sunlark's Personal Name List

Sky
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: SKIE
Personal remark: mn only
Rating: 52% based on 20 votes
Simply from the English word sky, which was ultimately derived from Old Norse ský "cloud".
Polly
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: PAHL-ee
Rating: 45% based on 20 votes
Medieval variant of Molly. The reason for the change in the initial consonant is unknown.
Pearl
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: PURL
Rating: 54% based on 21 votes
From the English word pearl for the concretions formed in the shells of some mollusks, ultimately from Late Latin perla. Like other gemstone names, it has been used as a given name in the English-speaking world since the 19th century. The pearl is the traditional birthstone for June, and it supposedly imparts health and wealth.
Natalie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian
Pronounced: NAT-ə-lee(English) NA-ta-lee(German, Dutch)
Personal remark: mn only
Rating: 61% based on 18 votes
From the Late Latin name Natalia, which meant "Christmas Day" from Latin natale domini. This was the name of the wife of the 4th-century martyr Saint Adrian of Nicomedia. She is venerated as a saint in the Orthodox Church, and the name has traditionally been more common among Eastern Christians than those in the West. It was popularized in America by actress Natalie Wood (1938-1981), who was born to Russian immigrants.
May
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MAY
Personal remark: fn only
Rating: 60% based on 21 votes
Derived from the name of the month of May, which derives from Maia, the name of a Roman goddess. May is also another name of the hawthorn flower. It is also used as a diminutive of Mary, Margaret or Mabel.
Marian 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MEHR-ee-ən, MAR-ee-ən
Rating: 48% based on 22 votes
Variant of Marion 1. This name was borne in English legend by Maid Marian, Robin Hood's love. It is sometimes considered a combination of Mary and Ann.

This name spiked in popularity in several places around the world in 1954 after Pope Pius declared it to be a Marian year, in honour of the Virgin Mary. A similar declaration in 1987 did not have as marked an effect.

Mae
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MAY
Personal remark: honors; fn only
Rating: 61% based on 16 votes
Variant of May. A famous bearer was the American actress Mae West (1893-1980), whose birth name was Mary.
Lou
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, French
Pronounced: LOO
Rating: 35% based on 6 votes
Short form of Louise or Louis. Famous bearers include the baseball player Lou Gehrig (1903-1941) and the musician Lou Reed (1942-2013).
Lily
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: LIL-ee
Personal remark: mn only
Rating: 74% based on 23 votes
From the name of the flower, a symbol of purity. The word is ultimately derived from Latin lilium. This is the name of the main character, Lily Bart, in the novel The House of Mirth (1905) by Edith Wharton. A famous bearer is the American actress Lily Tomlin (1939-).
Joy
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: JOI
Rating: 50% based on 22 votes
Simply from the English word joy, ultimately derived from Norman French joie, Latin gaudium. It has been regularly used as a given name since the late 19th century.
Josephine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German, Dutch
Pronounced: JO-sə-feen(English) yo-zeh-FEE-nə(German)
Personal remark: honors
Rating: 60% based on 23 votes
English, German and Dutch form of Joséphine.
Iris
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology, English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, French, Spanish, Catalan, Italian, Slovene, Croatian, Greek
Other Scripts: Ἶρις(Ancient Greek) Ίρις(Greek)
Pronounced: IE-ris(English) EE-ris(German, Dutch) EE-rees(Finnish, Spanish, Catalan, Italian) EE-REES(French)
Personal remark: mn only
Rating: 63% based on 24 votes
Means "rainbow" in Greek. Iris was the name of the Greek goddess of the rainbow, also serving as a messenger to the gods. This name can also be given in reference to the word (which derives from the same Greek source) for the iris flower or the coloured part of the eye.
Hazel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: HAY-zəl
Rating: 72% based on 22 votes
From the English word hazel for the tree or the light brown colour, derived ultimately from Old English hæsel. It was coined as a given name in the 19th century and quickly became popular, reaching the 18th place for girls in the United States by 1897. It fell out of fashion in the second half of the 20th century, but has since recovered.
Flora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Dutch, French, Greek, Albanian, Roman Mythology
Other Scripts: Φλώρα(Greek)
Pronounced: FLAWR-ə(English) FLAW-ra(Italian) FLO-ra(Spanish, German, Dutch, Latin) FLAW-ru(Portuguese) FLAW-RA(French)
Rating: 49% based on 26 votes
Derived from Latin flos meaning "flower" (genitive case floris). Flora was the Roman goddess of flowers and spring, the wife of Zephyr the west wind. It has been used as a given name since the Renaissance, starting in France. In Scotland it was sometimes used as an Anglicized form of Fionnghuala.
Esme
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: EHZ-may, EHZ-mee
Rating: 56% based on 22 votes
Variant of Esmé.
Emily
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: EHM-ə-lee
Personal remark: mn only
Rating: 62% based on 23 votes
English feminine form of Aemilius (see Emil). In the English-speaking world it was not common until after the German House of Hanover came to the British throne in the 18th century; the princess Amelia Sophia (1711-1786) was commonly known as Emily in English, even though Amelia is an unrelated name.

This name was moderately popular through most of the 20th century, and became very popular around the turn of the 21st century. It was the highest ranked name for girls in the United States from 1996 to 2007, attaining similar levels in other English-speaking countries around the same time.

Famous bearers include the British author Emily Brontë (1818-1848), known for the novel Wuthering Heights, and the American poet Emily Dickinson (1830-1886).

Elizabeth
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Biblical
Pronounced: i-LIZ-ə-bəth(English)
Rating: 72% based on 24 votes
From Ἐλισάβετ (Elisabet), the Greek form of the Hebrew name אֱלִישֶׁבַע (ʾElishevaʿ) meaning "my God is an oath", derived from the roots אֵל (ʾel) referring to the Hebrew God and שָׁבַע (shavaʿ) meaning "oath". The Hebrew form appears in the Old Testament where Elisheba is the wife of Aaron, while the Greek form appears in the New Testament where Elizabeth is the mother of John the Baptist.

Among Christians, this name was originally more common in Eastern Europe. It was borne in the 12th century by Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, a daughter of King Andrew II who used her wealth to help the poor. In medieval England it was occasionally used in honour of the saint, though the form Isabel (from Occitan and Spanish) was more common. It has been very popular in England since the reign of Queen Elizabeth I in the 16th century. In American name statistics (as recorded since 1880) it has never ranked lower than 30, making it the most consistently popular name for girls in the United States.

Besides Elizabeth I, this name has been borne (in various spellings) by many other European royals, including a ruling empress of Russia in the 18th century. Famous modern bearers include the British queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022) and actress Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011).

Elisabeth
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, English, Biblical, Biblical Latin
Pronounced: eh-LEE-za-beht(German) eh-LEE-sa-beht(Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian) eh-LEE-sa-behd(Danish) i-LIZ-ə-bəth(English)
Rating: 68% based on 22 votes
German and Dutch form of Elizabeth. It is also a variant English form, reflecting the spelling used in the Authorized Version of the New Testament.
Ava 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AY-və
Personal remark: mn only
Rating: 53% based on 22 votes
Variant of Eve. A famous bearer was the American actress Ava Gardner (1922-1990). This name became very popular throughout the English-speaking world in the early 21st century, entering the top ten for girls in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It began to rise sharply after 1997, possibly inspired by the actress Heather Locklear and musician Richie Sambora when they used it for their baby daughter that year.
Amelia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Medieval French
Pronounced: ə-MEE-lee-ə(English) ə-MEEL-yə(English) a-MEH-lya(Spanish, Italian, Polish)
Rating: 58% based on 23 votes
Variant of Amalia, though it is sometimes confused with Emilia, which has a different origin. The name became popular in England after the German House of Hanover came to the British throne in the 18th century — it was borne by daughters of both George II and George III. The author Henry Fielding used it for the title character in his novel Amelia (1751). Another famous bearer was Amelia Earhart (1897-1937), the first woman to make a solo flight over the Atlantic Ocean.

This name experienced a rise in popularity at the end of the 20th century. It was the most popular name for girls in England and Wales from 2011 to 2015.

Allison
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AL-i-sən
Personal remark: mn only
Rating: 47% based on 18 votes
From the middle of the 20th century this has primarily been used as a variant of the feminine name Alison 1. However, prior to that it was used as an uncommon masculine name, derived from the English and Scottish surname Allison.
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