Ardian (given Name)

Ardian is an Albanian name. Although similar to Adrian, a name of Latin origin, the Albanian name Ardian ( Ardjan and Ardijan being other variants) is a derivation of Ardiaei, the name of an ancient Illyrian people.
Their original inland residence was along the Naro River (modern river Neretva, also known as Narenta in ancient times) up to the Konjic region, in present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Etymology

Both the name of the ancient Illyrian people 'Ardiaei', and the personal name 'Ardian' have the same root - ''ardia''. The Albanian word that corresponds most closely to the root-word 'ardia' is ''ardhja'', meaning the future, ''arrival'' or ''descent'', by which ''Ardian'' would therefore be "the one that arrives or descends from...", or simply ''the descendant/offspring''. However, one certainly ought to consider all other possible etymologies for ''Ardiaei'', which in this form certainly belongs to Latin transliteration, in order to reach any tangible conclusion. When it comes to ancient Latin linguistic legacy, which should certainly be taken in consideration when transliterating ancient Illyrian words and names, one of the closest visible linguistic matches to 'Ardiaei' (and its Albanian derivative 'Ardian/Ardijan') seems to be ''ardea'', Latin word for heron. There is a town in Bosnia and Herzegovina situated in the wider Neretva valley region (the original homeland of ancient Illyrian people of ''Ardiaei'') called Čapljina and its name derives from ''čaplja'', which in former Serbo-Croatian language (nowadays divided into Bosnian/Croatian/Montenegrin and Serbian) precisely means 'heron'. The Latin word for heron is ''ardea'', a word that bears striking similarity with the name of ''Ardiaei'', and it might possibly be its cognate. This theory opens up many possibilities for the interpretation of the original homeland of the Ardiaei and the etymology of their name. For example, heron might have had totemic pagan value among local Illyrians, due to its presence in this area, and it is not implausible to conclude that one of those Illyrian peoples named itself after a heron, the ''Ardiaei''. The Latin word ''ardea'' might be a Latin translation of some original Illyrian word for 'heron' that Romans found when they settled in this area, or the 'ardea' itself, could have been an Illyrian word taken by Romans, who might have slightly altered it and integrated it into their language, the Latin. Indeed, the word ''Ardiaei'' is found in ancient Greek sources predating the arrival of Romans and their language to the Illyrian lands. It is also possible that ancient Illyrians or Romans named this place 'the place of heron(s), and the Slavic settlers, who settled in the former Illyrian lands around the 6th century A.D. translated the name of this place into their language(s), which in turn gave 'Čapljina', "''the place of heron(s)''".In any case, this is just one of so many other different possibilities in terms of identifying potential etymologies for 'Ardiaei', and further and detailed interdisciplinary study should be carried out in order to reach any viable conclusion. Some other suggested etymologies for Ardiaei include the ancient Greek ''ardis'', meaning ‘head of the arrow, sting’, ‘vardia’, Greek for ‘watch/duty/shift’ (‘guard’ implicit), corresponding directly to ‘Vardaei’, another name for Ardiaei, one other variant of Ardiaei, bears similarity with the name of the Vardar river in Macedonia, so this could be yet another area to explore. However, one should bear in mind that Greek historian Strabo says in paragraph 6 (Book 7, chapter 5) of his Geographica: “The Ardiaei were called by the men of later times "Vardiaei", which implies that the word Ardiaioi, as the Greek called them, preceded the name of Vardaei.Adzanela (Axhanela) Ardian, ''Illyrian Bosnia and Herzegovina-an overview of a cultural legacy'', 2004, https://www.academia.edu/2490281/Illyrian_Bosnia_and_Herzegovina-an_Overview_of_a_Cultural_Legacy_Ancient_Illyrians_of_Bosnia_and_Herzegovina

Ardiana is a feminine form of this name. Abbreviated forms like Ardi and Ardia are in use too.

List of people

Notable people with the name include:

* Ardian Behari (born 1973), Albanian footballer and coach
*Ardian Bujupi (born 1991), Albanian singer and songwriter
*Ardian Cuculi (born 1987), ethnic Albanian footballer from Macedonia
*Ardian Gashi (born 1981), Kosovar-Norwegian footballer
*Ardian Fullani (born 1955), former governor of the Bank of Albania
* Ardian Gjokaj (born 1979), ethnic Albanian footballer from Montenegro
*Ardian Klosi (1957–2012), Albanian publicist, albanologist, writer, translator and social activist
* Adrian Kollozi ( 2009–2011), Albanian politician
*Ardian Kozniku (born 1967), ethnic Albanian footballer from Kosovo
*Ardian Mema (born 1971), Albanian footballer
*Ardian Pepa (born 1977), Albanian sculptor and painter
* Ardian Rexhepi (born 1993), ethnic Albanian footballer from Sweden
*Ardian Syaf, Indonesia comic book artist
*Ardian Turku, Albanian politician, member of the Parliament of Albania, and former mayor of Elbasan
*Ardian Vehbiu (born 1959), Albanian author and translator
* Ardiana Leka Sinoimeri (born 1956), Albanian translator/interpreter/book editor/professor of English, Polytechnic University/professor of Albanian, USA

References

{{Given name

Albanian masculine given names
Masculine given names