The daughter of Zeus, she was said to have sprung from his head fully grown after he impregnated and swallowed her mother Metis. Athena is associated with the olive tree and the owl.
The name was popular in France during the Middle Ages (the more common French form is Gisèle). Though it became known in the English-speaking world due to Adolphe Adam's ballet Giselle (1841), it was not regularly used until the 20th century.
In Greek mythology, Kairos was the personification of opportunity, luck and favorable moments.
Myrddin appears in early Welsh poems, as a prophet who lives in the Caledonian Forest after being driven insane witnessing the slaughter of his king Gwenddoleu and his forces at the Battle of Arfderydd. His character seems to be based on the North Brythonic figure Lailoken, and perhaps also the Irish figure Suibhne. Geoffrey of Monmouth adapted him into Merlin in the 12th century.
William Shakespeare made Theseus a central character in his play A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595), about his upcoming marriage to the Amazon queen Hippolyta. Shakespeare revisited the character in his later play The Two Noble Kinsmen (1613).
Zen is a school of Buddhism which originated in China during the 7th century, and spread to Vietnam, Korea, and Japan. It emphasises rigorous meditation practices, and favours direct personal understanding rather than knowledge of doctrine.
Zen meditation became known in the West at the end of the 19th century, and at this time it became used as an English name, albeit sporadically. Interest in the practice and philosophy of Zen grew during the 1950s and '60s, though the name's usage remained sporadic and it wasn't until the late 1990s and 2000s that this name began to be used more frequently.