Parmenides is an Ancient Greek masculine name derived from a poetic contracted form of the Greek verb παραμένω (parameno), meaning "to stay beside," combined with the patronymic suffix -ἴδης (-ides), indicating “son of” or descent. The name thus carries connotations of steadfastness or endurance. The name is most famously borne by Parmenides of Elea (fl. late 6th or early 5th century BC), a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from the Greek colony of Elea in Magna Graecia (present-day southern Italy). He was a central figure in the Eleatic school of philosophy and is known for his philosophical poem in dactylic hexameter, in which he argued for the unity and immutability of being, asserting that change and multiplicity are illusions. According to the doxographer Diogenes Laërtius, Parmenides flourished shortly before 500 BC, though Plato’s dialogue Parmenides places him visiting Athens around 450 BC, suggesting a later birth date of c. 515 BC. His floruit is often given as c. 475 BC.