What’s In A Name: Tara Thornton

Our series examining the meanings behind the True Blood character names continues with fierce, feisty yet vulnerable Tara Thornton. Read previous articles here.

Tara Thornton

“I have a name. And that name is Tara. Isn’t that funny, a black girl being named after a plantation? No, I don’t think it’s funny at all. In fact it really pisses me off that my momma was either stupid or just plain mean.” – “Strange Love”

Poor Tara. Seems like her mom saddled her with a name guaranteed to piss her off right from the start. She is right about the name’s popular origins: Tara is the Anglicized version of an Irish place name, Teamhair, which means “elevated place” in Gaelic. It was the name of the Irish King’s sacred residence near modern-day Dublin. Centuries later, Margaret Mitchell’s novel Gone with the Wind rocketed the name into popular culture in 1936, followed by the film version in 1939. Since then Tara morphed from a place name to a girl’s name, with multiple spelling variations. The name is also similar to the Latin word terra, meaning earth or land. Perhaps Lettie Mae was hoping her daughter would be grounded and pragmatic?

Tara has another meaning, though, one I think our Tara would prefer: In Sanskrit, Tara means “star” and is the name of a Hindu astral goddess, the wife of Brhaspati. In Hindu mythology, Tara was abducted by Soma, a god of the moon, leading to a great war that was only ended when Brahma intervened and released her. Sound familiar? Franklin Mott was a vampire, only able to rise at night, and he kidnapped Tara in season 3 resulting in a war of sorts leading to her rescue by Sookie and Alcide. Who knows if Charlaine Harris had that in mind when she named the character (and of course the storyline proceeds somewhat differently in the books), but it’s an interesting parallel. Perhaps Tara would rather be named after a plantation after all.

Thornton is a pretty straightforward surname, likely adopted by Tara’s ancestors after the Civil War. It’s an Old English word, meaning “thorn town”. As literal as that name is, it is an apt description of the character. Our girl can get prickly, but all those thorns protect a beautiful soul and a heart that longs to be loved.