A female name origination from ancient Slavic mythology. Before
Christianity came to the Slavs of Eastern Europe, the deity Danica was prayed to in the early morning when she was said to appear in the dawn sky as the first star, or morning star. Danica was associated with the
sun and was thought to be the
sun's younger sister. With the expansion of monotheism "Danica" became less associated with the deity and came to become a common girl name, holding the literal translation-"morning star."
This meaning is connected with the name Danica properly pronounced Dah-nee-tza. Its original spelling was in Cyrillic, and is a
popular name throughout Serbia, and countries of the former Yugoslavia.
The simple
Latin pronunciation ( Dan-ick-kuh ) is Danish, but not associated with "morning star," rather with a small white brush flower (
genius and species: Cochlearia Danica) which mainly grows in the acidic rocky soils of Northern Europe(i.e. Denmark).