, and his image stayed on her cloth. An early Christian text, written about 1,600 years ago, gave the name Berenike to the woman Jesus healed. Later, the face-cloth story was linked to her. A cloth called the Veil of Veronica has been kept in Rome for more than 1,000 years. She appears in the Stations of the Cross, which helped spread the name across Europe.
• Spanish-speaking and Latin American. In Spanish and Portuguese the name is Verónica, and in Brazil it is Verônica. In Spanish, the word verónica is also a bullfighting pass in which the cape is swept slowly in front of the bull. The name was in the top 40 for girls born in Puerto Rico in 2000.
• English-speaking world. The name was never common in England. Puritans avoided saints' names that are not in the Bible. Britain's 1851 census counted only 74 Veronicas. In the United States, film star Veronica Lake in the 1940s and Veronica Lodge of Archie Comics made the name widely known.
• Popularity in the US. Peak decade: the 1980s, when Veronica ranked #70 among US girls' names.

Who carried it

• Saint Veronica (Legendary, set in the 1st century; the story grew over the next 1,000 years): The woman said to have wiped Jesus's face with her veil. Her story spread the name across Christian Europe.
• Berenice (Bernice), daughter of Herod Agrippa I (1st century, about 1,960 years ago): A princess of the Herod family who heard Saint Paul's defense in the Book of Acts. She bore the Greek original of the name.
• Veronica Lake (1922–1973): American film noir star of the 1940s, known for her peekaboo hairstyle. 'Veronica Lake' was a stage name given to her by a producer.

Forms in other languages

Verónica, Verônica, Véronique, Veronika, Weronika, Berenice, Bernice, Ronnie, Vera, Nika

Veronica in letter-number systems

Hebrew, Greek and other traditions gave every letter a number, and read meaning into the totals. These are the counts, computed; the readings are inside the Innerverse.