stopbelia's Personal Name List

French form of Adelaide.

From Phoenician 𐤀𐤃𐤍 (ʾadon) meaning "lord, master". In Greek myth Adonis was a handsome young shepherd killed while hunting a wild boar. The anemone flower is said to have sprung from his blood. Because he was loved by Aphrodite, Zeus allowed him to be restored to life for part of each year. The Greeks borrowed this character from Semitic traditions, originally Sumerian (see Dumuzi).

Medieval short form of Adeline. As an English name, in modern times it has sometimes been regarded as a variant of Eileen. This was the name of a popular 1965 song by the French singer Christophe.

Latinized form of Antinoos. This name was borne by the favourite and lover of the Roman Emperor Hadrian (2nd century AD).

French feminine form of Augustinus (see Augustine 1).

French form of Celadon. This was the name of a character in the French pastoral novel 'L'Astrée' by Honoré d'Urfé, published between 1607 and 1627.

French feminine form of Columba.

Medieval form of Constantia. The Normans introduced this name to England (it was the name of a daughter of William the Conqueror).

French form of Cupid. It was mentioned in Marquis de Sade's novel 'The 120 Days of Sodom' (1785) as belonging to one of the male victims.

It is the name of a commune in north-western France.

Diminutive of Françoise. It may have developed from the Breton name Fañchenn, the feminine form of Fañch. This name was borne by two mistresses of Louis, the Great Dauphin: Françoise "Fanchon" Pitel (1662-1721), an actress; and Françoise "Fanchon" Moreau (1668-after 1743), an opera singer. Fanchon, the Cricket is a 1915 silent film starring Mary Pickford in the title role.

Diminutive of Frances, Françoise or Stéphanie. In the English-speaking world this has been a vulgar slang word since the late 19th century, and the name has subsequently dropped out of common use.

French and Hungarian form of Hebe.

French form of Hercules. It was used by the British writer Agatha Christie for the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, the protagonist in many of her mystery novels (debuting 1920).

French masculine and feminine form of Hyacinthus.

French, Danish, Norwegian and Czech form of Julia. It has spread to many other regions as well. It has been common in the English-speaking world since the early 20th century.

French diminutive of both Louise and Louis.

French and Czech form of Maria. It has been very common in France since the 13th century. At the opening of the 20th century it was given to approximately 20 percent of French girls. This percentage has declined steadily over the course of the century, and it dropped from the top rank in 1958.

A notable bearer of this name was Marie Antoinette, a queen of France who was executed by guillotine during the French Revolution. Another was Marie Curie (1867-1934), a physicist and chemist who studied radioactivity with her husband Pierre.

In France it is occasionally used as a masculine name in pairings such as Jean-Marie.

Diminutive of feminine names derived from Michel, such as Michelle and Micheline.

French masculine and feminine form of Narcissus. This is also the French word for the narcissus flower.

French diminutive of Rose.

French form of Sophia.

French form of Theresa. It was borne by the French nun Saint Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897), who is regarded as a Doctor of the Church.

French form of Zelmira.