Danica

A female name origination from ancient Slavic mythology. Before Christianity came to the Slavs of Eastern Europe, the deity Danica was prayed to in the early morning when she was said to appear in the dawn sky as the first star, or morning star. Danica was associated with the sun and was thought to be the sun's younger sister. With the expansion of monotheism Danica became less associated with the deity and came to be a common name for girls taking on the meaning morning star. This meaning is connected with the name Danica properly pronounced Dah-nee-tza. It is spelled: in Cyrillic, and is a common name throughout Serbia and countries that made up the former Yugoslavia. The simple Latin pronunciation ( Dan-ick-kuh ) is Danish but is not associated with morning star but rather with a small white brush flower (a scurvy-grass with genius and species: Cochlearia Danica) which mainly grows in the acidic rocky soils of Northern Europe.