Heather is a common English speaking nation given name, for girls.
Origin and meaning
The name Heather actually refers to a variety of small shrubs with pink or white flowers which commonly grow in rocky areas that is literally referred to as Heather, in English. The brush is native to Scotland and England, but it is more commonly found in Scotland due to its rocky territories. The name is derived from Middle English hather.
Heather has several other definitions. The most commonly known is as a reference to a color mixture, it is most often a pale shade of blue from blue itself to pink to even purple mixed with gray. However, many times it refers to any color that includes gray or gray streaks within it, such as what is known as Heather fabric.
The masculine form of the name is Heath.
Popularity and variations
Newspapers.com records the use of "Miss Heather" in reference to a girl's name as early as 2 August 1852, in The New York Times. An infant by the name of Miss Heather Campbell arrived on a ship from Glasgow in New York, with her mother.
The American Social Security Administration's records show it to already be in use in 1935, though it was rare at the time coming in at #997, barely making the top 100 names of that era. The name is currently popular among the people of Generations X and Generation Y. The name itself peaked in popularity at #3, in 1975.
Heather, though a name found primarily in English speaking countries, has other variants simply because of its definition as a flowering plant. However its foreign names often closely resemble other words with meanings so is difficult to know if those names originated from the flower, or another word. For example, the name Heidi in German resembles Heidekraut, which is the German word for the Heather shrubs, though the name Heidi usually is attributed to "ruler".
Erica actually has two meanings, one of which is related to the Heather plant whose Latin name is Ericaceae. Its other meaning is equal to that of the German meaning of Heidi, meaning "ruler". This leaves the impression that the shrub name and the meaning of "ruler" are similar, or it is a large coincidence.
Heather Angel, English actress
Heather Angel, English photographer
Heather B. Gardner, American hip-hop artist
Heather Bown, American volleyball player
Heather Burge (born 1971), American basketball player
Heather Crowe, Canadian anti-smoking campaigner
Heather Dewey-Hagborg (born 1982), information artist and bio-hacker
Heather Engebretson, American lyric soprano
Heather Foster (born 1966), Jamaican-born American professional bodybuilder
Heather Graham, American actress
Heather Headley, Trinidadian singer and actress
Heather Hemmens, American actress
Heather Hunter, American entertainer
Heather Jones, Canadian field hockey player
Heather Kuzmich, American fashion model and America's Next Top Model, Cycle 9 participant
Heather Langenkamp (born 1964), American actress
Heather Locklear (born 1961), American actress
Heather Marks, Canadian model
Heather Matarazzo, American actress
Heather Mills (born 1968), British model and activist; the second wife of Paul McCartney
Heather Morris, American actress and dancer from Glee
Heather Moyse (born 1978), Canadian bobsledder and rugby union player
Heather North, American voice actress
Heather Nova, Bermudian singer-songwriter and poet
Heather O'Reilly (born 1985), American soccer player
Heather O'Rourke (1975–1988), American actress
Heather Raffo, American actress
Heather Small, British singer
Heather Terhune, a "cheftestant" on Top Chef: Texas (Top Chef season 9)
Heather Thomas, American actress
Heather Thomson, cast member of The Real Housewives of New York City, season 5
Heather Tom, American Actress, who appears mostly on soap operas
Heather Wallace, Canadian squash player
Heather Whitestone, Miss America winner
Heather West, American chef
Lady Heather (real name Heather Kessler), a recurring character in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
Heather, a character, and one of the four season winners, from Total Drama
Heather, a character, sister of "Dagur the Deranged", chief of the Beserker tribe, worked with ex-boss' Ryker and Viggo Grimmborn, Dragon Rider, From "Dreamworks Dragons Race To The Edge".
Heather Badcock, a victim in Agatha Christie's 1962 novel, The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side.
Heather Campbell, the first love of Connor MacLeod, the main protagonist of the Highlander film franchise (not to be confused with Duncan MacLeod of the television series spinoff)
Heather Chandler, Heather Duke, and Heather McNamara, the eponymous clique from the film Heathers
Heather Dante, daughter of Tony Soprano's consigliere, Silvio Dante, on The Sopranos
Heather Hart, a character in the novel Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick
Heather Mason, the female protagonist in Silent Hill 3
Heather Farrell, a former character from the original Degrassi series.
Heather Sinclair, an unseen character in Degrassi: The Next Generation
Heather Stevens Williams, a character on the American soap opera The Young and the Restless
Heather the Violet Fairy, from the children's book series Rainbow Magic
