A feminine form of the Roman family name Arria, from ancient Latin naming tradition.
Arria is one of history's most quietly heroic names, carried by a Roman woman whose courage became legendary in the ancient world. Arria the Elder, who lived in the 1st century AD, is immortalized for an act of breathtaking stoic devotion: when her husband, the senator Caecina Paetus, was condemned to death by Emperor Claudius for conspiracy, she plunged a dagger into her own chest, drew it out, and handed it to him saying "Paete, non dolet" — "Paetus, it does not hurt." The historian Pliny the Younger recorded this story, and the poet Martial gave her words their immortal form.
Arria the Younger, her daughter, was equally remarkable for her principled resistance to Domitian's tyranny. Linguistically, Arria is a Roman family name (a gens name), likely derived from an Oscan or Etruscan root, though some scholars connect it to the Latin "arrius" or to the god Ares/Mars through early Roman-Greek cultural interchange. It was a name of the Roman senatorial class, carrying the civic dignity and philosophical seriousness of that world.
In contemporary usage, Arria has begun to attract parents drawn to Roman names — alongside Livia, Cassia, and Aurelia — who appreciate their classical weight and feminine strength. It is a name that honors a woman who proved, in the most literal terms, that she was unafraid. For a daughter, it is a remarkable inheritance.