Mehrdad
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Pronunciation | Persian: [mehɾdɒːd] |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Origin | |
| Word/name | Persian |
| Meaning | Given by Mehr |
| Region of origin | Iran (Persia) |
| Other names | |
| Related names | Mithridates, Mehrzad, Mehrshad, Mehran |
Mehrdad (Persian: مهرداد) is a common Persian male given name in Iran (Persia) and other Persian-speaking countries. Mehrdad is a Persian name for boys that means "given by sun" or "given by love". Mehr means "sun" or "love," and Dad means "given."[citation needed]
It comes from the Old Persian name "Mithradatha" and the Middle Persian name "Mehrdat", which is a theophoric name that means "given by Mithra" or "given by Mehr". "Mehr" comes from Avestan Mithra, the Zoroastrian divinity and hypo-stasis of covenant.
In modern-day Iran, the name Mehrdad is also retroactively applied to several historic Persian figures that appear in western literature as Mithridates, a Hellenized or philhellenic form of Mehrdad.
