Mehrdad (Persian: مهرداد) is a common Persian male given name in Iran and other Persian speaking countries. Mehrdad is a Persian name for boys that means "given by sun" or "given by love". Mehr means "sun" or "love," and Dad means "given."[citation needed]
It comes from the Old Persian name "Mithradatha" and the Middle Persian name "Mehrdat", which is a theophoric name that means "given by Mithra" or "given by Mehr". "Mehr" comes from Avestan Mithra, the Zoroastrian divinity and hypo-stasis of covenant.
In modern-day Iran, the name Mehrdad is also retroactively applied to several historic Persian figures that appear in western literature as Mithridates, a Hellenized or philhellenic form of Mehrdad.
People
References
- Schmitt, Rüdiger (1970), "Die theophoren Eigennamen mit altiranisch *Miθra-", Acta Iranica, 17: 395–455