Galatea
Γαλάτεια
The sea nymph who refused the courtship of Polyphemus.
One of the Nereids, her name means "milk-white."
The Cyclops Polyphemus loved her and sang her clumsy songs, but she chose the shepherd Acis.
When the jealous Polyphemus crushed Acis under a boulder, Galatea turned him into a river.
SourcesOvid, Metamorphoses
Commonly confused
The name is widely used for the statue Pygmalion carved, but in Ovid's original the statue has no name. It was borrowed from this nymph after the 18th century.