April A-Z Challenge: Kaija - The Story of My Name

Hey, everyone! I'm Kaija, in case you didn't already know that. Kaija is a Finnish variant of the name Katherine. It's just one of the many, many derivative names of the Greek Goddess Hecate. Her name means 'far off' because Hecate was "a goddess associated with witchcraft, crossroads, tombs, demons, and the underworld." However, this meaning clearly wasn't good enough for the early Christians, who changed it to mean 'pure.' If you want, you can have a look at my name's huge family tree right here. Kaija is somewhere in the middle and kind of off to the side. Yeah, that's me.