Anemone coronaria

Anemone coronaria means crown anemone, referring to the central crown of the flower, evoking regal associations. The Arabic name is shaqa'iq An-Nu'man translated literally as the wounds, or "pieces", of Nu'man.

A possible source of the name is An-Nu'man III Bin Al-Munthir, the last Lakhmid king of Al-Hirah and a Christian Arab. An-Nu'man is known to have protected the flowers during his reign. According to legend, the flower thrived on An-Nu'man's grave, after his death in the battle against the Sassanids, paralleling the death and rebirth of Adonis.

Another possible source of the name traces back to the Sumerian god of food and vegetation, Tammuz, whose Phoenician epithet was "Nea'man". Tammuz is generally considered to have been drawn into the Greek pantheon as Adonis, who died of his wounds while hunting wild boar. The deity is transformed into a flower, stained by the blood of Adonis. Tammuz's Phoenician epithet "Nea'man" is believed to be both the source of "an-Nu'man" in Arabic which came through Syriac, and of "anemone" which came through Greek.