NamingCharacters's Personal Name List

Verna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: VUR-nə
Personal remark: Paired with Laverne
Rating: 50% based on 2 votes
Feminine form of Vernon, sometimes associated with the Latin word vernus "spring". It has been in use since the 19th century.
Oleander
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Greek (Rare), English (Rare)
Pronounced: AW-lee-an-der(Greek)
Rating: 50% based on 3 votes
The name Oleander originated as an Greek name. In Greek, the name Oleander means "an evergreen tree."
The origin of the name was said to have come from a young man whose ardour to his Lady Love ended in a tragedy. The young man was named Leander, and his precious lady longing for his love shouting with such forlorn “O Leander!”, “O Leander!” in the banks, until finally he was found. And clasped in his hands were sweet flowers, who have become a symbol of everlasting love, known as oleanders.


Possibly taken from the plant family, Nerium oleander (flowering shrub known as oleanders), Cascabela thevetia (yellow oleander), Acacia neriifolia (oleander wattle); or a species of moth, Daphnis nerii (oleander hawk-moth).


In the complex language of love practiced during the time of Queen Victoria, the Oleander flower means caution.


A diminutive use of Oleander could be Ollie, Lee, Lee-Ann, or Anders.

Lorelei
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature, English
Pronounced: LAWR-ə-lie(English)
Personal remark: Paired with Lachlan
Rating: 75% based on 2 votes
From German Loreley, the name of a rock headland on the Rhine River. It is of uncertain meaning, though the second element is probably old German ley meaning "rock" (of Celtic origin). German romantic poets and songwriters, beginning with Clemens Brentano in 1801, tell that a maiden named the Lorelei lives on the rock and lures boaters to their death with her song.

In the English-speaking world this name has been occasionally given since the early 20th century. It started rising in America after the variant Lorelai was used for the main character (and her daughter, nicknamed Rory) on the television series Gilmore Girls (2000-2007).

Leland
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Personal remark: Paired with Harlan
Rating: 0% based on 2 votes
From a surname, originally from an English place name, which meant "fallow land" in Old English. A famous bearer was the politician, businessman and Stanford University founder Leland Stanford (1824-1893).
Laverne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: lə-VURN
Personal remark: Paired with Verna
Rating: 50% based on 2 votes
From a French surname that was derived from a place name, ultimately from the Gaulish word vern "alder". It is sometimes associated with the Roman goddess Laverna or the Latin word vernus "of spring".
Lachlan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish, English
Pronounced: LAKH-lən(Scottish) LAWK-lən(British English) LAK-lən(American English)
Personal remark: Paired with Lorelei
Rating: 67% based on 3 votes
Anglicized form of Lachlann, the Scottish Gaelic form of Lochlainn. In the English-speaking world, this name was especially popular in Australia towards the end of the 20th century.
Harlan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: HAHR-lən
Personal remark: Paired with Leland
Rating: 33% based on 3 votes
From a surname that was from a place name meaning "hare land" in Old English. In America it has sometimes been given in honour of Supreme Court justice John Marshall Harlan (1833-1911).
Avis
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AY-vis
Rating: 50% based on 3 votes
Probably a Latinized form of the Germanic name Aveza, which was derived from the element awi, of unknown meaning. The Normans introduced this name to England and it became moderately common during the Middle Ages, at which time it was associated with Latin avis "bird".
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