Building A Digital Feminary

Muse of epics and eloquence; the oldest muse. Mother of Orpheus. {Hamilton}

{Pantheon}

In Greek mythology, a daughter of one of the Titans. She ruled the island of Ogygia, and kept Odysseus with her as her lover for seven years. {Britannica}

May be an Etruscan name. Queen of the Vosci, killed in battle by Aeneas. Mme. de'Arblay wrote a novel, Camille, in 1796, that popularized the name. {Withycombe}

Another name for Cassandra: daughter of Priam and Hecuba. She was a priestess of Apollo, but when she spurned his sexual advances, he cursed her so that no one would ever believe her prophecies. During the fall of Troy, she was captured and enslaved by Agammemnon. {Britannica}

There may also be Hindu or Bengali instances of this name - transliterated more recently as "Chandra". {Lost Histories}

A feminine form of the name "Charles". {Withycombe}

Caroline Carbonnel, a Saint Simonian feminist, nineteenth century France. She lived in the Saint Simonian colony in Egypt with Enfantin.
Sophy-Caroline, a regular contributor to the pages of the feminist newspaper Tribune des Femmes, in the 1830s. Her last name is unknown.{Goldberg Moses}

Nickname for Caroline {Withycombe}

Carrie Nation (1846-1911). U.S. feminist and activist in the temperance movement. Also known as Carry Moore Nation. Especially known for advocating the destruction of property.{Columbia}

Carrie Chapman Catt, U.S. feminist who fought for the right of women to vote. She was also a peace advocate {Britannica}

{Columbia}

Prophetess and princess of Troy in the Iliad. Daughter of Priam and Hecuba. {Withycombe}

Cassandra was raped by Ajax and then given as spoils of war to Agamemmnon. She and Agamemmnon were murdered by Clytemnestra and Aegisthus. {Pantheon}

A flower name from the spice tree. Or, it may be a feminine form of the Roman name Cassius. {Behind the Name}

French writers: Des Roches, Catherine Fredonnoit, 1550-1587. Bernard, Catherine, 1662-1712. Le commerce galant, ou, Lettres tendres et galantes de la jeune Iris et de Timandre. Catherine Clément, French radical feminist writer. {New French Feminisms}

Catherine Sawbridge Macaulay Graham (1731-1791). English feminist writer. {Foremothers}

Cécile Fournel, who was at one time a Saint-Simonian but who started, in frustration and intense determination, a feminist separatist movement in the early 1830s.{Goldberg Moses}

"Woman will emancipate herself by herself, marching alone without that support from men which was for her the measure of her continuing enslavement. "I shall unite with the women; I shall help them; I shall support them; I shall call them; together we will know how to find our way toward independence... I have too much desire to do this to fail" (from a letter written to her husband in June 1832). "We are about to begin the true emancipation of women which until now has been among us more an expresion of desire than a reality... As long as our activity remained tied to the men's, we could only follow along behind them..." (from a letter written to Elisa Lemmonier, June 1832) Quotes from Goldberg Moses book and translation by her as well. Cecilia Ferrazzi b.1609-d.1684. Wrote "Autobiography of an Aspiring Saint". {Foremothers}

Celemina was a pen name of Elizabeth Boyle, who was in the literary circle of Katherine Fowler, "The Matchless Orinda".

"Katherine Fowler 1631-1664: Katherine developed an organization of women that she called " The Society of Friendship," within which the members each assumed classical pseudonyms. Katherine was known as Orinda. In her poetry, she referred to herself and her friends using their pseudonyms. Her poetry was greatly admired in her time, and she was often referred to as "The Matchless Orinda." While most of her poetry was about her women lovers and was sensual in nature, the poems were viewed as expressions of platonic love, rather than sexual love.... Katherine's three most significant relationships were with Mary Awbrey (Rosania), Anne Owen (Lucasia), and Elizabeth Boyle (Celimena). She was involved with Lucasia for ten years and wrote over half her poems to this lover. Celimena was her most brief relationship--Katherine fell in love with her in 1664, the year of Katherine's death from smallpox. She was 33." {North}

A nickname for Marceline, or feminine form of Caelinus/Celino. {Behind the Name}

1925 "L'Egyptienne" (The Egyptian Woman) magazine, edited by Ceza Nabarawi, was published in French by the Egyptian Feminist Union. It continued publishing until 1940, when the war made its continuation impossible. 1923: Huda Sha'rawi and Ceza Nabarawi lift their veils as a symbol of women's emancipation. The incident is replicated throughout the country. {Egyptian Women}

A Bengali writer from the 16th century who created a famous version of the Ramayana told from Sita's point of view.

"Chandrabati and Molla are the very first women to retell the Ramayana in their regional language, and they have amazing similarities. Both remained unmarried out of choice in order to become professional poets, both worshipped Shiva, yet wrote a Ramayana. But here they took different routes. Molla, a woman and a shudra, threw a challenge to the Brahmin court poets by writing a perfect classical Ramayana. Chandrabati, on the other hand, composed a Ramayana which told only the story of Sita and critiqued Rama from a woman's point of view. The Brahmins did not allow Molla's work to be read in the royal court. And critics have rejected Chandra's as a weak and incomplete text. Ranganayakamma suffered a great deal of social ostracization for her attack on the 'Holy Book'. " {Dev Sen}

French writer: Caumont de La Force, Charlotte Rose de, d. 1724 Charlotte Corday {New French Feminisms}

Marie Anne Charlotte Corday Darmont (1768-1793). French revolutionary and feminist. Assassin of Marat. {Britannica}

Charlotte M. Yonge, novelist and researcher into the etymology and history of names. {Yonge}

Charlotte Bernard Shaw translated a play called "Maternity" by Brieux from French to English in 1907. The play centered around women's right over their own reproductive freedom. She was Irish, and a Fabian. Also known as Charlotte Francis Payne-Townshend. {Anarchist Feminism}

The whirlpool from the Odyssey - opposite Scylla. {Salmonson}

A "voracious woman" who stole Hercules' cattle and was punished by Zeus by being turned into an ocean whirlpool. {Britannica}

A Cambodian dancer who survived the Khmer Rouge massacres and became a teacher who preserved and passed on many traditions from before the revolution. "Chea Samy organized young women dancers who could be taught to translate memories and movement into written language. It was the first time that women were encouraged to actively ask for and record the knowledge of their elders. Chea Samy hoped this process would help women become both better teachers and better leaders for future generations." {Mills}


Chea Villanueva, lesbian feminist writer. {Lost Histories}

Chien-Ti A Chinese ancestral mother who accidentally swallowed a multi-colored swallow's egg and gave birth thereafter to the ancestors of the Shang dynasty. {Chinese Mythology}

Greek: "young green shoot". Epithet of Demeter. St. Paul mentions a Chloe in I Cor. i II. {Withycombe}

. "The little white monkey is seated between us. You suggest calling her Chloe." (Wittig, Lesbian Body, 34). {Lesbian Body}

Christine Delphy, a major influence on Wittig (Wittig, Straight Mind, XIV). 20th century French feminist and sociologist. {Straight Mind}

After having studied Sociology at the University of Paris, she was appointed at the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in 1966. She has participated in the creation of the feminist 'Mouvement de Libération de la Femme' (MLF) which she now leads. Moreover, she founded with Simone de Beauvoir the magazine "Questions féministes". {French Culture}

Works available in English include: The Main Enemy (1997), Close to home: A Materialist Analysis of Women's Oppression (1984) and Familiar Exploitation: A New Analysis of Marriage in Contemporary Western Societies" (1992) Christine de Pisan, (c.1364 - c.1431) French poet and author of a utopian book of philosophy, The Book of the City of Ladies [Le Livre des trois vertus, or Le Trdsor de la cite des dames]. {Foremothers}

{Britannica}

A captive in the Trojan War. Agammemnon takes her captive, though she is a priestess and daughter of a priest of Apollo. Agammemnon had to set her free, then takes Briseis, another captive, from Achilles. {Pantheon}

Aztec goddess of fertility. She is also the goddess of women who have died in childbirth. She ground the bones of the people of the previous age and mixed them with the blood of Quetzalcoatl to make the people alive in the current age. Her name means "Snake woman". She is often shown holding bundles of snakes. Mixcoatl, a god of war and hunting, is her son. {Pantheon}

Circe, in Greek mythology, was a daughter of Helios and a sea nymph. She was exiled from Colchis to a remote island for murdering her husband. She was a sorceress and could change men into wild beasts. Odysseus lived with her for a year as her lover and captive.{Britannica}

Heroine of a 1747 novel by Samuel Richardson. {Britannica}

Claude de France (1499-1524), queen consort of Francis I of France and daughter of Louix XII. {Britannica}

A possible reference to Claudine Herrman, 20th century feminist writer. {New French Feminisms}

Claudia Pulchra, widow of Germanicus and member of the court of the Roman emperor Tiberius. She was accused of witchcraft and adultery, and exiled. {Britannica}

CLELIA f Italian Meaning unknown, from the Latin name Cloelia. In Roman legend Cloelia was a maiden who was given as a hostage to an Etruscan invader, but escaped by swimming across the Tiber. Heroine of the novel Clelie by Madeline de Scudery. {Other Women's Voices}

Clemence - Latin: "mildness" {Withycombe}

. (Louise Labe) All her writings are contained in the one volume which is prefaced by a dedicatory letter to Clémence de Bourges, a young Lyonnaise noblewoman. This letter, an important early feminist treatise which calls women to the act of writing, is followed by a prose debate between Cupid and Folly, three elegies and twenty-four sonnets. The first edition was also accompanied by a series of poems in praise of the author written by many of her fellow poets. (source lost) Clémence Royer, French feminist and scientist in the 19th century {Goldberg Moses}

No particular person identified yet.

A short form of "Cleopatra". {Behind the Name}

Greek: "glorious victory". {Withycombe}

Heroine of a play by John Hoole; "Cleonice, Princess of Bithynia". {Britannica}

Many queens of Egypt were named Cleopatra. The most famous Queen Cleopatra lived from 69 B.C.E. - 30 C.E. She led a revolt against her brother and seized power with the help of Julius Caesar. She was married to two of her younger brothers, had a son with Julius Caesar, and later married Marc Antony. They were defeated by the Roman emperor Octavian at the battle of Actium. {Britannica}

Clorinde Rogé, a nineteenth century French feminist. Lived for four years in the Saint Simonian colony in Egypt. {Goldberg Moses}

Clothilde of Neustria ruled as regent in 692 C.E. She is also called Rothilde, Crothéchildis and Doda.

Saint Clotilde (475-545) was queen of the Franks, wife of Clovis I, and the niece of a Roman general. She influenced Clovis to convert to Christianity. {Wikipedia}

A twelfth-century queen of Bohemia, Constance of France, daughter of Philip I. She married Bohemund I. Her granddaughter Constance of Antioch or Constance Guiscard, ruled Antioch from 1130 to her death in 1163. {Wikipedia}

An invented name used in France after the Revolution. {Withycombe}

Coralie Trinh Thi, Vietnamese director and former porn star. Her films include Baise-moi (translated as either Fuck Me or Rape Me, 2001) a story of two women who have been the victims of violence and who join in deciding to kill all the men they have sex with on their nomadic journey together. She co-directed this movie with Virginie Despentes. {Coralie}

Heroine of a novel by Madame Stael (Anna-Louise Germaine); "Corinne; or Italy". Corinne, a beautiful Italian poet, is involved with a Scottish lord in a tragic love affair. {Britannica}

No information found.

Daughter of Publius Cornelius Scipo Africanus. Mother of the Gracchi {Withycombe}

. Heroine of a 1793 novel by the Dutch writer Betje Wolff (also known as Elizabeth Bekker). {Britannica}

One of the daughters of Franz Liszt and the writer Marie Catherine Sophie de Flavigny, Comtesse d'Agoult, who wrote under the name Daniel Stern. {Britannica}

This name remains mysterious to me.

A female character in Voltaire's Candide. {Britannica}

Incan (female or male) local area ruler. Head of an ayllu. {Incas}

Cyana and her father Scyllias or Skyllias were Greek/Scionian divers who worked for the Persian King Xerxes to recover sunken treasure. Because Xerxes would not let them stop work and go back to their homeland, Cyana and Scyillias dove into the sea one night and cut the anchor ropes of the entire Persian fleet. They then swam 9 miles to give information on the fleet to the Greeks. {Herodotus}

Cydippe was the mother of Cleobis and Biton. Cydippe, a priestess of Hera, was on her way to a festival in the goddess' honor. The oxen which was to pull her cart were overdue and her sons, Biton and Cleobis pulled the cart the entire way (45 stadia; 8 km). Cydippe was impressed with their devotion to her and her goddess and asked Hera to give her children the best gift a god could give a person. Hera ordained that the brothers would die in their sleep. {Wikipedia}


Cydippe, in a story told by Callimachus and Ovid, was fooled by Acontius into swearing that she would marry him. Acontius rolled a golden apple to her feet; she picked it up read out loud the words inscribe there: "I swear by the sacred shrine of the goddess that I will marry you." This oath was technically binding and she was forced into marriage. {Britannica}

Cynthia was an epithet of the Greek goddess Artemis, after her birthplace, Mount Cynthius on the island of Delos. {Hamilton}

A prostitute in first century B.C.E. Rome. She was the lover of Sextus Propertius and the subject of many of his poems. Her real name was Hostia. {Britannica}

An epithet or alternative name for Aphrodite. Also Cytherea or the Cyprian, after the island of Cyprus. {Hamilton}

Calamity Jane, U.S. west. Marthy Cannary Burk.