Hippolyte (name)

Hippolyte or Hippolyta was the Amazonian queen with a magic girdle, in Greek mythology, and there are other mythological figures named Hippolyte. The name of the amazon, Ἱππολύτη, translates to 'having loosened horses'. The name of her son, Ἱππόλυτος (Hippolytus (son of Theseus)), is taken to be ironically ambiguous, also translating to 'being destroyed by horses', as he dies when his out-of-control chariot horses throw him off.

Hippolyte is the French form of the masculine (Hippolytus) and at the same time the German spelling of the feminine (Hippolyta).

Hippolyte (variously also Hippolite, Hippolytus, Hippolitus, Hipólito, Ippolit, Ipolit, Ippolito, Ipolito) or Hippolyta (Ippolita) is also used as a given name, and hence as a Caribbean surname.