gaelruadh19's Personal Name List
Zora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Croatian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Slovene, Czech, Slovak
Other Scripts: Зора(Serbian, Bulgarian, Macedonian)
Pronounced: ZO-ra(Czech) ZAW-ra(Slovak)
Means "dawn, aurora" in the South Slavic languages, as well as Czech and Slovak.
Zelda 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Yiddish
Other Scripts: זעלדאַ(Yiddish)
Possibly a feminine form of
Zelig.
Zayn
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic
Other Scripts: زين(Arabic)
Pronounced: ZIEN
Means
"beauty, grace" in Arabic. This was the name of a son of
Husayn ibn Ali. Shia Muslims consider him to be the fourth imam.
This name is borne by the British singer Zayn Malik (1993-), formerly a member of the band One Direction. It gained popularity in America and parts of Europe after One Direction became well-known in 2011.
Zahra 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic, Persian
Other Scripts: زهراء(Arabic) زهرا(Persian)
Pronounced: zah-RA(Arabic)
From Arabic
زهراء (zahrāʾ), the feminine form of
أزهر (ʾazhar) meaning
"shining, brilliant, bright". This is an epithet of the Prophet
Muhammad's daughter
Fatima.
See also the related name Zahra 2.
Xenia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek, Spanish, Ancient Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Ξένια(Greek) Ξενία(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: SEH-nya(Spanish)
Means
"hospitality" in Greek, a derivative of
ξένος (xenos) meaning "foreigner, guest". This was the name of a 5th-century
saint who is venerated in the Eastern Church.
Winona
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Sioux
Pronounced: wi-NO-nə(English)
Means
"firstborn daughter" in Dakota or Lakota. According to folklore, this was the name of a daughter of a Dakota chief (possibly
Wapasha III) who leapt from a cliff to her death rather than marry a man she hated. Numerous places in the United States have been named after her. The actress Winona Ryder (1971-) was named after the city in Minnesota where she was born.
William
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: WIL-yəm
From the Germanic name
Willehelm meaning
"will helmet", composed of the elements
willo "will, desire" and
helm "helmet, protection". An early
saint by this name was the 8th-century William of Gellone, a cousin of
Charlemagne who became a monk. The name was common among the
Normans, and it became extremely popular in England after William the Conqueror was recognized as the first Norman king of England in the 11th century. From then until the modern era it has been among the most common of English names (with
John,
Thomas and
Robert).
This name was later borne by three other English kings, as well as rulers of Scotland, Sicily (of Norman origin), the Netherlands and Prussia. Other famous bearers include William Wallace, a 13th-century Scottish hero, and William Tell, a legendary 14th-century Swiss hero (called Wilhelm in German, Guillaume in French and Guglielmo in Italian). In the literary world it was borne by dramatist William Shakespeare (1564-1616), poet William Blake (1757-1827), poet William Wordsworth (1770-1850), dramatist William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), author William Faulkner (1897-1962), and author William S. Burroughs (1914-1997).
In the American rankings (since 1880) this name has never been out of the top 20, making it one of the most consistently popular names (although it has never reached the top rank). In modern times its short form, Liam, has periodically been more popular than William itself, in the United Kingdom in the 1990s and the United States in the 2010s.
Willa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: WIL-ə
Will
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: WIL
Short form of
William and other names beginning with
Will. A famous bearer is American actor Will Smith (1968-), whose full name is Willard.
Vivienne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: VEE-VYEHN
Vivek
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali
Other Scripts: विवेक(Hindi, Marathi) વિવેક(Gujarati) விவேக்(Tamil) ವಿವೇಕ್(Kannada) వివేక్(Telugu) വിവേക്(Malayalam) বিবেক(Bengali)
From Sanskrit
विवेक (viveka) meaning
"wisdom, distinction, discrimination".
Viorica
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Romanian
Pronounced: vee-o-REE-ka
Derived from Romanian
viorea (see
Viorel).
Vincent
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Slovak
Pronounced: VIN-sənt(English, Dutch) VEHN-SAHN(French) VIN-sent(Dutch) VEEN-tsent(Slovak)
From the Roman name
Vincentius, which was derived from Latin
vincere meaning
"to conquer". This name was popular among early Christians, and it was borne by many
saints. As an English name,
Vincent has been in use since the Middle Ages, though it did not become common until the 19th century. Famous bearers include the French priest Saint Vincent de Paul (1581-1660) and the Dutch post-impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890).
Victorine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: VEEK-TAW-REEN
Victor
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, Portuguese, Romanian, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Late Roman
Pronounced: VIK-tər(English) VEEK-TAWR(French) VEEK-tor(Romanian) VIK-tawr(Dutch)
Roman name meaning
"victor, conqueror" in Latin. It was common among early Christians, and was borne by several early
saints and three popes. It was rare as an English name during the Middle Ages, but it was revived in the 19th century. A famous bearer was the French writer Victor Hugo (1802-1885), who authored
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and
Les Misérables.
Verena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Late Roman
Pronounced: veh-REH-na(German)
Possibly related to Latin
verus "true". This might also be a Coptic form of the Ptolemaic name
Berenice.
Saint Verena was a 3rd-century Egyptian-born nurse who went with the Theban Legion to Switzerland. After the legion was massacred she settled near Zurich.
Vanessa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, German, Dutch
Pronounced: və-NEHS-ə(English) VA-NEH-SA(French) va-NEHS-sa(Italian) vu-NEH-su(European Portuguese) va-NEH-su(Brazilian Portuguese) ba-NEH-sa(Spanish) va-NEH-sa(German) vah-NEH-sa(Dutch)
Invented by author Jonathan Swift for his 1726 poem
Cadenus and Vanessa [1]. He arrived at it by rearranging the initial syllables of the first name and surname of
Esther Vanhomrigh, his close friend. Vanessa was later used as the name of a genus of butterfly. It was a rare given name until the mid-20th century, at which point it became fairly popular.
Ursula
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Swedish, Danish, German, Dutch, Finnish, Late Roman
Pronounced: UR-sə-lə(English) UR-syoo-lə(English) UWR-zoo-la(German) OOR-soo-lah(Finnish)
Means
"little bear", derived from a
diminutive form of the Latin word
ursa "she-bear".
Saint Ursula was a legendary virgin princess of the 4th century who was martyred by the Huns while returning from a pilgrimage. In England the saint was popular during the Middle Ages, and the name came into general use at that time.
Urs
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German (Swiss)
Pronounced: UWRS
German form of the Latin name
Ursus, which meant
"bear".
Saint Ursus was a 3rd-century soldier in the Theban Legion who was martyred with Saint Victor. He is the patron saint of Solothurn in Switzerland.
Úna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish, Medieval Irish [1]
Pronounced: OO-nə(Irish)
Probably derived from Old Irish úan meaning "lamb". This was a common name in medieval Ireland.
Uilleam
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish Gaelic [1]
Pronounced: U-lyəm
Uaithne
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Medieval Irish [1]
Possibly from Old Irish
úaine meaning
"green". Alternatively, it may come from the name of the Irish tribe the Uaithni
[2].
Tziporah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hebrew
Other Scripts: צִפּוֹרָה(Hebrew)
Tristan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, Arthurian Cycle
Pronounced: TRIS-tən(English) TREES-TAHN(French)
Probably from the Celtic name
Drustan, a
diminutive of
Drust, which occurs as
Drystan in a few Welsh sources. As
Tristan, it first appears in 12th-century French tales, probably altered by association with Old French
triste "sad". According to the tales Tristan was sent to Ireland by his uncle King Mark of Cornwall in order to fetch
Iseult, who was to be the king's bride. On the way back, Tristan and Iseult accidentally drink a potion that makes them fall in love. Later versions of the tale make Tristan one of King
Arthur's knights. His tragic story was very popular in the Middle Ages, and the name has occasionally been used since then.
Trefor
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh
Tova 2
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swedish
Toiréasa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish
Todd
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: TAHD(American English) TAWD(British English)
From an English surname meaning "fox", derived from Middle English todde. As a given name it was rare before 1930. It peaked in popularity in most parts of the English-speaking world in the 1960s or 70s, but it has since declined.
Tirzah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: תִּרְצָה(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: TIR-zə(English)
From the Hebrew name
תִּרְצָה (Tirtsa) meaning
"favourable". Tirzah is the name of one of the daughters of
Zelophehad in the
Old Testament. It also occurs in the Old Testament as a place name, the early residence of the kings of the northern kingdom.
Thomas
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Greek, Biblical, Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Θωμάς(Greek) Θωμᾶς(Ancient Greek) തോമസ്(Malayalam)
Pronounced: TAHM-əs(American English) TAWM-əs(British English) TAW-MA(French) TO-mas(German) TO-mahs(Dutch) tho-MAS(Greek)
Greek form of the Aramaic name
תְּאוֹמָא (Teʾoma) meaning
"twin". In the
New Testament this is the name of an apostle. When he heard that
Jesus had risen from the dead he initially doubted the story, until Jesus appeared before him and he examined his wounds himself. According to tradition he was martyred in India. Due to his renown, the name came into general use in the Christian world.
In England the name was used by the Normans and became very popular due to Saint Thomas Becket, a 12th-century archbishop of Canterbury and martyr. It was reliably among the top five most common English names for boys from the 13th to the 19th century, and it has remained consistently popular to this day.
Another notable saint by this name was the 13th-century Italian philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas, who is regarded as a Doctor of the Church. Other famous bearers include philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), American president Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), novelist Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), and inventor Thomas Edison (1847-1931).
Thibault
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: TEE-BO
Theresa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German
Pronounced: tə-REE-sə(English) tə-REE-zə(English) teh-REH-za(German)
From the Spanish and Portuguese name
Teresa. It was first recorded as
Therasia, being borne by the Spanish wife of
Saint Paulinus of Nola in the 4th century. The meaning is uncertain, but it could be derived from Greek
θέρος (theros) meaning
"summer", from Greek
θερίζω (therizo) meaning
"to harvest", or from the name of the Greek island of Therasia (the western island of Santorini).
The name was mainly confined to Spain and Portugal during the Middle Ages. After the 16th century it was spread to other parts of the Christian world, due to the fame of the Spanish nun and reformer Saint Teresa of Ávila. Another famous bearer was the Austrian Habsburg queen Maria Theresa (1717-1780), who inherited the domains of her father, the Holy Roman emperor Charles VI, beginning the War of the Austrian Succession.
Taylor
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: TAY-lər
From an English surname that originally denoted someone who was a tailor, from Norman French
tailleur, ultimately from Latin
taliare "to cut".
Its modern use as a feminine name may have been influenced by the British-American author Taylor Caldwell (1900-1985). Since 1990 it has been more popular for girls in the United States. Other England-speaking regions have followed suit, with the exception of England and Wales where it is still slightly more popular for boys. Its popularity peaked in America the mid-1990s for both genders, ranked sixth for girls and 51st for boys. A famous bearer is the American musician Taylor Swift (1989-).
Tavish
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish
Anglicized form of
a Thàmhais, vocative case of
Tàmhas. Alternatively it could be taken from the Scottish surname
McTavish, Anglicized form of
Mac Tàmhais, meaning "son of
Tàmhas".
Tatiana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, French, Slovak, Polish, Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, German, Dutch, Greek, Georgian, English, Russian, Bulgarian, Ancient Roman
Other Scripts: Τατιάνα(Greek) ტატიანა(Georgian) Татьяна(Russian) Татяна(Bulgarian)
Pronounced: ta-TYA-na(Italian, Spanish, Polish, German) TAH-tee-ah-nah(Finnish) ta-TYAHN-ə(English) tu-TYA-nə(Russian)
Feminine form of the Roman name
Tatianus, a derivative of the Roman name
Tatius. This was the name of a 3rd-century
saint who was martyred in Rome under the emperor Alexander Severus. She was especially venerated in Orthodox Christianity, and the name has been common in Russia (as
Татьяна) and Eastern Europe. It was not regularly used in the English-speaking world until the 1980s.
Tara 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: TAHR-ə, TEHR-ə, TAR-ə
Anglicized form of the Irish place name Teamhair, which possibly means "elevated place". This was the name of the sacred hill near Dublin where the Irish high kings resided. It was popularized as a given name by the novel Gone with the Wind (1936) and the subsequent movie adaptation (1939), in which it is the name of the O'Hara plantation.
Talia 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hebrew
Other Scripts: טַלְיָה, טַלְיָא(Hebrew)
Means
"dew from God" in Hebrew, from
טַל (ṭal) meaning "dew" and
יָהּ (yah) referring to the Hebrew God.
Tahira
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic, Urdu
Other Scripts: طاهرة(Arabic) طاہرہ(Urdu)
Pronounced: TA-hee-ra(Arabic)
Tabitha
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Biblical, Biblical Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Ταβιθά(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: TAB-i-thə(English)
Means
"gazelle" in Aramaic. Tabitha in the
New Testament was a woman restored to life by
Saint Peter. Her name is translated into Greek as
Dorcas (see
Acts 9:36). As an English name,
Tabitha became common after the
Protestant Reformation. It was popularized in the 1960s by the television show
Bewitched, in which Tabitha (sometimes spelled Tabatha) is the daughter of the main character.
Stephen
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Biblical
Pronounced: STEE-vən(English) STEHF-ən(English)
From the Greek name
Στέφανος (Stephanos) meaning
"crown, wreath", more precisely
"that which surrounds".
Saint Stephen was a deacon who was stoned to death, as told in Acts in the
New Testament. He is regarded as the first Christian martyr. Due to him, the name became common in the Christian world. It was popularized in England by the
Normans.
This was the name of kings of England, Serbia, and Poland, as well as ten popes. It was also borne by the first Christian king of Hungary (11th century), who is regarded as the patron saint of that country. More recent bearers include British physicist Stephen Hawking (1942-2018) and the American author Stephen King (1947-).
Stephanie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German
Pronounced: STEHF-ə-nee(English) SHTEH-fa-nee(German)
Sorcha
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish, Scottish Gaelic [1]
Pronounced: SAWR-ə-khə(Irish) SUR-kə(English) SAWR-aw-khə(Scottish Gaelic)
Means
"radiant, bright" in Irish. It has been in use since late medieval times
[2]. It is sometimes Anglicized as
Sarah (in Ireland) and
Clara (in Scotland).
Sophronia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature, Late Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Σωφρονία(Ancient Greek)
Feminine form of
Sophronius. Torquato Tasso used it in his epic poem
Jerusalem Delivered (1580), in which it is borne by the lover of
Olindo.
Solveig
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Norwegian, Swedish, Danish
Pronounced: SOOL-vie(Norwegian) SOOL-vay(Swedish)
From an Old Norse name, which was derived from the elements
sól "sun" and
veig "strength". This is the name of the heroine in Henrik Ibsen's play
Peer Gynt (1876).
Siwan
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Pronounced: SIW-an, SHUW-an
Síthmaith
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Old Irish [1]
From Old Irish
síd meaning "peace" or "fairy mound, tumulus" and
maith meaning "good".
Siobhán
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: SHI-wan, SHUW-wan, SHI-van, shə-VAN
Irish form of
Jehanne, a Norman French variant of
Jeanne.
Sìneag
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Scottish Gaelic [1]
Pronounced: SHEE-nyak
Sinéad
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: SHI-nyehd
Silvia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, German, Dutch, English, Late Roman, Roman Mythology
Pronounced: SEEL-vya(Italian) SEEL-bya(Spanish) SEEL-vyu(European Portuguese) SEEW-vyu(Brazilian Portuguese) ZIL-vya(German) SIL-vee-ya(Dutch) SIL-vee-ə(English)
Feminine form of
Silvius.
Rhea Silvia was the mother of
Romulus and
Remus, the founders of Rome. This was also the name of a 6th-century
saint, the mother of the pope Gregory the Great. It has been a common name in Italy since the Middle Ages. It was introduced to England by Shakespeare, who used it for a character in his play
The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1594). It is now more commonly spelled
Sylvia in the English-speaking world.
Shirley
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: SHUR-lee
From an English surname that was originally derived from a place name meaning "bright clearing" in Old English. This is the name of a main character in Charlotte Brontë's semi-autobiographical novel Shirley (1849). Though the name was already popular in the United States, the child actress Shirley Temple (1928-2014) gave it a further boost. By 1935 it was the second most common name for girls.
Shirin
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Persian
Other Scripts: شیرین(Persian)
Pronounced: shee-REEN
Means "sweet" in Persian. This was the name of a character in Persian and Turkish legend.
Shashi
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Kannada, Telugu
Other Scripts: शशि, शशी(Hindi, Marathi) শশী(Bengali) ಶಶಿ(Kannada) శశి(Telugu)
Traditional name for the moon, it literally means "having a hare" in Sanskrit. This is a transcription of both the masculine form
शशि and the feminine form
शशी (spelled with a long final vowel).
Sévérine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French (Rare)
Seren
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Pronounced: SEH-rehn
Means "star" in Welsh. This is a recently created Welsh name.
Seonag
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Scottish Gaelic [1]
Pronounced: SHO-nak
Scottish Gaelic form of
Joan 1.
Seán
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: SHAN
Irish form of
John, derived via the Old French form
Jehan.
Séamus
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: SHEH-məs
Scott
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Scottish
Pronounced: SKAHT(American English) SKAWT(British English)
From an English and Scottish surname that referred to a person from Scotland or a person who spoke Scottish Gaelic. It is derived from Latin Scoti meaning "Gael, Gaelic speaker", with the ultimate origin uncertain.
Saraid
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish, Irish Mythology
From Old Irish Sárait, derived from sár meaning "excellent". This was the name of a daughter of the legendary high king of Ireland, Conn of the Hundred Battles.
Sarah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, French, German, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch, Hebrew, Arabic, Biblical
Other Scripts: שָׂרָה(Hebrew) سارة(Arabic)
Pronounced: SEHR-ə(English) SAR-ə(English) SA-RA(French) ZA-ra(German) SA-ra(Danish, Dutch, Arabic)
From the Hebrew name
שָׂרָה (Sara) meaning
"lady, princess, noblewoman". In the
Old Testament this is the name of
Abraham's wife, considered the matriarch of the Jewish people. She was barren until she unexpectedly became pregnant with
Isaac at the age of 90. Her name was originally
Sarai, but God changed it at the same time Abraham's name was changed (see
Genesis 17:15).
In England, Sarah came into use after the Protestant Reformation. It was consistently popular in the 20th century throughout the English-speaking world, reaching the top of the charts for England and Wales in the 1970s and 80s.
Notable bearers include Sarah Churchill (1660-1744), an influential British duchess and a close friend of Queen Anne, and the French actress Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923).
Saoirse
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: SEER-shə
Means "freedom" in Irish Gaelic. It was first used as a given name in the 20th century.
Sandip
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Nepali
Other Scripts: संदीप(Hindi, Marathi) সন্দীপ(Bengali) ਸੰਦੀਪ(Gurmukhi) સંદિપ(Gujarati) ಸಂದೀಪ್(Kannada) സന്ദീപ്(Malayalam) సందీప్(Telugu) சந்தீப்(Tamil) सन्दीप(Nepali)
Samuel
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Romanian, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Jewish, Amharic, Biblical
Other Scripts: שְׁמוּאֵל(Hebrew) ሳሙኤል(Amharic)
Pronounced: SAM-yoo-əl(English) SAM-yəl(English) SA-MWEHL(French) ZA-mwehl(German) SA-muy-ehl(Dutch) sa-MWEHL(Spanish) su-moo-EHL(European Portuguese) sa-moo-EW(Brazilian Portuguese) sa-MOO-ehl(Polish) SA-moo-ehl(Czech, Slovak, Swedish) SAH-moo-ehl(Finnish)
From the Hebrew name
שְׁמוּאֵל (Shemuʾel) meaning
"name of God", from the roots
שֵׁם (shem) meaning "name" and
אֵל (ʾel) meaning "God". Other interpretations have the first root being
שָׁמַע (shamaʿ) meaning "to hear" leading to a meaning of
"God has heard". As told in the Books of Samuel in the
Old Testament, Samuel was the last of the ruling judges. He led the Israelites during a period of domination by the Philistines, who were ultimately defeated in battle at Mizpah. Later he anointed
Saul to be the first king of Israel, and even later anointed his successor
David.
As a Christian name, Samuel came into common use after the Protestant Reformation. It has been consistently popular in the English-speaking world, ranking yearly in the top 100 names in the United States (as recorded since 1880) and performing similarly well in the United Kingdom.
Famous bearers include English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), American inventor Samuel Morse (1791-1872), Irish writer Samuel Beckett (1906-1989), and American actor Samuel L. Jackson (1948-). This was also the real name, Samuel Clemens, of the American author Mark Twain (1835-1910).
Samantha
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Dutch
Pronounced: sə-MAN-thə(English) sa-MAN-ta(Italian) sa-MAHN-ta(Dutch)
Perhaps intended to be a feminine form of
Samuel, using the name suffix
antha (possibly inspired by Greek
ἄνθος (anthos) meaning "flower"). It originated in America in the 18th century but was fairly uncommon until 1964, when it was popularized by the main character on the television show
Bewitched.
Sam 2
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Persian, Persian Mythology
Other Scripts: سام(Persian)
Pronounced: SAWM(Persian)
Means "fire" in Persian (from an earlier Iranian root meaning "black"). This is the name of a hero in the 10th-century Persian epic the Shahnameh.
Sally
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: SAL-ee
Ruth 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Estonian, Spanish, Biblical, Biblical Latin
Other Scripts: רוּת(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: ROOTH(English) ROOT(German, Spanish)
From the Hebrew name
רוּת (Ruṯ), probably derived from the word
רְעוּת (reʿuṯ) meaning
"female friend". This is the name of the central character in the Book of Ruth in the
Old Testament. She was a Moabite woman who accompanied her mother-in-law
Naomi back to Bethlehem after Ruth's husband died. There she met and married
Boaz. She was an ancestor of King
David.
As a Christian name, Ruth has been in use since the Protestant Reformation. In England it was associated with the archaic word ruth meaning "pity, compassion" (now only commonly seen in the word ruthless). The name became very popular in America following the birth of "Baby" Ruth Cleveland (1891-1904), the daughter of President Grover Cleveland.
Rowan
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Irish, English (Modern)
Pronounced: RO-ən(English)
Anglicized form of the Irish name
Ruadhán. As an English name, it can also be derived from the surname Rowan, itself derived from the Irish given name. It could also be given in reference to the rowan tree, a word of Old Norse origin (coincidentally sharing the same Indo-European root meaning "red" with the Irish name).
Rosemary
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: ROZ-mə-ree, ROZ-mehr-ee
Combination of
Rose and
Mary. This name can also be given in reference to the herb, which gets its name from Latin
ros marinus meaning "dew of the sea". It came into use as a given name in the 19th century.
Rose
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, French
Pronounced: ROZ
Originally a Norman French form of the Germanic name
Hrodohaidis meaning
"famous type", composed of the elements
hruod "fame" and
heit "kind, sort, type". The
Normans introduced it to England in the forms
Roese and
Rohese. From an early date it was associated with the word for the fragrant flower
rose (derived from Latin
rosa). When the name was revived in the 19th century, it was probably with the flower in mind.
Rónán
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish, Old Irish [1]
Pronounced: RO-nan(Irish)
Means
"little seal", derived from Old Irish
rón "seal" combined with a
diminutive suffix. This was the name of several early Irish
saints, including a pilgrim to Brittany who founded the hermitage at Locronan in the 6th century.
Romina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: ro-MEE-na
Roland
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, German, Swedish, Dutch, Hungarian, Polish, Slovak, Albanian, Georgian, Carolingian Cycle
Other Scripts: როლანდ(Georgian)
Pronounced: RO-lənd(English) RAW-LAHN(French) RO-lant(German) RO-lahnt(Dutch) RO-lawnd(Hungarian) RAW-lant(Polish)
From the Old German elements
hruod meaning "fame" and
lant meaning "land", though some theories hold that the second element was originally
nand meaning "brave"
[1].
Roland was an 8th-century military commander, serving under Charlemagne, who was killed by the Basques at the Battle of Roncevaux. His name was recorded in Latin as Hruodlandus. His tale was greatly embellished in the 11th-century French epic La Chanson de Roland, in which he is a nephew of Charlemagne killed after being ambushed by the Saracens. The Normans introduced the name to England.
Róisín
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: ro-SHEEN
Diminutive of
Róis or the Irish word
rós meaning
"rose" (of Latin origin). It appears in the 17th-century song
Róisín Dubh.
Roger
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, Catalan, Swedish, Norwegian, German, Dutch
Pronounced: RAHJ-ər(American English) RAWJ-ə(British English) RAW-ZHEH(French) roo-ZHEH(Catalan) RO-gu(German) ro-ZHEH(Dutch)
From the Germanic name
Hrodger meaning
"famous spear", derived from the elements
hruod "fame" and
ger "spear". The
Normans brought this name to England, where it replaced the Old English
cognate Hroðgar (the name of the Danish king in the Anglo-Saxon epic
Beowulf). It was a common name in England during the Middle Ages. By the 18th century it was rare, but it was revived in following years. The name was borne by the Norman lords Roger I, who conquered Sicily in the 11th century, and his son Roger II, who ruled Sicily as a king.
This name was very popular in France in the first half of the 20th century. In the English-speaking world it was popular especially from the 1930s to the 50s. Famous bearers include British actor Roger Moore (1927-2017) and Swiss tennis player Roger Federer (1981-).
Robin
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English, French, Dutch, Swedish, Czech
Pronounced: RAHB-in(American English) RAWB-in(British English) RAW-BEHN(French) RAW-bin(Dutch) RO-bin(Czech)
Medieval English
diminutive of
Robert, now usually regarded as an independent name. Robin Hood was a legendary hero and archer of medieval England who stole from the rich to give to the poor. In modern times it has also been used as a feminine name, and it may sometimes be given in reference to the red-breasted bird.
Roberta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Pronounced: rə-BUR-tə(English) ro-BEHR-ta(Italian, Spanish)
Robert
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, German, Dutch, Finnish, Estonian, Czech, Polish, Russian, Slovene, Croatian, Albanian, Romanian, Catalan, Germanic [1]
Other Scripts: Роберт(Russian)
Pronounced: RAHB-ərt(American English) RAWB-ət(British English) RAW-BEHR(French) RO-beht(Swedish) RO-behrt(German, Finnish, Czech) RO-bərt(Dutch) RAW-bərt(Dutch) RAW-behrt(Polish) RO-byirt(Russian) roo-BEHRT(Catalan)
From the Germanic name
Hrodebert meaning
"bright fame", derived from the elements
hruod "fame" and
beraht "bright". The
Normans introduced this name to Britain, where it replaced the rare Old English
cognate Hreodbeorht. It has been consistently among the most common English names from the 13th to 20th century. In the United States it was the most popular name for boys between 1924 and 1939 (and again in 1953).
This name has been borne by two kings of the Franks, two dukes of Normandy, and three kings of Scotland, including Robert the Bruce who restored the independence of Scotland from England in the 14th century. Several saints have also had the name, the earliest known as Saint Rupert, from an Old German variant. The author Robert Browning (1812-1889) and poets Robert Burns (1759-1796) and Robert Frost (1874-1963) are famous literary namesakes. Other bearers include Robert E. Lee (1807-1870), the commander of the Confederate army during the American Civil War, and American actors Robert Redford (1936-), Robert De Niro (1943-) and Robert Downey Jr. (1965-).
Rhonwen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Welsh form of
Rowena, appearing in medieval Welsh poems and stories as a personification of the English people.
Rhiannon
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh, English, Welsh Mythology
Pronounced: ri-AN-awn(Welsh) ree-AN-ən(English)
Probably derived from an unattested Celtic name *
Rīgantonā meaning
"great queen" (Celtic *
rīganī "queen" and the divine or augmentative suffix
-on). It is speculated that Rigantona was an old Celtic goddess, perhaps associated with fertility and horses like the Gaulish
Epona. As
Rhiannon, she appears in Welsh legend in the
Mabinogi [1] as a beautiful magical woman who rides a white horse. She was betrothed against her will to
Gwawl, but cunningly broke off that engagement and married
Pwyll instead. Their son was
Pryderi.
As an English name, it became popular due to the Fleetwood Mac song Rhiannon (1976), especially in the United Kingdom and Australia.
Rhian
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Pronounced: REE-an
Derived from Welsh rhiain meaning "maiden, young woman".
Renée
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, Dutch
Pronounced: RU-NEH(French) rə-NEH(Dutch) reh-NEH(Dutch)
French feminine form of
René.
Rebekah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical, English
Other Scripts: רִבְקָה(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: rə-BEHK-ə(English)
Form of
Rebecca used in some versions of the Bible.
Ravi
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Hinduism, Hindi, Marathi, Odia, Gujarati, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Bengali, Nepali
Other Scripts: रवि(Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi, Nepali) ରବି(Odia) રવિ(Gujarati) రవి(Telugu) ரவி(Tamil) ರವಿ(Kannada) রবি(Bengali)
Pronounced: RU-vee(Sanskrit) RAH-vee(English) rə-VEE(Hindi) RU-vi(Gujarati) RAW-bee(Bengali)
Means
"sun" in Sanskrit. Ravi is a Hindu god of the sun, sometimes equated with
Surya. A famous bearer was the musician Ravi Shankar (1920-2012).
Raven
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: RAY-vən
From the name of the bird, ultimately from Old English
hræfn. The raven is revered by several Native American groups of the west coast. It is also associated with the Norse god
Odin.
Raoul
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: RA-OOL
French form of
Radulf (see
Ralph).
Rajni
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hindi
Other Scripts: राज्ञी(Hindi)
Means "queen" in Sanskrit.
Raj
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Nepali
Other Scripts: राज(Hindi, Marathi, Nepali) রাজ(Bengali) ਰਾਜ(Gurmukhi) રાજ(Gujarati) ராஜ்(Tamil) రాజ్(Telugu) ರಾಜ್(Kannada) രാജ്(Malayalam)
Means
"empire, royalty", from Sanskrit
राज्य (rājya).
Raina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Bulgarian
Other Scripts: Райна(Bulgarian)
Prem
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Nepali
Other Scripts: प्रेम(Hindi, Marathi, Nepali) பிரேம்(Tamil) ప్రేమ్(Telugu) ಪ್ರೇಂ(Kannada) പ്രേം(Malayalam)
From Sanskrit
प्रेम (prema) meaning
"love, affection".
Polly
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: PAHL-ee
Medieval variant of
Molly. The reason for the change in the initial consonant is unknown.
Pierre
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French, Swedish
Pronounced: PYEHR(French)
French form of
Peter. This name has been consistently popular in France since the 13th century, but fell out of the top 100 names in 2017. It was borne by the philosopher and theologian Pierre Abélard (1079-1142), the scholar Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749-1827), the impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), and Pierre Curie (1859-1906), a physicist who discovered radioactivity with his wife Marie.
Philippe
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: FEE-LEEP
Philip
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Biblical
Pronounced: FIL-ip(English) FEE-lip(Dutch)
From the Greek name
Φίλιππος (Philippos) meaning
"friend of horses", composed of the elements
φίλος (philos) meaning "friend, lover" and
ἵππος (hippos) meaning "horse". This was the name of five kings of Macedon, including Philip II the father of Alexander the Great. The name appears in the
New Testament belonging to two people who are regarded as
saints. First, one of the twelve apostles, and second, an early figure in the Christian church known as Philip the Deacon.
This name was initially more common among Eastern Christians, though it came to the West by the Middle Ages. It was borne by six kings of France and five kings of Spain. It was regularly used in England during the Middle Ages, although the Spanish king Philip II, who attempted an invasion of England, helped make it less common by the 17th century. It was revived in the English-speaking world in the 19th century. Famous bearers include the Elizabethan courtier and poet Philip Sidney (1554-1586) and the American science fiction novelist Philip K. Dick (1928-1982).
Peter
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Slovene, Slovak, Biblical
Pronounced: PEE-tər(English) PEH-tu(German) PEH-tər(Dutch, Danish, Slovene) PEH-tehr(Slovak)
Derived from Greek
Πέτρος (Petros) meaning
"stone". This is a translation used in most versions of the
New Testament of the name
Cephas, meaning "stone" in Aramaic, which was given to the apostle
Simon by
Jesus (compare
Matthew 16:18 and
John 1:42). Simon Peter was the most prominent of the apostles during Jesus' ministry and is often considered the first pope.
Due to the renown of the apostle, this name became common throughout the Christian world (in various spellings). In England the Normans introduced it in the Old French form Piers, which was gradually replaced by the spelling Peter starting in the 15th century [1].
Besides the apostle, other saints by this name include the 11th-century reformer Saint Peter Damian and the 13th-century preacher Saint Peter Martyr. It was also borne by rulers of Aragon, Portugal, and Russia, including the Russian tsar Peter the Great (1672-1725), who defeated Sweden in the Great Northern War. Famous fictional bearers include Peter Rabbit from Beatrix Potter's children's books, Peter Pan, the boy who refused to grow up in J. M. Barrie's 1904 play, and Peter Parker, the real name of the comic book superhero Spider-Man.
Patrick
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish, English, French, German, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish
Pronounced: PAT-rik(English) PA-TREEK(French) PA-trik(German)
From the Latin name
Patricius, which meant
"nobleman". This name was adopted in the 5th-century by
Saint Patrick, whose birth name was Sucat. He was a Romanized Briton who was captured and enslaved in his youth by Irish raiders. After six years of servitude he escaped home, but he eventually became a bishop and went back to Ireland as a missionary. He is traditionally credited with Christianizing the island, and is regarded as Ireland's patron saint. He is called
Pádraig in Irish.
In England and elsewhere in Europe during the Middle Ages this name was used in honour of the saint. However, it was not generally given in Ireland before the 17th century because it was considered too sacred for everyday use. It has since become very common there.
Pallav
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Hindi
Other Scripts: पल्लव(Hindi)
From Sanskrit
पल्लव (pallava) meaning
"budding leaf, shoot".
Owen 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh, English
Pronounced: O-in(English)
Anglicized form of
Owain.
Owen 2
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: O-in(English)
Orsola
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: OR-so-la
Oriana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish
Pronounced: o-RYA-na
Possibly derived from Latin
aurum "gold" or from its derivatives, Spanish
oro or French
or. In medieval legend Oriana was the daughter of a king of England who married the knight
Amadis.
Órfhlaith
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish (Rare)
Pronounced: OR-lə
Ophelia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Literature, Ancient Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Ὠφελία(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: o-FEEL-ee-ə(English) o-FEEL-yə(English)
Derived from Greek
ὠφέλεια (opheleia) meaning
"help, advantage". This was a rare ancient Greek name, which was either rediscovered or recreated by the poet Jacopo Sannazaro for a character in his poem
Arcadia (1480). It was borrowed by Shakespeare for his play
Hamlet (1600), in which it belongs to the daughter of
Polonius and the potential love interest of
Hamlet. She eventually goes insane and drowns herself after Hamlet kills her father. In spite of this negative association, the name has been in use since the 19th century.
Om
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Hindi, Marathi
Other Scripts: ओम(Hindi, Marathi)
From Sanskrit
ओम् (om), considered to be a sacred syllable because it represents the range of sounds that can be made by the human voice.
Olwen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh, Welsh Mythology, Arthurian Cycle
Pronounced: OL-wehn(English)
Means
"white footprint" from Welsh
ol "footprint, track" and
gwen "white, blessed". In the Welsh tale
Culhwch and Olwen she was a beautiful maiden, the lover of
Culhwch and the daughter of the giant Yspaddaden. Her father insisted that Culhwch complete several seemingly impossible tasks before he would allow them to marry.
Olivia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Spanish, French, German, Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch
Pronounced: o-LIV-ee-ə(English) ə-LIV-ee-ə(English) o-LEE-vya(Italian, German) o-LEE-bya(Spanish) AW-LEE-VYA(French) O-lee-vee-ah(Finnish) o-LEE-vee-ya(Dutch)
This name was used in this spelling by William Shakespeare for a character in his comedy
Twelfth Night (1602). This was a rare name in Shakespeare's time
[1] that may have been based on
Oliva or
Oliver, or directly on the Latin word
oliva meaning
"olive". In the play Olivia is a noblewoman wooed by Duke
Orsino. Instead she falls in love with his messenger Cesario, who is actually
Viola in disguise.
Olivia has been used in the English-speaking world since the 18th century, though it did not become overly popular until the last half of the 20th century. Its rise in popularity in the 1970s may have been inspired by a character on the television series The Waltons (1972-1982) [2] or the singer Olivia Newton-John (1948-2022). In 1989 it was borne by a young character on The Cosby Show, which likely accelerated its growth. It reached the top rank in England and Wales by 2008 and in the United States by 2019.
A famous bearer was the British-American actress Olivia de Havilland (1916-2020).
Olav
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Norwegian, Danish
Odessa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Various
From the name of a Ukrainian city that sits on the north coast of the Black Sea, which was named after the ancient Greek city of
Ὀδησσός (Odessos), of uncertain meaning. This name can also be used as a feminine form of
Odysseus.
Nora 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Irish, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Latvian, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish
Pronounced: NAWR-ə(English) NO-ra(German, Dutch, Spanish)
Short form of
Honora or
Eleanor. Henrik Ibsen used it for a character in his play
A Doll's House (1879).
Nolwenn
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Breton
From the Breton phrase
Noyal Gwenn meaning
"holy one from Noyal". This was the epithet of a 6th-century
saint and martyr from Brittany.
Nila
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Tamil, Hindi, Indonesian, Burmese
Other Scripts: நீலா(Tamil) नीला(Hindi) နီလာ(Burmese)
Pronounced: NEE-LA(Burmese)
From Sanskrit
नील (nīla) meaning
"dark blue".
Nicoline
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Dutch, Danish
Pronounced: nee-ko-LEEN(Dutch) nee-ko-LEE-nə(Dutch)
Nicholas
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: NIK-ə-ləs, NIK-ləs
From the Greek name
Νικόλαος (Nikolaos) meaning
"victory of the people", derived from Greek
νίκη (nike) meaning "victory" and
λαός (laos) meaning "people".
Saint Nicholas was a 4th-century bishop from Anatolia who, according to legend, saved the daughters of a poor man from lives of prostitution. He is the patron saint of children, sailors and merchants, as well as Greece and Russia. He formed the basis for the figure known as Santa Claus (created in the 19th century from Dutch
Sinterklaas), the bringer of Christmas presents.
Due to the renown of the saint, this name has been widely used in the Christian world. It has been common in England since the 12th century, though it became a bit less popular after the Protestant Reformation. The name has been borne by five popes and two tsars of Russia.
Niamh
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish, Irish Mythology
Pronounced: NYEEW(Irish) NYEEV(Irish)
Means
"bright" in Irish. She was the daughter of the sea god
Manannán mac Lir in Irish legends. She fell in love with the poet
Oisín, the son of
Fionn mac Cumhaill. It has been used as a given name for people only since the early 20th century.
Nia 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Pronounced: NEE-a
Welsh form of
Niamh. The Welsh poet T. Gwynn Jones used it in his long poem
Tir na n-Óg (1916), referring to the lover of
Oisín.
Nellie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Swedish
Pronounced: NEHL-ee(English) NEH-li(Swedish)
Neasa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish, Irish Mythology
Pronounced: NYA-sə(Irish)
From Old Irish
Ness, meaning uncertain. In Irish legend she was the mother of
Conchobar. She installed her son as king of Ulster by convincing
Fergus mac Róich (her husband and Conchobar's stepfather) to give up his throne to the boy for a year and then helping him rule so astutely that the Ulstermen demanded that he remain as king. According to some versions of the legend she was originally named
Assa "gentle", but was renamed
Ní-assa "not gentle" after she sought to avenge the murders of her foster fathers.
Nathanael
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Biblical, Biblical Greek [1]
Other Scripts: ןְתַןְאֵל(Ancient Hebrew) Ναθαναήλ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: nə-THAN-yəl(English)
Nate
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: NAYT
Natalie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian
Pronounced: NAT-ə-lee(English) NA-ta-lee(German, Dutch)
From the Late Latin name
Natalia, which meant
"Christmas Day" from Latin
natale domini. This was the name of the wife of the 4th-century martyr
Saint Adrian of Nicomedia. She is venerated as a saint in the Orthodox Church, and the name has traditionally been more common among Eastern Christians than those in the West. It was popularized in America by actress Natalie Wood (1938-1981), who was born to Russian immigrants.
Natalia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Polish, Italian, Spanish, Romanian, English, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Greek, Georgian, Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Late Roman
Other Scripts: Ναταλία(Greek) ნატალია(Georgian) Наталия(Russian, Bulgarian) Наталія(Ukrainian)
Pronounced: na-TA-lya(Polish, Italian, Spanish) na-ta-LEE-a(Italian) na-TA-lee-a(Romanian) nə-TAHL-ee-ə(English)
Latinate form of
Natalia (see
Natalie).
Nasrin
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Persian, Bengali
Other Scripts: نسرین(Persian) নাসরীন(Bengali)
Pronounced: nas-REEN(Persian)
Means "wild rose" in Persian.
Naoise
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish, Irish Mythology
Pronounced: NEE-shə(Irish)
Meaning unknown, presumably of Irish origin. In Irish legend he was the young man who fled to Scotland with
Deirdre, who was due to marry
Conchobar the king of Ulster. Conchobar eventually succeeded in capturing Deirdre and killing Naoise, which caused Deirdre to die of grief.
Nancy
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: NAN-see
Previously a medieval
diminutive of
Annis, though since the 18th century it has been a diminutive of
Ann. It is now usually regarded as an independent name. During the 20th century it became very popular in the United States. A city in the Lorraine region of France bears this name, though it derives from a different source.
Nadir
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic, Turkish, Urdu
Other Scripts: نادر(Arabic, Urdu)
Pronounced: NA-deer(Arabic)
Means "rare" in Arabic.
Nadia 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, Italian, Spanish, English, Russian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian
Other Scripts: Надя(Russian, Bulgarian) Надія(Ukrainian)
Pronounced: NA-DYA(French) NA-dya(Italian) NA-dhya(Spanish) NAD-ee-ə(English) NAHD-ee-ə(English) NA-dyə(Russian)
Variant of
Nadya 1 used in Western Europe, as well as an alternate transcription of the Slavic name. It began to be used in France in the 19th century
[1]. The name received a boost in popularity from the Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci (1961-)
[2].
Nabil
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic
Other Scripts: نبيل(Arabic)
Pronounced: na-BEEL
Means "noble" in Arabic.
Munir
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic, Urdu
Other Scripts: منير(Arabic) منیر(Urdu)
Pronounced: moo-NEER(Arabic)
Means
"bright, shining" in Arabic, related to the root
نوّر (nawwara) meaning "to illuminate, to light".
Morwen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Cornish, Welsh
Mòrag
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Scottish Gaelic
Pronounced: MO-rag
Molly
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MAHL-ee
Medieval
diminutive of
Mary, now often used independently. It developed from
Malle and
Molle, other medieval diminutives. James Joyce used this name in his novel
Ulysses (1922), where it belongs to Molly Bloom, the wife of the main character.
Miriam
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hebrew, English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Italian, Portuguese, Czech, Slovak, Polish, Biblical
Other Scripts: מִרְיָם(Hebrew)
Pronounced: MIR-ee-əm(English) MI-ryam(German) MI-ri-yam(Czech) MEE-ree-am(Slovak)
Form of
Mary used in the
Old Testament, where it belongs to the elder sister of
Moses and
Aaron. She watched over the infant Moses as the pharaoh's daughter drew him from the Nile. The name has long been popular among Jews, and it has been used as an English Christian name (alongside
Mary) since the
Protestant Reformation.
Mirabelle
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French (Rare), English (Rare)
Derived from Latin mirabilis meaning "wonderful". This name was coined during the Middle Ages, though it eventually died out. It was briefly revived in the 19th century.
Mina 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Dutch
Pronounced: MEE-nə(English) MEE-na(Dutch)
Short form of
Wilhelmina and other names ending in
mina. This was the name of a character in the novel
Dracula (1897) by Bram Stoker.
Michael
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, German, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch, Czech, Biblical, Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek
Other Scripts: מִיכָאֵל(Ancient Hebrew) Μιχαήλ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: MIE-kəl(English) MI-kha-ehl(German, Czech) MEE-kal(Danish) MEE-ka-ehl(Swedish) MEE-kah-ehl(Norwegian) mee-KA-ehl(Latin)
From the Hebrew name
מִיכָאֵל (Miḵaʾel) meaning
"who is like God?", derived from the interrogative pronoun
מִי (mi) combined with
ךְּ (ke) meaning "like" and
אֵל (ʾel) meaning "God". This is a rhetorical question, implying no person is like God. Michael is one of the archangels in Hebrew tradition and the only one identified as an archangel in the Bible. In the Book of Daniel in the
Old Testament he is named as a protector of Israel (see
Daniel 12:1). In the Book of Revelation in the
New Testament he is portrayed as the leader of heaven's armies in the war against Satan, and is thus considered the patron
saint of soldiers in Christianity.
The popularity of the saint led to the name being used by nine Byzantine emperors, including Michael VIII Palaeologus who restored the empire in the 13th century. It has been common in Western Europe since the Middle Ages, and in England since the 12th century. It has been borne (in various spellings) by rulers of Russia (spelled Михаил), Romania (Mihai), Poland (Michał), and Portugal (Miguel).
In the United States, this name rapidly gained popularity beginning in the 1930s, eventually becoming the most popular male name from 1954 to 1998. However, it was not as overwhelmingly common in the United Kingdom, where it never reached the top spot.
Famous bearers of this name include the British chemist/physicist Michael Faraday (1791-1867), musician Michael Jackson (1958-2009), and basketball player Michael Jordan (1963-).
Melissa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Dutch, Ancient Greek [1], Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Μέλισσα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: mə-LIS-ə(English) MEH-LEES-SA(Classical Greek)
Means
"bee" in Greek. In Greek
mythology this was the name of a daughter of Procles, as well as an epithet of various Greek nymphs and priestesses. According to the early Christian writer Lactantius
[2] this was the name of the sister of the nymph
Amalthea, with whom she cared for the young
Zeus. Later it appears in Ludovico Ariosto's 1532 poem
Orlando Furioso [3] belonging to the fairy who helps
Ruggiero escape from the witch
Alcina. As an English given name,
Melissa has been used since the 18th century.
Melina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Greek
Other Scripts: Μελίνα(Greek)
Pronounced: mə-LEE-nə(English)
Elaboration of
Mel, either from names such as
Melissa or from Greek
μέλι (meli) meaning "honey". A famous bearer was Greek-American actress Melina Mercouri (1920-1994), who was born Maria Amalia Mercouris.
Melaina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Μέλαινα(Ancient Greek)
Maurizio
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: mow-REET-tsyo
Italian form of
Mauritius (see
Maurice).
Maurice
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French, English
Pronounced: MAW-REES(French) maw-REES(English) MAWR-is(English)
From the Roman name
Mauritius, a derivative of
Maurus.
Saint Maurice was a 3rd-century Roman soldier from Egypt. He and the other Christians in his legion were supposedly massacred on the orders of Emperor Maximian for refusing to worship Roman gods. Thus, he is the patron saint of infantry soldiers.
This name was borne by a 6th-century Byzantine emperor. Another notable bearer was Maurice of Nassau (called Maurits in Dutch), a 17th-century prince of Orange who helped establish the Dutch Republic. The name has been used in England since the Norman Conquest, usually in the spelling Morris or Moris.
Mary
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Biblical
Pronounced: MEHR-ee(English) MAR-ee(English)
Usual English form of
Maria, the Latin form of the
New Testament Greek names
Μαριάμ (Mariam) and
Μαρία (Maria) — the spellings are interchangeable — which were from Hebrew
מִרְיָם (Miryam), a name borne by the sister of
Moses in the
Old Testament. The meaning is not known for certain, but there are several theories including
"sea of bitterness",
"rebelliousness", and
"wished for child". However it was most likely originally an Egyptian name, perhaps derived in part from
mry "beloved" or
mr "love".
This is the name of several New Testament characters, most importantly Mary the mother of Jesus. According to the gospels, Jesus was conceived in her by the Holy Spirit while she remained a virgin. This name was also borne by Mary Magdalene, a woman cured of demons by Jesus. She became one of his followers and later witnessed his crucifixion and resurrection.
Due to the Virgin Mary this name has been very popular in the Christian world, though at certain times in some cultures it has been considered too holy for everyday use. In England it has been used since the 12th century, and it has been among the most common feminine names since the 16th century. In the United States in 1880 it was given more than twice as often as the next most popular name for girls (Anna). It remained in the top rank in America until 1946 when it was bumped to second (by Linda). Although it regained the top spot for a few more years in the 1950s it was already falling in usage, and has since dropped out of the top 100 names.
This name has been borne by two queens of England, as well as a queen of Scotland, Mary Queen of Scots. Another notable bearer was Mary Shelley (1797-1851), the author of Frankenstein. A famous fictional character by this name is Mary Poppins from the children's books by P. L. Travers, first published in 1934.
The Latinized form of this name, Maria, is also used in English as well as in several other languages.
Martha
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, German, Greek, Biblical, Biblical Greek [1], Biblical Latin, Old Church Slavic
Other Scripts: Μάρθα(Greek) Марѳа(Church Slavic)
Pronounced: MAHR-thə(English) MAHR-ta(Dutch) MAR-ta(German)
From Aramaic
מַרְתָּא (marta) meaning
"the lady, the mistress", feminine form of
מַר (mar) meaning "master". In the
New Testament this is the name of the sister of
Lazarus and
Mary of Bethany (who is sometimes identified with Mary Magdalene). She was a witness to
Jesus restoring her dead brother to life.
The name was not used in England until after the Protestant Reformation. A notable bearer was Martha Washington (1731-1802), the wife of the first American president George Washington. It is also borne by the media personality Martha Stewart (1941-).
Marta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Catalan, Polish, Czech, Slovak, German, Dutch, Romanian, Slovene, Bulgarian, Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Russian, Swedish, Icelandic, Latvian, Estonian, Georgian
Other Scripts: Марта(Bulgarian, Serbian, Macedonian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Russian) მართა(Georgian)
Pronounced: MAR-ta(Spanish, Italian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, German) MAR-tu(European Portuguese) MAKH-tu(Brazilian Portuguese) MAR-tə(Catalan) MAHR-ta(Dutch) MAHR-TAH(Georgian)
Form of
Martha used in various languages.
Marsaili
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Scottish Gaelic [1]
Pronounced: MAR-si-li
Mark
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Russian, Belarusian, Dutch, Danish, Armenian, Biblical
Other Scripts: Марк(Russian, Belarusian) Մարկ(Armenian)
Pronounced: MAHRK(English, Dutch, Eastern Armenian) MARK(Russian) MAHRG(Western Armenian)
Form of Latin
Marcus used in several languages.
Saint Mark was the author of the second gospel in the
New Testament. Though the author's identity is not certain, some traditions hold him to be the same person as the John Mark who appears in the Book of Acts. He is the patron saint of Venice, where he is supposedly buried. Though in use during the Middle Ages,
Mark was not common in the English-speaking world until the 19th century, when it began to be used alongside the classical form
Marcus.
In the medieval legend of Tristan and Iseult this was the name of a king of Cornwall. It was also borne by the American author Mark Twain (1835-1910), real name Samuel Clemens, the author of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He took his pen name from a call used by riverboat workers on the Mississippi River to indicate a depth of two fathoms. This is also the usual English spelling of the name of the 1st-century BC Roman triumvir Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony).
Marisa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, English
Pronounced: ma-REE-za(Italian) ma-REE-sa(Spanish) mə-RIS-ə(English)
Italian, Spanish and Portuguese combination of
Maria and
Luisa.
Marie
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: French, Czech, German, English, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Albanian
Pronounced: MA-REE(French) MA-ri-yeh(Czech) ma-REE(German, Dutch) mə-REE(English)
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.
Marianne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish
Pronounced: MA-RYAN(French) mar-ee-AN(English) ma-RYA-nə(German) ma-ree-YAH-nə(Dutch) MAH-ree-ahn-neh(Finnish)
Combination of
Marie and
Anne 1, though it could also be considered a variant of
Mariana or
Mariamne. Shortly after the formation of the French Republic in 1792, a female figure by this name was adopted as the symbol of the state.
Mariah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: mə-RIE-ə
Variant of
Maria. It is usually pronounced in a way that reflects an older English pronunciation of
Maria. The name was popularized in the early 1990s by the American singer Mariah Carey (1970-).
Marcelline
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: MAR-SU-LEEN
Manu 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Hinduism, Hindi, Kannada
Other Scripts: मनु(Sanskrit, Hindi) ಮನು(Kannada)
Means "thinking, wise" in Sanskrit. In Hindu belief this is a title of Swayambhuva, the progenitor of the human race, as well as several of his descendants.
Malik 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic
Other Scripts: ملك(Arabic)
Pronounced: MA-leek
Means
"king" in Arabic. In Islamic tradition
الملك (al-Malik) is one of the 99 names of Allah. This can also be another way of transcribing the name
مالك (see
Maalik).
Máirín
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: MA-ryeen
Màiri
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Scottish Gaelic [1]
Pronounced: MA-ryi
Scottish Gaelic form of
Maria (see
Mary). The form
Moire is used to refer to the Virgin Mary.
Máire
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: MA-ryə
Irish form of
Maria (see
Mary). The form
Muire is used to refer to the Virgin Mary.
Magdalene
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, English, Biblical, Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Μαγδαληνή(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: mak-da-LEH-nə(German) MAG-də-lin(English)
From a title meaning
"of Magdala".
Mary Magdalene, a character in the
New Testament, was named thus because she was from Magdala — a village on the Sea of Galilee whose name meant "tower" in Hebrew. She was cleaned of evil spirits by
Jesus and then remained with him during his ministry, witnessing the crucifixion and the resurrection. She was a popular
saint in the Middle Ages, and the name became common then. In England it is traditionally rendered
Madeline, while
Magdalene or
Magdalen is the learned form.
Mae
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MAY
Variant of
May. A famous bearer was the American actress Mae West (1893-1980), whose birth name was Mary.
Madeleine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, English, Swedish
Pronounced: MAD-LEHN(French) MAD-ə-lin(English) MAD-ə-lien(English) MAD-lin(English) mahd-eh-LEHN(Swedish)
Lydia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German, Dutch, Biblical, Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Λυδία(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: LID-ee-ə(English) LUY-dya(German) LEE-dee-ya(Dutch)
Means
"from Lydia" in Greek. Lydia was a region on the west coast of Asia Minor, said to be named for the legendary king
Lydos. In the
New Testament this is the name of a woman converted to Christianity by
Saint Paul. In the modern era the name has been in use since the
Protestant Reformation.
Luke
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Biblical
Pronounced: LOOK(English)
English form of Latin
Lucas, from the Greek name
Λουκᾶς (Loukas), probably a shortened form of
Λουκανός (Loukanos) meaning
"from Lucania", Lucania being a region in southern Italy. Luke was a doctor who travelled in the company of the apostle
Paul. According to tradition, he was the author of the third gospel and Acts in the
New Testament. He was probably of Greek ethnicity. He is considered a
saint by many Christian denominations.
Due to the saint's renown, the name became common in the Christian world (in various spellings). As an English name, Luke has been in use since the 12th century alongside the Latin form Lucas. Both forms became popular throughout the English-speaking world towards the end of the 20th century. A famous fictional bearer was the hero Luke Skywalker from the Star Wars movies, beginning in 1977.
Louise
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, English, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch, German
Pronounced: LWEEZ(French) loo-EEZ(English) loo-EE-sə(Danish) loo-EE-zə(German)
French feminine form of
Louis.
Lorna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: LAWR-nə
Created by the author R. D. Blackmore for the title character in his novel
Lorna Doone (1869), set in southern England, which describes the dangerous love between John Ridd and Lorna Doone. Blackmore may have based the name on the Scottish place name
Lorne or on the title
Marquis of Lorne (see
Lorne).
Lior
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Hebrew
Other Scripts: לִיאוֹר(Hebrew)
Means
"my light" in Hebrew, from
לִי (li) "for me" and
אוֹר (ʾor) "light".
Linnéa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swedish
Pronounced: lin-NEH-a
From the name of a flower, also known as the twinflower. The Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus named it after himself, it being his favourite flower.
Lindsay
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: LIN-zee
From an English and Scottish surname that was originally derived from the name of the eastern English region of Lindsey, which means "
Lincoln island" in Old English. As a given name it was typically masculine until the 1960s (in Britain) and 70s (in America) when it became popular for girls, probably due to its similarity to
Linda and because of American actress Lindsay Wagner (1949-)
[1].
Lina 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic
Other Scripts: لينا(Arabic)
Pronounced: LEE-na
Means
"soft, tender" in Arabic, derived from
لان (lāna) meaning "to be soft". It can also be from Arabic
لينة (līna), a type of palm tree, likely derived from the same root.
Lilith
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Semitic Mythology, Judeo-Christian-Islamic Legend
Other Scripts: לילית(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: LIL-ith(English)
Derived from Akkadian
lilitu meaning
"of the night". This was the name of a demon in ancient Assyrian myths. In Jewish tradition she was
Adam's first wife, sent out of Eden and replaced by
Eve because she would not submit to him. The offspring of Adam (or
Samael) and Lilith were the evil spirits of the world.
Liam
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish, English, French (Modern), Dutch (Modern), German (Modern), Swedish (Modern), Norwegian (Modern)
Pronounced: LYEEM(Irish) LEE-əm(English) LYAM(French) LEE-yahm(Dutch)
Irish short form of
William. It became popular in the United Kingdom in the 1980s, and elsewhere in Europe and the Americas after that. It was the top ranked name for boys in the United States beginning in 2017. Famous bearers include British actor Liam Neeson (1952-), British musician Liam Gallagher (1972-), and Australian actor Liam Hemsworth (1990-).
Leslie
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: LEHZ-lee, LEHS-lee
From a Scottish surname that was derived from a place in Aberdeenshire, probably from Gaelic leas celyn meaning "garden of holly". It has been used as a given name since the 19th century. In America it was more common as a feminine name after the 1940s.
Leopold
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Dutch, English, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Polish
Pronounced: LEH-o-pawlt(German, Dutch) LEE-ə-pold(English) LEH-o-polt(Czech) LEH-aw-pawld(Slovak) leh-AW-pawlt(Polish)
Derived from the Old German elements
liut "people" and
bald "bold, brave". The spelling was altered due to association with Latin
leo "lion". This name was common among German royalty, first with the Babenbergs and then the Habsburgs.
Saint Leopold was a 12th-century Babenberg margrave of Austria, who is now considered the patron of that country. It was also borne by two Habsburg Holy Roman emperors, as well as three kings of Belgium. Since the 19th century this name has been occasionally used in England, originally in honour of Queen Victoria's uncle, a king of Belgium, after whom she named one of her sons. It was later used by James Joyce for the main character, Leopold Bloom, in his novel
Ulysses (1922).
Leonora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Leif
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Swedish, Norwegian, Danish
Pronounced: LAYF
From the Old Norse name Leifr meaning "descendant, heir". Leif Eriksson was a Norse explorer who reached North America in the early 11th century. He was the son of Erik the Red.
Leander
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Λέανδρος(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: lee-AN-dər(English)
Latinized form of the Greek name
Λέανδρος (Leandros), derived from
λέων (leon) meaning "lion" and
ἀνήρ (aner) meaning "man" (genitive
ἀνδρός). In Greek legend Leander was the lover of Hero. Every night he swam across the Hellespont to meet her, but on one occasion he was drowned when a storm arose. When Hero saw his dead body she threw herself into the waters and perished.
Leah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Hebrew, Biblical
Other Scripts: לֵאָה(Hebrew)
Pronounced: LEE-ə(English)
From the Hebrew name
לֵאָה (Leʾa), which was probably derived from the Hebrew word
לָאָה (laʾa) meaning
"weary, grieved" [1]. Alternatively it might be related to Akkadian
littu meaning
"cow". In the
Old Testament Leah is the first wife of
Jacob and the mother of seven of his children. Jacob's other wife was Leah's younger sister
Rachel, whom he preferred. Leah later offered Jacob her handmaid
Zilpah in order for him to conceive more children.
Although this name was used by Jews in the Middle Ages, it was not typical as an English Christian name until after the Protestant Reformation, being common among the Puritans.
Laurent
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: LAW-RAHN
Laoise
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: LEE-shə
Possibly a newer form of
Luigsech, or from the name of the county of Laois in central Ireland. It is also used as an Irish form of
Lucy or
Louise.
Lalit
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Hindi, Marathi
Other Scripts: ललित(Hindi, Marathi)
Klaus
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish
Pronounced: KLOWS(German, Finnish)
German short form of
Nicholas, now used independently.
Khalid
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic, Urdu, Bengali, Malay
Other Scripts: خالد(Arabic, Urdu) খালিদ(Bengali)
Pronounced: KHA-leed(Arabic)
Means
"eternal" in Arabic, derived from
خلد (khalada) meaning "to last forever". This name was borne by a 7th-century Islamic military leader, Khalid ibn al-Walid.
Kevin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Irish, French (Modern), German (Modern), Dutch (Modern)
Pronounced: KEHV-in(English) KEH-VEEN(French) KEH-vin(German, Dutch)
Anglicized form of the Irish name
Caoimhín meaning
"beloved birth", derived from Old Irish
Cóemgein, composed of
cóem "dear, beloved, gentle" and
gein "birth".
Saint Caoimhín established a monastery in Glendalough, Ireland in the 6th century and is the patron saint of Dublin.
The name became popular in the English-speaking world outside of Ireland in the middle of the 20th century, and elsewhere in Europe in the latter half of the 20th century. Famous bearers include the American actors Kevin Costner (1955-) and Kevin Bacon (1958-). It was also borne by the character Kevin McCallister in the 1990 comedy movie Home Alone.
Kenneth
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish, English, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian
Pronounced: KEHN-əth(English)
Anglicized form of both
Coinneach and
Cináed. This name was borne by the Scottish king Kenneth (Cináed) mac Alpin, who united the Scots and Picts in the 9th century. It was popularized outside of Scotland by Walter Scott, who used it for the hero in his 1825 novel
The Talisman [1]. A famous bearer was the British novelist Kenneth Grahame (1859-1932), who wrote
The Wind in the Willows.
Katya
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian
Other Scripts: Катя(Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian)
Pronounced: KA-tyə(Russian)
Katja
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Dutch, Slovene, Croatian
Pronounced: KAT-ya(German) KAHT-ya(Dutch)
Form of
Katya in various languages.
Katherine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KATH-ə-rin, KATH-rin
From the Greek name
Αἰκατερίνη (Aikaterine). The etymology is debated: it could derive from an earlier Greek name
Ἑκατερινη (Hekaterine), itself from
ἑκάτερος (hekateros) meaning
"each of the two"; it could derive from the name of the goddess
Hecate; it could be related to Greek
αἰκία (aikia) meaning
"torture"; or it could be from a Coptic name meaning
"my consecration of your name". In the early Christian era it became associated with Greek
καθαρός (katharos) meaning
"pure", and the Latin spelling was changed from
Katerina to
Katharina to reflect this.
The name was borne by a semi-legendary 4th-century saint and martyr from Alexandria who was tortured on a spiked wheel. The saint was initially venerated in Syria, and returning crusaders introduced the name to Western Europe. It has been common in England since the 12th century in many different spellings, with Katherine and Catherine becoming standard in the later Middle Ages. To this day both spellings are regularly used in the English-speaking world. In the United States the spelling Katherine has been more popular since 1973.
Famous bearers of the name include Catherine of Siena, a 14th-century mystic, and Catherine de' Medici, a 16th-century French queen. It was also borne by three of Henry VIII's wives, including Katherine of Aragon, and by two empresses of Russia, including Catherine the Great.
Kate
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Croatian
Pronounced: KAYT(English)
Short form of
Katherine, often used independently. It is short for
Katherina in Shakespeare's play
The Taming of the Shrew (1593). It has been used in England since the Middle Ages. A famous bearer is the British actress Kate Winslet (1975-).
Karen 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, English, German
Pronounced: KAH-rehn(Danish) KAR-ən(English) KEHR-ən(English) KA-rən(German)
Danish short form of
Katherine. It became common in the English-speaking world after the 1930s.
Julius
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Ancient Roman, English, German, Finnish, Lithuanian, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch, Czech
Pronounced: YOO-lee-oos(Latin, Swedish) JOO-lee-əs(English) YOO-lee-uws(German) YOO-leews(Finnish) YUW-lyuws(Lithuanian) YOO-lyoos(Danish) YUY-lee-uys(Dutch) YOO-li-yuws(Czech)
From a Roman family name that was possibly derived from Greek
ἴουλος (ioulos) meaning
"downy-bearded". Alternatively, it could be related to the name of the Roman god
Jupiter. This was a prominent patrician family of Rome, who claimed descent from the mythological Julus, son of
Aeneas. Its most notable member was Gaius Julius Caesar, who gained renown as a military leader for his clever conquest of Gaul. After a civil war he became the dictator of the Roman Republic, but was eventually stabbed to death in the senate.
Although this name was borne by several early saints, including a pope, it was rare during the Middle Ages. It was revived in Italy and France during the Renaissance, and was subsequently imported to England.
Juliette
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: ZHUY-LYEHT
Judith
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Jewish, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Spanish, French, Biblical
Other Scripts: יְהוּדִית(Hebrew)
Pronounced: JOO-dith(English) YOO-dit(German) YUY-dit(Dutch) khoo-DHEET(Spanish) ZHUY-DEET(French)
From the Hebrew name
יְהוּדִית (Yehuḏiṯ) meaning
"Jewish woman", feminine of
יְהוּדִי (yehuḏi), ultimately referring to a person from the tribe of
Judah. In the
Old Testament Judith is one of the Hittite wives of
Esau. This is also the name of the main character of the apocryphal Book of Judith. She killed Holofernes, an invading Assyrian commander, by beheading him in his sleep.
As an English name it did not become common until after the Protestant Reformation, despite a handful of early examples during the Middle Ages. It was however used earlier on the European continent, being borne by several European royals, such as the 9th-century Judith of Bavaria.
Jude 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Biblical
Pronounced: JOOD(English)
Variant of
Judas. It is used in many English versions of the
New Testament to denote the second apostle named Judas, in order to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot. He was supposedly the author of the Epistle of Jude. In the English-speaking world,
Jude has occasionally been used as a given name since the time of the
Protestant Reformation.
Joshua
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Biblical
Other Scripts: יְהוֹשֻׁעַ(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: JAHSH-oo-ə(English)
From the Hebrew name
יְהוֹשֻׁעַ (Yehoshuaʿ) meaning
"Yahweh is salvation", from the roots
יְהוֹ (yeho) referring to the Hebrew God and
יָשַׁע (yashaʿ) meaning "to save". As told in the
Old Testament, Joshua was a companion of
Moses. He went up Mount Sinai with Moses when he received the Ten Commandments from God, and later he was one of the twelve spies sent into Canaan. After Moses died Joshua succeeded him as leader of the Israelites and he led the conquest of Canaan. His original name was
Hoshea.
The name Jesus comes from a Greek transcription of the Aramaic short form יֵשׁוּעַ (Yeshuaʿ), which was the real name of Jesus. As an English name, Joshua has been in use since the Protestant Reformation.
Josephina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: jo-sə-FEEN-ə
Joseph
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, German, Biblical
Other Scripts: יוֹסֵף(Ancient Hebrew) ജോസഫ്(Malayalam)
Pronounced: JO-səf(English) ZHO-ZEHF(French) YO-zehf(German)
From
Ioseph, the Latin form of Greek
Ἰωσήφ (Ioseph), which was from the Hebrew name
יוֹסֵף (Yosef) meaning
"he will add", from the root
יָסַף (yasaf) meaning "to add, to increase". In the
Old Testament Joseph is the eleventh son of
Jacob and the first with his wife
Rachel. Because he was the favourite of his father, his older brothers sent him to Egypt and told their father that he had died. In Egypt, Joseph became an advisor to the pharaoh, and was eventually reconciled with his brothers when they came to Egypt during a famine. This name also occurs in the
New Testament, belonging to
Saint Joseph the husband of
Mary, and to Joseph of Arimathea.
In the Middle Ages, Joseph was a common Jewish name, being less frequent among Christians. In the late Middle Ages Saint Joseph became more highly revered, and the name became popular in Spain and Italy. In England it became common after the Protestant Reformation. In the United States it has stayed within the top 25 names for boys since 1880, making it one of the most enduringly popular names of this era.
This name was borne by rulers of the Holy Roman Empire and Portugal. Other notable bearers include Austrian composer Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), the founder of Mormonism Joseph Smith (1805-1844), Polish-British author Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) and Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin (1878-1953).
José
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Spanish, Portuguese, French
Pronounced: kho-SEH(Spanish) zhoo-ZEH(European Portuguese) zho-ZEH(Brazilian Portuguese) ZHO-ZEH(French)
Spanish and Portuguese form of
Joseph, as well as a French variant. In Spanish and Portuguese-speaking regions it is occasionally used as a feminine middle name (or the second part of a double name), often paired with
María. This was the most popular name for boys in Spain for the first half of the 20th century. A famous bearer was the Portuguese novelist José Saramago (1922-2010).
Jonathan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Biblical
Other Scripts: יוֹנָתָן(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: JAHN-ə-thən(American English) JAWN-ə-thən(British English) ZHAW-NA-TAHN(French) YO-na-tan(German) YO-na-tahn(Dutch)
From the Hebrew name
יְהוֹנָתָן (Yehonaṯan), contracted to
יוֹנָתָן (Yonaṯan), meaning
"Yahweh has given", derived from the roots
יְהוֹ (yeho) referring to the Hebrew God and
נָתַן (naṯan) meaning "to give". According to the
Old Testament, Jonathan was the eldest son of
Saul. His relationship with his father was strained due to his close friendship with his father's rival
David. Along with Saul he was killed in battle with the Philistines.
As an English name, Jonathan did not become common until after the Protestant Reformation. A famous bearer was the Anglo-Irish satirist Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), who wrote Gulliver's Travels and other works.
Joe
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: JO
Short form of
Joseph. Five famous sports figures who have had this name are boxers Joe Louis (1914-1981) and Joe Frazier (1944-2011), baseball player Joe DiMaggio (1914-1999), and football quarterbacks Joe Namath (1943-) and Joe Montana (1956-). It is also borne by the American president Joe Biden (1942-).
Jocelyn
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English, French
Pronounced: JAHS-lin(English) JAHS-ə-lin(English) ZHO-SEH-LEHN(French)
From a Frankish masculine name, variously written as
Gaudelenus,
Gautselin,
Gauzlin, along with many other spellings. It was derived from the Germanic element *
gautaz, which was from the name of the Germanic tribe the Geats, combined with a Latin
diminutive suffix. The
Normans brought this name to England in the form
Goscelin or
Joscelin, and it was common until the 14th century. It was revived in the 20th century primarily as a feminine name, perhaps an adaptation of the surname
Jocelyn (a medieval derivative of the given name). In France this is a masculine name only.
Javed
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Persian, Urdu
Other Scripts: جاود(Persian) جاوید(Urdu)
Means "eternal" in Persian.
Jason
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, Greek Mythology (Anglicized), Biblical
Other Scripts: Ἰάσων(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: JAY-sən(English) ZHA-ZAWN(French)
From the Greek name
Ἰάσων (Iason) meaning
"healer", derived from Greek
ἰάομαι (iaomai) meaning "to heal". In Greek
mythology Jason was the leader of the Argonauts. After his uncle
Pelias overthrew his father
Aeson as king of Iolcos, Jason went in search of the Golden Fleece in order to win back the throne. During his journeys he married the sorceress
Medea, who helped him gain the fleece and kill his uncle, but who later turned against him when he fell in love with another woman.
This name also appears in the New Testament, belonging to man who sheltered Paul and Silas. In his case, it may represent a Hellenized form of a Hebrew name. It was not used in England until after the Protestant Reformation.
Jared
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Biblical
Other Scripts: יָרֶד, יֶרֶד(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: JAR-əd(English)
From the Hebrew name
יָרֶד (Yareḏ) or
יֶרֶד (Yereḏ) meaning
"descent". This is the name of a close descendant of
Adam in the
Old Testament. It has been used as an English name since the
Protestant Reformation, and it was popularized in the 1960s by the character Jarrod Barkley on the television series
The Big Valley [1].
Jane
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: JAYN
Medieval English form of
Jehanne, an Old French feminine form of
Iohannes (see
John). This became the most common feminine form of
John in the 17th century, surpassing
Joan. In the first half of the 20th century
Joan once again overtook
Jane for a few decades in both the United States and the United Kingdom.
Famous bearers include the uncrowned English queen Lady Jane Grey (1536-1554), who ruled for only nine days, British novelist Jane Austen (1775-1817), who wrote Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, British primatologist Jane Goodall (1934-), and American actress Jane Fonda (1937-). This is also the name of the central character in Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre (1847), which tells of Jane's sad childhood and her relationship with Edward Rochester.
James
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Biblical
Pronounced: JAYMZ(English)
English form of the Late Latin name
Iacomus, a variant of the Biblical Latin form
Iacobus, from the Hebrew name
Yaʿaqov (see
Jacob). This was the name of two apostles in the
New Testament. The first was
Saint James the Greater, the apostle
John's brother, who was beheaded under Herod Agrippa in the Book of Acts. The second was James the Lesser, son of
Alphaeus. Another James (known as James the Just) is also mentioned in the Bible as being the brother of
Jesus.
This name has been used in England since the 13th century, though it became more common in Scotland where it was borne by several kings. In the 17th century the Scottish king James VI inherited the English throne, becoming the first ruler of all Britain, and the name grew much more popular. In American name statistics (recorded since 1880) this name has never been out of the top 20, making it arguably the era's most consistently popular name. It was the top ranked name for boys in the United States from 1940 to 1952.
Famous bearers include the English explorer James Cook (1728-1779), the Scottish inventor James Watt (1736-1819), and the Irish novelist and poet James Joyce (1882-1941). This name has also been borne by six American presidents. A notable fictional bearer is the British spy James Bond, created by author Ian Fleming in 1953.
Jacques
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: ZHAK
Jacqueline
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, English
Pronounced: ZHAK-LEEN(French) JAK-ə-lin(English) JAK-wə-lin(English) JAK-ə-leen(English)
French feminine form of
Jacques, also commonly used in the English-speaking world.
Jack
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: JAK
Derived from
Jackin (earlier
Jankin), a medieval
diminutive of
John [1]. There could be some early influence from the unrelated French name
Jacques [2]. It is often regarded as an independent name. During the Middle Ages it was very common, and it became a slang word meaning "man", as seen in the terms
jack-o'-lantern,
jack-in-the-box,
lumberjack and so on. It was frequently used in fairy tales and nursery rhymes, such as
Jack and the Beanstalk,
Jack and Jill,
Little Jack Horner, and
Jack Sprat.
American writers Jack London (1876-1916) and Jack Kerouac (1922-1969) were two famous bearers of this name. It is also borne by the actor Jack Nicholson (1937-) and the golfer Jack Nicklaus (1940-). Apart from Nicklaus, none of these famous bearers were given the name Jack at birth.
In the United Kingdom this form has been bestowed more frequently than John since the 1990s, being the most popular name for boys from 1996 to 2008.
Isma'il
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic
Other Scripts: إسماعيل(Arabic)
Pronounced: ees-ma-‘EEL
Isabelle
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, English, German, Dutch, Swedish
Pronounced: EE-ZA-BEHL(French) IZ-ə-behl(English) ee-za-BEH-lə(German, Dutch)
Isaac
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, French, Jewish, Biblical, Biblical Latin
Other Scripts: יִץְחָק(Hebrew)
Pronounced: IE-zək(English) ee-sa-AK(Spanish) EE-ZAK(French) EE-ZA-AK(French)
From the Hebrew name
יִץְחָק (Yitsḥaq) meaning
"he will laugh, he will rejoice", derived from
צָחַק (tsaḥaq) meaning "to laugh". The
Old Testament explains this meaning, by recounting that
Abraham laughed when God told him that his aged wife
Sarah would become pregnant with Isaac (see
Genesis 17:17), and later Sarah laughed when overhearing the same prophecy (see
Genesis 18:12). When Isaac was a boy, God tested Abraham's faith by ordering him to sacrifice his son, though an angel prevented the act at the last moment. Isaac went on to become the father of
Esau and
Jacob with his wife
Rebecca.
As an English Christian name, Isaac was occasionally used during the Middle Ages, though it was more common among Jews. It became more widespread after the Protestant Reformation. Famous bearers include the physicist and mathematician Isaac Newton (1643-1727) and the science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov (1920-1992).
Irene
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, German, Dutch, Ancient Greek (Latinized), Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Εἰρήνη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: ie-REEN(English) ie-REE-nee(English) ee-REH-neh(Italian, Spanish) EE-reh-neh(Finnish) ee-REH-nə(German, Dutch)
From Greek
Εἰρήνη (Eirene), derived from a word meaning
"peace". This was the name of the Greek goddess who personified peace, one of the
Ὥραι (Horai). It was also borne by several early Christian
saints. The name was common in the Byzantine Empire, notably being borne by an 8th-century empress, who was the first woman to lead the empire. She originally served as regent for her son, but later had him killed and ruled alone.
This name has traditionally been more popular among Eastern Christians. In the English-speaking world it was not regularly used until the 19th century.
Ionatán
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish
Imad
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic
Other Scripts: عماد(Arabic)
Pronounced: ‘ee-MAD
Means
"support, pillar" in Arabic, a derivative of
عمد (ʿamada) meaning "to support".
Ilona
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hungarian, German, Finnish, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Czech
Pronounced: EE-lo-naw(Hungarian) ee-LO-na(German) EE-lo-na(German) EE-lo-nah(Finnish) ee-LAW-na(Polish) I-lo-na(Czech)
Old Hungarian form of
Helen, possibly via a Slavic form. In Finland it is associated with the word
ilona, a derivative of
ilo "joy".
Ileana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Romanian, Spanish, Italian
Pronounced: ee-LYA-na(Romanian) ee-leh-A-na(Spanish)
Possibly a Romanian variant of
Elena. In Romanian folklore this is the name of a princess kidnapped by monsters and rescued by a heroic knight.
Idony
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Archaic)
Medieval English vernacular form of
Idonea.
Iain
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish Gaelic [1]
Pronounced: EE-an
Scottish Gaelic form of
Iohannes (see
John).
Hugh
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: HYOO
From the Germanic name
Hugo, derived from Old Frankish
hugi or Old High German
hugu meaning
"mind, thought, spirit" (Proto-Germanic *
hugiz). It was common among Frankish and French nobility, being borne by Hugh Capet, a 10th-century king of France who founded the Capetian dynasty. The
Normans brought the name to England and it became common there, even more so after the time of the 12th-century bishop
Saint Hugh of Lincoln, who was known for his charity. This was also the name of kings of Cyprus and the crusader kingdom of Jerusalem. The name is used in Ireland and Scotland as the Anglicized form of
Aodh and
Ùisdean.
Heulwen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Pronounced: HAYL-wehn
Means
"sunshine" in Welsh (a compound of
haul "sun" and
gwen "white, blessed").
Hephzibah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: חֶףְצִי־בָּה(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: HEHF-zi-bə(English) HEHP-zi-bə(English)
Henry
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: HEHN-ree
From the Germanic name
Heimirich meaning
"home ruler", composed of the elements
heim "home" and
rih "ruler". It was later commonly spelled
Heinrich, with the spelling altered due to the influence of other Germanic names like
Haganrich, in which the first element is
hag "enclosure".
Heinrich was popular among continental royalty, being the name of seven German kings, starting with the 10th-century Henry I the Fowler (the first of the Saxon kings), and four French kings. In France it was usually rendered Henri from the Latin form Henricus.
The Normans introduced the French form to England, and it was subsequently used by eight kings, ending with the infamous Henry VIII in the 16th century. During the later Middle Ages it was fairly popular, and was generally rendered as Harry or Herry in English pronunciation. Notable bearers include arctic naval explorer Henry Hudson (1570-1611), American-British novelist Henry James (1843-1916), American automobile manufacturer Henry Ford (1863-1947), and American actor Henry Fonda (1905-1982).
Henri
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French, Finnish
Pronounced: AHN-REE(French) HEHN-ree(Finnish)
French form of
Heinrich (see
Henry). A notable bearer was the French artist Henri Matisse (1869-1954).
Helena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Portuguese, Catalan, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Finnish, Estonian, Slovene, Croatian, Sorbian, English, Ancient Greek (Latinized), Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ἑλένη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: HEH-leh-na(German, Czech) heh-LEH-na(German, Dutch) heh-LEH-nah(Swedish, Danish, Norwegian) i-LEH-nu(European Portuguese) eh-LEH-nu(Brazilian Portuguese) ə-LEH-nə(Catalan) kheh-LEH-na(Polish) HEH-leh-nah(Finnish) HEHL-ə-nə(English) hə-LAYN-ə(English) hə-LEEN-ə(English)
Latinate form of
Helen. This is the name of the heroine of William Shakespeare's play
All's Well That Ends Well (1603).
Heledd
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Pronounced: HEH-ledh
Meaning unknown. This is the narrator of the medieval poem Canu Heledd, which laments the loss of her family, including her brother Prince Cynddylan, and the destruction of the kingdom of Powys in the 7th century.
Hector
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, Greek Mythology (Latinized), Arthurian Cycle
Other Scripts: Ἕκτωρ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: HEHK-tər(English) EHK-TAWR(French)
Latinized form of Greek
Ἕκτωρ (Hektor), which was derived from
ἕκτωρ (hektor) meaning
"holding fast", ultimately from
ἔχω (echo) meaning "to hold, to possess". In Greek legend Hector was one of the Trojan champions who fought against the Greeks. After he killed
Achilles' friend
Patroclus in battle, he was himself brutally slain by Achilles, who proceeded to tie his dead body to a chariot and drag it about. This name also appears in Arthurian legends where it belongs to King
Arthur's foster father.
Hector has occasionally been used as a given name since the Middle Ages, probably because of the noble character of the classical hero. It has been historically common in Scotland, where it was used as an Anglicized form of Eachann.
Hasan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali, Indonesian, Malay, Albanian, Bosnian
Other Scripts: حسن(Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Shahmukhi) হাসান(Bengali)
Pronounced: HA-san(Arabic, Indonesian) ha-SAN(Turkish, Persian)
Means
"handsome" in Arabic, from the root
حسن (ḥasuna) meaning "to be beautiful, to be good". Hasan was the son of
Ali and the grandson of the Prophet
Muhammad. He was poisoned by one of his wives and is regarded as a martyr by Shia Muslims. This was also the name of two kings of Morocco. It is sometimes transcribed as
Hassan, though this is a distinct name in Arabic.
Harold
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: HAR-əld, HEHR-əld
From the Old English name
Hereweald, derived from the elements
here "army" and
weald "powerful, mighty". The Old Norse
cognate Haraldr was also common among Scandinavian settlers in England. This was the name of five kings of Norway and three kings of Denmark. It was also borne by two kings of England, both of whom were from mixed Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon backgrounds, including Harold II who lost the Battle of Hastings (and was killed in it), which led to the
Norman Conquest. After the conquest the name died out, but it was eventually revived in the 19th century.
Hans
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish
Pronounced: HANS(German) HAHNS(Dutch)
German short form of
Johannes, now used independently. This name has been very common in German-speaking areas of Europe since the late Middle Ages. From an early period it was transmitted to the Low Countries and Scandinavia. Two famous bearers were Hans Holbein (1497-1543), a German portrait painter, and Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875), a Danish writer of fairy tales.
Hannah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Hebrew, German, Dutch, Arabic, Biblical
Other Scripts: חַנָּה(Hebrew) حنّة(Arabic)
Pronounced: HAN-ə(English) HA-na(German) HAH-na(Dutch) HAN-na(Arabic)
From the Hebrew name
חַנָּה (Ḥanna) meaning
"favour, grace", derived from the root
חָנַן (ḥanan) meaning "to be gracious". In the
Old Testament this is the name of the wife of
Elkanah. Her rival was Elkanah's other wife
Peninnah, who had children while Hannah remained barren. After a blessing from
Eli she finally became pregnant with
Samuel.
As an English name, Hannah was not regularly used until after the Protestant Reformation, unlike the vernacular forms Anne and Ann and the Latin form Anna, which were used from the late Middle Ages. In the last half of the 20th century Hannah surged in popularity and neared the top of the name rankings for both the United States and the United Kingdom.
Hallie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: HAL-ee
Hadassah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical, Hebrew
Other Scripts: הֲדַסָּה(Hebrew)
Pronounced: hə-DAS-ə(English)
Habib
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic, Persian, Urdu
Other Scripts: حبيب(Arabic) حبیب(Persian, Urdu)
Pronounced: ha-BEEB(Arabic)
Means "beloved, darling" in Arabic.
Gwynedd
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: Welsh
From the name of the kingdom of Gwynedd, which was located in northern Wales from the 5th century. It is now the name of a Welsh county. The name may be related to Old Irish
Féni meaning "Irish people", itself possibly related to the Celtic root *
wēnā meaning "band of warriors"
[1].
Gwenllian
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Pronounced: gwehn-SHEE-an
Derived from the Welsh elements
gwen meaning "white, blessed" and possibly
lliain meaning "flaxen, made of linen" or
lliant meaning "flow, flood". This name was used by medieval Welsh royalty, notably by a 12th-century princess of Deheubarth who died in battle with the
Normans. It was also borne by the 13th-century daughter of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, the last prince of Gwynedd.
Gwenevere
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: GWIN-ə-vir
Gwenaëlle
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, Breton
Pronounced: GWEH-NA-EHL(French)
Gwenaël
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French, Breton
Pronounced: GWEH-NA-EHL(French)
Means
"blessed and generous" from Breton
gwenn meaning "white, blessed" and
hael meaning "generous".
Saint Gwenhael was a 6th-century abbot of Brittany.
Gwen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh, English
Pronounced: GWEHN
From Welsh
gwen, the feminine form of
gwyn meaning "white, blessed". It can also be a short form of
Gwendolen,
Gwenllian and other names beginning with
Gwen.
Grégoire
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: GREH-GWAR
French form of
Gregorius (see
Gregory).
Gráinne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish, Irish Mythology, Old Irish [1]
Pronounced: GRA-nyə(Irish)
Possibly derived from Old Irish
grán meaning
"grain" or
gráin meaning
"hatred, fear". In the Irish legend
The Pursuit of Diarmaid and Gráinne she escaped from her arranged marriage to
Fionn mac Cumhaill by fleeing with her lover
Diarmaid. Another famous bearer was the powerful 16th-century Irish landowner and seafarer Gráinne Ní Mháille (known in English as Grace O'Malley), who was sometimes portrayed as a pirate queen in later tales.
Gerard
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Dutch, Catalan, Polish
Pronounced: ji-RAHRD(American English) JEHR-əd(British English) GHEH-rahrt(Dutch) zhə-RART(Catalan) GEH-rart(Polish)
Derived from the Old German element
ger meaning "spear" combined with
hart meaning "hard, firm, brave, hardy". This name was borne by
saints from Belgium, Germany, Hungary and Italy. The
Normans introduced it to Britain. It was initially much more common there than the similar name
Gerald [1], with which it was often confused, but it is now less common.
Geoffrey
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French
Pronounced: JEHF-ree(English) ZHAW-FREH(French)
From a Norman French form of a Frankish name. The second element is Old German
fridu "peace", while the first element could be *
gautaz "Geat" (a North Germanic tribe),
gawi "territory" or
walah "foreigner". It is possible that two or more names merged into a single form. In the later Middle Ages
Geoffrey was further confused with the distinct name
Godfrey.
The Normans introduced this name to England where it became common among the nobility. Famous medieval literary bearers include the 12th-century chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth and the 14th-century poet Geoffrey Chaucer, writer of The Canterbury Tales. By the end of the Middle Ages it had become uncommon, but it was revived in the 20th century, often in the spelling Jeffrey.
Geneviève
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: ZHU-NU-VYEHV, ZHUN-VYEHV
From the medieval name
Genovefa, which is of uncertain origin. It could be derived from the Germanic elements *
kunją "clan, family, lineage" and *
wībą "wife, woman". Alternatively it could be of Gaulish origin, from the related Celtic element *
genos "kin, family" combined with a second element of unknown meaning. This name was borne by
Saint Geneviève, the patron saint of Paris, who inspired the city to resist the Huns in the 5th century.
Gareth
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh, English (British), Arthurian Cycle
Pronounced: GAR-əth(British English)
Meaning uncertain. It appears in this form in Thomas Malory's 15th-century compilation of Arthurian legends
Le Morte d'Arthur, in which the knight Gareth (also named
Beaumains) is a brother of
Gawain. He goes with
Lynet to rescue her sister
Lyonesse from the Red Knight. Malory based the name on
Gaheriet or
Guerrehet, which was the name of a similar character in French sources. It may ultimately have a Welsh origin, possibly from the name
Gwrhyd meaning
"valour" (found in the tale
Culhwch and Olwen) or
Gwairydd meaning
"hay lord" (found in the chronicle
Brut y Brenhinedd).
Galadriel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: gə-LAD-ree-əl(English)
Means "maiden crowned with a radiant garland" in the fictional language Sindarin. Galadriel was a Noldorin elf princess renowned for her beauty and wisdom in J. R. R. Tolkien's novels. The elements are galad "radiant" and riel "garlanded maiden". Alatáriel is the Quenya form of her name.
Firuza
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Tajik, Azerbaijani
Other Scripts: Фирӯза(Tajik)
Pronounced: fee-roo-ZA(Azerbaijani)
Fionnghuala
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish, Irish Mythology
Fiona
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Scottish, English
Pronounced: fee-O-nə(English)
Feminine form of
Fionn. This name was (first?) used by the Scottish poet James Macpherson in his poem
Fingal (1761), in which it is spelled as
Fióna.
Ffion
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Pronounced: FEE-awn, FI-awn
Means "foxglove" in Welsh (species Digitalis purpurea). This is a recently created Welsh name.
Fern
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: FURN
From the English word for the plant, ultimately from Old English fearn. It has been used as a given name since the late 19th century.
Felix
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, English, Romanian, Ancient Roman, Biblical, Biblical Latin
Pronounced: FEH-liks(German, Dutch, Swedish) FEE-liks(English) FEH-leeks(Latin)
From a Roman
cognomen meaning
"lucky, successful" in Latin. It was acquired as an
agnomen, or nickname, by the 1st-century BC Roman general Sulla. It also appears in the
New Testament belonging to the governor of Judea who imprisoned
Saint Paul.
Due to its favourable meaning, this name was popular among early Christians, being borne by many early saints and four popes. It has been used in England since the Middle Ages, though it has been more popular in continental Europe. A notable bearer was the German composer Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847).
Felicia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Spanish, Romanian, Dutch, Swedish, Late Roman
Pronounced: fə-LEE-shə(English) feh-LEE-cha(Italian) feh-LEE-thya(European Spanish) feh-LEE-sya(Latin American Spanish) feh-LEE-chee-a(Romanian) feh-LEE-see-a(Dutch) feh-LEE-see-ah(Swedish)
Feminine form of the Latin name
Felicius, a derivative of
Felix. As an English name, it has occasionally been used since the Middle Ages.
Faruq
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic
Other Scripts: فاروق(Arabic)
Pronounced: fa-ROOK
Means "person who can tell right from wrong" in Arabic. This was the name of the last king of Egypt (1920-1965).
Farid
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Bengali
Other Scripts: فريد(Arabic) فرید(Persian, Urdu) ফরিদ(Bengali)
Pronounced: fa-REED(Arabic, Persian)
Means
"unique, precious" in Arabic, derived from
فرد (farada) meaning "to be unique, to be alone"
[1]. This was the name of a 13th-century Persian poet.
Faolán
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish (Rare)
Pronounced: FEH-lan, FEE-lan
Means
"little wolf", derived from Old Irish
fáel "wolf" combined with a
diminutive suffix. This was the name of an Irish
saint who did missionary work in Scotland.
Fabrizio
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: fa-BREET-tsyo
Italian form of
Fabricius (see
Fabrice).
Evander 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized), Roman Mythology
Other Scripts: Εὔανδρος(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: ee-VAN-dər(English) ə-VAN-dər(English)
Variant of
Evandrus, the Latin form of the Greek name
Εὔανδρος (Euandros) meaning
"good of man", derived from
εὖ (eu) meaning "good" and
ἀνήρ (aner) meaning "man" (genitive
ἀνδρός). In Roman
mythology Evander was an Arcadian hero of the Trojan War who founded the city of Pallantium near the spot where Rome was later built.
Evan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh, English
Pronounced: EHV-ən(English)
Anglicized form of
Ifan, a Welsh form of
John.
Eva
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, English, Czech, Slovak, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Estonian, Danish, Icelandic, Faroese, Romanian, Greek, Slovene, Bulgarian, Croatian, Russian, Georgian, Armenian, Biblical Latin, Old Church Slavic
Other Scripts: Εύα(Greek) Ева(Bulgarian, Russian, Church Slavic) ევა(Georgian) Էվա(Armenian)
Pronounced: EH-ba(Spanish) EH-va(Italian, Czech, Slovak, Dutch, Swedish, Icelandic, Greek) EE-və(English) EH-fa(German) EH-vah(Danish) YEH-və(Russian) EH-VAH(Georgian) EH-wa(Latin)
Form of
Eve used in various languages. This form is used in the Latin translation of the
New Testament, while
Hava is used in the Latin
Old Testament. A notable bearer was the Argentine first lady Eva Perón (1919-1952), the subject of the musical
Evita. The name also appears in Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel
Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) belonging to the character Little Eva, whose real name is in fact Evangeline.
This is also an alternate transcription of Russian Ева (see Yeva).
Esther
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, French, Spanish, Dutch, German, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Jewish, Biblical, Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek
Other Scripts: אֶסְתֵר(Hebrew) Ἐσθήρ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: EHS-tər(English, Dutch) EHS-TEHR(French) ehs-TEHR(Spanish) EHS-tu(German)
From the Hebrew name
אֶסְתֵר (ʾEsṯer), which possibly means
"star" in Persian. Alternatively it could be a derivative of the name of the Near Eastern goddess
Ishtar. The Book of Esther in the
Old Testament tells the story of Queen Esther, the Jewish wife of the king of Persia. The king's advisor
Haman persuaded the king to exterminate all the Jews in the realm. Warned of this plot by her cousin
Mordecai, Esther revealed her Jewish ancestry and convinced the king to execute Haman instead. Her original Hebrew name was
Hadassah.
This name has been used in the English-speaking world since the Protestant Reformation. In America it received a boost in popularity after the birth of Esther Cleveland (1893-1980), the daughter of President Grover Cleveland [1].
Estelle
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, French
Pronounced: ehs-TEHL(English) EHS-TEHL(French)
From an Old French name meaning
"star", ultimately derived from Latin
stella. It was rare in the English-speaking world in the Middle Ages, but it was revived in the 19th century, perhaps due to the character Estella Havisham in Charles Dickens' novel
Great Expectations (1860).
Esperanza
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish
Pronounced: ehs-peh-RAN-tha(European Spanish) ehs-peh-RAN-sa(Latin American Spanish)
Spanish form of the Late Latin name Sperantia, which was derived from sperare "to hope".
Erin
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Irish
Pronounced: EHR-in(English)
Anglicized form of
Éireann. It was initially used by people of Irish heritage in America, Canada and Australia. It was rare until the mid-1950s.
Erik
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Estonian, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Croatian, Hungarian, German, Dutch, English, Spanish
Pronounced: EH-rik(Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Czech, German, Dutch) EH-reek(Finnish, Slovak, Slovene, Hungarian, Spanish) EHR-ik(English)
Scandinavian form of
Eric. This was the name of kings of Sweden, Denmark and Norway. King Erik IX of Sweden (12th century) is the patron
saint of that country.
Éowyn
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: AY-ə-win(English)
Means "horse joy" in Old English. This name was invented by J. R. R. Tolkien who used Old English to represent the Rohirric language. In his novel The Lord of the Rings (1954) Eowyn is the niece of King Theoden of Rohan. She slays the Lord of the Nazgul in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.
Eoin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: ON
Irish form of
Iohannes (see
John) used in the Bible.
Eoghan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish, Irish Mythology
Pronounced: ON(Irish) O-ən(Irish)
Possibly means
"born from the yew tree", from Old Irish
eó "yew" and the suffix
gan "born". Alternatively, it might be derived from the Latin name
Eugenius. It was borne by several legendary or semi-legendary Irish figures, including a son of the king
Niall of the Nine Hostages.
Emmanuel
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Biblical, French, English
Other Scripts: עִמָּנוּאֵל(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: EH-MA-NWEHL(French) i-MAN-yoo-ehl(English)
From the Hebrew name
עִמָּנוּאֵל (ʿImmanuʾel) meaning
"God is with us", from the roots
עִם (ʿim) meaning "with" and
אֵל (ʾel) meaning "God". This was the foretold name of the Messiah in the
Old Testament. It has been used in England since the 16th century in the spellings
Emmanuel and
Immanuel, though it has not been widespread
[1]. The name has been more common in continental Europe, especially in Spain and Portugal (in the spellings
Manuel and
Manoel).
Emmaline
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: EHM-ə-leen, EHM-ə-lien
Emily
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: EHM-ə-lee
English feminine form of
Aemilius (see
Emil). In the English-speaking world it was not common until after the German House of Hanover came to the British throne in the 18th century; the princess Amelia Sophia (1711-1786) was commonly known as
Emily in English, even though
Amelia is an unrelated name.
This name was moderately popular through most of the 20th century, and became very popular around the turn of the 21st century. It was the highest ranked name for girls in the United States from 1996 to 2007, attaining similar levels in other English-speaking countries around the same time.
Famous bearers include the British author Emily Brontë (1818-1848), known for the novel Wuthering Heights, and the American poet Emily Dickinson (1830-1886).
Eluned
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Pronounced: ehl-IN-ehd, ehl-EEN-ehd
Derived from Welsh
eilun meaning
"image, likeness, idol". This was the name of a legendary 5th-century Welsh
saint, also known as Eiliwedd, one of the supposed daughters of
Brychan Brycheiniog.
Elsa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Finnish, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, English
Pronounced: EHL-za(German) EHL-sah(Finnish) EHL-sa(Italian, Spanish) EHL-sə(English)
Short form of
Elisabeth, typically used independently. In medieval German tales Elsa von Brabant was the lover of the hero
Lohengrin. Her story was expanded by Richard Wagner for his opera
Lohengrin (1850). The name had a little spike in popularity after the 2013 release of the animated Disney movie
Frozen, which featured a magical princess by this name.
Élodie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: EH-LAW-DEE
Elizabeth
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Biblical
Pronounced: i-LIZ-ə-bəth(English)
From
Ἐλισάβετ (Elisabet), the Greek form of the Hebrew name
אֱלִישֶׁבַע (ʾElishevaʿ) meaning
"my God is an oath", derived from the roots
אֵל (ʾel) referring to the Hebrew God and
שָׁבַע (shavaʿ) meaning "oath". The Hebrew form appears in the
Old Testament where Elisheba is the wife of
Aaron, while the Greek form appears in the
New Testament where Elizabeth is the mother of
John the Baptist.
Among Christians, this name was originally more common in Eastern Europe. It was borne in the 12th century by Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, a daughter of King Andrew II who used her wealth to help the poor. In medieval England it was occasionally used in honour of the saint, though the form Isabel (from Occitan and Spanish) was more common. It has been very popular in England since the reign of Queen Elizabeth I in the 16th century. In American name statistics (as recorded since 1880) it has never ranked lower than 30, making it the most consistently popular name for girls in the United States.
Besides Elizabeth I, this name has been borne (in various spellings) by many other European royals, including a ruling empress of Russia in the 18th century. Famous modern bearers include the British queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022) and actress Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011).
Eliora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hebrew
Other Scripts: אֱלִיאוֹרָה(Hebrew)
Elaine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Arthurian Cycle
Pronounced: i-LAYN(English) ee-LAYN(English)
From an Old French form of
Helen. It appears in Arthurian legend; in Thomas Malory's 15th-century compilation
Le Morte d'Arthur Elaine was the daughter of
Pelles, the lover of
Lancelot, and the mother of
Galahad. It was not commonly used as an English given name until after the publication of Alfred Tennyson's Arthurian epic
Idylls of the King (1859).
Elain
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Pronounced: EH-lien
Means
"fawn" in Welsh. This name was created in the 19th century
[1].
Elah
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: אֵלָה(Ancient Hebrew)
Means
"terebinth tree" in Hebrew. This was the name of the fourth king of Israel, as told in the
Old Testament. He was murdered by
Zimri, who succeeded him.
Eirian
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: Welsh
Means
"bright, beautiful" in Welsh
[1].
Éireann
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish (Rare)
Pronounced: EH-ryən
From
Éireann, the genitive case of Irish Gaelic
Éire, meaning "Ireland". It is commonly Anglicized as
Erin.
Einion
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh
From the Old Welsh name
Enniaun, probably from the Latin name
Ennianus, a derivative of
Ennius (see
Ennio). It is also a modern Welsh word meaning "anvil". This was the name of a few early Welsh rulers including Einion Frenin (5th century), who is considered a
saint in some Christian traditions.
Eibhlín
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: EHV-ə-lyeen, ie-LYEEN
Édouard
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: EH-DWAR
Ealasaid
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Scottish Gaelic [1]
Pronounced: EHL-ə-sət
Donnchadh
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish, Scottish Gaelic [1]
Irish and Scottish Gaelic form of
Duncan.
Dominique
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: DAW-MEE-NEEK
French feminine and masculine form of
Dominicus (see
Dominic).
Dominic
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: DAHM-i-nik
From the Late Latin name
Dominicus meaning
"of the Lord". This name was traditionally given to a child born on Sunday. Several
saints have borne this name, including the 13th-century founder of the Dominican order of friars. It was in this saint's honour that the name was first used in England, starting around the 13th century. It has historically seen more use among Catholics.
Dmitriy
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Russian
Other Scripts: Дмитрий(Russian)
Pronounced: DMEE-tree
Russian form of
Demetrius. This name was borne by several medieval princes of Moscow and Vladimir. Another famous bearer was Dmitriy Mendeleyev (or Mendeleev; 1834-1907), the Russian chemist who devised the periodic table.
Dina 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Latvian, Russian, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Biblical Hebrew [1], Biblical Greek, Biblical Latin
Other Scripts: Дина(Russian) דִּינָה(Ancient Hebrew) Δίνα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: DYEE-nə(Russian) DEE-nah(Dutch) DEE-na(Italian, Spanish)
Form of
Dinah in several languages, as well as the form in the Hebrew, Greek and Latin
Old Testament.
Diarmaid
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish, Irish Mythology
Pronounced: DYEER-ə-məd(Irish)
Meaning unknown, though it has been suggested that it means
"without envy" in Irish. In Irish legend this was the name of a warrior who became the lover of
Gráinne. It was also the name of several ancient Irish kings.
Désirée
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, Dutch, German
Pronounced: DEH-ZEE-REH(French)
French form of
Desiderata. In part it is directly from the French word meaning "desired, wished".
Deirdre
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Irish, Irish Mythology
Pronounced: DIR-drə(English) DIR-dree(English) DYEHR-dryə(Irish)
From the Old Irish name
Derdriu, meaning unknown, possibly derived from
der meaning
"daughter". This was the name of a tragic character in Irish legend who died of a broken heart after
Conchobar, the king of Ulster, forced her to be his bride and killed her lover
Naoise.
It has only been commonly used as a given name since the 20th century, influenced by two plays featuring the character: William Butler Yeats' Deirdre (1907) and J. M. Synge's Deirdre of the Sorrows (1910).
David
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Hebrew, French, Scottish, Welsh, Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Czech, Slovene, Russian, Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian, Romanian, Biblical, Biblical Latin
Other Scripts: דָּוִד(Hebrew) Давид(Russian, Serbian, Macedonian)
Pronounced: DAY-vid(English) da-VEED(Hebrew, Brazilian Portuguese) DA-VEED(French) da-BEEDH(Spanish) du-VEED(European Portuguese) də-BEET(Catalan) DA-vit(German, Dutch, Czech) DAH-vid(Swedish, Norwegian) du-VYEET(Russian)
From the Hebrew name
דָּוִד (Dawiḏ), which was derived from
דּוֹד (doḏ) meaning
"beloved" or
"uncle". David was the second and greatest of the kings of Israel, ruling in the 10th century BC. Several stories about him are told in the
Old Testament, including his defeat of
Goliath, a giant Philistine. According to the
New Testament,
Jesus was descended from him.
This name has been used in Britain since the Middle Ages. It has been especially popular in Wales, where it is used in honour of the 5th-century patron saint of Wales (also called Dewi), as well as in Scotland, where it was borne by two kings. Over the last century it has been one of the English-speaking world's most consistently popular names, never leaving the top 30 names for boys in the United States, and reaching the top rank in England and Wales during the 1950s and 60s. In Spain it was the most popular name for boys during the 1970s and 80s.
Famous bearers include empiricist philosopher David Hume (1711-1776), explorer David Livingstone (1813-1873), musician David Bowie (1947-2016), and soccer player David Beckham (1975-). This is also the name of the hero of Charles Dickens' semi-autobiographical novel David Copperfield (1850).
Daphne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology, English, Dutch
Other Scripts: Δάφνη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: DA-PNEH(Classical Greek) DAF-nee(English) DAHF-nə(Dutch)
Means
"laurel" in Greek. In Greek
mythology she was a nymph turned into a laurel tree by her father in order that she might escape the pursuit of
Apollo. It has been used as a given name in the English-speaking world since the end of the 19th century.
Dante
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: DAN-teh(Italian) DAHN-tay(English) DAN-tee(English)
Medieval short form of
Durante. The most notable bearer of this name was Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), the Italian poet who wrote the
Divine Comedy.
Danielle
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, English, Dutch
Pronounced: DA-NYEHL(French) dan-YEHL(English)
French feminine form of
Daniel. It has been commonly used in the English-speaking world only since the 20th century.
Daniel
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Hebrew, French, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, Romanian, Slovene, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Croatian, Finnish, Estonian, Armenian, Georgian, Biblical, Biblical Greek [1]
Other Scripts: דָּנִיֵּאל(Hebrew) Даниел(Bulgarian, Macedonian) Դանիէլ(Armenian) დანიელ(Georgian) Δανιήλ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: DAN-yəl(English) DA-NYEHL(French) DA-nyehl(German) DA-nee-ehl(German, Slovak) DAH-ni-yəl(Norwegian) DA-nyəl(Danish) DA-nyehl(Polish) DA-ni-yehl(Czech) da-NYEHL(Spanish) du-nee-EHL(European Portuguese) du-nee-EW(Brazilian Portuguese) də-nee-EHL(Catalan) da-nee-EHL(Romanian)
From the Hebrew name
דָּנִיֵּאל (Daniyyel) meaning
"God is my judge", from the roots
דִּין (din) meaning "to judge" and
אֵל (ʾel) meaning "God". Daniel was a Hebrew prophet whose story is told in the Book of Daniel in the
Old Testament. He lived during the Jewish captivity in Babylon, where he served in the court of the king, rising to prominence by interpreting the king's dreams. The book also presents Daniel's four visions of the end of the world.
Due to the popularity of the biblical character, the name came into use in England during the Middle Ages. Though it became rare by the 15th century, it was revived after the Protestant Reformation. Famous bearers of this name include English author Daniel Defoe (1660-1731), Swiss mathematician Daniel Bernoulli (1700-1782), and American frontiersman Daniel Boone (1734-1820).
Dáirine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish, Irish Mythology
Possibly derived from
Dáire. This was the name of the daughter of the legendary Irish king
Túathal Techtmar.
Cordelia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature, English
Pronounced: kawr-DEE-lee-ə(English) kawr-DEEL-yə(English)
From
Cordeilla, a name appearing in the 12th-century chronicles
[1] of Geoffrey of Monmouth, borne by the youngest of the three daughters of King
Leir and the only one to remain loyal to her father. Geoffrey possibly based her name on that of
Creiddylad, a character from Welsh legend.
The spelling was later altered to Cordelia when Geoffrey's story was adapted by others, including Edmund Spenser in his poem The Faerie Queene (1590) and Shakespeare in his tragedy King Lear (1606).
Cora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German, Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Κόρη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: KAWR-ə(English) KO-ra(German)
Latinized form of
Kore. It was not used as a given name in the English-speaking world until after it was employed by James Fenimore Cooper for a character in his novel
The Last of the Mohicans (1826). In some cases it may be a short form of
Cordula,
Corinna and other names beginning with a similar sound.
Clíodhna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish, Irish Mythology
Pronounced: KLYEE-nə(Irish)
Meaning unknown. In Irish legend this was the name of a beautiful goddess. She fell in love with a mortal named Ciabhán and left the Land of Promise with him, but when she arrived on the other shore she was swept to sea by a great wave.
Claude
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: French, English
Pronounced: KLOD(French) KLAWD(English)
French masculine and feminine form of
Claudius. In France the masculine name has been common since the Middle Ages due to the 7th-century
Saint Claude of Besançon. It was imported to Britain in the 16th century by the aristocratic Hamilton family, who had French connections. A famous bearer of this name was the French impressionist painter Claude Monet (1840-1926).
Clara
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, Catalan, Romanian, English, Swedish, Danish, Late Roman
Pronounced: KLA-ra(German, Spanish, Italian) KLA-ru(Portuguese) KLA-RA(French) KLEHR-ə(American English) KLAR-ə(American English) KLAH-rə(British English)
Feminine form of the Late Latin name
Clarus, which meant
"clear, bright, famous". The name
Clarus was borne by a few early
saints. The feminine form was popularized by the 13th-century Saint Clare of Assisi (called
Chiara in Italian), a friend and follower of Saint Francis, who left her wealthy family to found the order of nuns known as the Poor Clares.
As an English name it has been in use since the Middle Ages, originally in the form Clare, though the Latinate spelling Clara overtook it in the 19th century and became very popular. It declined through most of the 20th century (being eclipsed by the French form Claire in English-speaking countries), though it has since recovered somewhat.
Christine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, English, German, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Dutch
Pronounced: KREES-TEEN(French) kris-TEEN(English) kris-TEE-nə(German, Dutch)
French form of
Christina, as well as a variant in other languages. It was used by the French author Gaston Leroux for the heroine, Christine Daaé, in his novel
The Phantom of the Opera (1910).
This was a popular name in the 20th century (especially the middle decades) in French, German, and English-speaking countries. In the United States Christina has been more common since 1973, though both forms are currently floundering on the charts.
Christian
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish
Pronounced: KRIS-chən(English) KRISH-chən(English) KREES-TYAHN(French) KRIS-tee-an(German) KRIS-ti-an(Swedish) KRIS-ti-ahn(Norwegian) KREHS-dyan(Danish)
From the medieval Latin name
Christianus meaning
"a Christian" (see
Christos 1 for further etymology). In England it has been in use since the Middle Ages, during which time it was used by both males and females, but it did not become common until the 17th century. In Denmark the name has been borne by ten kings since the 15th century.
This was a top-ten name in France for most of the 1940s and 50s, while in Germany it was the most popular name for several years in the 1970s and 80s. In the United States it peaked in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Famous bearers include Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875), the Danish author of such fairy tales as The Ugly Duckling and The Emperor's New Clothes, and the French fashion designer Christian Dior (1905-1957).
Charlotte
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch
Pronounced: SHAR-LAWT(French) SHAHR-lət(English) shar-LAW-tə(German) sha-LOT(Swedish) shahr-LAW-tə(Dutch)
French feminine
diminutive of
Charles. It was introduced to Britain in the 17th century. It was the name of a German-born 18th-century queen consort of Great Britain and Ireland. Another notable bearer was Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855), the eldest of the three Brontë sisters and the author of
Jane Eyre and
Villette. A famous fictional bearer is the spider in the children's novel
Charlotte's Web (1952) by E. B. White.
This name was fairly common in France, England and the United States in the early 20th century. It became quite popular in France and England at the end of the 20th century, just when it was at a low point in the United States. It quickly climbed the American charts and entered the top ten in 2014.
Ceridwen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Pronounced: keh-RID-wehn
Possibly from
cyrrid "bent, crooked" (a derivative of Old Welsh
cwrr "corner") combined with
ben "woman" or
gwen "white, blessed". According to the medieval Welsh legend the
Tale of Taliesin (recorded by Elis Gruffyd in the 16th century) this was the name of a sorceress who created a potion that would grant wisdom to her son Morfan. The potion was instead consumed by her servant Gwion Bach, who was subsequently reborn as the renowned bard
Taliesin.
This name appears briefly in a poem in the Black Book of Carmarthen in the form Kyrridven [1] and in a poem in the Book of Taliesin in the form Kerrituen [2]. Some theories connect her to an otherwise unattested Celtic goddess of inspiration, and suppose her name is related to Welsh cerdd "poetry".
Celia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Spanish
Pronounced: SEEL-yə(English) SEE-lee-ə(English) THEHL-ya(European Spanish) SEHL-ya(Latin American Spanish)
Feminine form of the Roman family name
Caelius. Shakespeare used it in his play
As You Like It (1599), which introduced the name to the English-speaking public at large. It is sometimes used as a short form of
Cecilia.
Cecilia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Dutch, Romanian, Finnish
Pronounced: seh-SEE-lee-ə(English) seh-SEEL-yə(English) cheh-CHEE-lya(Italian) theh-THEE-lya(European Spanish) seh-SEE-lya(Latin American Spanish) seh-SEEL-yah(Danish, Norwegian)
Latinate feminine form of the Roman family name
Caecilius, which was derived from Latin
caecus meaning
"blind".
Saint Cecilia was a semi-legendary 2nd or 3rd-century martyr who was sentenced to die because she refused to worship the Roman gods. After attempts to suffocate her failed, she was beheaded. She was later regarded as the patron saint of music and musicians.
Due to the popularity of the saint, the name became common in the Christian world during the Middle Ages. The Normans brought it to England, where it was commonly spelled Cecily — the Latinate form Cecilia came into use in the 18th century.
Cassius
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Ancient Roman
Pronounced: KAS-see-oos(Latin) KASH-əs(English) KAS-ee-əs(English)
Roman family name that was possibly derived from Latin
cassus meaning
"empty, vain". This name was borne by several early
saints. In modern times, it was the original first name of boxer Muhammad Ali (1942-2016), who was named after his father Cassius Clay, who was himself named after the American abolitionist Cassius Clay (1810-1903).
Cassie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KAS-ee
Cassandra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, French, Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Κασσάνδρα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: kə-SAN-drə(English) kə-SAHN-drə(English)
From the Greek name
Κασσάνδρα (Kassandra), possibly derived from
κέκασμαι (kekasmai) meaning "to excel, to shine" and
ἀνήρ (aner) meaning "man" (genitive
ἀνδρός). In Greek
myth Cassandra was a Trojan princess, the daughter of
Priam and
Hecuba. She was given the gift of prophecy by
Apollo, but when she spurned his advances he cursed her so nobody would believe her prophecies.
In the Middle Ages this name was common in England due to the popularity of medieval tales about the Trojan War. It subsequently became rare, but was revived in the 20th century.
Carmina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish
Pronounced: kar-MEE-na(Spanish)
Cara
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KAHR-ə, KEHR-ə, KAR-ə
From an Italian word meaning "beloved" or an Irish word meaning "friend". It has been used as a given name since the 19th century, though it did not become popular until after the 1950s.
Caoimhe
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: KEE-vyə
Derived from Irish caomh meaning "dear, beloved, gentle".
Camille
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: French, English
Pronounced: KA-MEE(French) kə-MEEL(English)
French feminine and masculine form of
Camilla. It is also used in the English-speaking world, where it is generally only feminine.
Caleb
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Biblical
Other Scripts: כָּלֵב(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: KAY-ləb(English)
Most likely related to Hebrew
כֶּלֶב (kelev) meaning
"dog" [1]. An alternate theory connects it to Hebrew
כֹּל (kol) meaning "whole, all of"
[2] and
לֵב (lev) meaning "heart"
[3]. In the
Old Testament this is the name of one of the twelve spies sent by
Moses into Canaan. Of the Israelites who left Egypt with Moses, Caleb and
Joshua were the only ones who lived to see the Promised Land.
As an English name, Caleb came into use after the Protestant Reformation. It was common among the Puritans, who introduced it to America in the 17th century.
Cailean
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish Gaelic [1]
Pronounced: KA-lan
Means "whelp, young dog" in Scottish Gaelic. This name was borne by Cailean Mór, a 13th-century Scottish lord and ancestor of Clan Campbell.
Bryony
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: BRIE-ə-nee
From the name of a type of Eurasian vine, formerly used as medicine. It ultimately derives from Greek
βρύω (bryo) meaning "to swell".
Bryn
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Welsh, English (Modern)
Pronounced: BRIN(English)
Means
"hill, mound" in Welsh. In Wales it is almost always a masculine name, though elsewhere in the English-speaking world it can be unisex (see
Brynn).
Bruno
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Croatian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Latvian, Germanic [1]
Pronounced: BROO-no(German, Italian, Spanish, Czech) BROO-noo(European Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese) BRUY-NO(French) BROO-naw(Polish, Slovak)
Derived from the Old German element
brunna meaning
"armour, protection" (Proto-Germanic *
brunjǭ) or
brun meaning
"brown" (Proto-Germanic *
brūnaz).
Saint Bruno of Cologne was a German monk of the 11th century who founded the Carthusian Order. The surname has belonged to Giordano Bruno, a philosopher burned at the stake by the Inquisition. A modern bearer is the American singer Bruno Mars (1985-), born Peter Gene Hernandez.
Bronwen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Pronounced: BRAWN-wehn
Seemingly derived from Welsh
bron "breast" and
gwen "white, blessed", though it has sometimes occurred as a variant spelling of the legendary name
Branwen [1]. It has been used as a given name in Wales since the 19th century. It is borne by a character in Richard Llewellyn's 1939 novel
How Green Was My Valley, as well as the 1941 movie adaptation.
Brigid
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish, Irish Mythology
Irish variant of
Brighid (see
Bridget).
Brighid
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish, Irish Mythology
Pronounced: BRYEED(Irish)
Newer Irish form of
Brigit (see
Bridget). Since the 1948 spelling reform, this name is spelled
Bríd.
Bríd
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: BRYEED
Brian
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Irish, Old Irish [1]
Pronounced: BRIE-ən(English) BRYEEN(Irish)
Meaning uncertain, possibly related to the old Celtic root *
brixs "hill, high" (Old Irish
brií) or the related *
brigā "might, power" (Old Irish
briíg). It was borne by the Irish king Brian Boru, who thwarted Viking attempts to conquer Ireland in the 11th century. He was slain in the Battle of Clontarf, though his forces were decisively victorious. This name was common in Ireland after his time, and it was introduced to northern England by Norse-Gael settlers. It was also used in Brittany, and was brought to England by Bretons in the wake of the
Norman Conquest. Though it eventually became rare in the English-speaking world, it was strongly revived in the 20th century, becoming a top-ten name for boys in most regions.
Branwen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh, Welsh Mythology
Pronounced: BRAN-wehn(Welsh)
Means
"white raven" from Old Welsh
bran "raven" and
gwen "white, blessed". According to the Second Branch of the
Mabinogi [1] she was the daughter of
Llŷr. After she was mistreated by her husband Matholwch, the king of Ireland, she managed to get a message to her brother
Brân, the king of Britain. Brân launched a costly invasion to rescue her, but she died of grief shortly after her return.
Bonnie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: BAHN-ee
Means "pretty" from the Scottish word bonnie, which was itself derived from Middle French bon "good". It has been in use as an American given name since the 19th century, and it became especially popular after the movie Gone with the Wind (1939), in which it was the nickname of Scarlett's daughter.
Billy
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: BIL-ee
Diminutive of
Bill. A notable bearer was the American outlaw Billy the Kid (1859-1881), whose real name was William H. Bonney. Others include filmmaker Billy Wilder (1906-2002), actor Billy Crystal (1948-), and musician Billy Joel (1949-).
Bethany
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: BETH-ə-nee
From the name of a biblical town,
Βηθανία (Bethania) in Greek, which is probably of Aramaic or Hebrew origin, possibly meaning "house of affliction" or "house of figs". In the
New Testament the town of Bethany is the home of Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha. It has been in use as a rare given name in the English-speaking world since the 19th century, in honour of Mary of Bethany. In America it became moderately common after the 1950s.
Bethan
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Pronounced: BETH-an
Benjamin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Slovene, Croatian, Biblical
Other Scripts: בִּןְיָמִין(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: BEHN-jə-min(English) BEHN-ZHA-MEHN(French) BEHN-ya-meen(German) BEHN-ya-min(Dutch)
From the Hebrew name
בִּןְיָמִין (Binyamin) meaning
"son of the south" or
"son of the right hand", from the roots
בֵּן (ben) meaning "son" and
יָמִין (yamin) meaning "right hand, south". Benjamin in the
Old Testament was the twelfth and youngest son of
Jacob and the founder of one of the southern tribes of the Hebrews. He was originally named
בֶּן־אוֹנִי (Ben-ʾoni) meaning "son of my sorrow" by his mother
Rachel, who died shortly after childbirth, but it was later changed by his father (see
Genesis 35:18).
As an English name, Benjamin came into general use after the Protestant Reformation. A famous bearer was Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), an American statesman, inventor, scientist and philosopher.
Bella
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: BEHL-ə
Short form of
Isabella and other names ending in
bella. It is also associated with the Italian word
bella meaning
"beautiful". It was used by the American author Stephenie Meyer for the main character in her popular
Twilight series of novels, first released 2005, later adapted into a series of movies beginning 2008.
Baha
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic, Turkish
Other Scripts: بهاء(Arabic)
Pronounced: ba-HA(Arabic)
Means "splendour, glory" in Arabic.
Aurora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, English, Romanian, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, Roman Mythology
Pronounced: ow-RAW-ra(Italian) ow-RO-ra(Spanish, Latin) ə-RAWR-ə(English) OW-ro-rah(Finnish)
Means "dawn" in Latin. Aurora was the Roman goddess of the morning. It has occasionally been used as a given name since the Renaissance.
Aurelio
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian, Spanish
Pronounced: ow-REH-lyo
Aurélie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: O-REH-LEE
Aurelia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Roman, Romanian, Italian, Spanish, Polish
Pronounced: ow-REH-lee-a(Latin) ow-REH-lya(Italian, Spanish, Polish)
Audrey
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, French
Pronounced: AWD-ree(English) O-DREH(French)
Medieval
diminutive of
Æðelþryð. This was the name of a 7th-century
saint, a princess of East Anglia who founded a monastery at Ely. It was also used by William Shakespeare for a character in his comedy
As You Like It (1599). At the end of the Middle Ages the name became rare due to association with the word
tawdry (which was derived from
St. Audrey, the name of a fair where cheap lace was sold), but it was revived in the 19th century. A famous bearer was British actress Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993).
Aubrey
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AWB-ree
From
Auberi, an Old French form of
Alberich brought to England by the
Normans. It was common in the Middle Ages, and was revived in the 19th century. Since the mid-1970s it has more frequently been given to girls, due to Bread's 1972 song
Aubrey along with its similarity to the established feminine name
Audrey.
Athena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology, English
Other Scripts: Ἀθηνᾶ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: A-TEH-NA(Classical Greek) ə-THEE-nə(English)
Meaning unknown. Athena was the Greek goddess of wisdom and warfare and the patron goddess of the city of Athens in Greece. It is likely that her name is derived from that of the city, not vice versa. The earliest mention of her seems to be a 15th-century BC Mycenaean Greek inscription from Knossos on Crete.
The daughter of Zeus, she was said to have sprung from his head fully grown after he impregnated and swallowed her mother Metis. Athena is associated with the olive tree and the owl.
Astrid
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, German, French, English
Pronounced: AS-strid(Swedish) AHS-tri(Norwegian) AS-trit(German) AS-TREED(French) AS-trid(English)
Modern Scandinavian form of
Ástríðr. This name was borne by the Swedish writer Astrid Lindgren (1907-2002), the author of
Pippi Longstocking. It was also borne by a Swedish princess (1905-1935) who became the queen of Belgium as the wife of Leopold III.
Asad
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic, Urdu
Other Scripts: أسد(Arabic) اسد(Urdu)
Pronounced: A-sad(Arabic) U-səd(Urdu)
Means "lion" in Arabic.
Arwen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Means
"noble maiden" in the fictional language Sindarin. In
The Lord of the Rings (1954) by J. R. R. Tolkien, Arwen was the daughter of
Elrond and the lover of
Aragorn.
Armand
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French, Catalan
Pronounced: AR-MAHN(French) ər-MAN(Catalan)
French and Catalan form of
Herman.
Arianrhod
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh Mythology
Pronounced: ar-YAN-rawd(Welsh)
Probably means
"silver wheel" from Welsh
arian "silver" and
rhod "wheel". According to the Fourth Branch of the
Mabinogi [1], Arianrhod was the mother of the twins
Dylan and
Lleu Llaw Gyffes, whom she spontaneously birthed when she stepped over a magical wand. It is speculated that in earlier myths she may have been a goddess of the moon.
Ariana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Portuguese, English (Modern)
Pronounced: ar-ee-AN-ə(English) ar-ee-AHN-ə(English)
Portuguese form of
Ariadne. This name steadily grew in popularity in America in the last few decades of the 20th century. A famous bearer is the American pop singer Ariana Grande (1993-).
Arabella
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: ar-ə-BEHL-ə
Medieval Scottish name, probably a variant of
Annabel. It has long been associated with Latin
orabilis meaning "invokable, yielding to prayer", and the name was often recorded in forms resembling this.
Unrelated, this was an older name of the city of Irbid in Jordan, from Greek Ἄρβηλα (Arbela).
Aonghus
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Irish Mythology
From Old Irish
Óengus, possibly meaning
"one strength" from
óen "one" and
guss "force, strength". Aonghus (sometimes surnamed
Mac Og meaning "young son") was an Irish god of love and youth, one of the Tuatha Dé Danann. He was the son of
Dagda and
Boann. The name was also borne by an 8th-century Pictish king, several Irish kings, and a few
saints, including a 9th-century bishop of Tallaght.
Aoife
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish, Irish Mythology
Pronounced: EE-fyə(Irish)
From Old Irish
Aífe, derived from
oíph meaning
"beauty" (modern Irish
aoibh). This was the name of several characters in Irish legend, including a woman at war with
Scáthach (her sister in some versions). She was defeated in single combat by the hero
Cúchulainn, who spared her life on the condition that she bear him a child (
Connla). Another legendary figure by this name appears in the
Children of Lir as the jealous third wife of
Lir.
This name is sometimes Anglicized as Eve or Eva.
Aoibheann
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: EE-vyən
From Old Irish
Oébfinn or
Aíbinn, derived from
oíb meaning "beauty, appearance, form" and
finn meaning "white, blessed". This was the name of the mother of
Saint Énna of Aran. It was also borne by the daughter of the 10th-century Irish high king Donnchad Donn.
Anya
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian, English
Other Scripts: Аня(Russian)
Pronounced: A-nyə(Russian) AN-yə(English)
Antonio
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Spanish, Italian, Croatian
Pronounced: an-TO-nyo(Spanish, Italian) an-TO-nee-o(English)
Spanish and Italian form of
Antonius (see
Anthony). This has been a common name in Italy since the 14th century. In Spain it was the most popular name for boys in the 1950s and 60s.
Famous bearers include the Renaissance painter Antonio Pisanello (c. 1395-1455) and the Baroque composer Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741). It is also the name of the main character in The Merchant of Venice (1596) by William Shakespeare.
Antonia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish, English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Romanian, Greek, Croatian, Bulgarian, Ancient Roman
Other Scripts: Αντωνία(Greek) Антония(Bulgarian)
Pronounced: an-TO-nya(Italian, Spanish, German) an-TO-nee-ə(English) ahn-TO-nee-a(Dutch) an-TO-nee-a(Latin)
Feminine form of
Antonius (see
Anthony).
Anthony
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AN-thə-nee(American English) AN-tə-nee(British English)
English form of the Roman family name
Antonius, which is of unknown Etruscan origin. The most notable member of the Roman family was the general Marcus Antonius (called Mark Antony in English), who for a period in the 1st century BC ruled the Roman Empire jointly with Augustus. When their relationship turned sour, he and his mistress Cleopatra were attacked and forced to commit suicide, as related in Shakespeare's tragedy
Antony and Cleopatra (1606).
The name became regularly used in the Christian world due to the fame of Saint Anthony the Great, a 4th-century Egyptian hermit who founded Christian monasticism. Its popularity was reinforced in the Middle Ages by the 13th-century Saint Anthony of Padua, the patron saint of Portugal. It has been commonly (but incorrectly) associated with Greek ἄνθος (anthos) meaning "flower", which resulted in the addition of the h to this spelling in the 17th century.
Annemarie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Dutch, German, Danish
Pronounced: ah-nə-ma-REE(Dutch) A-nə-ma-ree(German)
Anneliese
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Dutch
Pronounced: A-nə-lee-zə(German) ah-nə-LEE-sə(Dutch)
Anja
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, German, Dutch
Other Scripts: Ања(Serbian)
Pronounced: AN-ya(Swedish, Croatian, Serbian, German) AHN-yah(Finnish) AHN-ya(Dutch)
Form of
Anya in several languages.
Angharad
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh, Old Welsh (Modernized) [1], Welsh Mythology
From an Old Welsh name recorded in various forms such as
Acgarat and
Ancarat. It means
"much loved", from the intensive prefix
an- combined with a mutated form of
caru "to love". In the medieval Welsh romance
Peredur son of Efrawg, Angharad Golden-Hand is the lover of the knight
Peredur.
Anaïs
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: A-NA-EES
Meaning uncertain, possibly a derivative of
Anne 1 or
Agnès. It was used in Jean-Henri Guy's opera
Anacréon chez Polycrate (1798), where it is borne by the daughter (otherwise unnamed in history) of the 6th-century BC tyrant
Polycrates of Samos. Guy could have adapted it from a classical name such as
Anaitis or
Athénaïs.
A famous bearer was the Cuban-French writer Anaïs Nin (1903-1977), known for her diaries.
Amira 2
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hebrew
Other Scripts: אַמִירָה(Hebrew)
Pronounced: ah-MEER-ah
Amir 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Kazakh, Tatar, Bashkir, Malay, Indonesian, Bosnian
Other Scripts: أمير(Arabic) امیر(Persian, Urdu) Әмір(Kazakh) Әмир(Tatar, Bashkir) Амир(Russian)
Pronounced: a-MEER(Arabic, Persian) ə-MEER(Urdu)
Means "commander, prince" in Arabic. This was originally a title, which has come into English as the Arabic loanword emir.
Amir 2
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Hebrew
Other Scripts: אָמִיר(Hebrew)
Pronounced: ah-MEER
Means "treetop" in Hebrew.
Aminah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic, Malay, Indonesian
Other Scripts: آمنة, أمينة(Arabic)
Pronounced: A-mee-na(Arabic) a-MEE-na(Arabic)
Alternate transcription of Arabic
Amina 1 or
Amina 2, as well as the usual form in Malay and Indonesian.
Amabel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Alyssa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: ə-LIS-ə
Variant of
Alicia. The spelling has probably been influenced by that of the alyssum flower, the name of which is derived from Greek
ἀ (a), a negative prefix, combined with
λύσσα (lyssa) meaning "madness, rabies", since it was believed to cure madness.
Alonzo
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (American)
Variant of
Alonso in use in America.
Allen
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AL-ən
Variant of
Alan, or from a surname that was derived from this same name. A famous bearer of this name was Allen Ginsberg (1926-1997), an American beat poet. Another is the American film director and actor Woody Allen (1935-), who took the
stage name Allen from his real first name.
Alim
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic, Turkish, Azerbaijani, Circassian, Uyghur
Other Scripts: عليم(Arabic) Алим(Western Circassian, Eastern Circassian) ئالىم(Uyghur Arabic)
Pronounced: ‘a-LEEM(Arabic)
Means "learned, expert, scholar" in Arabic.
Alexandrine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: A-LEHK-SAHN-DREEN
French
diminutive of
Alexandra. This was the name of a Danish queen, the wife of King Christian X.
Alexandre
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French, Portuguese, Galician, Catalan
Pronounced: A-LEHK-ZAHNDR(French) u-li-SHUN-dri(European Portuguese) a-leh-SHUN-dree(Brazilian Portuguese) a-leh-SHAN-dreh(Galician) ə-lək-SAN-drə(Catalan)
Form of
Alexander in several languages. This name was borne by the French author Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870), who wrote
The Three Musketeers.
Alexandra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German, Dutch, French, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Greek, Portuguese, Romanian, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Catalan, Russian, Ukrainian, Ancient Greek [1], Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Αλεξάνδρα(Greek) Александра(Russian, Ukrainian) Ἀλεξάνδρα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: al-ig-ZAN-drə(English) a-leh-KSAN-dra(German, Romanian) a-lehk-SAHN-dra(Dutch) A-LEHK-ZAHN-DRA(French) a-leh-KSAN-dhra(Greek) u-li-SHUN-dru(European Portuguese) a-leh-SHUN-dru(Brazilian Portuguese) A-lehk-san-dra(Czech, Slovak) AW-lehk-sawn-draw(Hungarian) A-LEH-KSAN-DRA(Classical Greek)
Feminine form of
Alexander. In Greek
mythology this was a Mycenaean epithet of the goddess
Hera, and an alternate name of
Cassandra. It was borne by several early Christian
saints, and also by the wife of Nicholas II, the last tsar of Russia. She was from Germany and had the birth name
Alix, but was renamed
Александра (Aleksandra) upon joining the Russian Church.
Alessandro
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: a-lehs-SAN-dro
Italian form of
Alexander. A famous bearer was Alessandro Volta (1745-1827), the Italian physicist who invented the battery.
Alejandro
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Spanish
Pronounced: a-leh-KHAN-dro
Spanish form of
Alexander. This was the most popular name for boys in Spain from the 1990s until 2006 (and again in 2011).
Aled
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh
Pronounced: A-lehd
From the name of a Welsh river, of uncertain meaning.
Alec
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AL-ik
Alastríona
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: ə-ləs-TRYEE-nə, A-ləs-tryee-nə
Alasdair
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish Gaelic [1]
Áine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish, Irish Mythology, Old Irish [1]
Pronounced: A-nyə(Irish)
Means
"radiance, brilliance" in Irish. This was the name of a goddess of love and fertility in Irish legend, thought to dwell at the hill of Cnoc Áine in Limerick. It has sometimes been Anglicized as
Anne.
Ahmad
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Bengali, Pashto, Indonesian, Malay, Avar, Uzbek
Other Scripts: أحمد(Arabic) احمد(Persian, Urdu, Pashto) আহমদ(Bengali) Ахӏмад(Avar) Аҳмад(Uzbek)
Pronounced: AH-mad(Arabic, Indonesian, Malay) ah-MAD(Persian) UH-məd(Urdu) AH-mawd(Bengali)
Means
"most commendable, most praiseworthy" in Arabic (a superlative form of
Hamid 1).
Agatha
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German, Dutch, Ancient Greek (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ἀγαθή(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: AG-ə-thə(English) a-GHA-ta(Dutch)
Latinized form of the Greek name
Ἀγαθή (Agathe), derived from Greek
ἀγαθός (agathos) meaning
"good".
Saint Agatha was a 3rd-century martyr from Sicily who was tortured and killed after spurning the advances of a Roman official. The saint was widely revered in the Middle Ages, and her name has been used throughout Christian Europe (in various spellings). The mystery writer Agatha Christie (1890-1976) was a famous modern bearer of this name.
Aeronwen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh (Rare)
Combination of
Aeron and the Welsh element
gwen meaning "white, blessed".
Aenor
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Germanic (Latinized)
Probably a Latinized form of a Germanic name of unknown meaning. This was the name of the mother of
Eleanor of Aquitaine.
Adelia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Spanish
Pronounced: ə-DEHL-ee-ə(English) a-DHEH-lya(Spanish)
Elaborated form of
Adela.
Adelheid
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Dutch (Rare)
Pronounced: A-dəl-hiet(German) A-dəl-hayt(Dutch)
Addie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AD-ee
Adam
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, German, Polish, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Czech, Slovak, Russian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian, Romanian, Catalan, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Georgian, Malay, Indonesian, Dhivehi, Biblical, Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek [1], Biblical Hebrew [2]
Other Scripts: Адам(Russian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Macedonian) Αδάμ, Άνταμ(Greek) אָדָם(Hebrew) آدم(Arabic) ადამ(Georgian) އާދަމް(Dhivehi) Ἀδάμ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: AD-əm(English) A-DAHN(French) A-dam(German, Polish, Czech, Arabic, Indonesian) A-dahm(Dutch) AH-dam(Swedish) u-DAM(Russian, Ukrainian) ə-DHAM(Catalan)
This is the Hebrew word for
"man". It could be ultimately derived from Hebrew
אדם (ʾaḏam) meaning
"to be red", referring to the ruddy colour of human skin, or from Akkadian
adamu meaning
"to make".
According to Genesis in the Old Testament Adam was created from the earth by God (there is a word play on Hebrew אֲדָמָה (ʾaḏama) meaning "earth"). He and Eve were supposedly the first humans, living happily in the Garden of Eden until they ate the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. As a result they were expelled from Eden to the lands to the east, where they gave birth to the second generation, including Cain, Abel and Seth.
As an English Christian name, Adam has been common since the Middle Ages, and it received a boost after the Protestant Reformation. A famous bearer was Scottish economist Adam Smith (1723-1790).
Abeni
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Yoruba
Pronounced: A-BEH-NEEN
Means "we prayed and we received" in Yoruba.
Aaron
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, German, Finnish, Jewish, Biblical, Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek [1]
Other Scripts: אַהֲרֹן(Hebrew) Ἀαρών(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: EHR-ən(English) AR-ən(English) A-RAWN(French) A-rawn(German) AH-ron(Finnish)
From the Hebrew name
אַהֲרֹן (ʾAharon), which is most likely of unknown Egyptian origin. Other theories claim a Hebrew derivation, and suggest meanings such as
"high mountain" or
"exalted". In the
Old Testament this name is borne by the older brother of
Moses. He acted as a spokesman for his brother when they appealed to the pharaoh to release the Israelites from slavery. Aaron's rod produced miracles and plagues to intimidate the pharaoh. After the departure from Egypt and arrival at Mount Sinai, God installed Aaron as the first high priest of the Israelites and promised that his descendants would form the priesthood.
As an English name, Aaron has been in use since the Protestant Reformation. This name was borne by the American politician Aaron Burr (1756-1836), notable for killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel.
behindthename.com · Copyright © 1996-2024