Etymology & Historical Origin of the Baby Name Dream

 Dream isn’t exactly a personal name, although some American parents have bestowed it on their baby girls in recent years. It’s really an English vocabulary word, specifically a noun as well as a verb.  In modern English, we know “dream” as the word to indicate a sequence of sensations, or story-like perceptions, passing through our subconscious minds while in a state of sleep. However, in Olde English, “dream” (Old Saxon “drom”) was originally a word for “noisy merriment” (even music) and a general sense of joy and mirth – the words mæting and swefn (sleep) were more commonly used for the visions appearing in our slumber.  The word “dream” likely finds its root in the Proto-Germanic *draugmas meaning “illusion, phantasm.” Today, “dream” is also synonymous with words like “aspiration” and “hope” – something that we hold as dream-like or ideal. 

All About the Baby Name – Dream

Personality

OF THE GIRL NAME DREAM

The number Five personality loves the excitement of life and can easily adapt to all situations. As natural adventurers, these personalities thrive on the new and unexpected and prefer to be in constant motion. It makes them feel alive. They'll stir up some action if there's not enough around, and as inherent risk-takers they enjoy pushing the envelope. Naturally rebellious, the Five personality has no fear and never resists change.  Traveling and new experiences feed their souls. Fives are very social and attract friends with ease. People love to be around the Five fun-loving and exciting energy.  This is also a lucky number in numerology (like the Threes), so fortune seems to shine on them, helped along by their own optimism and good-nature. Fives have a quick wit, a cerebral mind, and are generally very persuasive. 

Popularity

OF THE GIRL NAME DREAM

 As a female personal name, Dream has never been used with enough frequency to land a spot on America’s Top 1000 list. However, we were surprised to see that a whopping 90 baby girls were given this unusual moniker in 2013. The name is actually ranked #2097 in popularity (2013) – as popular as names like Edna, Rosalind and Juana!  Vocabulary word names are becoming increasingly popular in the United States - Destiny, Heaven, Serenity and Journey just to name a few. Dream is a lovely notion, but as a name it runs the risk of being slightly awkward (especially given its one syllable there’s no nickname options).  

Quick Facts

ON DREAM

GENDER:

Girl

ORIGIN:

American

NUMBER OF SYLLABLES:

1

RANKING POPULARITY:

N/A

PRONUNCIATION:

DREEM

SIMPLE MEANING:

Noisy merriment

Characteristics

OF DREAM

Freedom-loving

Adventurous

Adaptable

Intellectual

Easygoing

Progressive

Sensual

Cultural References to the Baby Name – Dream

Literary Characters

OF THE BABY NAME DREAM

Helena is one of the four young lovers in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare’s very popular play, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. Helena is a beautiful but insecure girl of impeccable background who is in love with the rather careless Demetrius. Demetrius has been chosen by Egeus as a suitor to his daughter, Hermia, and Demetrius is just fine with that, even though he was once engaged to Helena. Hermia, however, loves Lysander, and is plotting to elope with him. Hoping to win Demetrius back, Helena tells him of the elopement plan, but this only spurs Demetrius on to following them into the Athenian forest in hopes of winning Hermia for himself. In the meantime, the fairy king, Oberon, has ordered his little henchman, Puck, to sprinkle fairy dust in Demetrius’ eyes so that he will fall in love with Helena again. Puck naturally gets it wrong, sprinkles the dust in both Lysander’s and Demetrius’ eyes while they sleep and, when they awake, they both fall in love with the first person they see – in both cases, Helena. So now Helena, whom nobody paid attention to before, is having a duel fought over her! In addition, Hermia is none too happy with this turn of events, and she turns on her old friend, Helena. So now Helena takes stock of the situation, and believing Demetrius to be mocking her, spurns him. Oberon takes charge, ordering Puck to right the situation, and the spell is removed from Lysander, but not Demetrius, so pretty soon all the right people are in love with the right people and everyone is set to live happily ever after. And Helena needs to get a grip, accept that Demetrius really does love her, stop whining, be happy, and live up to her beautiful name. And she does!

Demetrius is a character in one of William Shakespeare’s most popular plays, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. In one of the many interlocking plot lines, Demetrius, a young Athenian man, has been chosen by Egeus as a husband for his daughter, Hermia, but she refuses to marry him. Hermia is in love with Lysander and they plan to elope. They tell Hermia’s friend, Helena, of their plans, and she, in love with Demetrius (who jilted her upon meeting Hermia), tells him of their plan. Demetrius, followed by Helena, rushes after the fleeing Lysander and Hermia. Clear? The merry little fairy, Puck, is ordered by his king, Oberon, to apply a love potion to Demetrius in order to make him fall in love with Helena again. Puck, mistaking Lysander for Demetrius, applies a love potion to Lysander’s eyelids. Lysander, therefore, falls in love with Helena, forsaking Hermia, while Demetrius, under the same spell, also falls in love with Helena. And now Demetrius and Lysander are prepared to duel over Helena, while nobody loves poor Hermia. Clear? So Oberon leaves the spell on Demetrius, who stays in love with Helena, and removes it from Lysander, who falls back in love with Hermia, and everybody gets married to the right person. Here’s the thing, though: we think that Demetrius is a bit of a cad. He loves Helena, then he doesn’t. He jilts her for Hermia, and really doesn’t care what happens to her, verbally abusing her and leaving her alone in the forest. He is perfectly happy to have Hermia’s father dictate that Hermia marry him, no matter what her own feelings are. So if one is fated to fall in love with the type of man Demetrius is, it would be handy to have some of that love potion lying around. Clear!

Tatiana is the Queen of the Fairies (wife of Oberon, the King) in William Shakespeare’s very popular comedy, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. Tatiana indeed sounds like the name of a Fairy Queen, with its lilting yet regal tone. In Shakespeare’s comedies, there are always mistaken identities, love potions and complicated plot turns before all ends well. This is no exception, and Tatiana is tricked (by a “love juice” applied to her eyelids while asleep) into falling in love with the first creature she sees upon awakening. This turns out to be Bottom, a young actor, who has been given the head of a donkey by the mischievous Puck (all of this on Oberon’s orders so that he may obtain Tatiana’s young charge for his own personal servant). Once he has attained his goal, Oberon orders Puck to remove all spells (naturally several other young lovers have been adversely affected), and all returns to normal, with the principals believing they must have dreamt it all, for after all, "The course of love never did run smooth." Nothing out of the ordinary in a Fairy Queen’s day.

Childrens Books

ON THE BABY NAME DREAM

We cannot find any childrens books with the first name Dream


Popular Songs

ON DREAM

Dream of the Archer
a song by Heart

Gertrude's Dream
a waltz by Ludwig Van Beethoven

Judy and the Dream of Horses
by Belle & Sebastian

Maggie's Dream
a song by Don Williams

Julia Dream
a song by Pink Floyd

Famous People

NAMED DREAM

We cannot find any famous people with the first name Dream.

Children of Famous People

NAMED DREAM

We cannot find any children of famous people with the first name Dream

Historic Figures

WITH THE NAME DREAM

We cannot find any historically significant people with the first name Dream