Amalie is a name, which I thought I randomly selected for my first original hand knit design published. I felt the name fit the shawl because the name in my opinion is simple, yet sublimely elegant, like the shawl. After posting my pattern on Ravelry, I was reminded that a friend’s daughter was named Amelie. So, I was familiar with the name, in a way, or at least more so than I thought.

This coincidence led me to do research on the name Amalie. According to some sources, Amalie is originally a Latin name meaning hardworking. However, in the past it was a very popular name in Germany and France, also. It reminds me of the name Amal made famous recently by Amal Clooney, George Clooney’s wife. As a lawyer, activist and author, I would say she is hardworking, yet incredibly elegant. Amal means hope and aspiration in Arabic.

According to Wikipedia, “Amalia is a female given name. It is derived from the Germanic word amal meaning “work”, and connotes “industrious” and “fertile”. It is also used as a Hebrew name. In Hebrew it means labor of God (or in Latin, opus dei). The name was popular among early Zionist pioneers. A variant spelling is Amalie.”

My favorite meaning is the Hebrew meaning, labor of God.