Xenia

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Origin: Ancient Greek

Meaning: derived from Greek xeno (foreigner, guest) meaning "hospitality".


Xenia is also an ancient Greek concept of hospitality in which the host must be hospitable to the guest and provide them with food, drink, and gifts, and the guest must be courteous to the host, not burden them and, if possible, provide them with a gift. Xenia was also considered very important in Ancient Greek, in case a stranger happened to be a god in disguise, as well as featuring prominently in many Greek myths.. One of the epithets of the Greek god Zeus, the king of the gods, was Zeus Xenios, the protector of guests, while his daughter Athena was Athena Xenia.

Xenia is also the name of a genus of coral.

Interesting fact: the name of the popular character from the TV show Xena: Warrior Princess was based on Greek xenos.


Variants:

• Xene (Greek)
• Xeno (Greek)
• Xena
• Ksenija (Croatian, Macedonian, Serbian, Slovene)
• Zenia (English)
• Senja (Finnish)
• Ksenia (Polish)
• Kseniya, Oksana, Oxana, Aksinya (Russian)
• Oksana, Oxana (Ukrainian)

Masculine forms:

• Xenos
• Xenon
• Xenios/ Xenius