mishrawr's Personal Name List

From the English word for the small songbird. It is ultimately derived from Old English wrenna.

Feminine form of William.

Means "violet" in Latin. This is the name of the heroine of William Shakespeare's comedy Twelfth Night (1602). In the play she is the survivor of a shipwreck who disguises herself as a man named Cesario. Working as a messenger for Duke Orsino, she attempts to convince Olivia to marry him. Instead Viola falls in love with the duke.

Means "knowledge" in Sanskrit.

From a surname that meant "trusty man" in Middle English. A famous bearer of the surname was American president Harry S. Truman (1884-1972). It was also borne by American writer Truman Capote (1924-1984).

Alternate transcription of Hebrew טוֹבָה (see Tova 1).

Greek form of Tobiah. This is the name of the hero of the apocryphal Book of Tobit, which appears in many English versions of the Old Testament. It relates how Tobit's son Tobias, with the help of the angel Raphael, is able to drive away a demon who has plagued Sarah, who subsequently becomes his wife. This story was popular in the Middle Ages, and the name came into occasional use in parts of Europe at that time. In England it became common after the Protestant Reformation.

Short form of Dorothea, Theodora, Theresa and other names with a similar sound.

From the Greek name Θάλεια (Thaleia), derived from θάλλω (thallo) meaning "to blossom". In Greek mythology she was one of the nine Muses, presiding over comedy and pastoral poetry. This was also the name of one of the three Graces or Χάριτες (Charites).

Variant of Talia 2.

Danish form of Severinus. Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) was a Danish philosopher who is regarded as a precursor of existentialism.

From the Greek name Πτολεμαῖος (Ptolemaios), derived from Greek πολεμήϊος (polemeios) meaning "aggressive, warlike". Ptolemy was the name of several Greco-Egyptian rulers of Egypt, all descendants of Ptolemy I Soter, one of the generals of Alexander the Great. This was also the name of a 2nd-century Greek astronomer.

From the word for the red flower, derived from Old English popæg.

Feminine form of Peter. This was also the name of an ancient city in the region that is now Jordan.

From the English and French word for the type of tree, ultimately derived from Latin oliva.

Short form of Honora or Eleanor. Henrik Ibsen used it for a character in his play A Doll's House (1879).

Means "pleasantness" in Hebrew. A famous bearer is Noam Chomsky (1928-), an American linguist and philosopher.

Danish form of Nicholas. A famous bearer was Niels Bohr (1885-1962), a Danish physicist who investigated the structure of atoms.

From a surname that was originally derived from a place name meaning "new town" in Old English. A famous bearer of the surname was the English physicist Isaac Newton (1643-1727).

From the Welsh name Maredudd or Meredydd, from Old Welsh forms such as Margetud, possibly from mawredd "greatness, magnificence" combined with iudd "lord". The Welsh forms of this name were well used through the Middle Ages. Since the mid-1920s it has been used more often for girls than for boys in English-speaking countries, though it is still a masculine name in Wales. A famous bearer of this name as surname was the English novelist and poet George Meredith (1828-1909).

Variant of Marshall.

Means "of the sea", taken from the Latin title of the Virgin Mary, Stella Maris, meaning "star of the sea".

Variant of Louella.

Italian and Romanian form of Lucas (see Luke). This name was borne by Luca della Robbia, a Renaissance sculptor from Florence.

Either a short form of Laurence 1 (masculine) or a variant of Lauren (feminine).

From a German and Dutch surname that was derived from Old High German linta meaning "linden tree".

Short form of Lillian or an elaborated form of Lily.

Means "lion" in Russian and Ukrainian, functioning as a vernacular form of Leo. This was the real Russian name of both author Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) and revolutionary Leon Trotsky (1879-1940). This is also the name of the main character, Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin, in the novel The Idiot (1868) by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Means "heart" in Hebrew.

Means "of God" in Hebrew. This is the name of the father of Eliasaph in the Old Testament. It is misspelled as Δαήλ (Dael) in the Greek translation, the Septuagint.

Russian diminutive of Yekaterina.

Meaning uncertain, possibly a Frisian diminutive of Gerhard, Nicolaas, Cornelis or Gaius [1]. It is borne by a boy captured by the Snow Queen in an 1844 fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen. Spreading from Germany and Scandinavia, this name became popular in the English-speaking world and other places in Western Europe around the end of the 20th century.

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.

From the Hebrew name יוֹנָה (Yona) meaning "dove". This was the name of a prophet swallowed by a fish, as told in the Old Testament Book of Jonah. Jonah was commanded by God to preach in Nineveh, but instead fled by boat. After being caught in a storm, the other sailors threw Jonah overboard, at which point he was swallowed. He emerged from the fish alive and repentant three days later.

Jonah's story was popular in the Middle Ages, and the Hellenized form Jonas was occasionally used in England. The form Jonah did not become common until after the Protestant Reformation.

Newer form of the Old Church Slavic name Іѡаннъ (Ioannŭ), which was derived from Greek Ioannes (see John). This was the name of six Russian rulers, including the 15th-century Ivan III the Great and 16th-century Ivan IV the Terrible, the first tsar of Russia. It was also borne by nine emperors of Bulgaria. Other notable bearers include the Russian author Ivan Turgenev (1818-1883), who wrote Fathers and Sons, and the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936), who is best known for his discovery of the conditioned reflex.

English form of Henriette, and thus a feminine form of Harry. It was first used in the 17th century, becoming very common in the English-speaking world by the 18th century. Famous bearers include the Americans Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896), the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, and the abolitionist Harriet Tubman (1820-1913).

From an English surname that was derived from Middle English frankelin "freeman". A famous bearer of the surname was Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), an American statesman, inventor, scientist and philosopher. The name has commonly been given in his honour in the United States. It also received a boost during the term of American president Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945).

From a surname that was a variant of Elliott. A famous bearer of the surname was T. S. Eliot (1888-1965), an Anglo-American poet and dramatist, the writer of The Waste Land. As a given name, it was borne by the American mob-buster Eliot Ness (1903-1957).

Form of Elijah used in several languages. This is also the form used in the Greek New Testament, as well as some English translations.

Means "my God has answered" in Hebrew.

Means "bear" in Hebrew.

Russian variant of Dmitriy, as well as the Georgian form.

Diminutive of Dmitriy.

Means "hanging branch" in Hebrew.

From the name of the flower, which was named for the Swedish botanist Anders Dahl.

Short form of Abraham. This name was borne by Bram Stoker (1847-1912), the Irish author who wrote Dracula.

Welsh diminutive of Elizabeth.

Means "lion" in Hebrew.

Russian diminutive of Anna.

From a surname that was derived from the Old English given name Ealdwine.

Contracted form of Adalia. This is the name of the father of one of King David's herdsmen in the Old Testament.

Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian and Georgian form of Abraham.