Most people think they know the real name of Sleeping Beauty. You probably grew up hearing "Aurora" in the Disney version, or maybe you recall "Briar Rose" from the older books. But here is the thing: if you go back to the 1600s, those names didn't even exist in the folklore.
Names matter. In fairy tales, a name isn't just a label; it’s a history of how a story moved across borders.
The "real" name depends entirely on which version of the story you are holding in your hands. It's a bit of a mess, honestly. If you're a purist looking for the very first written name, you aren't going to find a princess named Aurora. You’re going to find a girl named Talia.
The Italian Origins and the Name Talia
Before the Brothers Grimm or Walt Disney ever touched the script, there was Giambattista Basile. He was a Neapolitan courtier and writer who published a collection called Lo cunto de li cunti (The Tale of Tales) in 1634. In his story, "Sun, Moon, and Talia," the real name of Sleeping Beauty is Talia.
Basile’s version is dark. Kinda grim, actually.
Talia doesn't just prick her finger on a spindle; she gets a splinter of flax stuck under her fingernail and falls into a death-like sleep. Her father, heartbroken, leaves her body in one of his country estates. A king—who is already married, mind you—finds her while hunting. He doesn't wake her with a kiss. Instead, he leaves her there, still asleep, and returns to his own kingdom.
Talia eventually gives birth to twins while still unconscious. One of the babies, searching for a breast, accidentally sucks the flax splinter out of her finger. She wakes up. Those twins? Their names were Sun and Moon.
So, if we are talking chronological "firsts," Talia is the original name. It likely comes from the Greek word thallein, meaning "to blossom." It’s a fitting name for someone who "dies" and then returns to life, but it's a far cry from the sanitized version we see on lunchboxes today.
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Charles Perrault and the Rise of Princess Aurora
About sixty years after Basile, a Frenchman named Charles Perrault decided to polish the story for the French aristocracy. In 1697, he published Histoires ou contes du temps passé. This is the version most of us recognize as the "classic" Sleeping Beauty.
Here’s the twist: in Perrault's version, the princess herself doesn't actually have a name.
She is simply "the Princess."
However, Perrault did use the name Aurora (or Aurore in French). But he didn't give it to the main character. He gave it to the princess's daughter. In this version, after the princess wakes up, she secretly marries the prince and has two children: a girl named Aurore and a boy named Jour (Day).
It wasn't until much later—specifically when Tchaikovsky composed his famous ballet in 1890—that the name Aurora was shifted from the daughter to the mother. The ballet needed a name for its lead dancer, and "Aurora" sounded regal, ethereal, and perfectly suited for a girl who represents the dawn after a long night of sleep. When Disney adapted the story in 1959, they stuck with the ballet’s naming convention. That is why most of the world now considers Aurora the real name of Sleeping Beauty.
Why the Brothers Grimm Called Her Briar Rose
If you’re a fan of the darker, more "authentic" folk tradition, you probably prefer the name Briar Rose. This comes from the Brothers Grimm, who published their version, Dornröschen, in 1812.
Translation is a funny thing. Dornröschen literally translates to "Little Briar Rose."
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The Grimm brothers weren't just making up names for fun. They were obsessed with the idea of national identity and German folklore. In their version, a thicket of thorny briars grows around the castle while the princess sleeps. The name is descriptive. She is the rose protected by the thorns.
Interestingly, Disney tried to have it both ways. In the 1959 film, the fairies hide Aurora in the woods to protect her from Maleficent. They give her a "peasant" alias to keep her identity secret. That alias? Briar Rose. It was a clever way to nod to the Grimm heritage while keeping the more marketable "Aurora" name for the royal branding.
Is There a "True" Name?
Folklore isn't like a modern copyright. There is no "official" version owned by a single person. These stories evolved like a game of telephone played over centuries across Europe.
- Talia: The oldest recorded name from the Italian tradition.
- Aurora: The name of the daughter in French tradition, later moved to the protagonist by Russian ballet.
- Briar Rose: The German name focusing on the thorns surrounding her.
There are even more obscure versions. In the Völsunga saga, a Norse myth that shares some DNA with Sleeping Beauty, there is a shield-maiden named Brynhildr who is pricked by a "sleep thorn" by Odin. She lies in a castle surrounded by a ring of fire until a hero crosses it. While she isn't exactly the same character, the tropes are identical.
So, if you are writing a paper or settling a bet, the answer is: it depends on which century you are living in.
Tracking the Name Through Pop Culture
Today, the real name of Sleeping Beauty is almost synonymous with Aurora because of the sheer weight of Disney’s marketing. But modern retellings love to play with these variations.
Take the movie Maleficent (2014), for example. They stick with Aurora, but they lean heavily into the "nature" aspect of her character, which feels a bit like a blend of the old Briar Rose vibes. In the TV show Once Upon a Time, she’s Aurora, but the show acknowledges the multi-layered history of fairy tales by bringing in characters from various traditions.
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The name Talia has mostly fallen out of the mainstream. It’s a shame, because the Basile story—while incredibly disturbing by modern standards—is a fascinating look at how pre-industrial societies viewed fate and survival. If you ever see a version of the story where the princess is named Talia, you know the author is doing a deep dive into the 17th-century roots of the tale.
What to Do Next
If you want to understand the history of these names better, don't just rely on movie summaries. You should actually read the source texts. They are wildly different from what you see on screen.
Start by looking up Giambattista Basile’s "Sun, Moon, and Talia." You can find public domain translations online easily. Just be prepared—it is much more "Game of Thrones" than "Walt Disney."
Next, compare it to Charles Perrault’s "The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood." Notice how he focuses on the fashion and the courtly manners of the time. The shift from Talia to the unnamed Princess (and her daughter Aurora) tells you a lot about how French society wanted to see itself: elegant, refined, and a little bit detached from the raw grit of earlier folk stories.
Finally, if you’re a naming nerd, look into the botanical meanings of "Briar Rose" (Rosa canina). It’s not just a pretty name; it’s a specific type of wild rose that is incredibly hardy and covered in sharp, curved thorns. It changes how you see the character—less of a passive victim and more of a resilient survivor.
Understanding the real name of Sleeping Beauty is basically a crash course in European literary history. Whether she's Talia, Aurora, or Briar Rose, she remains one of the most enduring figures in our collective imagination.