Asia

Asia is an English, Italian, and Polish feminine given name taken directly from the name of the continent, which derives from ancient Greek Asia, used by writers such as Herodotus to denote the lands east of the Aegean. The Greek form likely came from Assyrian or Akkadian asu, meaning to rise or to shine, referring to the direction of the sunrise. The name gained use as a given name in the modern era, popularized in part by Italian and American naming trends of the late twentieth century. Variants include Asja, used in Slavic languages, and the name shares its ultimate root with the Latin form Asia found in classical texts.