[1] The origin and etymology of the name are uncertain; it may be connected to anemos, "wind", although the philologist Phaedon Koukoules suggested a derivation to aneme, "spool".
[1] Others, such as François Chalandon, have suggested that the family attested in later times were descendants of Anemas, son of the last Emir of Crete, who converted to Christianity and joined the Byzantine army.
[1] Once the attempt on the life of the emperor had been discovered and foiled, the conspirators were shaven and ritually humiliated.
Michael Anemas was due to be punished by blinding, but his bravery moved the emperor's daughters who begged the intercession of their mother.
[2] The family retained a prominent position, however, during the Komnenian period: Manuel Anemas was chosen to marry a daughter of John II Komnenos, and other members appear to have made marriage alliances with the Angelos and Doukas families, who belonged to the highest Byzantine aristocracy.