Meaning & History
Latinized form of Greek Ἀλφεσίβοια (Alphesiboia) meaning "much-courted" (literally "earning cattle, bringing in oxen", from ἀλφάνω (alphano) meaning "to bring in, yield, earn" and βοῦς (bous) meaning "bullock, bull, ox"). This was an epithet of maidens whose parents received many oxen or cattle as gifts from their suitors. In Greek mythology this was the name of several characters, including a daughter of Phegeus who married Alcmaeon.