Tapio

According to Saarikivi (2022), from tavata (dialectally also "to catch, reach") +‎ -io, and thus as a name for a god of the hunt.[1] The name has also been connected with Estonian taba (“padlock”) and Livonian tabā (“padlock”) (both connected with respective cognates of tavata), hinting at a theoretical noun *tapa (“trap”) (not attested in Finnish), which could have served as the direct etymon.[2] Koivulehto took a different view, likewise connecting the word with tavata, but instead citing a Germanic comparandum, Proto-Germanic *gadōbiz (whence Old English gedēfe), proposing it as evidence of a semantic shift within Finnic (parallel to the development of Mielikki) through a sense like "lenient, amenable".[3]

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɑpio/, [ˈt̪ɑ̝pio̞]
• Rhymes: -ɑpio
• Syllabification^(key): Ta‧pi‧o

Tapio

1. (Finnic mythology) The god of forest.
   • 1849 Kalevala (Translation 1988 by Eino Friberg) 46:53-56:

     Ota, metsä, miehiksesi, / Urohiksesi, Tapio! / Auta onni ottamahan, / Metsän kaunis kaatamahan!

     Now receive me as your man, / One of your own people, Tapio. / Give me luck, good hunting give me / For the bear, that forest beauty.

2. a male given name
3. a Finnish surname transferred from the given name

• Revived as a given name in the 19th century. A popular middle name since early 20th century.

• Tapio is the 76^th most common male given name in Finland, belonging to 9,399 male individuals (and as a middle name to 104,648 more, making it more common as a middle name), and also belongs as a middle name to 13 female individuals, according to February 2023 data from the Digital and Population Data Services Agency of Finland.
• Tapio is the 484^th most common surname in Finland, belonging to 1,733 individuals, according to February 2023 data from the Digital and Population Data Services Agency of Finland.

• apoit, opita, patio, pitoa