Betony: Baby Name of the Day

The baby name Betony is a rare botanical that might make a striking choice for a daughter.

Thanks to G. for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.

WHAT DOES THE NAME BETONY MEAN?

Everyone recognizes Lily and Rose as floral names, but also as flowers. We can picture them in our minds – more or less.

Betony, on the other hand? It’s cousin to mint. The betony plant is also known as bishopwort and hedgenettle, to name just two. Unless you’re a botanist or avid gardener, you might not even recognize this one.

But it’s actually quite ancient. 

It’s typically pinkish-purple.

First called vettonica, the original name references the Vettones tribe, who lived in modern-day Spain and Portugal. 

The Roman military reached the Vettones’ part of the world around 25 BC. A Roman physician named Antonius Musa mentioned the herb not long after.

Pliny made another early reference to the plant in the first century AD.

The plant’s medicinal properties have been known for millennia.

CURE-ALL

If all of the references are believed, betony can cure almost any ill. It can keep ghosts from haunting graveyards and ward off bad dreams.

It cures more mundane woes, too – arthritis, gout, possibly snake bites. Medieval monasteries grew it, and apothecaries stocked it.

An old Italian proverb suggests that you should “Sell your coat and buy betony.” A similar Spanish saying also supports the idea that the herb was seen as a cure-all: “He has as many virtues as betony.”

VICTORIAN LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS

It must’ve remained familiar into the Victorian era.

The Victorians loved to read meaning into flowers. There’s even a name for it: floriography.

Betony signified surprise.

While it’s sometimes described as a Victorian botanical name, that doesn’t feel quite right. Parents absolutely used plenty of flower-inspired names, for girls and boys, too, during the era. Snowdrop and Clematis appear alongside Daisy and Ivy on this list. But Betony seems like it was always quite rare.

PAUL BETTANY

Another possibility: could the name Betony come from a surname?

English actor Paul Bettany comes to mind. Bettany has starred in critically acclaimed movies, from A Beautiful Mind to blockbusters like The Avengers series.  

His surname probably comes from a place name, like Betteley or Beatley.

Bettini is heard in Italy, as well as elsewhere in Europe. It probably comes from Benedetto, the Italian form of Benedict. Benedetto might shorten to Betti or Betto, which was then elaborated to Bettini.

There’s also English historian Bettany Hughes, known for her bestselling books on the ancient world, and made familiar thanks to her work on British television.

BETONY, BETTANY, BETHANY

Of course, Betony sounds quite a bit like Bethany – a Biblical place name.

In the New Testament, Bethany is the village where Lazaras lives, along with his sisters, Mary and Martha. The story of Mary of Bethany is probably why that particular name is given to girls. The original Greek was closer to Bethania; Betania, Bethanie, and other forms are also seen.

Is there any connection to the plant’s name? 

Probably not. Then again, there are dozens of places of places called Bethany after the Biblcal story, so it’s easy to imagine that pronunciation varied and some overlap occured.

Think of Anthony – pronounced, and sometimes spelled Antony, especially in England – and the potential for uncertainty emerges.

BETONY IN POP CULTURE

Fictional Bethanys abound. Paul Bettany’s place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe alone makes the surname familiar.

But how about Betony? In the YA trilogy The Divide, author Elizabeth Kay gives us characters called Felix, Ransom, Tansy, and Betony.In the story, a human teenager finds his way into another world. Published between 2002 and 2006, the series was successful – but not enough to boost the names.

HOW POPULAR IS THE NAME BETONY?

Regardless of origins or meaning, one thing is quite certain: the baby name Betony is rare.

Here are the numbers. In 2023:

• 389 girls were named Bethany. That’s down dramatically from the late 1980s, when it was a sister name for Brittany, Courtney, and Tiffany.
• 14 girls were named Bethanie.
• The name Bettany does not register in US data, meaning it has never been given to five girls in a single year.
• Betony, on the other hand, appears in the US data just once. In 1978, eight girls were named Betony.

What explains the baby name Betony’s brief apperance?

It’s not clear. Other nature names borrowed from flowers had a moment during the late 1970s, like Shasta (the daisy), along with nature-inspired word names like Spring, Dusty, and January. So it’s possible Betony was picked up with this wave of names. 

Of course, the late 1970s is also the beginning for many of those surname-style names that defined 1980s style: Courtney, Ashley, Brittany, and so on.

ELIZABETH NAMES

One ore factor: Betony easily shortens to Betty or Bette. Bettany looks just like a Beth-Annie mashup. 

While there’s no link between Betony – or even Bethany – and the evergreen Elizabeth, the sound is there. Anything that seems like a cousin to the rich and varied Elizabeth feels a little more traditional. And since the Elizabeth family tree includes Lilibet and Isabelle, Liza and Liesl, Bessie and Bettina, it seems like Betony could fit right in.

WEARABLE RARITY

In much of the world, betony flowers from July to September, making this a perfect name possibility for a summer baby.

It may be an unusual English botanical name, but it blends history and history with a very current style. If we’re naming our children Wrenley and Oaklynn, Betony seems like it works as a personal name at least as well as those Nature-Plus names.

And while the first name Betony is rare, the plant’s history dating back to the Middle Ages and ancient world lends the name plenty of substance.

If you’re looking for a rare name that blends sophistication and warmth, Betony might be the perfect fits-in/stands-out choice.

What do you think of the baby name Betony?

First published on February 25, 2016, this post was revised on February 25, 2025.