blackelectric's Personal Name List

Perhaps means "enchanting" or "dawn" in Arabic. This was the name of a minor 12th-century Spanish saint, a convert from Islam. The name was used by Cervantes for a character in his novel Don Quixote (1606), in which Zoraida is a beautiful Moorish woman of Algiers who converts to Christianity and elopes with a Spanish officer.

French form of Zenaida.

Spanish form of Zechariah and Zacharias.

French feminine form of Yves.

Medieval French form of Ivo 1. This was the name of two French saints: an 11th-century bishop of Chartres and a 13th-century parish priest and lawyer, also known as Ivo of Kermartin, the patron saint of Brittany.

Feminine form of Yves (or an elaboration using Élise). It was (first?) borne by the title character in the Italian novel Yvelise (1923) by Guido da Verona. It later appeared in the photonovel Yvelise devant l'amour published in the French magazine Nous Deux in 1950.

Feminine diminutive of Yves.

French form of Iseult.

From Jessenia, the genus name of a variety of palm trees found in South America. As a given name, it was popularized by the writer Yolanda Vargas Dulché in the 1970 Mexican telenovela Yesenia and the 1971 film adaptation [1].

Elaborated form of Yara 1 or Yara 2 (using the same suffix as Maritza).

Meaning unknown, possibly derived from an Arabic name. It has been used in Mexico since at least the 1940s [1], perhaps inspired by the Colombian actress Yadira Jiménez (1928-?), who performed in Mexican films beginning in 1946.

Possibly a Spanish form of Guiomar.

From Xuliana, the Galician form of Juliana.

Catalan form of Xenia.

Variant of Volodya used in the Western world. It was borne by Chilean writer and activist Volodia Teitelboim (1916-2008).

Feminine form of the Roman family name Verginius or Virginius, which is of unknown meaning, but long associated with Latin virgo "maid, virgin". According to a legend, it was the name of a Roman woman killed by her father so as to save her from the clutches of a crooked official.

This was the name of the first English baby born in the New World: Virginia Dare in 1587 on Roanoke Island. Perhaps because of this, the name has generally been more popular in America than elsewhere in the English-speaking world, though in both Britain and America it was not often used until the 19th century. The baby was named after the Colony of Virginia, which was itself named for Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen. A more recent bearer was the English novelist Virginia Woolf (1882-1941).

Derived from viorea, the Romanian word for the alpine squill flower (species Scilla bifolia) or the sweet violet flower (species Viola odorata). It is derived from Latin viola "violet".

Italian feminine form of Vincent.

French feminine form of Victorinus.

French feminine form of Valerianus (see Valerian).

Feminine form of Valerius. This was the name of a 2nd-century Roman saint and martyr.

French feminine form of Valentinus (see Valentine 1).

Short form of Antoinette.

Derived from Cajun French ''petit-Jean'' meaning "little Jean". This is the name of a stock character in fairy tales from francophone areas in the Americas such as Quebec, Louisiana, Martinique, and Guadeloupe.

French form of Silvanus.

Feminine form of Sorin.

Possibly derived from Romanian soare meaning "sun".

French form of the Late Latin name Sollemnia, which was derived from Latin sollemnis "religious". This was the name of a French shepherdess who became a saint after she was killed by her master.

French feminine form of Severinus.

Feminine form of Servan.

French form of Seraphina.

Corsican form of Xavier.

Portuguese form of Sapphira. It coincides with the Portuguese word for "sapphire".

Spanish form of the Visigothic name *Hroþisinþs, composed of the Gothic elements hroþs "fame" and sinþs "time". This was the name of a 10th-century Galician saint, also known as Rudesind.

Italian form of Romulus.

Possibly a variant of Romana.

Diminutive of Romeo.

Feminine form of Romanus (see Roman).

Spanish and Portuguese form of Richard.

Means "remedy" in Catalan, a Catalan equivalent of Remedios.

Spanish and Portuguese form of Ramirus, earlier Ranimirus, a Latinized form of a Visigothic name derived from the Gothic element rana "wedge" or perhaps ragin "law, decree, assessment, responsibility" combined with mers "famous". Saint Ramirus was a 6th-century prior of the Saint Claudius Monastery in León. He and several others were executed by the Arian Visigoths, who opposed orthodox Christianity. This name was subsequently borne by kings of León, Asturias and Aragon.

Feminine form of Ramiro.

Italian form of Ursula.

Italian form of Ursa.

Means "orchid" in Spanish and Portuguese, from Latin orchis, Greek ὄρχις (orchis).

French form of Onesimus.

Italian form of Homer.

Feminine form of Humbelin, a medieval diminutive of Humbert. The Blessed Humbeline (known as Hombeline or Ombeline in French) was a 12th-century nun, the sister of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux.

French diminutive of Oda or Odilia. This is the name of a princess who has been transformed into a swan in the ballet Swan Lake (1877) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

Variant of Odalis.

Feminine diminutive of Nicola 1.

Spanish feminine form of Nicholas.

Masculine form of Natalia.

Derivative of Anastasio.

French diminutive of Nadia 1.

Diminutive of Nadège.

French form of Nadezhda.

Italian variant of Miriam.

Romanian form of Mirče. This name was borne by a 14th-century ruler of Wallachia, called Mircea the Great.

Diminutive of Mina 1. This was also a nickname of Henriette, Duchess of Orléans (daughter of the 17th-century English king Charles I). In French perhaps it can also be taken from a word meaning "(female) kitten" (sometimes used as a term of endearment for a girl). A known bearer is English murder-mystery author Minette Walters (1949-).

From the name of a village in Andorra where there is a sanctuary dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The name of the village may derive from Latin meridies meaning "midday".

Italian, Spanish, Polish and Romanian form of Melanie.

Usage of this still relatively new French given name first started with Mazarine Pingeot (b. 1974), the illegitimate daughter of former French president François Mitterrand (1916-1996) and his mistress Anne Pingeot (b. 1943), whose existence was only brought to light in 1994 or 1995. Her parents' love of books is said to have inspired them to name their daughter after the Bibliothèque Mazarine, the oldest public library in France. The library itself was named after the 17th-century cardinal Jules Raymond Mazarin, who had been born in Italy as Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino. He came from a family that was originally from Sicily and had taken their surname from their ancestral town, Mazzarino.

The town's name is said to have been derived from Mazzara, which either originates from Arabic mazari or mazar meaning "shrine", or is a corruption of Mactorium, the name of a town that had existed in the area in ancient times. That town had been founded by ancient Greek colonists, who had called it Μακτώριον (Maktorion). It is uncertain what the town's name meant in Greek, but it is possibly related to the Greek noun μακτήριον (makterion) meaning "food". Also compare Μαιμακτηριών (Maimakterion), which is the name of one of the lunar months of the Hellenic calendar used in ancient Attica. Alternatively, an etymological relation with the Greek adjective μακτός (maktos) meaning "kneaded" is also possible. This word is ultimately derived from the Greek verb μάσσω (masso) meaning "to knead, to press into a mould".

With that said, the given name Mazarine is quite rare in France today. It was virtually unknown in the country, until the existence of Mitterrand's illegitimate daughter was revealed in 1994 or 1995. The name gained quite a bit of exposure after that, which made it possible for prospective parents to take a liking to the name and bestow it upon their daughters. This clearly shows in the available statistics for the name Mazarine: it suddenly appeared on the radar in the mid-1990s and has remained on it ever since, whereas in previous decades, the name was not used on a noteworthy scale at all (as was to be expected, since this name was more or less "invented" as a given name).

French form of the Roman name Maxentius, a derivative of Latin maximus "greatest". This was the agnomen of an early 4th-century Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maxentius, a rival of Constantine. It was also borne by a 6th-century saint from Agde in France.

Feminine form of Mathurin.

Italian form of Marcius.

Italian form of Marcia.

French diminutive of Marie.

Means "marjoram" in French, from Latin maiorana. Marjoram is a minty herb.

Polish form of Marius.

Elaboration of Maria used particularly in Latin America. The suffix could be inspired by the name of the Itza people of Central America (as seen in the name of the old Maya city of Chichen Itza, Mexico). It also nearly coincides with the name of the Maritsa River in southeastern Europe.

Elaborated form of Marisa.

French diminutive of Marie.

Contraction of Maria and Antonia.

French feminine form of Marcellinus.

Combination of Marco and Antonio, referring to the 1st-century BC Roman triumvir Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony).

Combination of Mai 3 and Gwenn.

Occitan form of Magdalene.

Feminine form of Maël, possibly influenced by the spelling of Mailys.

French form of Breton Mael meaning "prince, chieftain, lord". Saint Mael was a 5th-century Breton hermit who lived in Wales.

Italian feminine form of Ludwig.

French form of Ludovicus, the Latinized form of Ludwig. This was the name of an 1833 opera by the French composer Fromental Halévy.

Possibly from a feminine form of Leutwin. It was popularized in the 1970s by a character from the French miniseries Les Gens de Mogador.

Spanish and Romansh form of Liduina (compare Ludivine).

Feminine form of Lucien.

French form of Lucianus.

Means "light source, bright star, morning star" in Spanish, a derivative of luz "light". Occasionally it is used as a diminutive of the name Luz. It is most common in Mexico and Colombia.

Variant of Locaia.

Breton form of Louis.

Galician form of Leocadia.

Jèrriais form of Elias.

Elaboration of Julia.

Feminine form of Joviano.

Combination of Jean 1 and Marie.

Italian form of Iseult.

Spanish and Portuguese form of Ishmael. This is also the form used in the Greek Old Testament.

Spanish diminutive of Isabel and French and Flemish variant of Isalie.

Romanian form of Jasmine.

French form of Honorina, a feminine form of the Roman name Honorinus, a derivative of Honorius. Saint Honorina was a 4th-century martyr from the Normandy region in France.

Means "blessed and generous" from Breton gwenn meaning "white, blessed" and hael meaning "generous". Saint Gwenhael was a 6th-century abbot of Brittany.

Means "grace" in Italian, making it a cognate of Grace.

Elaboration of Graça.

Italian form of Josette.

Romanian form of Florinus.

Diminutive of Fleur.

Means "flower" in French. Saint Fleur of Issendolus (Flor in Gascon) was a 14th-century nun from Maurs, France. This was also the name of a character in John Galsworthy's novels The Forsyte Saga (1922).

Combination of Italian fiore "flower" (Latin flos) and alba "dawn".

Diminutive of Esmeralda.

Italian feminine form of Herminius.

Variant of Hermine or else a variant of Ermina.

Breton form of Honoria, or directly from Breton enor "honour" (a word of Latin origin). This was the name of a 6th-century saint, the wife of Saint Efflamm.

Either a variant of Amarante or possibly of Emérance.

French form of Elisha. This name is also (uncommonly) used for girls.

French form of Hedwig.

Italian feminine form of Edmund.

Short form of Edmond, used independently.

Directly from the Italian word diamante meaning "diamond".

Italian diminutive of Daniela.

Italian feminine form of Damian.

Feminine form of Dalmazio.

Spanish form of Christopher.

From French chosette meaning "little thing". This is the nickname of the illegitimate daughter of Fantine in Victor Hugo's novel Les Misérables (1862). Her real name is Euphrasie, though it is seldom used. In the novel young Cosette is the ward of the cruel Thénardiers until she is retrieved by Jean Valjean.

From the Latin name Constantinus, a derivative of Constans. Constantine the Great (272-337), full name Flavius Valerius Constantinus, was the first Roman emperor to adopt Christianity. He moved the capital of the empire from Rome to Byzantium, which he renamed Constantinople (modern Istanbul).

Short form of Nicolette. Saint Colette was a 15th-century French nun who gave her money to the poor. This was also the pen name of the French author Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (1873-1954).

Truncated form of Nicoletta as well as a variant of Colette.

English form of Claudianus. This name was borne by a Roman court poet from the 4th century AD.

Feminine form of Claudius. It is mentioned briefly in the New Testament. As a Christian name it was very rare until the 16th century.

From a French surname that was derived from a place name meaning "stony". It was originally given in honour of Saint Jeanne-Françoise de Chantal, the founder of the Visitation Order in the 17th century. It has become associated with French chant "song".

Italian form of Castrensis. A known bearer of this name is the Italian former soccer player Castrense Campanella (b. 1962).

Feminine form of Castrense.

French and German form of Bridget. A famous bearer is the French model and actress Brigitte Bardot (1934-).

Romanian and Polish form of Benjamin, as well as the form used in the Greek and Latin Bibles.

Italian form of Baldwin.

Extremely rare and archaic French form of Azariah.

French variant of Albert.

Italian and Spanish form of Arthur.

Italian and Spanish form of Artemios.

French form of Apollinaris. It was adopted as a surname by the Polish-French poet Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918), who based it on his Polish middle name Apolinary.

Diminutive of Antonia.

Feminine diminutive of Antoine. This name was borne by Marie Antoinette, the queen of France during the French Revolution. She was executed by guillotine.

Dutch and French diminutive of Anna.

Created in the 20th century, probably modelled on Breton names such as Gaëlle and Maëlle.

Coined in the 1960s as a Breton masculine form of Anne 1.

Creole form and Québécois variant of Aloysia.

From French alizé meaning "trade wind".

Cognate of Alizée (compare Aliséa).

Romanian form of Alexis and Alexios as well as a Louisiana Creole form of Alexis.

French form of Alan. A notable bearer is the French actor Alain Delon (1935-).