Amedee Lupien's Personal Name List
Zerachiel
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Judeo-Christian-Islamic Legend
Possibly means "command of God" in Hebrew. The Book of Enoch names him as one of the seven archangels. His name is sometimes rendered as Sarakiel.
Zephyr
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Anglicized)
Other Scripts: Ζέφυρος(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: ZEHF-ər(English)
From the Greek
Ζέφυρος (Zephyros) meaning
"west wind". Zephyros was the Greek god of the west wind.
Zella
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Meaning unknown, possibly an invented name. It arose in the 19th century.
Zelda 2
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: ZEHL-də
Short form of
Griselda. This is the name of a princess in the
Legend of Zelda video games, debuting in 1986 and called
ゼルダ (Zeruda) in Japanese. According to creator Shigeru Miyamoto she was named after the American socialite Zelda Fitzgerald (1900-1948).
Zarathustra
Gender: Masculine
Usage: History
Pronounced: zar-ə-THOOS-trə(English)
From Avestan
𐬰𐬀𐬭𐬀𐬚𐬎𐬱𐬙𐬭𐬀 (Zarathushtra), in which the second element is
𐬎𐬱𐬙𐬭𐬀 (ushtra) meaning "camel". Proposed meanings for the first element include "old", "moving", "angry" and "yellow". Zarathustra was an Iranian prophet who founded the ancient religion of Zoroastrianism around the 10th century BC. He is also called
Zoroaster in English, from the Greek form of his name
Ζωροάστρης (Zoroastres).
Yona
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Hebrew, Biblical Hebrew [1]
Other Scripts: יוֹנָה(Hebrew)
Hebrew form of
Jonah. It is a unisex name in modern Hebrew.
Yavanna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: yah-VAH-nah
Quenya (High-Elven) for "giver of fruits." Was the Valie (female "angelic spirit") of plants.
Character in J.R.R. Tolkien's "Silmarrilion."
Yakov
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Hebrew, Russian, Bulgarian (Rare)
Other Scripts: יַעֲקֹב(Hebrew) Яков(Russian, Bulgarian)
Pronounced: YA-kəf(Russian)
Xzavier
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: ZAY-vyər, ig-ZAY-vyər
Wulfstan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Anglo-Saxon [1][2]
Pronounced: WOOLF-stahn
Derived from the Old English elements
wulf "wolf" and
stan "stone".
Wulfsige
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Anglo-Saxon [1][2]
Derived from the Old English elements
wulf "wolf" and
sige "victory".
Woodrow
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: WUWD-ro
From an English surname that was originally derived from a place name meaning "row of houses by a wood" in Old English. It was borne by the American president Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), who was given his mother's maiden name as his middle name (his first name was Thomas). During his candidacy and presidency (1912-1921) the name became popular, reaching the 44th rank in 1913, though it quickly declined after that.
Wolfram
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German
Pronounced: VAWL-fram
Derived from the Old German element
wolf meaning "wolf" combined with
hram meaning "raven".
Saint Wolfram (or Wulfram) was a 7th-century archbishop of Sens. This name was also borne by the 13th-century German poet Wolfram von Eschenbach, the author of
Parzival.
Wolfmund
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Germanic
Derived from Gothic vulfs "wolf" combined with Old High German mund "protection."
Wolf
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Jewish, English (Rare), Germanic [1]
Other Scripts: װאָלףֿ(Yiddish)
Pronounced: VAWLF(German) WUWLF(English)
Short form of
Wolfgang,
Wolfram and other names containing the Old German element
wolf meaning
"wolf" (Proto-Germanic *
wulfaz). It can also be simply from the German or English word. As a Jewish name it can be considered a vernacular form of
Zeev.
Willow
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: WIL-o
From the name of the tree, which is ultimately derived from Old English welig.
Willoughby
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: WIL-ə-bee
From a surname that was originally derived from a place name meaning "willow town" in Old English.
Weltraum
Usage: German
Pronounced: wel-trohm
A German surname meaning "outer space".
Vladimir
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Russian, Serbian, Croatian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Slovene, Albanian
Other Scripts: Владимир(Russian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Macedonian)
Pronounced: vlu-DYEE-myir(Russian) VLA-dee-meer(Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian)
From the Old Slavic name *
Voldiměrŭ, derived from the elements
volděti meaning "to rule" and
měrŭ meaning "great, famous". The second element has also been associated with
mirŭ meaning "peace, world".
This was the name of a 9th-century ruler of Bulgaria. It was also borne by an 11th-century grand prince of Kyiv, Vladimir the Great, who is venerated as a saint because of his efforts to Christianize his realm. Other notable bearers include the revolutionary and first leader of the Soviet state Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924), the Russian author Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977), and the Russian president and prime minister Vladimir Putin (1952-).
Violette
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: VYAW-LEHT
Violante
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Late Roman, Italian
Pronounced: vee-o-LAN-teh(Italian)
Vesper
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Roman Mythology, Dutch (Modern)
Pronounced: WEHS-pehr(Latin) VEHS-pər(English, Dutch)
Latin
cognate of
Hesperos. This name was used by the British author Ian Fleming for a female character, a love interest of James Bond, in his novel
Casino Royale (1953). She also appears in the film adaptations of 1967 and 2006.
Vesna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Croatian, Serbian, Slovene, Macedonian, Slavic Mythology
Other Scripts: Весна(Serbian, Macedonian)
Pronounced: VEHS-na(Croatian, Serbian)
Means "spring" in many Slavic languages. This was the name of a Slavic spirit associated with the springtime. It has been used as a given name only since the 20th century.
Vérène
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French (Rare)
Velma
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: VEHL-mə
Probably a variant of
Wilma, the spelling with an
e perhaps due to the influence of
Selma 1. This name has been in use since the 19th century.
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.
Ulyssa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: yoo-LIS-ə
Tyrrell
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: TIR-əl, tie-REHL, tə-REHL
From a surname that was a variant of
Terrell.
Tryphosa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical, Biblical Greek [1], Ancient Greek [2]
Other Scripts: Τρυφῶσα(Ancient Greek)
Tryphena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: Τρύφαινα(Ancient Greek)
Trevelyan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: tri-VEHL-yən
From a surname that was derived from a Cornish place name meaning "homestead on the hill".
Treasach
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Medieval Irish
From Old Irish Tressach meaning "warlike, fierce".
Tranquilla
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian (Rare, Archaic), American (South, Archaic)
Trajan 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: History
Pronounced: TRAY-jən(English)
Personal remark: The most popular emperor of Rome after Augustus.
From the Roman
cognomen Traianus, which is of unknown meaning. The Roman emperor Trajan (full name Marcus Ulpius Traianus) is considered among the most capable men to have led the empire. His military accomplishments include victories over Dacia and Parthia.
Tlaloc
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Aztec and Toltec Mythology, Nahuatl
Pronounced: CHA-lok(Classical Nahuatl)
Possibly from Nahuatl
tlālloh meaning
"covered with earth" [1], derived from
tlālli meaning "earth, land, soil". This was the name of the Aztec god of rain and fertility, the husband of
Chalchiuhtlicue.
Tiffany
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: TIF-ə-nee
Medieval form of
Theophania. This name was traditionally given to girls born on the Epiphany (January 6), the festival commemorating the visit of the Magi to the infant
Jesus. The name died out after the Middle Ages, but it was revived by the movie
Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), the title of which refers to the Tiffany's jewelry store in New York.
Thoth
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Egyptian Mythology (Hellenized)
Other Scripts: Θώθ(Ancient Greek)
Greek form of Egyptian
ḏḥwtj (reconstructed as
Djehuti), which is of uncertain meaning. In Egyptian
mythology Thoth was the god of the moon, science, magic, speech and writing. He was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis.
Théophraste
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French (Archaic)
Personal remark: Arsene Lupin's father.
Theodulus
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Ancient Greek (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Θεόδουλος(Ancient Greek)
Latinized form of the Greek name
Θεόδουλος (Theodoulos) meaning
"servant of god", derived from
θεός (theos) meaning "god" and
δοῦλος (doulos) meaning "slave, servant". This name was borne by several early
saints.
Theodosia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Greek [1], Greek
Other Scripts: Θεοδοσία(Greek)
Pronounced: TEH-O-DO-SEE-A(Classical Greek) thee-ə-DO-see-ə(English) thee-ə-DO-shə(English)
Terra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: TEHR-ə
Variant of
Tara 1, perhaps influenced by the Latin word
terra meaning "land, earth".
Terpander
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Ancient Greek (Latinized)
Latinized form of
Terpandros. This was the name of an ancient Greek poet.
Tamsin
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (British)
Pronounced: TAM-zin
Contracted form of
Thomasina. It was traditionally used in Cornwall.
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.
Sybella
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: si-BEHL-ə
Sullivan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French
Pronounced: SUL-i-vən(English)
From an Irish surname, the Anglicized form of
Ó Súileabháin, itself from the given name
Súileabhán, which was derived from Irish
súil "eye" and
dubh "dark, black" combined with a
diminutive suffix. This name has achieved a moderate level of popularity in France since the 1970s. In the United States it was rare before the 1990s, after which it began climbing steadily. A famous fictional bearer of the surname was James P. Sullivan from the animated movie
Monsters, Inc. (2001).
Strange
Usage: English
Pronounced: STRAYNJ
Derived from Middle English strange meaning "foreign", ultimately from Latin extraneus.
Stephanie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German
Pronounced: STEHF-ə-nee(English) SHTEH-fa-nee(German)
Stargazer
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
From the English word stargazer "one who stargazes" or "a daydreamer".
Sora
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: Japanese
Other Scripts: 空, 昊, etc.(Japanese Kanji) そら(Japanese Hiragana)
Pronounced: SO-RA
From Japanese
空 (sora) or
昊 (sora) both meaning "sky". Other kanji with the same pronunciations can also form this name.
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.
Solveiga
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Latvian, Lithuanian
Latvian and Lithuanian form of
Solveig.
Solaria
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian (Modern, Rare), Spanish (Modern, Rare)
Sohrab
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Persian, Persian Mythology
Other Scripts: سهراب(Persian)
Pronounced: soh-RAWB(Persian)
From Persian
سهر (sohr) meaning "red" and
آب (āb) meaning "water". In the 10th-century Persian epic the
Shahnameh this is the name of the son of the hero
Rostam. He was tragically slain in battle by his father, who was unaware he was fighting his own son.
Şivan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Kurdish
Other Scripts: شڤان(Kurdish Sorani)
Means "shepherd" in Kurdish.
Siegfried
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Germanic Mythology
Pronounced: ZEEK-freet(German)
Derived from the Old German elements
sigu "victory" and
fridu "peace". Siegfried was a hero from German legend, the chief character in the
Nibelungenlied. He secretly helped the Burgundian king
Gunther overcome the challenges set out by the Icelandic queen
Brunhild so that Gunther might win her hand. In exchange, Gunther consented to the marriage of Siegfried and his sister
Kriemhild. Years later, after a dispute between Brunhild and Kriemhild, Siegfried was murdered by
Hagen with Gunther's consent. He was stabbed in his one vulnerable spot on the small of his back, which had been covered by a leaf while he bathed in dragon's blood. He is a parallel to the Norse hero
Sigurd. The story was later adapted by Richard Wagner to form part of his opera
The Ring of the Nibelung (1876).
Sibella
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare), German (Bessarabian), Romani (Archaic)
Shiloh
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: שִׁלוֹ, שִׁילֹה(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: SHIE-lo(English)
From an
Old Testament place name possibly meaning
"tranquil" in Hebrew. It is also used prophetically in the Old Testament to refer to a person, often understood to be the Messiah (see
Genesis 49:10). This may in fact be a mistranslation.
This name was brought to public attention after actors Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt gave it to their daughter in 2006.
Sherlock
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: SHUR-lahk(English)
Personal remark: For (obviously) Holmes.
Used by Scottish author Arthur Conan Doyle for his character Sherlock Holmes, who was a detective in Doyle's mystery stories beginning in 1887. The character's name was from an English surname meaning "shear lock", originally referring to a person with closely cut hair.
Sheridan
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: SHEHR-i-dən
From an Irish surname (Anglicized from Irish Gaelic Ó Sirideáin), which was derived from the given name Sirideán possibly meaning "searcher".
Severina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Portuguese, Ancient Roman
Pronounced: seh-veh-REE-na(Italian)
Severin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Norwegian (Rare), Swedish (Rare), Danish (Rare)
Pronounced: zeh-veh-REEN(German) ZEH-veh-reen(German)
Seung-hyeop
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Korean
Other Scripts: 승협(Korean Hangul)
Pronounced: SUWNG-HYUP
From Sino-Korean 承 "inherit, receive; succeed" and 協 "be united; cooperate".
Séraphine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: SEH-RA-FEEN
Scorpius
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Astronomy
Pronounced: SKAWR-pi-əs(English)
From a Latin variant of
Scorpio. This is the name of a zodiacal constellation said to have the shape of a scorpion. According to Greek and Roman legend it was the monster that was sent to kill
Orion.
Scorpio
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Astronomy
Pronounced: SKAWR-pi-o(English)
Means
"scorpion" in Latin, from Greek
σκορπίος (skorpios). This is the name of the eighth sign of the zodiac, associated with the constellation
Scorpius.
Schwartz
Usage: German, Jewish
Pronounced: SHVARTS(German)
Schroeder
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Popular Culture (Rare)
Pronounced: SHRO-der
Transferred use of the surname
Schroeder. Used as a first name in 1951 by Charles Schulz for a character in his comic strip "Peanuts". Derived from the German surname
Schröder 1 or
Schröder 2 with the usual replacement spelling
oe for
ö.
Despite the use in the popular comic strip it is not admitted as a given name in Germany because of its surname nature.
Schrödinger
Denoted a person from Schröding, a old placename in Bavaria.
Scheherazade
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: shə-HEHR-ə-zahd(English)
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).
Sapphire
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: SAF-ie-ər
From the name of the gemstone, typically blue, which is the traditional birthstone of September. It is derived from Greek
σάπφειρος (sappheiros), ultimately from the Hebrew word
סַפִּיר (sappir).
Salvatore
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: sal-va-TO-reh
Salem 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic
Other Scripts: سالم(Arabic)
Pronounced: SA-leem
Alternate transcription of Arabic
سالم (see
Salim).
Sahak
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Armenian
Other Scripts: Սահակ(Armenian)
Pronounced: sah-HAHK(Eastern Armenian) sah-HAHG(Western Armenian)
Armenian form of
Isaac. This was the name of a 5th-century patriarch of the Armenian Church.
Sabriel
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: Literature, Judeo-Christian-Islamic Legend
Pronounced: SAY-bree-əl
There are multiple explanations for the etymology of this name. One is that it is a variant form of
Sabrael. An other is that it is derived from Hebrew
sabi "stop, rest" combined with
el "God", thus meaning "(the) rest of God". Lastly, it could also have been derived from the name of the Sabra plant (a prickly pear) combined with
el "God", making the meaning something like "cactus of God". The name of Sabriel was first used by author Garth Nix for the heroine of his fantasy novel 'Sabriel' (1995), and an important protagonist in the sequels 'Lirael' and 'Abhorsen'. It is uncertain where and how Garth Nix decided upon using the name Sabriel.
Ruxandra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Romanian
Ruperta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish
Pronounced: roo-PEHR-ta
Spanish feminine form of
Rupert.
Rudyard
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: RUD-yərd
From a place name meaning "red yard" in Old English. This name was borne by Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), the author of The Jungle Book and other works, who was named after Rudyard Lake in Staffordshire.
Rudolph
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: ROO-dahlf
Personal remark: The only fixed name in my In the Night story.
English form of
Rudolf, imported from Germany in the 19th century. Robert L. May used it in 1939 for his Christmas character Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
Rudolf
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Dutch, Russian, Armenian
Other Scripts: Рудольф(Russian) Ռուդոլֆ(Armenian)
Pronounced: ROO-dawlf(German, Slovak) ROO-dolf(Czech, Hungarian) RUY-dawlf(Dutch)
Personal remark: Rudol(ph) is the main character of "In the Night".
From the Germanic name
Hrodulf, which was derived from the elements
hruod meaning "fame" and
wolf meaning "wolf". It was borne by three kings of Burgundy and a king of West Francia, as well as several Habsburg rulers of the Holy Roman Empire and Austria. Anthony Hope used this name for the hero in his popular novel
The Prisoner of Zenda (1894).
Rüdiger
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German
Pronounced: RUY-dee-gu
Ruaridh
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish Gaelic
Rozabela
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Esperanto
Pronounced: ro-za-BEH-la
Means
"rosy-beautiful" in Esperanto, ultimately from Latin
rosa "rose" and
bella "beautiful".
Ross
Usage: English, Scottish
Pronounced: RAWS(English)
From various place names (such as the region of Ross in northern Scotland), which are derived from Scottish Gaelic ros meaning "promontory, headland".
Rosalio
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: ro-za-LEE-o
Roosevelt
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: RO-zə-velt
From a Dutch surname meaning "rose field". This name is often given in honour of American presidents Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) or Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945).
Romilda
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Germanic (Latinized) [1]
Means
"famous battle" from the Germanic elements
hruom "fame, glory" and
hilt "battle".
Rodman
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (American, Modern)
Pronounced: RAWD-mehn(American English)
A possible variation on Rod, Rodney, and other names starting with ROD-. Two well known bearers are Rodman Philbrick (1951-), who wrote the young adult novel "Freak the Mighty", and Rodman Edward "Rod" Serling (1924-1975), a television writer known for the classic "Twilight Zone" series.
Robotnik
The masculine form of "labourer" or "worker". Most famously used for Dr. Ivo Robotnik, the antagonist of the Sonic the Hedgehog series.
Rhydian
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh
Pronounced: HRID-yan
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.
Rémy
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: REH-MEE
French form of the Latin name
Remigius, which was derived from Latin
remigis "oarsman, rower".
Saint Rémy was a 5th-century bishop who converted and baptized Clovis, king of the Franks.
Reginald
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: REHJ-ə-nəld
From
Reginaldus, a Latinized form of
Reynold.
Rassilon
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Popular Culture
Pronounced: RAS-si-lawn
Rassilon is the name of a Time Lord historic figure in Doctor Who. He appears in the episode THE FIVE DOCTORS and in THE END OF TIME.
Raphael
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, English, Biblical
Other Scripts: רָפָאֵל, רְפָאֵל(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: RA-fa-ehl(German) RAF-ee-əl(English) RAF-ay-ehl(English) rah-fie-EHL(English)
From the Hebrew name
רָפָאֵל (Rafaʾel) meaning
"God heals", from the roots
רָפָא (rafa) meaning "to heal" and
אֵל (ʾel) meaning "God". In Hebrew tradition Raphael is the name of an archangel. He appears in the Book of Tobit, in which he disguises himself as a man named
Azarias and accompanies
Tobias on his journey to Media, aiding him along the way. In the end he cures Tobias's father
Tobit of his blindness. He is not mentioned in the
New Testament, though tradition identifies him with the angel troubling the water in
John 5:4.
This name has never been common in the English-speaking world, though it has been well-used elsewhere in Europe. A famous bearer was the Italian Renaissance master Raffaello Sanzio (1483-1520), usually known simply as Raphael in English.
Raffaella
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: raf-fa-EHL-la
Quetzalcoatl
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Aztec and Toltec Mythology
Pronounced: keh-tsash-KO-ach(Nahuatl) keht-səl-ko-AHT-əl(English)
Means
"feathered snake" in Nahuatl, derived from
quetzalli "quetzal feather, precious thing" and
cōātl "snake"
[1]. In Aztec and other Mesoamerican
mythology he was the god of the sky, wind, and knowledge, also associated with the morning star. According to one legend he created the humans of this age using the bones of humans from the previous age and adding his own blood.
Quartermaine
Variant of
Quartermain. This surname was borne by British actor Leon Quartermaine (1876-1967).
Qebehsenuef
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Egyptian Mythology
Means "he who refreshes his brothers".
In Egyptian mythology he was one of the four sons of Horus, tasked with protecting his throne in the underworld. His image is depicted on the canopic jar that held the intestines of the deceased.
Pugsley
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Popular Culture
Pronounced: PUG-slee
Name of a character from The Addams Family.
Ptolemy
Gender: Masculine
Usage: History
Other Scripts: Πτολεμαῖος(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: TAHL-ə-mee(English)
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.
Psyche
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ψυχή(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: PSUY-KEH(Classical Greek) SIE-kee(English)
Means
"the soul", derived from Greek
ψύχω (psycho) meaning "to breathe". The Greeks thought that the breath was the soul. In Greek
mythology Psyche was a beautiful maiden who was beloved by Eros (or Cupid in Roman mythology). She is the subject of Keats's poem
Ode to Psyche (1819).
Priscilla
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, French, Ancient Roman, Biblical Latin, Biblical
Pronounced: pri-SIL-ə(English) preesh-SHEEL-la(Italian)
Pranvera
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Albanian
Pronounced: prahn-VEHR-ah
Derived from Albanian pranverë meaning "spring", itself from pranë "nearby, close" and verë "summer".
Powers
Usage: English
Pronounced: POW-ərz
Poseidon
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ποσειδῶν(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: PO-SEH-DAWN(Classical Greek) pə-SIE-dən(English)
Possibly derived from Greek
πόσις (posis) meaning "husband, lord" and
δᾶ (da) meaning "earth". The name first appears in Mycenaean Greek inscriptions as
po-se-da-o. In Greek
mythology Poseidon was the unruly god of the sea and earthquakes, the brother of
Zeus. He was often depicted carrying a trident and riding in a chariot drawn by white horses.
Polybius
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Ancient Greek (Latinized)
Latinized form of
Polybios. This name was borne by a Greek historian from the 2nd century BC.
Polgar
Hungarian word for citizen. Taken on by Jewish Hungarians during World War Two to avoid Nazi attention for having 'Jewish' last names.
Polaris
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: Astronomy, Popular Culture, English (Modern, Rare)
Pronounced: pə-LEHR-is(English)
Derived from Latin stella polaris, meaning "pole star". This is the proper Latin name of the brightest star in the constellation Ursa Minor, commonly called the North Star or Pole Star. It is borne by a character (real name Lorna Dane) in Marvel's X-Men line of comics, created in 1968.
Poe
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Popular Culture, English (Rare)
Transferred use of the surname
Poe.
-------------------------------------
Poe Dameron is a fictional character from the movie Star Wars. Poe Dameron is played by actor Oscar Isaac and is named partially after JJ Abrams assistant Morgan Dameron. Abrams did it so Morgan whould be happy that he named a character partially after her. Abrams got Poe from his daughters Polar bear who was named Poe (short for "polar bear").
Pocahontas
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Powhatan (Anglicized)
Means
"little playful one" in Powhatan, an Algonquian language. This was the nickname of a 17th-century Powhatan woman, a daughter of the powerful chief
Wahunsenacawh. She married the white colonist John Rolfe and travelled with him to England, but died of illness before returning.
Plouton
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Πλούτων(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: PLO-TAWN(Classical Greek)
Pisces
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Astronomy
Pronounced: PIE-seez(English) PIS-eez(English)
From the name of the zodiacal constellation shaped like a pair of fish, derived from the plural form of Latin piscis meaning "fish". This is the name of the twelfth sign of the zodiac.
Piers
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (British), Medieval French
Pronounced: PEEZ(British English) PIRZ(American English)
Medieval form of
Peter. This is the name of the main character in the 14th-century poem
Piers Plowman [1] by William Langland.
Phineas
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: פִּיןְחָס(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: FIN-ee-əs(English)
Philomel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: FIL-ə-mehl(English)
From an English word meaning
"nightingale" (ultimately from
Philomela). It has been used frequently in poetry to denote the bird.
Perreault
Usage: French
Pronounced: PEH-ROL
Perelandra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
The name for the planet Venus, in the novel of the same name by C.S. Lewis.
Perdita
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Derived from Latin
perditus meaning
"lost". Shakespeare created this name for the daughter of
Hermione and
Leontes in his play
The Winter's Tale (1610). Abandoned as an infant by her father the king, she grows up to be a shepherdess and falls in love with with
Florizel.
Penhaligon
Originally meant "person from Penhaligon", Cornwall ("willow-tree hill"). It is borne by Susan Penhaligon (1950-), a British actress.
Pénélope
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: PEH-NEH-LAWP
Pendragon
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arthurian Cycle
Pronounced: pen-DRAG-ən, PEN-drag-ən
Transferred use of the surname
Pendragon.
The surname of Kings Arthur and Uther, meaning “head dragon” or “dragon’s head.” As first told by Geoffrey of Monmouth, Uther adopted the symbol of the dragon because of the comet with the dragon’s head that Merlin had seen in Wales, heralding the death of King Ambrosius Aurelius, Uther’s brother. In Welsh legend, it is also the surname of one “Gwen Pendragon,” who once kept Arthur prisoner.
In the Prose and Vulgate Merlins, the name Pendragon is given to the character elsewhere called Ambrosius Aurelianus: the son of Constantine and Ivoire, the uncle of Arthur, and the king of Britain between Vortigern and Uther, Pendragon’s brother. Pendragon allied with Merlin, defeated Vortigern and Hengist, died fighting the Saxons, and was buried at Stonehenge. Uther is said to have adopted his brother’s name as a surname in memory of the slain king.
Source: Christopher Bruce's Arthurian Name Dictionary
Passelewe
The medieval name is from Old French passe(r) ‘to pass or cross’ + l’ewe ‘the water’, hence a nickname, probably for a ferryman or a merchant who was in the habit of traveling overseas, or else someone who had been on a pilgrimage or crusade.
Othello
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: o-THEHL-o(English)
Perhaps a
diminutive of
Otho. William Shakespeare used this name in his tragedy
Othello (1603), where it belongs to a Moor who is manipulated by
Iago into killing his wife
Desdemona.
Oswald
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, German
Pronounced: AHZ-wawld(English) AWS-valt(German)
Derived from the Old English elements
os "god" and
weald "powerful, mighty".
Saint Oswald was a king of Northumbria who introduced Christianity to northeastern England in the 7th century before being killed in battle. There was also an Old Norse
cognate Ásvaldr in use in England, being borne by the 10th-century Saint Oswald of Worcester, who was of Danish ancestry. Though the name had died out by the end of the Middle Ages, it was revived in the 19th century.
Osiris
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Egyptian Mythology (Hellenized)
Other Scripts: Ὄσιρις(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: o-SIE-ris(English)
Greek form of the Egyptian
wsjr (reconstructed as
Asar,
Usir and other forms), which is of unknown meaning, possibly related to
wsr "mighty" or
jrt "eye". In Egyptian
mythology Osiris was the god of fertility, agriculture, and the dead and served as the judge of the underworld. In one tale he was slain by his brother
Seth, but restored to life by his wife
Isis in order to conceive their son
Horus, who would go on to avenge his father.
Nyx
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Νύξ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: NUYKS(Classical Greek) NIKS(English)
Means "night" in Greek. This was the name of the Greek goddess of the night, the daughter of Khaos and the wife of Erebos.
Nymphodora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Νυμφοδώρα(Ancient Greek)
Nimue
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arthurian Cycle
Pronounced: NIM-ə-way(English)
Meaning unknown. In Arthurian legends this is the name of a sorceress, also known as the Lady of the Lake, Vivien, or Niniane. Various versions of the tales have
Merlin falling in love with her and becoming imprisoned by her magic. She first appears in the medieval French
Lancelot-Grail Cycle.
Nimuë
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Dutch (Rare)
Variant of
Nimue.
This name is borne by Dutch model Nimuë Smit.
Nikola 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Serbian, Croatian, Slovene, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Czech, Basque
Other Scripts: Никола(Serbian, Bulgarian, Macedonian)
Pronounced: NI-ko-la(Czech) nee-KO-la(Basque)
Personal remark: For Tesla.
Form of
Nicholas in several languages. Note, in Czech this is also a feminine name (see
Nikola 2). A famous bearer was the Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla (1856-1943).
Nicéphore
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French (Rare)
Personal remark: For Niepce, the inventor of photography.
Népomucène
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
French form of
Nepomuk via its latinized form
Nepomucenus.
A known bearer of this name was the French poet and dramatist Népomucène Lemercier (1771-1840).
Nemesis
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Νέμεσις(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: NEH-MEH-SEES(Classical Greek) NEHM-ə-sis(English)
Means
"distribution of what is due, righteous anger" in Greek. In Greek
mythology Nemesis was the personification of vengeance and justice.
Nefertiti
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Egyptian
Pronounced: nehf-ər-TEE-tee(English)
From Egyptian
nfrt-jjtj meaning
"the beautiful one has come" [1]. Nefertiti was a powerful Egyptian queen of the New Kingdom (14th century BC), the principal wife of
Akhenaton, the pharaoh that briefly imposed a monotheistic religion centered around the sun god
Aton.
Nazanin
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Persian
Other Scripts: نازنین(Persian)
Pronounced: naw-za-NEEN
Means "sweetheart, darling" in Persian.
Narcisse
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: NAR-SEES
French masculine and feminine form of
Narcissus. This is also the French word for the narcissus flower.
Nara
Gender: Feminine
Usage: American (South, Rare, Archaic)
Possibly a variant of
Nora 1. It might, however, also be a simplified spelling of
Naarah.
Napoleon
Gender: Masculine
Usage: History, English
Pronounced: nə-PO-lee-ən(English)
Personal remark: For Bonaparte (both I and III)
From the old Italian name Napoleone, used most notably by the French emperor Napoléon Bonaparte (1769-1821), who was born on Corsica. The etymology is uncertain, but it is possibly derived from Old German Nibelungen meaning "sons of mist", a name used in Germanic legend to refer to the keepers of a hoard of treasure, often identified with the Burgundians. Alternatively, it could be connected to the name of the Italian city of Napoli (Naples).
Napier
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
From an English and Scots surname meaning "linen keeper" in Middle English, from Old French nappe "table cloth".
Mycroft
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Popular Culture, Literature
Pronounced: MIE-krawft(Literature)
Transferred use of the surname
Mycroft. Famous bearer is the fictional character Mycroft Holmes, the older brother of Sherlock Holmes.
Muhammad
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic, Urdu, Punjabi, Pashto, Bengali, Tajik, Uzbek, Indonesian, Malay, Avar
Other Scripts: محمّد(Arabic, Urdu, Shahmukhi, Pashto) মুহাম্মদ(Bengali) Муҳаммад(Tajik, Uzbek) МухӀаммад(Avar) Мухаммад(Russian)
Pronounced: moo-HAM-mad(Arabic) muw-HAM-əd(English) muw-HUM-məd(Urdu) MOO-ham-mawd(Bengali)
Means
"praised, commendable" in Arabic, derived from the root
حمد (ḥamida) meaning "to praise". This was the name of the prophet who founded the Islamic religion in the 7th century. According to Islamic belief, at age 40 Muhammad was visited by the angel
Gabriel, who provided him with the first verses of the
Quran. Approximately 20 years later he conquered Mecca, the city of his birth, and his followers controlled most of the Arabian Peninsula at the time of his death in 632.
Since the prophet's time his name has been very popular in the Muslim world. It was borne by several Abbasid caliphs and six sultans of the Ottoman Empire (though their names are usually given in the Turkish spelling Mehmet). Other famous bearers include Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (9th century), a Persian mathematician and scientist who devised algebra, Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Rushd (1126-1198), an Andalusian scholar also called Averroes, and Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (1207-1273), a Persian poet. In the modern era there is Muhammad Ali Jinnah (1876-1948), the founder of Pakistan, and the American boxer Muhammad Ali (1942-2016).
Morticia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Popular Culture
Pronounced: mawr-TISH-ə(English)
From the American English word mortician meaning "undertaker, funeral director", ultimately derived from Latin mortis meaning "death". This name was created for the mother on the Addams Family television series (1964-1966). She was based on an unnamed recurring character in cartoons by Charles Addams, starting 1938.
Morrígan
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish Mythology
Means either
"demon queen" or
"great queen", derived from Old Irish
mor "demon, evil spirit" or
mór "great, big" combined with
rígain "queen". In Irish
mythology Morrígan (called also The Morrígan) was a goddess of war and death who often took the form of a crow.
Morgenstern
Ornamental name meaning "morning star" in German.
Mokosh
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Slavic Mythology
Derived from the Old Slavic root mok meaning "wet, moist". Mokosh was a Slavic goddess associated with weaving, women, water and fertility.
Mnemosyne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Μνημοσύνη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: MNEH-MO-SUY-NEH(Classical Greek) ni-MAHS-i-nee(English)
Means
"remembrance" in Greek. In Greek
mythology Mnemosyne was a Titan goddess of memory. She was the mother by
Zeus of the nine Muses.
Mirza
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Persian, Arabic, Urdu, Bosnian
Other Scripts: میرزا(Persian) ميرزا(Arabic) مرزا(Urdu)
Pronounced: meer-ZAW(Persian) MEER-za(Arabic)
Means
"prince" from Persian
میرزا (mīrzā), earlier
امیرزاده (amīrzādeh), which is ultimately from Arabic
أمير (ʾamīr) meaning "commander" combined with Persian
زاده (zādeh) meaning "offspring".
Mindy
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MIN-dee
Mimsy
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Merlin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arthurian Cycle, English
Pronounced: MUR-lin(English)
Form of the Welsh name
Myrddin used by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his 12th-century chronicle. Writing in Latin, he likely chose the form
Merlinus over
Merdinus in order to prevent associations with French
merde "excrement".
Geoffrey based parts of Merlin's character on Myrddin Wyllt, a legendary madman and prophet who lived in the Caledonian Forest. Other parts of his life were based on that of the historical 5th-century Romano-British military leader Ambrosius Aurelianus (also known as Emrys Wledig). In Geoffrey's version of the tales and later embellishments Merlin is a magician and counselor for King Arthur.
Menachem
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Hebrew, Biblical Hebrew [1]
Other Scripts: םְנַחֵם(Hebrew)
Melisandre
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature, Popular Culture
Pronounced: mel-i-SAHN-drə(Literature)
The name of a witch, known as the Red Priestess, in George R. R. Martin's book series "A Song of Ice and Fire." He likely based her name off the French name
Mélisande.
Maximilian
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, English, Swedish, Norwegian (Rare), Danish (Rare)
Pronounced: mak-see-MEE-lee-an(German) mak-sə-MIL-yən(English)
From the Roman name
Maximilianus, which was derived from
Maximus. It was borne by a 3rd-century
saint and martyr. In the 15th century the Holy Roman emperor Frederick III gave this name to his son and eventual heir. In this case it was a blend of the names of the Roman generals Fabius Maximus and Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus (see
Emiliano), whom Frederick admired. It was subsequently borne by a second Holy Roman emperor, two kings of Bavaria, and a short-lived Habsburg emperor of Mexico.
Maxim
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Czech
Other Scripts: Максим(Russian, Ukrainian) Максім(Belarusian)
Pronounced: muk-SYEEM(Russian) MAK-sim(Czech)
Maven
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English, Irish (Anglicized)
Maura 2
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish, English
Pronounced: MAWR-ə(English)
Anglicized form of
Máire. It has also been associated with Irish
mór meaning "great". This was the name of an obscure 5th-century Irish martyr.
Máselník
Referred to one who churned or sold butter or buttermilk, derived from Czech máslo "butter".
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.
Marwa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic
Other Scripts: مروة(Arabic)
Pronounced: MAR-wa
From the Arabic name of a fragrant plant. Al-Marwa is the name of one of the two sacred hills near Mecca.
Margery
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MAHR-jə-ree
Marcella
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, German, Ancient Roman
Pronounced: mar-CHEHL-la(Italian) mar-KEHL-la(Latin)
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).
Malcolm
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish, English
Pronounced: MAL-kəm(English)
Anglicized form of Scottish Gaelic
Máel Coluim, which means
"disciple of Saint Columba". This was the name of four kings of Scotland starting in the 10th century, including Malcolm III, who became king after killing
Macbeth, the usurper who had defeated his father
Duncan. The character Malcolm in Shakespeare's tragedy
Macbeth (1606) is loosely based on him. Another famous bearer was Malcolm X (1925-1965), an American civil rights leader.
Maisie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Scottish, English
Pronounced: MAY-zee(English)
Scottish
diminutive of
Mairead. It was long used in the United Kingdom and Australia, becoming popular at the end of the 20th century. In the United States it was brought to public attention by the British actress Maisie Williams (1997-), who played Arya Stark on the television series
Game of Thrones beginning 2011. Her birth name is Margaret.
Mafalda
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Portuguese, Italian, Spanish
Pronounced: mu-FAL-du(European Portuguese) ma-FOW-du(Brazilian Portuguese) ma-FAL-da(Italian, Spanish)
Originally a medieval Portuguese form of
Matilda. This name was borne by the wife of Afonso, the first king of Portugal. In modern times it was the name of the titular character in a popular Argentine comic strip (published from 1964 to 1973) by Quino.
Maeve
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish, English, Irish Mythology
Pronounced: MAYV(English)
Anglicized form of the Irish name
Medb meaning
"intoxicating". In Irish legend this was the name of a warrior queen of Connacht. She and her husband
Ailill fought against the Ulster king
Conchobar and the hero
Cúchulainn, as told in the Irish epic
The Cattle Raid of Cooley.
Madrigal
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: American (Hispanic, Rare)
Pronounced: MAD-ri-gal(Hispanic American)
Transferred from the Spanish surname
MadrigalA madrigal is also a form of Renaissance music that is still popular today.
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)
Mackenzie
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: mə-KEHN-zee
From a Scottish surname, an Anglicized form of Gaelic
Mac Coinnich, itself derived from the given name
Coinneach. As a feminine given name it was popularized by the American actress Mackenzie Phillips (1959-), especially after she began appearing on the television comedy
One Day at a Time in 1975. In the United Kingdom it is more common as a masculine name.
Machiko
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Japanese
From Japanese 町 (machi) "town" and 子 (ko) "child".
Lyonesse
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arthurian Cycle
Means
"lioness" in Middle English. In Thomas Malory's 15th-century tale
Le Morte d'Arthur this is the name of a woman trapped in a castle by the Red Knight. Her sister
Lynet gains the help of the knight
Gareth in order to save her.
Lycurgus
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized), Ancient Greek (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Λυκοῦργος(Ancient Greek)
Latinized form of the Greek name
Λυκοῦργος (Lykourgos), derived from
λύκος (lykos) meaning "wolf" and
ἔργον (ergon) meaning "work, deed". In Greek legend this was the name of a king who was driven mad by the gods because of his impiety. This was also the name of a Spartan legislator of the 9th century BC.
Lycurgue
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Gallicized)
Lux
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: Various
Pronounced: LUKS(English)
Derived from Latin lux meaning "light".
Lusine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Armenian
Other Scripts: Լուսինե(Armenian)
Pronounced: loo-see-NEH
From Armenian
լուսին (lusin) meaning
"moon".
Lumina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Archaic)
Pronounced: LOO-mi-nə, loo-MEE-nə
Derived from Latin lumina "lights", ultimately from Latin lumen "light". In the English-speaking world, this name was first recorded in the 1800s.
Luigi
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: loo-EE-jee
Italian form of
Louis. It has been borne by five prime ministers of Italy since the 19th century. This is also the name of
Mario's brother in Nintendo video games (debuting 1983), called
ルイージ (Ruīji) in Japanese.
Ludoviko
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Esperanto
Pronounced: loo-do-VEE-ko
Esperanto form of
Ludwig. This is the Esperanto name of the philologist Ludwig Zamenhof (1859-1917), the creator of the Esperanto language.
Lucifer
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Judeo-Christian-Islamic Legend
Pronounced: LOO-si-fər(English)
Personal remark: Underrated. Used for my hero in "Shadows in the Moonlight"
Means
"bringing light", derived from Latin
lux "light" and
ferre "to bring". In Latin this name originally referred to the morning star, Venus, but later became associated with the chief angel who rebelled against God's rule in heaven (see
Isaiah 14:12). In later literature, such as the
Divine Comedy (1321) by Dante and
Paradise Lost (1667) by John Milton, Lucifer became associated with Satan himself.
Lucia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, German, Dutch, English, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Romanian, Slovak, Ancient Roman
Pronounced: loo-CHEE-a(Italian) LOO-tsya(German) loo-TSEE-a(German) LUY-see-ya(Dutch) LOO-shə(English) loo-SEE-ə(English) luy-SEE-a(Swedish) LOO-chya(Romanian) LOO-kee-a(Latin)
Feminine form of
Lucius.
Saint Lucia was a 4th-century martyr from Syracuse. She was said to have had her eyes gouged out, and thus she is the patron saint of the blind. She was widely revered in the Middle Ages, and her name has been used throughout Christian Europe (in various spellings). It has been used in the England since the 12th century, usually in the spellings
Lucy or
Luce.
Lorraine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: lə-RAYN
From the name of a region in eastern France, originally meaning "kingdom of
Lothar". Lothar was a Frankish king, the great-grandson of
Charlemagne, whose realm was in the part of France that is now called
Lorraine, or in German
Lothringen (from Latin
Lothari regnum). As a given name, it has been used in the English-speaking world since the late 19th century, perhaps due to its similar sound with
Laura. It became popular after World War I when the region was in the news, as it was contested between Germany and France.
Lomax
Usage: English
Pronounced: LO-maks
Lomax is a territorial surname, derived from the hamlet of Lumhalghs, near Bury, Greater Manchester, and meaning "pool nook" or "recess". Notable persons with the surname Lomax include: Alan Lomax (1915–2002) American musicologist, son of John Avery Lomax. English: variant of Loomis.
Lizzy
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: LIZ-ee
Lirael
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Central character in the fantasy novel by Garth Nix, the second in his Old Kingdom Trilogy. Lirael is daughter of the Abhorsen Terciel and the Clayr Arielle.
Lionel
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French, English, Arthurian Cycle
Pronounced: LYAW-NEHL(French) LIE-ə-nəl(English) LIE-nəl(English)
French
diminutive of
Léon. It appears in Arthurian legend in the 13th-century
Lancelot-Grail Cycle, belonging to a knight who was the brother of Sir
Bors. A notable modern bearer is the Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi (1987-).
Lex
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Dutch
Pronounced: LEHKS
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).
Leonardo
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Pronounced: leh-o-NAR-do(Italian) lee-ə-NAHR-do(English) leh-o-NAR-dho(Spanish)
Italian, Spanish and Portuguese form of
Leonard. A notable bearer was Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), an Italian artist and scientist of the Renaissance. He is known as the inventor of several contraptions, including flying machines, as well as the painter of the
Mona Lisa. Another famous bearer was Leonardo Fibonacci, a 13th-century Italian mathematician. A more recent bearer is American actor Leonardo DiCaprio (1974-).
Lawrence
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: LAWR-əns
Variant of
Laurence 1. This spelling of the name is now more common than
Laurence in the English-speaking world, probably because
Lawrence is the usual spelling of the surname. The surname was borne by the author and poet D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930), as well as the revolutionary T. E. Lawrence (1888-1935), who was known as Lawrence of Arabia.
Langarica
Usage: Basque (Hispanicized)
Pronounced: lan-ga-REE-ka
Lafcadio
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Obscure
Pronounced: ləf-KAH-dee-o(English)
After the Greek island of Lefkada (Λευκάδα) in the Ionian Sea. This was the name of Lafcadio Hearn, an international writer born in Lefkada and known for his writings about Japan (especially his collections of Japanese legends and ghost stories) and about the city of New Orleans.
Lafayette
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (American, Rare)
Pronounced: lə-fəy-ET(American English)
Transferred use of the surname
Lafayette. In the US, it was first used in the late 1700s as a masculine given name in honor of the Marquis de Lafayette, a hero of the American War of Independence (who also left his name in a city of west-central Indiana on the Wabash River northwest of Indianapolis).
Kristijonas
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Lithuanian
Kosmatka
Usage: Polish
Pronounced: kaws-MAT-ka
Derived from Polish kosmaty meaning "shaggy, hairy".
Kısmet
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Turkish
Pronounced: kus-MEHT
Means "fate" in Turkish, ultimately from Arabic.
Kipling
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: KIP-ling
From an English surname that was from a place name meaning "Cyppel's people". The surname was borne by Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), a British novelist born in India who wrote The Jungle Book and other works.
Kinga
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Polish, Hungarian
Pronounced: KEENG-ga(Polish) KEENG-gaw(Hungarian)
Kazuhiro
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Japanese
Pronounced: KAH-ZHOO-HEERO
Kattrin
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Coptic (Rare)
Other Scripts: Ⲕⲁⲧⲧⲣⲓⲛ(Coptic)
Katlego
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Tswana
Means "success, prosperity" in Tswana.
Kartallozi
Meaning unknown.
Jupiter
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Roman Mythology (Anglicized)
Pronounced: JOO-pi-tər(English)
From Latin
Iuppiter, which was ultimately derived from the vocative form of Indo-European *
Dyēws-pətēr, composed of the elements
Dyēws (see
Zeus) and
pətēr "father". Jupiter was the supreme god in Roman
mythology. He presided over the heavens and light, and was responsible for the protection and laws of the Roman state. This is also the name of the fifth and largest planet in the solar system.
Juozapas
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Lithuanian
Juno
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Roman Mythology
Pronounced: YOO-no(Latin) JOO-no(English)
Personal remark: The Jupiter mission.
Meaning unknown, possibly related to an Indo-European root meaning
"young", or possibly of Etruscan origin. In Roman
mythology Juno was the wife of
Jupiter and the queen of the heavens. She was the protectress of marriage and women, and was also the goddess of finance.
Juniper
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: JOON-i-pər
From the English word for the type of tree, derived ultimately from Latin iuniperus.
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.
Jules 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: ZHUYL
Personal remark: For Verne and Maigret.
French form of
Julius. A notable bearer of this name was the French novelist Jules Verne (1828-1905), author of
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and other works of science fiction.
Jowanet
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Cornish (Archaic)
Jody
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: JO-dee
Diminutive of
Josephine,
Joseph,
Joanna and other names beginning with
Jo. It was popularized by the young hero (a boy) in Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' novel
The Yearling (1938) and the subsequent film adaptation (1946). As a feminine name, it probably received an assist from the similar-sounding name
Judy, which was at the height of its American popularity when Jody was rising.
Jodoc
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Breton
Jodie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: JO-dee
Feminine variant of
Jody.
Jenifry
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Cornish
Pronounced: JEN-i-free
Jasmine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, French
Pronounced: JAZ-min(English) ZHAS-MEEN(French)
From the English word for the climbing plant with fragrant flowers that is used for making perfumes. It is derived via Arabic from Persian
یاسمین (yāsamīn), which is also a Persian name. In the United States this name steadily grew in popularity from the 1970s, especially among African Americans
[1]. It reached a peak in the early 1990s shortly after the release of the animated Disney movie
Aladdin (1992), which featured a princess by this name.
January
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: JAN-yoo-ehr-ee
From the name of the month, which was named for the Roman god
Janus. This name briefly charted on the American top 1000 list for girls after it was borne by the protagonist of Jacqueline Susann's novel
Once Is Not Enough (1973).
Janine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, English, Dutch, German
Pronounced: ZHA-NEEN(French) jə-NEEN(English) ya-NEE-nə(German)
Variant of
Jeannine. It has only been in use since the 20th century.
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.
Izrail
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Judeo-Christian-Islamic Legend
Other Scripts: عزرائيل(Arabic)
Izanami
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Japanese Mythology
Other Scripts: 伊邪那美(Japanese Kanji) いざなみ(Japanese Hiragana) イザナミ(Japanese Katakana)
Pronounced: EE-ZA-NA-MEE(Japanese)
Probably means
"female who invites" in Japanese, from
誘 (izana) meaning "invite, lure, attract". In Japanese
mythology she was a creator goddess, the wife of
Izanagi. She died giving birth to Kagutsuchi, the god of fire.
Iva 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Bulgarian, Croatian, Serbian
Other Scripts: Ива(Bulgarian, Serbian)
Means "willow tree" in South Slavic.
Israel
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Jewish, English, Spanish, Biblical, Biblical Greek [1]
Other Scripts: יִשְׂרָאֵל(Hebrew) Ἰσραήλ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: IZ-ray-əl(English) IZ-ree-əl(English) eez-ra-EHL(Spanish)
From the Hebrew name
יִשְׂרָאֵל (Yisraʾel) meaning
"God contends", from the roots
שָׂרָה (sara) meaning "to contend, to fight" and
אֵל (ʾel) meaning "God". In the
Old Testament, Israel (who was formerly named
Jacob; see
Genesis 32:28) wrestles with an angel. The ancient and modern states of Israel took their names from him.
Isidora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish, Serbian, Portuguese (Rare), Italian (Rare), English (Rare), Ancient Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Исидора(Serbian, Russian) Ἰσιδώρα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: ee-see-DHO-ra(Spanish) ee-zee-DAW-ra(Italian) iz-ə-DAWR-ə(English)
Feminine form of
Isidore. This was the name of a 4th-century Egyptian
saint and hermitess.
Isaias
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Biblical
Late Latin form of
Isaiah used in some versions of the Bible.
Isadora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Portuguese
Pronounced: iz-ə-DAWR-ə(English)
Variant of
Isidora. A famous bearer was the American dancer Isadora Duncan (1877-1927).
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)
Personal remark: For my favourite science-fiction writer Asimov
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).
Irma
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, English, Dutch, Finnish, Swedish, Danish, Spanish, Italian, Georgian, Lithuanian, Hungarian, Slovene, Germanic [1]
Other Scripts: ირმა(Georgian)
Pronounced: IR-ma(German, Dutch) UR-mə(English) EER-mah(Finnish) EER-ma(Spanish) EER-maw(Hungarian)
German short form of names beginning with the Old German element
irmin meaning
"whole, great" (Proto-Germanic *
ermunaz). It is thus related to
Emma. It began to be regularly used in the English-speaking world in the 19th century.
Io
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ἰώ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: EE-AW(Classical Greek) IE-o(English)
Meaning unknown. In Greek
mythology Io was a princess loved by
Zeus, who changed her into a heifer in order to hide her from
Hera. A moon of Jupiter bears this name in her honour.
Inanna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Sumerian Mythology
Other Scripts: 𒀭𒈹(Sumerian Cuneiform)
Pronounced: i-NAH-nə(English)
Possibly derived from Sumerian
nin-an-a(k) meaning
"lady of the heavens", from
𒎏 (nin) meaning "lady" and the genitive form of
𒀭 (an) meaning "heaven, sky". Inanna was the Sumerian goddess of love, fertility and war. She descended into the underworld where the ruler of that place, her sister
Ereshkigal, had her killed. The god
Enki interceded, and Inanna was allowed to leave the underworld as long as her husband
Dumuzi took her place.
Inanna was later conflated with the Semitic (Akkadian, Assyrian and Babylonian) deity Ishtar.
Imtiyaz
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic, Urdu
Other Scripts: امتياز(Arabic) امتیاز(Urdu)
Pronounced: eem-tee-YAZ(Arabic)
Means "distinction, privilege" in Arabic.
Imogen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (British)
Pronounced: IM-ə-jehn
The name of the daughter of King
Cymbeline in the play
Cymbeline (1609) by William Shakespeare. He based her on a legendary character named
Innogen, but it was printed incorrectly and never emended.
Innogen is probably derived from Gaelic
inghean meaning
"maiden". As a given name it is chiefly British and Australian.
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".
Igora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian (Rare), Croatian (Rare), South American (Rare)
Iarlaith
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish (Rare)
Pronounced: EER-lə
Hyacinth 2
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: HIE-ə-sinth
From the name of the flower (or the precious stone that also bears this name), ultimately from Greek
hyakinthos (see
Hyacinthus).
Hudson
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: HUD-sən
From an English surname meaning
"son of Hudde". A famous bearer of the surname was the English explorer Henry Hudson (1570-1611).
Horus
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Egyptian Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ὧρος(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: HAWR-əs(English)
Latinized form of
Ὧρος (Horos), the Greek form of Egyptian
ḥrw (reconstructed as
Heru and other forms) possibly from
ḥr "above, over" or
ḥrj "distant". In Egyptian
mythology Horus was a god of the sky and light, often depicted as a man with the head of a falcon. In some versions of the mythology he was the son of
Osiris and
Isis, and avenged his father's murder by killing his uncle
Seth.
Homer
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Ancient Greek (Anglicized)
Other Scripts: Ὅμηρος(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: HO-mər(English)
From the Greek name
Ὅμηρος (Homeros), derived from
ὅμηρος (homeros) meaning
"hostage, pledge". Homer was the Greek epic poet who wrote the
Iliad, about the Trojan War, and the
Odyssey, about
Odysseus's journey home after the war. There is some debate about when he lived, or if he was even a real person, though most scholars place him in the 8th century BC. In the modern era,
Homer has been used as a given name in the English-speaking world (chiefly in America) since the 18th century. This name is borne by the oafish cartoon father on the television series
The Simpsons.
Historia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Means "history" in Spanish.
This is the name of a character in the Japanese manga series Attack on Titan.
Hillary
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: HIL-ə-ree
Variant of
Hilary. A famous bearer of the surname was Edmund Hillary (1919-2008), the first man to climb Mount Everest. It is borne by the American politician Hillary Rodham Clinton (1947-). The name dropped in popularity in 1993 after she became the first lady as the wife of Bill Clinton.
Hilary
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: HIL-ə-ree
Personal remark: Predominantly Tolkien's brother.
Medieval English form of
Hilarius or
Hilaria. During the Middle Ages it was primarily a masculine name. It was revived in Britain at the beginning of the 20th century as a predominantly feminine name. In America, this name and the variant
Hillary seemed to drop in popularity after Hillary Clinton (1947-) became the first lady in 1993. Famous bearers include American actresses Hilary Swank (1974-) and Hilary Duff (1987-).
Hermione
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ἑρμιόνη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: HEHR-MEE-O-NEH(Classical Greek) hər-MIE-ə-nee(English)
Personal remark: An intelligent name. For Granger.
Derived from the name of the Greek messenger god
Hermes. In Greek
myth Hermione was the daughter of
Menelaus and
Helen. This is also the name of the wife of
Leontes in Shakespeare's play
The Winter's Tale (1610). It is now closely associated with the character Hermione Granger from the
Harry Potter series of books, first released in 1997.
Hercule
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: EHR-KUYL
Personal remark: For Poirot.
French form of
Hercules. It was used by the British writer Agatha Christie for the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, the protagonist in many of her mystery novels (debuting 1920).
Heracleitus
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Ancient Greek (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ἡράκλειτος(Ancient Greek)
Hellä
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: HEHL-la
Means "gentle, tender" in Finnish.
Heliotrope
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: HEE-lee-o-trope
Refers to a flowering plant (Heliotropium) whose tiny flowers range from white to blue or purple, and by extension the color, a pink-purple tint, inspired by the flower. It is derived from the Ancient Greek Ἥλιος (helios) "sun" and τροπεῖν (tropein) "to turn", because of the belief that heliotrope flowers turned to face the direction of the sun.
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.
Hazael
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: חֲזָאֵל(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: HAY-zee-əl(English) HAZ-ee-əl(English)
Means
"God sees" in Hebrew, from
חָזָה (ḥaza) meaning "to see" and
אֵל (ʾel) meaning "God". This is the name of a king of Aram in the
Old Testament.
Hathor
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Egyptian Mythology (Hellenized)
Other Scripts: Ἅθωρ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: HATH-awr(English)
Greek form of Egyptian
ḥwt-ḥrw (reconstructed as
Hut-Heru) meaning
"the house of Horus", derived from Egyptian
ḥwt "house" combined with the god
Horus. In Egyptian
mythology she was the goddess of love, often depicted with the head of a cow.
Hassan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Malay, Dhivehi
Other Scripts: حسن, حسّان(Arabic) حسن(Persian, Urdu) ޙަސަން(Dhivehi)
Pronounced: HA-san(Arabic) has-SAN(Arabic)
Most commonly this is a variant of the Arabic name
حسن, which is typically transcribed
Hasan.
Alternatively, this spelling can represent the distinct but related Arabic name حسّان (having a doubled middle consonant and a final long vowel) meaning "beautifier, improver". Hassan ibn Thabit was a 7th-century poet who was a companion of the Prophet Muhammad.
Harmony
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: HAHR-mə-nee
From the English word
harmony, ultimately deriving from Greek
ἁρμονία (harmonia).
Harlequin
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Popular Culture, English (Modern)
Pronounced: HAHR-lə-kwin
Refers to the comedic servant character of Italian
Commedia dell'arte. It is derived (via Old French) from Old English
Herla, a character often identified with Woden.
Historically it is a masculine concept, with Columbina being its feminine counterpart. However, in recent times it has seen feminine usage, most likely due to the villain Harley Quinn in various Batman stories (the character's real name being Harleen Frances Quinzel).
Halex
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Portuguese (Brazilian)
Pronounced: Ah léx(Brazilian Portuguese)
Haleigh
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: HAY-lee
Gunther
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Germanic Mythology
Pronounced: GUWN-tu(German)
From the Old German name
Gundahar, derived from the elements
gunda "war" and
heri "army" (making it a
cognate of
Gunnar). This was the name of a semi-legendary 5th-century Burgundian king. He appears in the medieval German saga the
Nibelungenlied, which has him wooing the Icelandic queen
Brunhild. He wins her hand in marriage with the help of the hero
Siegfried. He ultimately betrays Siegfried, but Siegfried's widow
Kriemhild (Gunther's sister) takes her revenge upon him.
This was also the name of an 11th-century saint who was a hermit in Bavaria and Bohemia.
Guinevere
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arthurian Cycle
Pronounced: GWIN-ə-vir(English)
From the Norman French form of the Welsh name
Gwenhwyfar meaning
"white phantom", ultimately from the old Celtic roots *
windos meaning "white" (modern Welsh
gwen) and *
sēbros meaning "phantom, magical being"
[1]. In Arthurian legend she was the beautiful wife of King
Arthur. According to the 12th-century chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth, she was seduced by
Mordred before the battle of Camlann, which led to the deaths of both Mordred and Arthur. According to the 12th-century French poet Chrétien de Troyes, she engaged in an adulterous affair with Sir
Lancelot.
The Cornish form of this name, Jennifer, has become popular in the English-speaking world.
Griselda
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Spanish, Literature
Pronounced: gri-ZEHL-də(English) gree-SEHL-da(Spanish)
Possibly derived from the Old German elements
gris "grey" and
hilt "battle". It is not attested as a Germanic name. This was the name of a patient wife in medieval folklore, adapted into tales by Boccaccio (in
The Decameron) and Chaucer (in
The Canterbury Tales).
Gretchen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, English
Pronounced: GREHT-khən(German) GRECH-ən(English)
Glover
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (American)
Transferred use of the surname
Glover.
Genevra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Various (Rare)
Genesis
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: JEHN-ə-sis
Means
"birth, origin" in Greek. This is the name of the first book of the
Old Testament in the Bible. It tells of the creation of the world, the expulsion of
Adam and
Eve,
Noah and the great flood, and the three patriarchs.
Garfield
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: GAHR-feeld
From a surname meaning "triangle field" in Old English. A famous bearer was American president James A. Garfield (1831-1881). It is now associated with the cat in Jim Davis's cartoon strip Garfield.
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).
Gallagher
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: GAL-ə-gər
From an Irish surname, the Anglicized form of Irish Gaelic
Ó Gallchobhair, derived from the given name
Gallchobhar.
Galileo
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian (Rare)
Pronounced: ga-lee-LEH-o
Personal remark: For (obviously) Galilei.
Medieval Italian name derived from Latin
galilaeus meaning
"Galilean, from Galilee". Galilee is a region in northern Israel, mentioned in the
New Testament as the site of several of
Jesus's miracles. It is derived from the Hebrew root
גָּלִיל (galil) meaning "district, roll".
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) was an important Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer. Both his name and surname were from an earlier 15th-century ancestor (a doctor).
Galadriel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: gə-LAD-ree-əl(English)
Personal remark: For the Elven Lady, and Willow's original name.
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.
Fritz
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German
Pronounced: FRITS
Frima
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Jewish, Yiddish
Pronounced: free-mah
Fridulf
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Germanic
Derived from Old High German fridu "peace" combined with Gothic vulfs "wolf."
Freyr
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Norse Mythology, Icelandic
Pronounced: FRAYR(English, Icelandic)
Means
"lord" in Old Norse, derived from the Germanic root *
fraujô. This is the name of a Norse god. He may have originally been called
Yngvi, with the name
Freyr being his title. Freyr is associated with fertility, sunlight and rain, and is the husband of the giantess
Gerd. With his twin sister
Freya and father
Njord he is one of the group of deities called the Vanir.
Freya
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Norse Mythology, English (Modern), German
Pronounced: FRAY-ə(English) FRAY-a(German)
From Old Norse
Freyja meaning
"lady". This is the name of a goddess associated with love, beauty, war and death in Norse
mythology. She claims half of the heroes who are slain in battle and brings them to her realm of Fólkvangr. Along with her brother
Freyr and father
Njord, she is one of the Vanir (as opposed to the Æsir). Some scholars connect her with the goddess
Frigg.
This is not the usual spelling in any of the Scandinavian languages (in Sweden and Denmark it is Freja and in Norway it is Frøja) but it is the common spelling of the goddess's name in English. In the 2000s it became popular in Britain.
Franny
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: FRAN-ee
Franklin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: FRANGK-lin
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).
Fox
Usage: English
Pronounced: FAHKS
From the name of the animal. It was originally a nickname for a person with red hair or a crafty person.
Fortuna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Roman Mythology
Pronounced: for-TOO-na(Latin)
Means
"luck" in Latin. In Roman
mythology this was the name of the personification of luck.
Forsythe
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Transferred use of the surname
Forsythe.
Fleance
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Theatre
A character in the play 'Macbeth' by William Shakespeare.
Fitz
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: FITS
Short form of various given names that are derived from surnames beginning with Norman French
fitz meaning
"son of" (for example
Fitzroy).
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.
Fido
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Pet
Pronounced: FIE-do(English)
From Latin fidus meaning "faithful". This a stereotypical name for dogs.
Ferelith
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Scottish (Rare), English (British, Rare)
Feolept
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Russian
Other Scripts: Феолепт(Russian)
Fenris
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Norse Mythology, Literature
Short form of the Old Norse
Fenrisúlfr (literally "
Fenrir-wolf"). The form Fenris Ulf was used for a talking wolf (originally named Maugrim) in the now defunct American edition of C. S. Lewis' 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'.
Felizitas
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German
Pronounced: feh-LEE-tsee-tas
Félix
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French, Spanish, Portuguese, Hungarian
Pronounced: FEH-LEEKS(French) FEH-leeks(Spanish, Portuguese, Hungarian)
French, Spanish, Portuguese and Hungarian form of
Felix.
Felinus
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Late Roman
Late Latin name meaning
"cat-like". This was the name of a possibly legendary
saint who was martyred with Gratian in the 3rd century.
Felicity
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: fə-LIS-i-tee
From the English word
felicity meaning
"happiness", which ultimately derives from Latin
felicitas "good luck". This was one of the virtue names adopted by the
Puritans around the 17th century. It can sometimes be used as an English form of the Latin name
Felicitas. This name jumped in popularity in the United States after the premiere of the television series
Felicity in 1998. It is more common in the United Kingdom.
Felicitas
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Late Roman, Roman Mythology, German, Spanish
Pronounced: feh-LEE-kee-tas(Latin) feh-LEE-tsee-tas(German) feh-lee-THEE-tas(European Spanish) feh-lee-SEE-tas(Latin American Spanish)
Latin name meaning
"good luck, fortune". In Roman
mythology the goddess Felicitas was the personification of good luck. It was borne by a 3rd-century
saint, a slave martyred with her master Perpetua in Carthage.
Félicien
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: FEH-LEE-SYEHN
February
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English (American, Rare)
The 2nd month of the year.
The name February comes from the Latin term "februum", meaning "purification". A purification ritual called Februa was held on February 15 in the Roman calendar.
Faulkner
Usage: English, Scottish
Pronounced: FAWK-nər(English)
Occupational name meaning "keeper of falcons", from Middle English and Scots faulcon, from Late Latin falco, of Germanic origin.
Eupraxia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Εὐπραξία(Ancient Greek)
From a Greek word meaning
"good conduct", derived from
εὖ (eu) meaning "good" and
πρᾶξις (praxis) meaning "action, exercise".
Euclid
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Ancient Greek (Anglicized)
Other Scripts: Εὐκλείδης(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: YOO-klid(English)
From the Greek name
Εὐκλείδης (Eukleides), derived from Greek
εὖ (eu) meaning "good" and
κλέος (kleos) meaning "glory" with the patronymic suffix
ἴδης (ides). This was the name of a 3rd-century BC Greek mathematician from Alexandria who made numerous contributions to geometry.
Esmeralda
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish, Portuguese, English, Albanian, Literature
Pronounced: ehz-meh-RAL-da(Spanish) izh-mi-RAL-du(European Portuguese) ehz-meh-ROW-du(Brazilian Portuguese) ehz-mə-RAHL-də(English)
Means "emerald" in Spanish and Portuguese. Victor Hugo used this name in his novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831), in which Esmeralda is the Romani girl who is loved by Quasimodo. It has occasionally been used in the English-speaking world since that time.
Esau
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Biblical, Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek [1]
Other Scripts: עֵשָׂו(Ancient Hebrew) Ἠσαῦ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: EE-saw(English)
From the Hebrew name
עֵשָׂו (ʿEsaw), which possibly meant
"hairy". In the
Old Testament Esau is the elder of the twin sons of
Isaac and
Rebecca. Once when he was very hungry he sold his birthright to his twin
Jacob for a bowl of stew. Later Jacob disguised himself as Esau and received the elder son's blessing from the blind Isaac. Esau, also called
Edom, was the ancestor of the Edomites.
Erasmus
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Late Greek (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ἔρασμος(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: i-RAZ-məs(English)
Derived from Greek
ἐράσμιος (erasmios) meaning
"beloved, desired".
Saint Erasmus, also known as Saint
Elmo, was a 4th-century martyr who is the patron saint of sailors. Erasmus was also the name of a Dutch scholar of the Renaissance period.
Endellion
Gender: Feminine
Usage: History (Ecclesiastical)
Pronounced: ehn-DEHL-ee-ən(English)
Anglicized form of
Endelienta, the Latin form of a Welsh or Cornish name. It was borne by a 5th or 6th-century Cornish
saint whose birth name is lost. According to some traditions she was a daughter of
Brychan Brycheiniog (identifying her with Cynheiddon).
Emmuska
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hungarian
Pronounced: EM-moosh-ka
Diminutive of
Emma. The novelist Baroness Emma "Emmuska" Orczy (1865-1947) wrote
The Scarlet Pimpernel series.
Emilian
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Romanian, Polish
Pronounced: eh-MEE-lyan(Polish)
Personal remark: My former detective, Romanian subject E. Lupei.
Romanian and Polish form of
Aemilianus (see
Emiliano).
Emerald
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: EHM-ə-rəld
From the word for the green precious stone, which is the traditional birthstone of May. The emerald supposedly imparts love to the bearer. The word is ultimately from Greek
σμάραγδος (smaragdos).
Elyon
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Hebrew (Rare)
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.
Elowen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Cornish
Means "elm tree" in Cornish. This is a recently coined Cornish name.
Elisheba
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: אֱלִישֶׁבַע(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: ə-LISH-i-bə(English)
Elis
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Swedish, Medieval English
Pronounced: EH-lis(Swedish)
Swedish variant of
Elias, as well as a medieval English form.
Elijah
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Hebrew, Biblical
Other Scripts: אֱלִיָּהוּ(Hebrew)
Pronounced: i-LIE-jə(English) i-LIE-zhə(English)
From the Hebrew name
אֱלִיָּהוּ (ʾEliyyahu) meaning
"my God is Yahweh", derived from the roots
אֵל (ʾel) and
יָהּ (yah), both referring to the Hebrew God. Elijah was a Hebrew prophet and miracle worker, as told in the two Books of Kings in the
Old Testament. He was active in the 9th century BC during the reign of King
Ahab of Israel and his Phoenician-born queen
Jezebel. Elijah confronted the king and queen over their idolatry of the Canaanite god
Ba'al and other wicked deeds. At the end of his life he was carried to heaven in a chariot of fire, and was succeeded by
Elisha. In the
New Testament, Elijah and
Moses appear next to
Jesus when he is transfigured.
Because Elijah was a popular figure in medieval tales, and because his name was borne by a few early saints (who are usually known by the Latin form Elias), the name came into general use during the Middle Ages. In medieval England it was usually spelled Elis. It died out there by the 16th century, but it was revived by the Puritans in the form Elijah after the Protestant Reformation. The name became popular during the 1990s and 2000s, especially in America where it broke into the top ten in 2016.
El-Ghazzawy
Usage: Arabic
Other Scripts: الغزّاوي(Arabic)
Elektra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ἠλέκτρα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: EH-LEHK-TRA(Classical Greek)
Electra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ἠλέκτρα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: i-LEHK-trə(English)
Latinized form of Greek
Ἠλέκτρα (Elektra), derived from
ἤλεκτρον (elektron) meaning
"amber". In Greek
myth she was the daughter of
Agamemnon and
Clytemnestra and the sister of
Orestes. She helped her brother kill their mother and her lover Aegisthus in vengeance for Agamemnon's murder. Also in Greek mythology, this name was borne by one of the Pleiades, who were the daughters of
Atlas and
Pleione.
Elanna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Eifion
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh
Pronounced: AY-vyawn
From an Old Welsh given name of unknown meaning, the source of the place name Eifionydd (also called Eifion) in northwestern Wales. This name was revived in the 19th century, probably via the place name.
Egon
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German
Pronounced: EH-gawn
Personal remark: Zack Scott's second cat.
From the Old German name
Egino, derived from the element
agin meaning
"edge, blade" (from Proto-Germanic *
agjō).
Saint Egino was a 12th-century abbot from Augsburg.
Edmond
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French, Albanian
Pronounced: EHD-MAWN(French)
French and Albanian form of
Edmund. A notable bearer was the English astronomer Edmond Halley (1656-1742), for whom Halley's comet is named.
Edison
Usage: English
Pronounced: EHD-i-sən
Means
"son of Eda 2" or
"son of Adam". The surname was borne by American inventor Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931).
Dragomir
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Serbian, Croatian, Bulgarian, Slovene, Romanian
Other Scripts: Драгомир(Serbian, Bulgarian)
Derived from the Slavic element
dorgŭ (South Slavic
drag) meaning "precious" combined with
mirŭ meaning "peace, world".
Dimitri
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Russian, Georgian, French
Other Scripts: Димитрий(Russian) დიმიტრი(Georgian)
Pronounced: dyi-MYEE-tryee(Russian) DEE-MEE-TREE(Georgian, French)
Russian variant of
Dmitriy, as well as the Georgian form.
Dextra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Destiny
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: DEHS-ti-nee
Means simply "destiny, fate" from the English word, ultimately from Latin destinare "to determine", a derivative of stare "to stand". It has been used as a given name in the English-speaking world only since the last half of the 20th century.
Delphine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: DEHL-FEEN
Delilah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical, English
Other Scripts: דְּלִילָה(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: di-LIE-lə(English)
Means
"delicate, weak, languishing" in Hebrew. In the
Old Testament she is the lover of
Samson, whom she betrays to the Philistines by cutting his hair, which is the source of his power. Despite her character flaws, the name began to be used by the
Puritans in the 17th century. It has been used occasionally in the English-speaking world since that time.
Darwin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: DAHR-win
From a surname that was derived from the Old English given name
Deorwine. The surname was borne by the British naturalist Charles Darwin (1809-1882), the man who first proposed the theory of natural selection and subsequently revolutionized biology.
D'Artagnan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Literature
Means "from Artagnan" in French, Artagnan being a town in southwestern France. This was the name of a character in the novel The Three Musketeers (1884) by Alexandre Dumas. In the novel D'Artagnan is an aspiring musketeer who first duels with the three title characters and then becomes their friend.
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.
Dafina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Albanian, Bulgarian, Macedonian
Other Scripts: Дафина(Bulgarian, Macedonian)
Means "laurel" in Albanian, Bulgarian and Macedonian, of Greek origin.
Daffodil
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: DAF-ə-dil
From the name of the flower, ultimately derived from Dutch de affodil meaning "the asphodel".
Crystal
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KRIS-təl
From the English word
crystal for the clear, colourless glass, sometimes cut into the shape of a gemstone. The English word derives ultimately from Greek
κρύσταλλος (krystallos) meaning "ice". It has been in use as a given name since the 19th century.
Crow
From Middle English crow, Old English crawa, applied as a nickname for someone with dark hair or a dark complexion or for someone thought to resemble the bird in some other way.
Crescens
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Late Roman, Biblical Latin
Latin name that was derived from
crescere "to grow". This name is mentioned briefly in one of
Paul's epistles in the
New Testament.
Confucius
Gender: Masculine
Usage: History
Pronounced: kən-FYOO-shəs(English)
Anglicized form of the Chinese name
Kong Fuzi. The surname
孔 (Kong) means "hole, opening" and the title
夫子 (Fuzi) means "master". This was the name of a 6th-century BC Chinese philosopher. His given name was
Qiu.
Clifford
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KLIF-ərd
From a surname that was originally from a place name meaning "ford by a cliff" in Old English.
Cleopatra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Greek (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Κλεοπάτρα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: klee-o-PAT-rə(English)
Personal remark: Obvious, isn't it?
From the Greek name
Κλεοπάτρα (Kleopatra) meaning
"glory of the father", derived from
κλέος (kleos) meaning "glory" combined with
πατήρ (pater) meaning "father" (genitive
πατρός). This was the name of queens of Egypt from the Ptolemaic royal family, including Cleopatra VII, the mistress of both Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. After being defeated by Augustus she committed suicide (according to popular belief, by allowing herself to be bitten by a venomous asp). Shakespeare's tragedy
Antony and Cleopatra (1606) tells the story of her life.
Chil-hyeon
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Korean
Other Scripts: 칠현(Korean Hangul)
Pronounced: CHEEL-HYUN
From Sino-Korean 七 "seven" and 炫 "shine, glitter; show off, flaunt".
Charlemagne
Gender: Masculine
Usage: History
Pronounced: SHAHR-lə-mayn(English)
Personal remark: Usable and historic.
From Old French
Charles le Magne meaning
"Charles the Great". This is the name by which the Frankish king Charles the Great (742-814) is commonly known.
Charisandros
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Ancient Greek
Other Scripts: Χαρίσανδρος(Ancient Greek)
The first element of this name is derived from Greek χαρις (charis) meaning "grace, kindness". The second element is derived from Greek ανδρος (andros) "of a man", although there is one source that claims that in this name, the second element is derived from Greek ἀνδρεία (andreia) meaning "courage" as well as "manliness".
Chandra
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Hinduism, Bengali, Assamese, Hindi, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Nepali
Other Scripts: चन्द्र, चन्द्रा(Sanskrit, Hindi, Nepali) চন্দ্র(Bengali) চন্দ্ৰ(Assamese) चंद्रा(Marathi) చంద్ర(Telugu) சந்திரா(Tamil) ಚಂದ್ರ(Kannada)
Pronounced: CHAWND-ro(Bengali)
Means
"moon" in Sanskrit, derived from
चन्द (cand) meaning "to shine". This is a transcription of both the masculine form
चण्ड (the god of the moon personified) as well as the feminine form
चण्डा (spelled with a long final vowel).
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".
Celestina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish, Italian
Pronounced: theh-lehs-TEE-na(European Spanish) seh-lehs-TEE-na(Latin American Spanish) cheh-leh-STEE-na(Italian)
Celestia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: sə-LEHS-tee-ə
Celeste
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, English
Pronounced: cheh-LEH-steh(Italian) theh-LEHS-teh(European Spanish) seh-LEHS-teh(Latin American Spanish) sə-LEST(English)
Italian feminine and masculine form of
Caelestis. It is also the Portuguese, Spanish and English feminine form.
Cecily
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: SEHS-ə-lee
English form of
Cecilia. This was the usual English form during the Middle Ages.
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.
Cecil
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: SEE-səl, SEHS-əl
From the Roman name
Caecilius. Though it was in use during the Middle Ages in England, it did not become common until the 19th century when it was given in honour of the noble Cecil family, who had been prominent since the 16th century. Their surname was derived from the Welsh given name
Seisyll, which was derived from the Roman name
Sextilius, a derivative of
Sextus.
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.
Carwyn
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh
Derived from Welsh
caru "to love" and
gwyn "white, blessed". This name was created in the 20th century
[1].
Carmel
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English, Jewish
Other Scripts: כַּרְמֶל(Hebrew)
Pronounced: KAHR-məl(English) KAR-məl(English)
From the title of the Virgin
Mary Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
כַּרְמֶל (Karmel) (meaning "garden" in Hebrew) is a mountain in Israel mentioned in the
Old Testament. It was the site of several early Christian monasteries. As an English given name, it has mainly been used by Catholics. As a Jewish name it is unisex.
Caractacus
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Old Celtic (Latinized), English (British, Rare, Archaic)
Canaan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: ךְּנַעַן(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: KAY-nən(English)
From
ךְּנַעַן (Kenaʿan), the Hebrew name of the ancient region of Canaan, which was possibly derived from a root meaning
"low, humble". In the
Old Testament this is the name of a son of
Ham. He is said to be the ancestor and namesake of the Canaanite peoples.
Calypso
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Καλυψώ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: kə-LIP-so(English)
From Greek
Καλυψώ (Kalypso), which probably meant
"she that conceals", derived from
καλύπτω (kalypto) meaning "to cover, to conceal". In Greek
myth this was the name of the nymph who fell in love with
Odysseus after he was shipwrecked on her island of Ogygia. When he refused to stay with her she detained him for seven years until
Zeus ordered her to release him.
Calanthe
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: kə-LAN-thee
From the name of a type of orchid, ultimately meaning "beautiful flower", derived from Greek
καλός (kalos) meaning "beautiful" and
ἄνθος (anthos) meaning "flower".
Caesar
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Ancient Roman
Pronounced: KIE-sar(Latin) SEE-zər(English)
From a Roman
cognomen that possibly meant
"hairy", from Latin
caesaries "hair". Julius Caesar and his adopted son Julius Caesar Octavianus (commonly known as Augustus) were both rulers of the Roman Empire in the 1st century BC.
Caesar was used as a title by the emperors that came after them.
Britannia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
From the Latin name of the island of
Britain, in occasional use as an English given name since the 18th century. This is also the name of the Roman female personification of Britain pictured on some British coins.
Briar
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: BRIE-ər
From the English word for the thorny plant.
Branimir
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Croatian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Slovene
Other Scripts: Бранимир(Serbian, Bulgarian)
Derived from the Slavic element
borna "protection" combined with
mirŭ "peace, world".
Blinx
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Popular Culture
A phonetic rendering of the English word "blinks". Used by the eponymous feline main character of the Xbox game 'Blinx: The Time Sweeper".
Bernard
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, Dutch, Polish, Croatian, Slovene, Czech, Germanic [1]
Pronounced: bər-NAHRD(American English) BU-nəd(British English) BEHR-NAR(French) BEHR-nahrt(Dutch) BEHR-nart(Polish, Croatian, Czech)
Derived from the Old German element
bern "bear" combined with
hart "hard, firm, brave, hardy". The
Normans brought it to England, where it replaced the Old English
cognate Beornheard. This was the name of several
saints, including Saint Bernard of Menthon who built hospices in the Swiss Alps in the 10th century, and Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, a 12th-century theologian and Doctor of the Church. Other famous bearers include the Irish playwright and essayist George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) and the British World War II field marshal Bernard Montgomery (1887-1976).
Beatrix
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Hungarian, Dutch, English, Late Roman
Pronounced: beh-A-triks(German) BEH-a-triks(German) BEH-aw-treeks(Hungarian) BEH-ya-triks(Dutch) BEE-ə-triks(English) BEE-triks(English)
Probably from
Viatrix, a feminine form of the Late Latin name
Viator meaning
"voyager, traveller". It was a common name amongst early Christians, and the spelling was altered by association with Latin
beatus "blessed, happy". Viatrix or Beatrix was a 4th-century
saint who was strangled to death during the persecutions of Diocletian.
In England the name became rare after the Middle Ages, but it was revived in the 19th century, more commonly in the spelling Beatrice. Famous bearers include the British author and illustrator Beatrix Potter (1866-1943), the creator of Peter Rabbit, and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands (1938-).
Bastet
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Egyptian Mythology
Pronounced: BAS-teht(English)
From Egyptian
bꜣstt, which was possibly derived from
bꜣs meaning
"ointment jar" and a feminine
t suffix. In Egyptian
mythology Bastet was a goddess of cats, fertility and the sun who was considered a protector of Lower Egypt. In early times she was typically depicted with the head of a lioness. By the New Kingdom period she was more associated with domestic cats, while the similar cat goddess
Sekhmet took on the fierce lioness aspect.
Basileia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Greek, Greek Mythology, Theatre
Other Scripts: Βασίλεια(Ancient Greek)
Bashkim
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Albanian
From Albanian bashkë meaning "together".
Bartholomew
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Biblical
Pronounced: bahr-THAHL-ə-myoo(English)
English form of
Βαρθολομαῖος (Bartholomaios), which was the Greek form of an Aramaic name meaning
"son of Talmai". In the
New Testament Bartholomew is the byname of an apostle, possibly the same person as the apostle
Nathanael. According to tradition he was a missionary to India before returning westward to Armenia, where he was martyred by flaying. Due to the popularity of this
saint the name became common in England during the Middle Ages.
Barthevian
Usage: Armenian (Anglicized, Rare)
Pronounced: bar-TAY-vee-ahn
Barnabas
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German (Rare), English (Rare), Biblical, Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Βαρναβᾶς(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: BAR-na-bas(German) BAHR-nə-bəs(English)
Greek form of an Aramaic name. In Acts in the
New Testament the byname Barnabas was given to a man named
Joseph, a Jew from Cyprus who was a companion of
Paul on his missionary journeys. The original Aramaic form is unattested, but it may be from
בּר נביא (bar navi) meaning
"son of the prophet", though in
Acts 4:36 it is claimed that the name means
"son of encouragement".
As an English name, Barnabas came into occasional use after the 12th century. It is now rare, though the variant Barnaby is still moderately common in Britain.
Bahargül
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Turkmen
Derived from Turkmen bahar meaning "spring" and gül meaning "flower, rose" (both roots ultimately of Persian origin).
Azrael
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Judeo-Christian-Islamic Legend
Variant of
Azarel. This is the name of an angel in Jewish and Islamic tradition who separates the soul from the body upon death. He is sometimes referred to as the Angel of Death.
Azariah
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: עֲזַרְיָה(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: az-ə-RIE-ə(English)
From the Hebrew name
עֲזַרְיָה (ʿAzarya) meaning
"Yahweh has helped", derived from
עָזַר (ʿazar) meaning "help" and
יָהּ (yah) referring to the Hebrew God. This is the name of many
Old Testament characters including of one of the three men the Babylonian king ordered cast into a fiery furnace. His Babylonian name was
Abednego.
Atalanta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ἀταλάντη(Ancient Greek)
From the Greek
Ἀταλάντη (Atalante) meaning
"equal in weight", derived from
ἀτάλαντος (atalantos), a word related to
τάλαντον (talanton) meaning "a scale, a balance". In Greek legend she was a fast-footed maiden who refused to marry anyone who could not beat her in a race. She was eventually defeated by Hippomenes, who dropped three golden apples during the race causing her to stop to pick them up.
Astrophel
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Literature
Probably intended to mean "star lover", from Greek
ἀστήρ (aster) meaning "star" and
φίλος (philos) meaning "lover, friend". This name was first used by the 16th-century poet Philip Sidney in his collection of sonnets
Astrophel and Stella.
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.
Astraea
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ἀστραία(Ancient Greek)
Latinized form of the Greek
Ἀστραία (Astraia), derived from Greek
ἀστήρ (aster) meaning
"star". Astraea was a Greek goddess of justice and innocence. After wickedness took root in the world she left the earth and became the constellation Virgo.
Asena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Romani
Either an adoption of Turkish
Asena or a corruption of
Asenath.
Arthur
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Welsh Mythology, Arthurian Cycle
Pronounced: AHR-thər(English) AR-TUYR(French) AR-tuwr(German) AHR-tuyr(Dutch)
The meaning of this name is unknown. It could be derived from the Celtic elements *
artos "bear" (Old Welsh
arth) combined with *
wiros "man" (Old Welsh
gur) or *
rīxs "king" (Old Welsh
ri). Alternatively it could be related to an obscure Roman family name
Artorius.
Arthur is the name of the central character in Arthurian legend, a 6th-century king of the Britons who resisted Saxon invaders. He may or may not have been based on a real person. He first appears in Welsh poems and chronicles (perhaps briefly in the 7th-century poem Y Gododdin and more definitively and extensively in the 9th-century History of the Britons [1]). However, his character was not developed until the chronicles of the 12th-century Geoffrey of Monmouth [2]. His tales were later taken up and expanded by French and English writers.
The name came into general use in England in the Middle Ages due to the prevalence of Arthurian romances, and it enjoyed a surge of popularity in the 19th century. Famous bearers include German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), mystery author and Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), and science-fiction author Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008).
Artemon
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Ancient Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Ἀρτέμων(Ancient Greek)
Derived from the name of the Greek goddess
Artemis.
Artemius
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Ancient Greek (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ἀρτέμιος(Ancient Greek)
Artemisia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Ἀρτεμισία(Ancient Greek)
Feminine form of
Artemisios. This was the name of the 4th-century BC builder of the Mausoleum, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. She built it in memory of her husband, the Carian prince Mausolus.
Arsène
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: AR-SEHN
Personal remark: For Lupin.
Aristotle
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Ancient Greek (Anglicized)
Other Scripts: Ἀριστοτέλης(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: AR-i-staht-əl(English)
From the Greek name
Ἀριστοτέλης (Aristoteles) meaning
"the best purpose", derived from
ἄριστος (aristos) meaning "best" and
τέλος (telos) meaning "purpose, result, completion". This was the name of a Greek philosopher of the 4th century BC who made lasting contributions to Western thought, including the fields of logic, metaphysics, ethics and biology.
Aries
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Astronomy
Pronounced: A-ree-ehs(Latin) EHR-eez(English)
Means
"ram" in Latin. This is the name of a constellation and the first sign of the zodiac. Some Roman legends state that the ram in the constellation was the one who supplied the Golden Fleece sought by
Jason.
Aquila
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Biblical, Ancient Roman
Pronounced: AK-wil-ə(English) ə-KWIL-ə(English)
April
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AY-prəl
From the name of the month, probably originally derived from Latin aperire "to open", referring to the opening of flowers. It has only been commonly used as a given name since the 1940s.
Andrzej
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Polish
Pronounced: AN-jay
Andraste
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Celtic Mythology (Hellenized)
Other Scripts: Ἀνδράστη(Ancient Greek)
Possibly means
"invincible" in Celtic. According to the Greco-Roman historian Cassius Dio
[1], this was the name of a Briton goddess of victory who was invoked by
Boudicca before her revolt.
Ameqran
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Berber
Other Scripts: ⴰⵎⴻⵇⵔⴰⵏ(Tifinagh)
Means "large, great" in Tamazight.
Amédée
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: A-MEH-DEH
Personal remark: My current pseudonym, A. Rodolphe Lupien
Amadej
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Slovene
Alterstein
Means "old stone" in German.
Alphonse
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: AL-FAWNS
Allannah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: ə-LAN-ə
Aliénor
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: A-LYEH-NAWR
Alice
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, French, Portuguese, Italian, German, Czech, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Dutch
Pronounced: AL-is(English) A-LEES(French) u-LEE-si(European Portuguese) a-LEE-see(Brazilian Portuguese) a-LEE-cheh(Italian) a-LEES(German) A-li-tseh(Czech)
From the Old French name
Aalis, a short form of
Adelais, itself a short form of the Germanic name
Adalheidis (see
Adelaide). This name became popular in France and England in the 12th century. It was among the most common names in England until the 16th century, when it began to decline. It was revived in the 19th century.
This name was borne by the heroine of Lewis Carroll's novels Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking Glass (1871).
Alexander
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Hungarian, Slovak, Biblical, Ancient Greek (Latinized), Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ἀλέξανδρος(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: al-ig-ZAN-dər(English) a-leh-KSAN-du(German) a-lehk-SAHN-dər(Dutch) a-lehk-SAN-dehr(Swedish, Latin) A-lehk-san-tehr(Icelandic) AW-lehk-sawn-dehr(Hungarian) A-lehk-san-dehr(Slovak)
Personal remark: My own name, of which I am proud of.
Latinized form of the Greek name
Ἀλέξανδρος (Alexandros), which meant
"defending men" from Greek
ἀλέξω (alexo) meaning "to defend, help" and
ἀνήρ (aner) meaning "man" (genitive
ἀνδρός). In Greek
mythology this was another name of the hero
Paris, and it also belongs to several characters in the
New Testament. However, the most famous bearer was Alexander the Great, king of Macedon. In the 4th century BC he built a huge empire out of Greece, Egypt, Persia, and parts of India. Due to his fame, and later medieval tales involving him, use of his name spread throughout Europe.
The name has been used by kings of Scotland, Poland and Yugoslavia, emperors of Russia, and eight popes. Other notable bearers include English poet Alexander Pope (1688-1744), American statesman Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804), Scottish-Canadian explorer Alexander MacKenzie (1764-1820), Russian poet Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837), and Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922), the Scottish-Canadian-American inventor of the telephone.
Aleksandro
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Esperanto
Pronounced: a-lehk-SAN-dro
Aleister
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AL-ə-stər
Variant of
Alister. According to Aleister Crowley (1875-1947), born Edward Alexander Crowley, this is "the Gaelic form of
Alexander".
Aldous
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: AWL-dəs
Probably a
diminutive of names beginning with the Old English element
eald "old". It has been in use as an English given name since the Middle Ages, mainly in East Anglia
[1]. The British author Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) was a famous bearer of this name.
Alchemy
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English (Modern, Rare)
Pronounced: AL-kə-mee
From the English noun
alchemy referring to "the causing of any sort of mysterious sudden transmutation" or "the ancient search for a universal panacea, and of the philosopher's stone, that eventually developed into chemistry", which ultimately comes from Greek χυμεία
(chymeia) "art of alloying metals, alchemy" via Arabic
al-kimiya (the source also of Persian
Kimiya).
Alban
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, French, Albanian, English (Rare)
Pronounced: AL-ban(German) AL-BAHN(French) AL-bən(English) AWL-bən(English)
From the Roman
cognomen Albanus, which meant
"from Alba". Alba (from Latin
albus "white") was the name of various places within the Roman Empire, including the city Alba Longa. This name was borne by
Saint Alban, the first British martyr (4th century). According to tradition, he sheltered a fugitive priest in his house. When his house was searched, he disguised himself as the priest, was arrested in his stead, and was beheaded. Another 4th-century martyr by this name was Saint Alban of Mainz.
As an English name, Alban was occasionally used in the Middle Ages and was revived in the 18th century, though it is now uncommon.
Aishwarya
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil
Other Scripts: ऐश्वर्या(Hindi, Marathi) ಐಶ್ವರ್ಯಾ(Kannada) ഐശ്വര്യ(Malayalam) ஐசுவரியா(Tamil)
From Sanskrit
ऐश्वर्य (aiśvarya) meaning
"prosperity, wealth". A famous bearer is the Indian actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (1973-).
Ahmed
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Turkish, Bosnian, Dhivehi, Bengali, Arabic, Urdu, Pashto
Other Scripts: އަޙްމަދު(Dhivehi) আহমেদ(Bengali) أحمد(Arabic) احمد(Urdu, Pashto)
Pronounced: ah-MEHD(Turkish) AH-mad(Arabic) UH-məd(Urdu)
Variant of
Ahmad. This was the name of three Ottoman sultans.
Agnes
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Estonian, Late Greek (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ἅγνη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: AG-nis(English) AK-nəs(German) AHKH-nehs(Dutch) ANG-nehs(Swedish) OW-nes(Danish)
Latinized form of the Greek name
Ἅγνη (Hagne), derived from Greek
ἁγνός (hagnos) meaning
"chaste".
Saint Agnes was a virgin martyred during the persecutions of the Roman emperor Diocletian. The name became associated with Latin
agnus "lamb", resulting in the saint's frequent depiction with a lamb by her side. Due to her renown, the name became common in Christian Europe.
As an English name it was highly popular from the Middle Ages until the 17th century. It was revived in the 19th century and was common into the 20th, but it fell into decline after the 1930s. It last appeared on the American top 1000 rankings in 1972.
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.
Aeryn
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Popular Culture, English
Pronounced: AI-rin(Popular Culture)
Variant of
Erin. Aeryn is one of the female aliens on the show Farscape.
Aeronwen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh (Rare)
Combination of
Aeron and the Welsh element
gwen meaning "white, blessed".
Æon
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Popular Culture
Pronounced: EE-ahn
Used by animator Peter Chung for his character Æon Flux, from the name of a type of spirit being in Gnosticism, an emanation from the Godhead, ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European base meaning "vital force, life, long life, eternity".
In Greek mythology this was an alternative name of the god Chronos.
Adonijah
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: אֲדֹנִיָה(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: ad-ə-NIE-jə(English)
Means
"my lord is Yahweh" in Hebrew, from
אָדוֹן (ʾaḏon) meaning "lord, master" and
יָהּ (yah) referring to the Hebrew God. This is the name of one of King
David's sons in the
Old Testament. Though he was the eldest surviving son of David, he was passed over as heir to the throne in favour of
Solomon.
Adolphe
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: A-DAWLF
French form of
Adolf, rarely used since World War II.
Adelaide
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Portuguese
Pronounced: A-də-layd(English) a-deh-LIE-deh(Italian) a-di-LIE-di(European Portuguese) a-di-LIED(European Portuguese) a-deh-LIE-jee(Brazilian Portuguese)
Means
"nobleness, nobility", from the French form of the Germanic name
Adalheidis, which was composed of
adal "noble" and the suffix
heit "kind, sort, type". It was borne in the 10th century by
Saint Adelaide, the wife of the Holy Roman emperor Otto the Great.
In Britain the parallel form Alice, derived via Old French, has historically been more common than Adelaide, though this form did gain some currency in the 19th century due to the popularity of the German-born wife of King William IV, for whom the city of Adelaide in Australia was named in 1836.
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).
Ada 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Spanish, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Finnish, Germanic [1]
Pronounced: AY-də(English) A-dha(Spanish) A-da(Polish) AH-dah(Finnish)
Originally a short form of Germanic names such as
Adelaide or
Adelina that begin with the element
adal meaning "noble".
Saint Ada was a 7th-century Frankish abbess at Le Mans. This name was also borne by Augusta Ada King (1815-1852), the Countess of Lovelace (known as Ada Lovelace), a daughter of Lord Byron. She was an assistant to Charles Babbage, the inventor of an early mechanical computer.
Achilles
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized), Ancient Greek (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ἀχιλλεύς(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: ə-KIL-eez(English) a-KEEL-lehs(Latin)
From the Greek
Ἀχιλλεύς (Achilleus), which is of unknown meaning, perhaps derived from Greek
ἄχος (achos) meaning
"pain" or else from the name of the Achelous River. This was the name of a warrior in Greek legend, one of the central characters in
Homer's
Iliad. The bravest of the Greek heroes in the war against the Trojans, he was eventually killed by an arrow to his heel, the only vulnerable part of his body.
This name was sometimes used as a personal name, and was borne by a few early saints, including a Roman soldier martyred with Nereus in the 1st century.
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