akaZsa's Personal Name List
Zoya
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Bulgarian
Other Scripts: Зоя(Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Bulgarian)
Pronounced: ZO-yə(Russian)
Rating: 60% based on 3 votes
Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian and Bulgarian form of
Zoe.
Zipporah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical, Hebrew
Other Scripts: צִפּוֹרָה(Hebrew)
Pronounced: zi-PAWR-ə(English) ZIP-ə-rə(English)
Rating: 70% based on 3 votes
Zenobia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Ζηνοβία(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: ZDEH-NO-BEE-A(Classical Greek) zə-NO-bee-ə(English)
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
Means
"life of Zeus", derived from Greek
Ζηνός (Zenos) meaning "of
Zeus" and
βίος (bios) meaning "life". This was the name of the queen of the Palmyrene Empire, which broke away from Rome in the 3rd-century and began expanding into Roman territory. She was eventually defeated by the emperor
Aurelian. Her Greek name was used as an approximation of her native Aramaic name.
Zebedee
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: Ζεβεδαῖος(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: ZEHB-ə-dee(English)
Rating: 15% based on 2 votes
Zaida
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic (Rare), Spanish
Other Scripts: زيدة(Arabic)
Pronounced: ZIE-da(Arabic) THIE-dha(European Spanish) SIE-dha(Latin American Spanish)
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
Feminine form of
Zayd. This was the name of a Muslim princess who took refuge at the court of (and perhaps married) Alfonso VI of León and Castile in the 11th century.
Yvonne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish
Pronounced: EE-VAWN(French) i-VAHN(English) ee-VAWN(German) ee-VAW-nə(Dutch)
Rating: 57% based on 3 votes
French feminine form of
Yvon. It has been regularly used in the English-speaking world since the late 19th century.
Yuri 2
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Japanese
Other Scripts: 百合, etc.(Japanese Kanji) ゆり(Japanese Hiragana)
Pronounced: YOO-REE
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
From Japanese
百合 (yuri) meaning "lily". Other kanji or combinations of kanji can also form this name.
Yasmin
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic, Hebrew, Urdu, English (Modern), Spanish (Modern), Portuguese (Modern)
Other Scripts: ياسمين(Arabic) יַסְמִין(Hebrew) یاسمین(Urdu)
Pronounced: yas-MEEN(Arabic) YAZ-min(English) gyas-MEEN(Spanish)
Rating: 60% based on 2 votes
Means
"jasmine" in Arabic and Hebrew, derived from Persian
یاسمین (yāsamīn). In modern times it has been used in the western world, as an Arabic-influenced variant of
Jasmine.
Winifred
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Welsh
Pronounced: WIN-ə-frid(English)
Rating: 45% based on 2 votes
From Latin
Winifreda, possibly from a Welsh name
Gwenfrewi (maybe influenced by the Old English masculine name
Winfred).
Saint Winifred was a 7th-century Welsh martyr, probably legendary. According to the story, she was decapitated by a prince after she spurned his advances. Where her head fell there arose a healing spring, which has been a pilgrimage site since medieval times. Her story was recorded in the 12th century by Robert of Shrewsbury, and she has been historically more widely venerated in England than in Wales. The name has been used in England since at least the 16th century.
Willoughby
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: WIL-ə-bee
Rating: 30% based on 2 votes
From a surname that was originally derived from a place name meaning "willow town" in Old English.
William
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: WIL-yəm
Rating: 83% based on 3 votes
From the Germanic name
Willehelm meaning
"will helmet", composed of the elements
willo "will, desire" and
helm "helmet, protection". An early
saint by this name was the 8th-century William of Gellone, a cousin of
Charlemagne who became a monk. The name was common among the
Normans, and it became extremely popular in England after William the Conqueror was recognized as the first Norman king of England in the 11th century. From then until the modern era it has been among the most common of English names (with
John,
Thomas and
Robert).
This name was later borne by three other English kings, as well as rulers of Scotland, Sicily (of Norman origin), the Netherlands and Prussia. Other famous bearers include William Wallace, a 13th-century Scottish hero, and William Tell, a legendary 14th-century Swiss hero (called Wilhelm in German, Guillaume in French and Guglielmo in Italian). In the literary world it was borne by dramatist William Shakespeare (1564-1616), poet William Blake (1757-1827), poet William Wordsworth (1770-1850), dramatist William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), author William Faulkner (1897-1962), and author William S. Burroughs (1914-1997).
In the American rankings (since 1880) this name has never been out of the top 20, making it one of the most consistently popular names (although it has never reached the top rank). In modern times its short form, Liam, has periodically been more popular than William itself, in the United Kingdom in the 1990s and the United States in the 2010s.
Wilhelmina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Dutch, German (Rare), English
Pronounced: vil-hehl-MEE-na(Dutch, German) wil-ə-MEEN-ə(English) wil-hehl-MEEN-ə(English)
Rating: 53% based on 3 votes
Dutch and German feminine form of
Wilhelm. This name was borne by a queen of the Netherlands (1880-1962).
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)
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
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-).
Vivienne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: VEE-VYEHN
Rating: 60% based on 2 votes
Viveka
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swedish
Rating: 50% based on 3 votes
Virginia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Greek, Ancient Roman
Other Scripts: Βιργινία(Greek)
Pronounced: vər-JIN-yə(English) veer-JEE-nya(Italian) beer-KHEE-nya(Spanish)
Rating: 70% based on 3 votes
Feminine form of the Roman family name
Verginius or
Virginius, which is of unknown meaning, but long associated with Latin
virgo "maid, virgin". According to a legend, it was the name of a Roman woman killed by her father so as to save her from the clutches of a crooked official.
This was the name of the first English baby born in the New World: Virginia Dare in 1587 on Roanoke Island. Perhaps because of this, the name has generally been more popular in America than elsewhere in the English-speaking world, though in both Britain and America it was not often used until the 19th century. The baby was named after the Colony of Virginia, which was itself named for Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen. A more recent bearer was the English novelist Virginia Woolf (1882-1941).
Violet
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: VIE-lit, VIE-ə-lit
Rating: 83% based on 6 votes
From the English word violet for the purple flower, ultimately derived from Latin viola. It was common in Scotland from the 16th century, and it came into general use as an English given name during the 19th century.
Viola
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, German, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak
Pronounced: vie-O-lə(English) vi-O-lə(English) VIE-ə-lə(English) VYAW-la(Italian) vi-OO-la(Swedish) VEE-o-la(German) vee-O-la(German) VEE-o-law(Hungarian) VI-o-la(Czech) VEE-aw-la(Slovak)
Rating: 68% based on 4 votes
Means
"violet" in Latin. This is the name of the heroine of William Shakespeare's comedy
Twelfth Night (1602). In the play she is the survivor of a shipwreck who disguises herself as a man named Cesario. Working as a messenger for Duke
Orsino, she attempts to convince
Olivia to marry him. Instead Viola falls in love with the duke.
Vincent
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Slovak
Pronounced: VIN-sənt(English, Dutch) VEHN-SAHN(French) VIN-sent(Dutch) VEEN-tsent(Slovak)
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
From the Roman name
Vincentius, which was derived from Latin
vincere meaning
"to conquer". This name was popular among early Christians, and it was borne by many
saints. As an English name,
Vincent has been in use since the Middle Ages, though it did not become common until the 19th century. Famous bearers include the French priest Saint Vincent de Paul (1581-1660) and the Dutch post-impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890).
Victoria
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Spanish, Romanian, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, French, Late Roman, Roman Mythology
Pronounced: vik-TAWR-ee-ə(English) beek-TO-rya(Spanish) vik-TO-rya(German) VEEK-TAW-RYA(French) week-TO-ree-a(Latin)
Rating: 60% based on 3 votes
Means
"victory" in Latin, being borne by the Roman goddess of victory. It is also a feminine form of
Victorius. This name was borne by a 4th-century
saint and martyr from North Africa.
Though in use elsewhere in Europe, the name was very rare in the English-speaking world until the 19th century, when Queen Victoria began her long rule of Britain. She was named after her mother, who was of German royalty. Many geographic areas are named after the queen, including an Australian state and a Canadian city.
Victor
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, Portuguese, Romanian, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Late Roman
Pronounced: VIK-tər(English) VEEK-TAWR(French) VEEK-tor(Romanian) VIK-tawr(Dutch)
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Roman name meaning
"victor, conqueror" in Latin. It was common among early Christians, and was borne by several early
saints and three popes. It was rare as an English name during the Middle Ages, but it was revived in the 19th century. A famous bearer was the French writer Victor Hugo (1802-1885), who authored
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and
Les Misérables.
Victoire
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: VEEK-TWAR
Rating: 60% based on 3 votes
Veronica
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Romanian, Late Roman
Pronounced: və-RAHN-i-kə(American English) və-RAWN-i-kə(British English) veh-RAW-nee-ka(Italian)
Rating: 60% based on 4 votes
Latin alteration of
Berenice, the spelling influenced by the ecclesiastical Latin phrase
vera icon meaning
"true image". This was the name of a legendary
saint who wiped
Jesus' face with a towel and then found his image imprinted upon it. Due to popular stories about her, the name was occasionally used in the Christian world in the Middle Ages. It was borne by the Italian saint and mystic Veronica Giuliani (1660-1727). As an English name, it was not common until the 19th century, when it was imported from France and Scotland.
Verona
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Various
Rating: 50% based on 3 votes
From the name of the city in Italy, which is itself of unknown meaning.
Vera 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian, English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Hungarian, Slovene, Serbian, Croatian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Belarusian, Georgian
Other Scripts: Вера(Russian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Belarusian) ვერა(Georgian)
Pronounced: VYEH-rə(Russian) VEE-rə(English) VEHR-ə(English) VEH-ra(German, Dutch) VEH-rah(Swedish) BEH-ra(Spanish) VEH-raw(Hungarian)
Rating: 50% based on 3 votes
Means "faith" in Russian, though it is sometimes associated with the Latin word verus "true". It has been in general use in the English-speaking world since the late 19th century.
Valentina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Russian, Lithuanian, German, Croatian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Slovene, Albanian, Romanian, Spanish, Greek, Ancient Roman
Other Scripts: Валентина(Russian, Bulgarian, Macedonian) Βαλεντίνα(Greek)
Pronounced: va-lehn-TEE-na(Italian) və-lyin-TYEE-nə(Russian) vu-lyehn-tyi-NU(Lithuanian) ba-lehn-TEE-na(Spanish)
Rating: 63% based on 4 votes
Feminine form of
Valentinus (see
Valentine 1). A famous bearer is the Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova (1937-), who in 1963 became the first woman to visit space.
Tyson
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: TIE-sən
Rating: 7% based on 3 votes
From an English surname, originally a nickname for a quarrelsome person, from Old French
tison meaning
"firebrand". A famous bearer of the surname is boxer Mike Tyson (1966-). This was a rare given name in America before 1960, but it increased in popularity through the 1960s and 70s, maybe because of its similarities with names such as
Tyler and
Tyrone [1].
Trey
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: TRAY
Rating: 7% based on 3 votes
From an English nickname meaning "three".
Tillie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: TIL-ee
Rating: 55% based on 2 votes
Thora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Norwegian, Danish
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
Thierry
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: TYEH-REE
Rating: 25% based on 2 votes
French form of
Theodoric. It was very popular in France from the 1950s, peaking in the mid-1960s before falling away. A famous bearer is the French former soccer player Thierry Henry (1977-).
Theodora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Greek, Ancient Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Θεοδώρα(Greek)
Pronounced: thee-ə-DAWR-ə(English)
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
Feminine form of
Theodore. This name was common in the Byzantine Empire, being borne by several empresses including the influential wife of Justinian in the 6th century.
Tessa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Dutch
Pronounced: TEHS-ə(English) TEH-sa(Dutch)
Rating: 60% based on 3 votes
Tennyson
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: TEHN-ə-sən
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
From an English surname that meant
"son of Tenney",
Tenney being a medieval form of
Denis. A notable bearer of the surname was the British poet Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892), commonly called Lord Tennyson after he became a baron in 1884.
Temperance
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: TEHM-prəns, TEHM-pər-əns
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
From the English word meaning
"moderation" or
"restraint". This was one of the virtue names adopted by the
Puritans in the 17th century. It experienced a modest revival in the United States during the run of the television series
Bones (2005-2017), in which the main character bears this name.
Tasoula
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek
Other Scripts: Τασούλα(Greek)
Rating: 40% based on 3 votes
Tarquin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: History
Pronounced: TAHR-kwin(English)
Rating: 15% based on 2 votes
From Tarquinius, a Roman name of unknown meaning, possibly Etruscan in origin. This was the name of two early kings of Rome.
Tanith
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Semitic Mythology
Other Scripts: 𐤕𐤍𐤕(Phoenician)
Rating: 15% based on 2 votes
Meaning unknown. This was the name of the Phoenician goddess of love, fertility, the moon and the stars. She was particularly associated with the city of Carthage, being the consort of
Ba'al Hammon.
Tamsin
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (British)
Pronounced: TAM-zin
Rating: 55% based on 2 votes
Contracted form of
Thomasina. It was traditionally used in Cornwall.
Tamar
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hebrew, Georgian, Biblical, Biblical Hebrew [1]
Other Scripts: תָּמָר(Hebrew) თამარ(Georgian)
Pronounced: TA-MAR(Georgian) TAHM-ahr(English) TAY-mahr(English)
Rating: 15% based on 2 votes
Means
"date palm" in Hebrew. According to the
Old Testament Tamar was the daughter-in-law of
Judah and later his wife. This was also the name of a daughter of King
David. She was raped by her half-brother
Amnon, leading to his murder by her brother
Absalom. The name was borne by a 12th-century ruling queen of Georgia who presided over the kingdom at the peak of its power.
Talulla
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish (Rare)
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
Anglicized form of the Old Irish name
Taileflaith,
Tuileflaith or
Tuilelaith, probably from
tuile "abundance" and
flaith "ruler, sovereign, princess". This was the name of an early
saint, an abbess of Kildare.
Taliesin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh, Welsh Mythology
Pronounced: tal-YEH-sin(Welsh) tal-ee-EHS-in(English)
Rating: 40% based on 3 votes
Means
"shining brow", derived from Welsh
tal "brow, head" and
iesin "shining, radiant". This was the name of a semi-legendary 6th-century Welsh poet and bard, supposedly the author of the collection of poems the
Book of Taliesin. He appears briefly in the Welsh legend
Culhwch and Olwen and the Second Branch of the
Mabinogi. He is the central character in the
Tale of Taliesin, a medieval legend recorded in the 16th century, which tells how
Ceridwen's servant Gwion Bach was reborn to her as Taliesin; how he becomes the bard for Elffin; and how Taliesin defends Elffin from the machinations of the king
Maelgwn Gwynedd.
Tahlia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Australian)
Rating: 53% based on 3 votes
Tadhg
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish, Irish Mythology
Pronounced: TIEG(Irish)
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
From Old Irish
Tadg meaning
"poet" [1]. This was the name of an 11th-century king of Connacht, as well as several other kings and chieftains of medieval Ireland. According to Irish
mythology it was the name of the grandfather of
Fionn mac Cumhaill.
Tabitha
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Biblical, Biblical Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Ταβιθά(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: TAB-i-thə(English)
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
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.
Svetlana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian, Slovak, Bulgarian, Serbian, Macedonian, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Armenian, Georgian
Other Scripts: Светлана(Russian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Macedonian) Սվետլանա(Armenian) სვეტლანა(Georgian)
Pronounced: svyit-LA-nə(Russian) svyeht-lu-NU(Lithuanian)
Rating: 73% based on 3 votes
Derived from Russian
свет (svet) meaning
"light, world". It was popularized by the poem
Svetlana (1813) by the poet Vasily Zhukovsky. It is sometimes used as a translation of
Photine.
Sven
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Estonian, German, Dutch
Pronounced: SVEHN(Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, German, Dutch)
Rating: 63% based on 3 votes
From the Old Norse byname Sveinn meaning "boy". This was the name of kings of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
Susanna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Catalan, Swedish, Finnish, Russian, Ukrainian, Dutch, English, Armenian, Biblical, Biblical Latin, Old Church Slavic
Other Scripts: Сусанна(Russian, Ukrainian) Սուսաննա(Armenian) שׁוֹשַׁנָּה(Ancient Hebrew) Сꙋсанна(Church Slavic)
Pronounced: soo-ZAN-na(Italian) soo-ZAN-nə(Catalan) suy-SAN-na(Swedish) SOO-sahn-nah(Finnish) suw-SAN-nə(Russian) suw-SAN-nu(Ukrainian) suy-SAH-na(Dutch) soo-ZAN-ə(English)
Rating: 65% based on 4 votes
From
Σουσάννα (Sousanna), the Greek form of the Hebrew name
שׁוֹשַׁנָּה (Shoshanna). This was derived from the Hebrew word
שׁוֹשָׁן (shoshan) meaning
"lily" (in modern Hebrew this also means
"rose"), perhaps ultimately from Egyptian
sšn "lotus". In the
Old Testament Apocrypha this is the name of a woman falsely accused of adultery. The prophet
Daniel clears her name by tricking her accusers, who end up being condemned themselves. It also occurs in the
New Testament belonging to a woman who ministers to
Jesus.
As an English name, it was occasionally used during the Middle Ages in honour of the Old Testament heroine. It did not become common until after the Protestant Reformation, at which time it was often spelled Susan.
Sunniva
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Norwegian
Rating: 72% based on 5 votes
Scandinavian form of the Old English name
Sunngifu, which meant
"sun gift" from the Old English elements
sunne "sun" and
giefu "gift". This was the name of a legendary English
saint who was shipwrecked in Norway and killed by the inhabitants.
Stella 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Dutch, German
Pronounced: STEHL-ə(English) STEHL-la(Italian) STEH-la(Dutch)
Rating: 70% based on 4 votes
Means "star" in Latin. This name was created by the 16th-century poet Philip Sidney for the subject of his collection of sonnets Astrophel and Stella. It was a nickname of a lover of Jonathan Swift, real name Esther Johnson (1681-1728), though it was not commonly used as a given name until the 19th century. It appears in Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), belonging to the sister of Blanche DuBois and the wife of Stanley Kowalski.
Stefan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Polish, Bulgarian, Serbian, Macedonian
Other Scripts: Стефан(Bulgarian, Serbian, Macedonian)
Pronounced: SHTEH-fan(German) STEH-fan(Swedish, Polish, Serbian) STEH-fahn(Dutch)
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
Form of
Stephen used in several languages. Famous bearers include the Serbian rulers Stefan Nemanja, Stefan Nemanjić, and Stefan Lazarević, who are all considered
saints in the Orthodox Church.
Sorin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Romanian
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
Possibly derived from Romanian soare meaning "sun".
Sorcha
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish, Scottish Gaelic [1]
Pronounced: SAWR-ə-khə(Irish) SUR-kə(English) SAWR-aw-khə(Scottish Gaelic)
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
Means
"radiant, bright" in Irish. It has been in use since late medieval times
[2]. It is sometimes Anglicized as
Sarah (in Ireland) and
Clara (in Scotland).
Sophie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, English, German, Dutch
Pronounced: SAW-FEE(French) SO-fee(English) zo-FEE(German) so-FEE(Dutch)
Rating: 55% based on 2 votes
Solomon
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Biblical, English, Jewish, Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek [1]
Other Scripts: שְׁלֹמֹה(Hebrew) Σολομών(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: SAHL-ə-mən(American English) SAWL-ə-mən(British English)
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
From the Hebrew name
שְׁלֹמֹה (Shelomo), which was derived from
שָׁלוֹם (shalom) meaning "peace". As told in the
Old Testament, Solomon was a king of Israel, the son of
David and
Bathsheba. He was renowned for his wisdom and wealth. Towards the end of his reign he angered God by turning to idolatry. Supposedly, he was the author of the Book of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon.
This name has never been overly common in the Christian world, and it is considered typically Jewish. It was however borne by an 11th-century Hungarian king.
Skye
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: SKIE
Rating: 67% based on 3 votes
From the name of the Isle of Skye off the west coast of Scotland. It is sometimes considered a variant of
Sky.
Siobhán
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: SHI-wan, SHUW-wan, SHI-van, shə-VAN
Rating: 68% based on 4 votes
Irish form of
Jehanne, a Norman French variant of
Jeanne.
Sidonia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Late Roman, Georgian
Other Scripts: სიდონია(Georgian)
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
Feminine form of
Sidonius. This is the name of a legendary
saint from Georgia. She and her father Abiathar were supposedly converted by Saint
Nino from Judaism to Christianity.
Siân
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Pronounced: SHAN
Rating: 40% based on 3 votes
Shoshanna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical Hebrew
Other Scripts: שׁוֹשַׁנָּה(Ancient Hebrew)
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
Sevastian
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Russian (Rare)
Other Scripts: Севастьян(Russian)
Rating: 37% based on 3 votes
Sergei
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Russian, Bulgarian
Other Scripts: Сергей(Russian, Bulgarian)
Pronounced: syir-GYAY(Russian)
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Alternate transcription of Russian/Bulgarian
Сергей (see
Sergey).
September
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: sehp-TEHM-bər
Rating: 25% based on 2 votes
From the name of the ninth month (though it means "seventh month" in Latin, since it was originally the seventh month of the Roman year), which is sometimes used as a given name for someone born in September.
Séarlas
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: SHEHR-ləs
Rating: 40% based on 3 votes
Séamus
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: SHEH-məs
Rating: 15% based on 2 votes
Schuyler
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: SKIE-lər
Rating: 15% based on 2 votes
From a Dutch surname meaning
"scholar". Dutch settlers brought the surname to America, where it was subsequently adopted as a given name in honour of the American general and senator Philip Schuyler (1733-1804)
[1].
Scheherazade
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: shə-HEHR-ə-zahd(English)
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
Scarlet
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: SKAHR-lit
Rating: 25% based on 2 votes
Either a variant of
Scarlett or else from the English word for the red colour (both of the same origin, a type of cloth).
Sayen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Mapuche
Rating: 7% based on 3 votes
Meaning uncertain, possibly a derivative of Mapuche ayün "love".
Sapphira
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: Σαπφείρη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: sə-FIE-rə(English)
Rating: 55% based on 4 votes
From the Greek name
Σαπφείρη (Sappheire), which was from Greek
σάπφειρος (sappheiros) meaning
"sapphire" or
"lapis lazuli" (ultimately derived from the Hebrew word
סַפִּיר (sappir)). Sapphira is a character in Acts in the
New Testament who is killed by God for lying.
Saoirse
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: SEER-shə
Rating: 65% based on 4 votes
Means "freedom" in Irish Gaelic. It was first used as a given name in the 20th century.
Salma
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic, Urdu, Bengali, Indonesian
Other Scripts: سلمى(Arabic) سلمیٰ(Urdu) সালমা(Bengali)
Pronounced: SAL-ma(Arabic)
Rating: 57% based on 3 votes
Means
"safe" in Arabic, derived from
سلم (salima) meaning "to be safe".
Sage
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: SAYJ
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
From the English word sage, which denotes either a type of spice or else a wise person.
Sadie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: SAY-dee
Rating: 63% based on 3 votes
Sable
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: SAY-bəl
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
From the English word meaning "black", derived from the name of the black-furred mammal native to northern Asia, ultimately of Slavic origin.
Rupert
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, English
Pronounced: ROO-pehrt(German) ROO-pərt(English)
Rating: 50% based on 2 votes
German variant form of
Robert, from the Old German variant
Hrodperht. It was borne by the 7th century
Saint Rupert of Salzburg and the 8th-century Saint Rupert of Bingen. The military commander Prince Rupert of the Rhine, a nephew of Charles I, introduced this name to England in the 17th century. A notable bearer is the Australian-American businessman Rupert Murdoch (1931-).
Rufus
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Ancient Roman, English, Biblical
Pronounced: ROO-foos(Latin) ROO-fəs(English)
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Roman
cognomen meaning
"red-haired" in Latin. Several early
saints had this name, including one mentioned in one of
Paul's epistles in the
New Testament. As a nickname it was used by William II Rufus, a king of England, because of his red hair. It came into general use in the English-speaking world after the
Protestant Reformation.
Ruby
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: ROO-bee
Rating: 57% based on 3 votes
Simply from the name of the precious stone (which ultimately derives from Latin
ruber "red"), which is the traditional birthstone of July. It came into use as a given name in the 16th century
[1].
Rowan
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Irish, English (Modern)
Pronounced: RO-ən(English)
Rating: 70% based on 3 votes
Anglicized form of the Irish name
Ruadhán. As an English name, it can also be derived from the surname Rowan, itself derived from the Irish given name. It could also be given in reference to the rowan tree, a word of Old Norse origin (coincidentally sharing the same Indo-European root meaning "red" with the Irish name).
Roscoe
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: RAHS-ko
Rating: 15% based on 2 votes
From an English surname, originally derived from a place name, itself derived from Old Norse rá "roebuck" and skógr "wood, forest".
Rosamund
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: RO-zə-mənd, RAHZ-ə-mənd
Rating: 78% based on 4 votes
Derived from the Old German elements
hros "horse" and
munt "protection". This name was borne by the wife of the Lombard king Alboin in the 6th century. The
Normans introduced it to England. It was subsequently interpreted as coming from Latin
rosa munda "pure rose" or
rosa mundi "rose of the world". This was the name of the mistress of Henry II, the king of England in the 12th century. According to legends she was murdered by his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine.
Rosalind
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: RAHZ-ə-lind
Rating: 80% based on 4 votes
Derived from the Old German elements
hros meaning "horse" and
lind meaning "soft, flexible, tender". The
Normans introduced this name to England, though it was not common. During the Middle Ages its spelling was influenced by the Latin phrase
rosa linda "beautiful rose". The name was popularized by Edmund Spencer, who used it in his poetry, and by William Shakespeare, who used it for the heroine in his comedy
As You Like It (1599).
Rosabel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: RO-zə-behl
Rating: 78% based on 5 votes
Combination of
Rosa 1 and the common name suffix
bel, inspired by Latin
bella "beautiful". This name was created in the 18th century.
Róisín
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: ro-SHEEN
Rating: 40% based on 2 votes
Diminutive of
Róis or the Irish word
rós meaning
"rose" (of Latin origin). It appears in the 17th-century song
Róisín Dubh.
Roger
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, Catalan, Swedish, Norwegian, German, Dutch
Pronounced: RAHJ-ər(American English) RAWJ-ə(British English) RAW-ZHEH(French) roo-ZHEH(Catalan) RO-gu(German) ro-ZHEH(Dutch)
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
From the Germanic name
Hrodger meaning
"famous spear", derived from the elements
hruod "fame" and
ger "spear". The
Normans brought this name to England, where it replaced the Old English
cognate Hroðgar (the name of the Danish king in the Anglo-Saxon epic
Beowulf). It was a common name in England during the Middle Ages. By the 18th century it was rare, but it was revived in following years. The name was borne by the Norman lords Roger I, who conquered Sicily in the 11th century, and his son Roger II, who ruled Sicily as a king.
This name was very popular in France in the first half of the 20th century. In the English-speaking world it was popular especially from the 1930s to the 50s. Famous bearers include British actor Roger Moore (1927-2017) and Swiss tennis player Roger Federer (1981-).
Roderick
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Scottish, Welsh
Pronounced: RAHD-ə-rik(English) RAHD-rik(English)
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
Means
"famous ruler" from the Old German elements
hruod "fame" and
rih "ruler, king". This name was in use among the Visigoths; it was borne by their last king (Gothic form *
Hroþireiks, also known by the Spanish form
Rodrigo), who died fighting the Muslim invaders of Spain in the 8th century. It also had cognates in Old Norse and West Germanic, and Scandinavian settlers and
Normans introduced it to England, though it died out after the Middle Ages. It was revived in the English-speaking world by Walter Scott's 1811 poem
The Vision of Don Roderick [1].
This name has also functioned as an Anglicized form of Scottish Ruaridh or Welsh Rhydderch.
Rocco
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian, Germanic [1]
Pronounced: RAWK-ko(Italian)
Rating: 30% based on 2 votes
Germanic name possibly derived from
hruoh meaning
"crow, rook". This was the name of a 14th-century French
saint who nursed victims of the plague but eventually contracted the disease himself. He is the patron saint of the sick.
Robin
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English, French, Dutch, Swedish, Czech
Pronounced: RAHB-in(American English) RAWB-in(British English) RAW-BEHN(French) RAW-bin(Dutch) RO-bin(Czech)
Rating: 55% based on 2 votes
Medieval English
diminutive of
Robert, now usually regarded as an independent name. Robin Hood was a legendary hero and archer of medieval England who stole from the rich to give to the poor. In modern times it has also been used as a feminine name, and it may sometimes be given in reference to the red-breasted bird.
Robert
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, German, Dutch, Finnish, Estonian, Czech, Polish, Russian, Slovene, Croatian, Albanian, Romanian, Catalan, Germanic [1]
Other Scripts: Роберт(Russian)
Pronounced: RAHB-ərt(American English) RAWB-ət(British English) RAW-BEHR(French) RO-beht(Swedish) RO-behrt(German, Finnish, Czech) RO-bərt(Dutch) RAW-bərt(Dutch) RAW-behrt(Polish) RO-byirt(Russian) roo-BEHRT(Catalan)
Rating: 80% based on 2 votes
From the Germanic name
Hrodebert meaning
"bright fame", derived from the elements
hruod "fame" and
beraht "bright". The
Normans introduced this name to Britain, where it replaced the rare Old English
cognate Hreodbeorht. It has been consistently among the most common English names from the 13th to 20th century. In the United States it was the most popular name for boys between 1924 and 1939 (and again in 1953).
This name has been borne by two kings of the Franks, two dukes of Normandy, and three kings of Scotland, including Robert the Bruce who restored the independence of Scotland from England in the 14th century. Several saints have also had the name, the earliest known as Saint Rupert, from an Old German variant. The author Robert Browning (1812-1889) and poets Robert Burns (1759-1796) and Robert Frost (1874-1963) are famous literary namesakes. Other bearers include Robert E. Lee (1807-1870), the commander of the Confederate army during the American Civil War, and American actors Robert Redford (1936-), Robert De Niro (1943-) and Robert Downey Jr. (1965-).
Rhonwen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Rating: 50% based on 1 vote
Welsh form of
Rowena, appearing in medieval Welsh poems and stories as a personification of the English people.
Rhiannon
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh, English, Welsh Mythology
Pronounced: ri-AN-awn(Welsh) ree-AN-ən(English)
Rating: 63% based on 3 votes
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.
Renata
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, German, Polish, Czech, Lithuanian, Croatian, Slovene, Romanian, Late Roman
Pronounced: reh-NA-ta(Italian, Spanish, German, Polish) REH-na-ta(Czech)
Rating: 50% based on 3 votes
Rebecca
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Swedish, German, Dutch, Biblical, Biblical Latin
Other Scripts: רִבְקָה(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: rə-BEHK-ə(English) reh-BEHK-ka(Italian) rə-BEH-ka(Dutch)
Rating: 55% based on 2 votes
From the Hebrew name
רִבְקָה (Rivqa), probably from a Semitic root meaning
"join, tie, snare". This is the name of the wife of
Isaac and the mother of
Esau and
Jacob in the
Old Testament. It came into use as an English Christian name after the
Protestant Reformation, and it was popular with the
Puritans in the 17th century. It has been consistently used since then, becoming especially common in the second half of the 20th century.
This name is borne by a Jewish woman in Walter Scott's novel Ivanhoe (1819), as well as the title character (who is deceased and unseen) in Daphne du Maurier's novel Rebecca (1938).
Rayen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Mapuche
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Means "flower" in Mapuche.
Raoul
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: RA-OOL
Rating: 45% based on 2 votes
French form of
Radulf (see
Ralph).
Ramona
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish, Romanian, English
Pronounced: ra-MO-na(Spanish) rə-MON-ə(English)
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
Feminine form of
Ramón. It was popularized in the English-speaking world by Helen Hunt Jackson's novel
Ramona (1884), as well as several subsequent movies based on the book.
Ralph
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, German, Swedish
Pronounced: RALF(English, German) RAYF(British English)
Rating: 15% based on 2 votes
Contracted form of the Old Norse name
Ráðúlfr (or its Norman form
Radulf). Scandinavian settlers introduced it to England before the
Norman Conquest, though afterwards it was bolstered by Norman influence. In the Middle Ages it was variously spelled
Rauf,
Rafe or
Ralf reflecting the usual pronunciation. The
Ralph spelling became more common in the 18th century. A famous bearer of the name was Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), an American poet and author who wrote on transcendentalism.
Raleigh
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: RAW-lee, RAH-lee
Rating: 40% based on 3 votes
From an English surname that was derived from a place name meaning either "red clearing" or "roe deer clearing" in Old English. A city in North Carolina bears this name, after the English courtier, poet and explorer Walter Raleigh (1552-1618).
Quentin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French, English
Pronounced: KAHN-TEHN(French) KWEHN-tən(English)
Rating: 15% based on 2 votes
French form of the Roman name
Quintinus. It was borne by a 3rd-century
saint, a missionary who was martyred in Gaul. The
Normans introduced this name to England. In America it was brought to public attention by president Theodore Roosevelt's son Quentin Roosevelt (1897-1918), who was killed in World War I. A famous bearer is the American movie director Quentin Tarantino (1963-).
Priya
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hinduism, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali
Other Scripts: प्रिया(Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi) பிரியா(Tamil) ప్రియ(Telugu) പ്രിയാ(Malayalam) ಪ್ರಿಯಾ(Kannada) প্রিয়া(Bengali)
Rating: 40% based on 3 votes
Means
"beloved" in Sanskrit. It appears briefly in the
Puranas belonging to a daughter of King
Daksha.
Posy
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: PO-zee
Rating: 50% based on 2 votes
Diminutive of
Josephine. It can also be inspired by the English word
posy for a bunch of flowers.
Poppy
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: PAHP-ee
Rating: 50% based on 2 votes
From the word for the red flower, derived from Old English popæg.
Pollyanna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: pahl-ee-AN-ə(English)
Rating: 57% based on 3 votes
Combination of
Polly and
Anna. This was the name of the main character in Eleanor H. Porter's novel
Pollyanna (1913).
Polina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Greek
Other Scripts: Полина(Russian, Bulgarian) Поліна(Ukrainian) Πωλίνα(Greek)
Pronounced: pu-LYEE-nə(Russian)
Rating: 40% based on 3 votes
Either a Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian and Greek form of
Paulina or a short form of
Apollinariya.
Pippa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: PIP-ə
Rating: 70% based on 3 votes
Piper
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: PIE-pər
Rating: 15% based on 2 votes
From an English surname that was originally given to a person who played on a pipe (a flute). It was popularized as a given name by a character from the television series
Charmed, which debuted in 1998
[1].
Pilar
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish
Pronounced: pee-LAR
Rating: 30% based on 2 votes
Means
"pillar" in Spanish. It is taken from the title of the Virgin
Mary,
María del Pilar, meaning "Mary of the Pillar". According to legend, when
Saint James the Greater was in Saragossa in Spain, the Virgin Mary appeared on a pillar.
Pierre
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French, Swedish
Pronounced: PYEHR(French)
Rating: 60% based on 2 votes
French form of
Peter. This name has been consistently popular in France since the 13th century, but fell out of the top 100 names in 2017. It was borne by the philosopher and theologian Pierre Abélard (1079-1142), the scholar Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749-1827), the impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), and Pierre Curie (1859-1906), a physicist who discovered radioactivity with his wife Marie.
Pierce
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: PEERS
Rating: 30% based on 2 votes
From an English surname that was derived from the given name
Piers. In America this name slowly started to grow in popularity in 1982 when actor Pierce Brosnan (1953-) began starring on the television series
Remington Steele.
Pia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, German, Slovene, Late Roman
Pronounced: PEE-a(Italian, Danish, Swedish, German)
Rating: 57% based on 3 votes
Phyllida
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: FIL-i-də
Rating: 53% based on 3 votes
From
Φυλλίδος (Phyllidos), the genitive form of
Phyllis. This form was used in 17th-century pastoral poetry.
Phoebe
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Greek Mythology (Latinized), Biblical, Biblical Latin
Other Scripts: Φοίβη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: FEE-bee(English)
Rating: 80% based on 5 votes
Latinized form of the Greek name
Φοίβη (Phoibe), which meant
"bright, pure" from Greek
φοῖβος (phoibos). In Greek
mythology Phoibe was a Titan associated with the moon. This was also an epithet of her granddaughter, the moon goddess
Artemis. The name appears in
Paul's epistle to the Romans in the
New Testament, where it belongs to a female minister in the church at Cenchreae.
In England, it began to be used as a given name after the Protestant Reformation. It was moderately common in the 19th century. It began to rise in popularity again in the late 1980s, probably helped along by characters on the American television shows Friends (1994-2004) and Charmed (1998-2006). It is currently much more common in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand than the United States.
A moon of Saturn bears this name, in honour of the Titan.
Philomena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German, Ancient Greek (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Φιλουμένη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: fil-ə-MEE-nə(English)
Rating: 70% based on 3 votes
From Greek
Φιλουμένη (Philoumene) meaning
"to be loved", an inflection of
φιλέω (phileo) meaning "to love". This was the name of an obscure early
saint and martyr. The name came to public attention in 1802 after a tomb seemingly marked with the name
Filumena was found in Rome, supposedly belonging to another martyr named Philomena. This may have in fact been a representation of the Greek word
φιλουμένη, not a name.
Philippa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (British), German
Pronounced: FI-li-pə(British English)
Rating: 75% based on 2 votes
Latinate feminine form of
Philip. As an English name, it is chiefly British.
Philip
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Biblical
Pronounced: FIL-ip(English) FEE-lip(Dutch)
Rating: 80% based on 2 votes
From the Greek name
Φίλιππος (Philippos) meaning
"friend of horses", composed of the elements
φίλος (philos) meaning "friend, lover" and
ἵππος (hippos) meaning "horse". This was the name of five kings of Macedon, including Philip II the father of Alexander the Great. The name appears in the
New Testament belonging to two people who are regarded as
saints. First, one of the twelve apostles, and second, an early figure in the Christian church known as Philip the Deacon.
This name was initially more common among Eastern Christians, though it came to the West by the Middle Ages. It was borne by six kings of France and five kings of Spain. It was regularly used in England during the Middle Ages, although the Spanish king Philip II, who attempted an invasion of England, helped make it less common by the 17th century. It was revived in the English-speaking world in the 19th century. Famous bearers include the Elizabethan courtier and poet Philip Sidney (1554-1586) and the American science fiction novelist Philip K. Dick (1928-1982).
Petunia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: pə-TOON-yə
Rating: 53% based on 3 votes
From the name of the flower, derived ultimately from a Tupi (South American) word.
Peter
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Slovene, Slovak, Biblical
Pronounced: PEE-tər(English) PEH-tu(German) PEH-tər(Dutch, Danish, Slovene) PEH-tehr(Slovak)
Rating: 75% based on 2 votes
Derived from Greek
Πέτρος (Petros) meaning
"stone". This is a translation used in most versions of the
New Testament of the name
Cephas, meaning "stone" in Aramaic, which was given to the apostle
Simon by
Jesus (compare
Matthew 16:18 and
John 1:42). Simon Peter was the most prominent of the apostles during Jesus' ministry and is often considered the first pope.
Due to the renown of the apostle, this name became common throughout the Christian world (in various spellings). In England the Normans introduced it in the Old French form Piers, which was gradually replaced by the spelling Peter starting in the 15th century [1].
Besides the apostle, other saints by this name include the 11th-century reformer Saint Peter Damian and the 13th-century preacher Saint Peter Martyr. It was also borne by rulers of Aragon, Portugal, and Russia, including the Russian tsar Peter the Great (1672-1725), who defeated Sweden in the Great Northern War. Famous fictional bearers include Peter Rabbit from Beatrix Potter's children's books, Peter Pan, the boy who refused to grow up in J. M. Barrie's 1904 play, and Peter Parker, the real name of the comic book superhero Spider-Man.
Persephone
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Περσεφόνη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: PEHR-SEH-PO-NEH(Classical Greek) pər-SEHF-ə-nee(English)
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
Meaning unknown, probably of Pre-Greek origin, but perhaps related to Greek
πέρθω (pertho) meaning "to destroy" and
φόνος (phonos) meaning "murder". In Greek
myth she was the daughter of
Demeter and
Zeus. She was abducted to the underworld by
Hades, but was eventually allowed to return to the surface for part of the year. The result of her comings and goings is the changing of the seasons. With her mother she was worshipped in the Eleusinian Mysteries, which were secret rites practiced at the city of Eleusis near Athens.
Perla
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish
Pronounced: PEHR-la
Rating: 50% based on 3 votes
Penelope
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology, English
Other Scripts: Πηνελόπη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: PEH-NEH-LO-PEH(Classical Greek) pə-NEHL-ə-pee(English)
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
Probably derived from Greek
πηνέλοψ (penelops), a type of duck. Alternatively it could be from
πήνη (pene) meaning "threads, weft" and
ὄψ (ops) meaning "face, eye". In
Homer's epic the
Odyssey this is the name of the wife of
Odysseus, forced to fend off suitors while her husband is away fighting at Troy.
It has occasionally been used as an English given name since the 16th century. It was moderately popular in the 1940s, but had a more notable upswing in the early 2000s. This may have been inspired by the Spanish actress Penélope Cruz (1974-), who gained prominence in English-language movies at that time. It was already rapidly rising when celebrities Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick gave it to their baby daughter in 2012.
Paz 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish
Pronounced: PATH(European Spanish) PAS(Latin American Spanish)
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Means
"peace" in Spanish. It is taken from the title of the Virgin
Mary,
Nuestra Señora de la Paz, meaning "Our Lady of Peace".
Pavel
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Russian, Czech, Bulgarian, Slovene, Macedonian, Belarusian
Other Scripts: Павел(Russian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Belarusian)
Pronounced: PA-vyil(Russian) PA-vehl(Czech)
Rating: 30% based on 2 votes
Russian, Czech, Bulgarian, Slovene, Macedonian and Belarusian form of
Paul.
Paul
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Estonian, Romanian, Biblical
Pronounced: PAWL(English, French) POWL(German, Dutch)
Rating: 70% based on 2 votes
From the Roman family name
Paulus, which meant
"small" or
"humble" in Latin. Paul was an important leader of the early Christian church. According to Acts in the
New Testament, he was a Jewish Roman citizen who converted to Christianity after the resurrected
Jesus appeared to him. After this he travelled the eastern Mediterranean as a missionary. His original Hebrew name was
Saul. Many of the epistles in the New Testament were authored by him.
Due to the renown of Saint Paul the name became common among early Christians. It was borne by a number of other early saints and six popes. In England it was relatively rare during the Middle Ages, but became more frequent beginning in the 17th century. In the United States it was in the top 20 names for boys from 1900 to 1968, while in the United Kingdom it was very popular from the 1950s to the 80s. It has also been heavily used in Germany and France and continues to be popular there, though it is currently on the decline in the English-speaking world.
A notable bearer was the American Revolutionary War figure Paul Revere (1735-1818), who warned of the advance of the British army. Famous bearers in the art world include the French impressionists Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) and Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), and the Swiss expressionist Paul Klee (1879-1940). It is borne by actor Paul Newman (1925-2008) and the musicians Paul Simon (1941-) and Paul McCartney (1942-). This is also the name of the legendary American lumberjack Paul Bunyan and the fictional Paul Atreides from Frank Herbert's novel Dune (1965).
Patrick
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish, English, French, German, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish
Pronounced: PAT-rik(English) PA-TREEK(French) PA-trik(German)
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
From the Latin name
Patricius, which meant
"nobleman". This name was adopted in the 5th-century by
Saint Patrick, whose birth name was Sucat. He was a Romanized Briton who was captured and enslaved in his youth by Irish raiders. After six years of servitude he escaped home, but he eventually became a bishop and went back to Ireland as a missionary. He is traditionally credited with Christianizing the island, and is regarded as Ireland's patron saint. He is called
Pádraig in Irish.
In England and elsewhere in Europe during the Middle Ages this name was used in honour of the saint. However, it was not generally given in Ireland before the 17th century because it was considered too sacred for everyday use. It has since become very common there.
Pasqualina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Rating: 15% based on 2 votes
Italian feminine form of
Pascal.
Pasha
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Russian
Other Scripts: Паша(Russian)
Pronounced: PA-shə
Rating: 40% based on 3 votes
Pascal
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French, German, Dutch
Pronounced: PAS-KAL(French) pas-KAL(German) pahs-KAHL(Dutch)
Rating: 40% based on 2 votes
From the Late Latin name
Paschalis, which meant
"relating to Easter" from Latin
Pascha "Easter", which was in turn from Hebrew
פֶּסַח (pesaḥ) meaning "Passover"
[1]. Passover is the ancient Hebrew holiday celebrating the liberation from Egypt. Because it coincided closely with the later Christian holiday of Easter, the same Latin word was used for both. The name Pascal can also function as a surname, as in the case of Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), the French philosopher, mathematician and inventor.
Parisa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Persian
Other Scripts: پریسا(Persian)
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
Means
"like a fairy" in Persian, derived from
پری (parī) meaning "fairy, sprite, supernatural being".
Paris 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Πάρις(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: PA-REES(Classical Greek) PAR-is(English) PEHR-is(English)
Rating: 40% based on 3 votes
Meaning unknown, possibly of Luwian or Hittite origin. In Greek
mythology he was the Trojan prince who kidnapped
Helen and began the Trojan War. Though presented as a somewhat of a coward in the
Iliad, he did manage to slay the great hero
Achilles. He was himself eventually slain in battle by Philoctetes.
Paolo
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: PA-o-lo
Rating: 30% based on 2 votes
Italian form of
Paulus (see
Paul). Paolo Uccello and Paolo Veronese were both Italian Renaissance painters.
Pádraic
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: PA-drək
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Padma
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: Hinduism, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu
Other Scripts: पद्म, पद्मा(Sanskrit, Hindi) பத்மா(Tamil) ಪದ್ಮಾ(Kannada) పద్మా(Telugu)
Pronounced: pəd-MA(Hindi)
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
Means
"lotus" in Sanskrit. This is a transcription of both the feminine form
पद्मा and the masculine form
पद्म.
According to some Hindu traditions a lotus holding the god Brahma arose from the navel of the god Vishnu. The name Padma is used in Hindu texts to refer to several characters, including the goddess Lakshmi and the hero Rama.
Pacífica
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish (Rare)
Pronounced: pa-THEE-fee-ka(European Spanish) pa-SEE-fee-ka(Latin American Spanish)
Rating: 15% based on 2 votes
Spanish feminine form of the Late Latin name Pacificus meaning "peacemaker".
Owen 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh, English
Pronounced: O-in(English)
Rating: 70% based on 2 votes
Anglicized form of
Owain.
Otis
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: O-tis
Rating: 30% based on 2 votes
From an English surname that was derived from the medieval given name
Ode, a
cognate of
Otto. In America it has been used in honour of the revolutionary James Otis (1725-1783).
Oscar
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Irish, Portuguese (Brazilian), Italian, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, French, Irish Mythology
Pronounced: AHS-kər(English) AWS-kar(Italian, Swedish) AWS-kahr(Dutch) AWS-KAR(French)
Rating: 45% based on 2 votes
Possibly means
"deer friend", derived from Old Irish
oss "deer" and
carae "friend". Alternatively, it may derive from the Old English name
Osgar or its Old Norse
cognate Ásgeirr, which may have been brought to Ireland by Viking invaders and settlers. In Irish legend Oscar was the son of the poet
Oisín and the grandson of the hero
Fionn mac Cumhaill.
This name was popularized in continental Europe by the works of the 18th-century Scottish poet James Macpherson [1]. Napoleon was an admirer of Macpherson, and he suggested Oscar as the second middle name of his godson, who eventually became king of Sweden as Oscar I. Other notable bearers include the Irish writer and humorist Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) and the Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer (1907-2012).
Opal
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: O-pəl
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
From the English word
opal for the iridescent gemstone, the birthstone of October. The word ultimately derives from Sanskrit
उपल (upala) meaning "jewel".
Olya
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian
Other Scripts: Оля(Russian)
Pronounced: O-lyə
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
Olwen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh, Welsh Mythology, Arthurian Cycle
Pronounced: OL-wehn(English)
Rating: 15% based on 2 votes
Means
"white footprint" from Welsh
ol "footprint, track" and
gwen "white, blessed". In the Welsh tale
Culhwch and Olwen she was a beautiful maiden, the lover of
Culhwch and the daughter of the giant Yspaddaden. Her father insisted that Culhwch complete several seemingly impossible tasks before he would allow them to marry.
Olga
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Finnish, Estonian, Latvian, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Czech, Slovene, Serbian, Bulgarian, Greek
Other Scripts: Ольга(Russian, Ukrainian) Олга(Serbian, Bulgarian) Όλγα(Greek)
Pronounced: OL-gə(Russian) AWL-ga(Polish, German) AWL-ka(Icelandic) OL-gaw(Hungarian) OL-gha(Spanish) OL-ga(Czech)
Rating: 15% based on 2 votes
Russian form of the Old Norse name
Helga. The 10th-century
Saint Olga was the wife of
Igor I, the ruler of Kievan Rus (a state based around the city of Kyiv). Like her husband she was probably a Varangian, who were Norse people who settled in Eastern Europe beginning in the 9th century. Following Igor's death she ruled as regent for her son
Svyatoslav for 18 years. After she was baptized in Constantinople she attempted to convert her subjects to Christianity, though this goal was only achieved by her grandson
Vladimir.
Oksana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ukrainian, Russian
Other Scripts: Оксана(Ukrainian, Russian)
Pronounced: uk-SA-nə(Russian)
Rating: 37% based on 3 votes
Oisín
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish, Irish Mythology
Pronounced: aw-SHEEN(Irish) o-SHEEN(English)
Rating: 7% based on 3 votes
Means
"little deer", derived from Old Irish
oss "deer, stag" combined with a
diminutive suffix. In Irish legend Oisín was a warrior hero and a poet, the son of
Fionn mac Cumhaill and the narrator in many of his tales.
Octavia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Spanish, Romanian, Ancient Roman
Pronounced: ahk-TAY-vee-ə(English) ok-TA-bya(Spanish) ok-TA-wee-a(Latin)
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
Feminine form of
Octavius. Octavia was the wife of Mark Antony and the sister of the Roman emperor Augustus. In 19th-century England it was sometimes given to the eighth-born child.
Océane
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: AW-SEH-AN
Rating: 63% based on 3 votes
Derived from French océan meaning "ocean".
Normand
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French (Quebec)
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
Norma
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Literature
Pronounced: NAWR-mə(English)
Rating: 15% based on 2 votes
Created by Felice Romani for the main character in the opera
Norma (1831). He may have based it on Latin
norma "rule". This name is also frequently used as a feminine form of
Norman.
Norah 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Irish
Pronounced: NAWR-ə(English)
Rating: 55% based on 2 votes
Noel
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: NOL, NO-əl
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
English form of
Noël or
Noëlle (rarely). It was fairly popular in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand in the middle of the 20th century. It is occasionally written with a diaeresis, like in French. A famous bearer is British musician Noel Gallagher (1967-).
Noam
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Hebrew, French
Other Scripts: נוֹעַם(Hebrew)
Pronounced: NO-am(Hebrew) NOM(English) NAW-AM(French)
Rating: 50% based on 3 votes
Means "pleasantness" in Hebrew. A famous bearer is Noam Chomsky (1928-), an American linguist and philosopher.
Nina 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian, Italian, English, German, French, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Lithuanian, Dutch, Polish, Slovene, Czech, Slovak, Croatian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, Belarusian
Other Scripts: Нина(Russian, Serbian, Bulgarian) Ніна(Ukrainian, Belarusian)
Pronounced: NYEE-nə(Russian) NEE-na(Italian, German, Slovak) NEE-nə(English) NEE-NA(French) NEE-nah(Finnish) nyi-NU(Lithuanian) NYEE-na(Polish) NI-na(Czech)
Rating: 25% based on 2 votes
Short form of names that end in
nina, such as
Antonina or
Giannina. It was imported to Western Europe from Russia and Italy in the 19th century. This name also nearly coincides with the Spanish word
niña meaning
"little girl" (the word is pronounced differently than the name).
A famous bearer was the American jazz musician Nina Simone (1933-2003).
Nila
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Tamil, Hindi, Indonesian, Burmese
Other Scripts: நீலா(Tamil) नीला(Hindi) နီလာ(Burmese)
Pronounced: NEE-LA(Burmese)
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
From Sanskrit
नील (nīla) meaning
"dark blue".
Nika 2
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Slovene, Croatian
Rating: 50% based on 3 votes
Nicolette
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: NEE-KAW-LEHT
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
Nellie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Swedish
Pronounced: NEHL-ee(English) NEH-li(Swedish)
Rating: 30% based on 2 votes
Naveed
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Persian, Arabic, Urdu
Other Scripts: نوید(Persian, Urdu) نويد(Arabic)
Pronounced: na-VEED(Persian) na-WEED(Arabic)
Rating: 40% based on 3 votes
Alternate transcription of Persian
نوید or Arabic
نويد (see
Navid), as well as the usual Urdu transcription.
Natsumi
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Japanese
Other Scripts: 夏美, 菜摘, etc.(Japanese Kanji) なつみ(Japanese Hiragana)
Pronounced: NA-TSOO-MEE
Rating: 40% based on 3 votes
From Japanese
夏 (natsu) meaning "summer" and
美 (mi) meaning "beautiful". It can also come from
菜 (na) meaning "vegetables, greens" and
摘 (tsumi) meaning "pick, pluck". Other kanji combinations are possible.
Nathan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, Hebrew, Biblical, Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek [1]
Other Scripts: נָתָן(Hebrew) Ναθάν(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: NAY-thən(English) NA-TAHN(French)
Rating: 90% based on 2 votes
From the Hebrew name
נָתָן (Naṯan) meaning
"he gave". In the
Old Testament this is the name of a prophet during the reign of King
David. He chastised David for his adultery with
Bathsheba and for the death of
Uriah the Hittite. Later he championed
Solomon as David's successor. This was also the name of a son of David and Bathsheba.
It has been used as a Christian given name in the English-speaking world since the Protestant Reformation. A famous bearer was Nathan Hale (1755-1776), an American spy executed by the British during the American Revolution.
Nate
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: NAYT
Rating: 60% based on 2 votes
Natasha
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian, Belarusian, English
Other Scripts: Наташа(Russian, Belarusian)
Pronounced: nu-TA-shə(Russian) nə-TAHSH-ə(English)
Rating: 53% based on 3 votes
Russian
diminutive of
Natalya. This is the name of a character in Leo Tolstoy's novel
War and Peace (1865). It has been used in the English-speaking world only since the 20th century.
Nadia 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, Italian, Spanish, English, Russian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian
Other Scripts: Надя(Russian, Bulgarian) Надія(Ukrainian)
Pronounced: NA-DYA(French) NA-dya(Italian) NA-dhya(Spanish) NAD-ee-ə(English) NAHD-ee-ə(English) NA-dyə(Russian)
Rating: 60% based on 4 votes
Variant of
Nadya 1 used in Western Europe, as well as an alternate transcription of the Slavic name. It began to be used in France in the 19th century
[1]. The name received a boost in popularity from the Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci (1961-)
[2].
Naamah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: נַעֲמָה(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: NAY-ə-mə(English)
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Means
"pleasant" in Hebrew. This name is borne in the
Old Testament by both a daughter of
Lamech and a wife of
Solomon. Some later Jewish texts give Naamah as the name of
Noah's wife, even though she is not named in the Old Testament.
Myfanwy
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Pronounced: mə-VA-nuwy
Rating: 60% based on 3 votes
From the Welsh prefix my- meaning "my, belonging to me" (an older form of fy) combined with either manwy meaning "fine, delicate" or banwy meaning "woman" (a variant of banw). This was the name of an 1875 Welsh song composed by Joseph Parry.
Murphy
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MUR-fee
Rating: 50% based on 2 votes
From a common Irish surname, the Anglicized form of Irish Gaelic
Ó Murchadha, itself derived from the given name
Murchadh. As a given name, it has been borne by female characters on the American television series
Murphy Brown (1988-1998) and the movie
Interstellar (2014).
Moses
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Jewish, Biblical, Biblical Latin
Other Scripts: מֹשֶׁה(Hebrew)
Pronounced: MOZ-is(English)
Rating: 30% based on 2 votes
From the Hebrew name
מֹשֶׁה (Moshe), which is most likely derived from Egyptian
mes meaning
"son". The meaning suggested in the
Old Testament of
"drew out" from Hebrew
מָשָׁה (masha) is probably an invented etymology (see
Exodus 2:10).
The biblical Moses was drawn out of the Nile by the pharaoh's daughter and adopted into the royal family, at a time when the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. With his brother Aaron he demanded the pharaoh release the Israelites, which was only done after God sent ten plagues upon Egypt. Moses led the people across the Red Sea and to Mount Sinai, where he received the Ten Commandments from God. After 40 years of wandering in the desert the people reached Canaan, the Promised Land, but Moses died just before entering it.
In England, this name has been commonly used by Christians since the Protestant Reformation, though it had long been popular among Jews.
Morgan 1
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Welsh, English, French
Pronounced: MAWR-gən(English) MAWR-GAN(French)
Rating: 80% based on 2 votes
From the Old Welsh masculine name
Morcant, which was possibly derived from Welsh
mor "sea" and
cant "circle". Since the 1980s in America
Morgan has been more common for girls than boys, perhaps due to stories of
Morgan le Fay or the fame of actress Morgan Fairchild (1950-).
Montgomery
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: mənt-GUM-ə-ree, mənt-GUM-ree
Rating: 50% based on 2 votes
From an English surname meaning
"Gumarich's mountain" in Norman French. A notable bearer of this surname was Bernard Montgomery (1887-1976), a British army commander during World War II.
Miriam
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hebrew, English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Italian, Portuguese, Czech, Slovak, Polish, Biblical
Other Scripts: מִרְיָם(Hebrew)
Pronounced: MIR-ee-əm(English) MI-ryam(German) MI-ri-yam(Czech) MEE-ree-am(Slovak)
Rating: 77% based on 3 votes
Form of
Mary used in the
Old Testament, where it belongs to the elder sister of
Moses and
Aaron. She watched over the infant Moses as the pharaoh's daughter drew him from the Nile. The name has long been popular among Jews, and it has been used as an English Christian name (alongside
Mary) since the
Protestant Reformation.
Miranda
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Dutch
Pronounced: mi-RAN-də(English) mee-RAHN-da(Dutch)
Rating: 57% based on 3 votes
Derived from Latin
mirandus meaning
"admirable, worthy of being admired". The name was created by Shakespeare for the heroine in his play
The Tempest (1611), in which Miranda and her father
Prospero are stranded on an island. It did not become a common English given name until the 20th century. This is also the name of one of the moons of Uranus, named after the Shakespearean character.
Mirabelle
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French (Rare), English (Rare)
Rating: 53% based on 3 votes
Derived from Latin mirabilis meaning "wonderful". This name was coined during the Middle Ages, though it eventually died out. It was briefly revived in the 19th century.
Meredith
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Welsh, English
Pronounced: MEHR-ə-dith(English)
Rating: 83% based on 3 votes
From the Welsh name
Maredudd or
Meredydd, from Old Welsh forms such as
Margetud, possibly from
mawredd "greatness, magnificence" combined with
iudd "lord". The Welsh forms of this name were well used through the Middle Ages. Since the mid-1920s it has been used more often for girls than for boys in English-speaking countries, though it is still a masculine name in Wales. A famous bearer of this name as surname was the English novelist and poet George Meredith (1828-1909).
Mélisande
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French (Rare)
Rating: 77% based on 3 votes
French form of
Millicent used by Maurice Maeterlinck in his play
Pelléas et Mélisande (1893). The play was later adapted by Claude Debussy into an opera (1902).
Maybelle
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Rating: 60% based on 3 votes
Maxwell
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MAKS-wehl
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
From a Scottish surname meaning
"Mack's stream", from the name
Mack, a short form of the Scandinavian name
Magnus, combined with Old English
wille "well, stream". A famous bearer of the surname was James Maxwell (1831-1879), a Scottish physicist who studied gases and electromagnetism.
As a given name it has increased in popularity starting from the 1980s, likely because it is viewed as a full form of Max [1].
Maximilian
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, English, Swedish, Norwegian (Rare), Danish (Rare)
Pronounced: mak-see-MEE-lee-an(German) mak-sə-MIL-yən(English)
Rating: 40% based on 2 votes
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.
Matilda
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Swedish, Finnish, Slovak, Slovene
Pronounced: mə-TIL-də(English) MAH-teel-dah(Finnish) MA-teel-da(Slovak)
Rating: 73% based on 3 votes
From the Germanic name
Mahthilt meaning
"strength in battle", from the elements
maht "might, strength" and
hilt "battle".
Saint Matilda was the wife of the 10th-century German king Henry I the Fowler. The name was common in many branches of European royalty in the Middle Ages. It was brought to England by the
Normans, being borne by the wife of William the Conqueror himself. Another notable royal by this name was a 12th-century daughter of Henry I of England, known as the Empress Matilda because of her first marriage to the Holy Roman emperor Henry V. She later invaded England, laying the foundations for the reign of her son Henry II.
The name was very popular until the 15th century in England, usually in the vernacular form Maud. Both forms were revived by the 19th century. This name appears in the popular Australian folk song Waltzing Matilda, written in 1895.
Mason
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MAY-sən
Rating: 50% based on 2 votes
From an English surname (or vocabulary word) meaning "stoneworker", derived from an Old French word of Frankish origin (akin to Old English macian "to make"). In the United States this name began to increase in popularity in the 1980s, likely because of its fashionable sound. It jumped in popularity after 2009 when Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick gave it to their son, as featured on their reality show Keeping Up with the Kardashians in 2010. It peaked as the second most popular name for boys in 2011.
Martin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Estonian, Russian, Romanian, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Finnish
Other Scripts: Мартин, Мартын(Russian) Мартин(Serbian, Bulgarian, Macedonian)
Pronounced: MAHR-tin(English) MAR-TEHN(French) MAR-teen(German, Slovak) MAT-in(Swedish) MAHT-tin(Norwegian) MAH-tseen(Danish) MAR-kyin(Czech) MAWR-teen(Hungarian) mar-TIN(Bulgarian) MAHR-teen(Finnish)
Rating: 65% based on 2 votes
From the Roman name
Martinus, which was derived from
Martis, the genitive case of the name of the Roman god
Mars.
Saint Martin of Tours was a 4th-century bishop who is the patron saint of France. According to legend, he came across a cold beggar in the middle of winter so he ripped his cloak in two and gave half of it to the beggar. He was a favourite saint during the Middle Ages, and his name has become common throughout the Christian world.
An influential bearer of the name was Martin Luther (1483-1546), the theologian who began the Protestant Reformation. The name was also borne by five popes (two of them more commonly known as Marinus). Other more recent bearers include the German philosopher Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), the American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), and the American filmmaker Martin Scorsese (1942-).
Marisa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, English
Pronounced: ma-REE-za(Italian) ma-REE-sa(Spanish) mə-RIS-ə(English)
Rating: 30% based on 2 votes
Italian, Spanish and Portuguese combination of
Maria and
Luisa.
Mario
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian, Spanish, German, Croatian
Pronounced: MA-ryo(Italian, Spanish, German)
Rating: 25% based on 2 votes
Italian and Spanish form of
Marius. Famous bearers include American racecar driver Mario Andretti (1940-) and Canadian hockey player Mario Lemieux (1965-). It is also borne by a Nintendo video game character, a moustached Italian plumber, who debuted as the playable hero of
Donkey Kong in 1981. Spelled
マリオ (Mario) in Japanese Katakana, he was reportedly named after Mario Segale (1934-2018), an American businessman who rented a warehouse to Nintendo.
Mariel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish (Latin American), Spanish (Philippines), English (American)
Pronounced: ma-RYEHL(Spanish) MEHR-ee-əl(American English) MAR-ee-əl(American English)
Rating: 63% based on 3 votes
Diminutive of
Maria. In the case of the American actress Mariel Hemingway (1961-), the name was inspired by the Cuban town of Mariel.
Marie
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: French, Czech, German, English, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Albanian
Pronounced: MA-REE(French) MA-ri-yeh(Czech) ma-REE(German, Dutch) mə-REE(English)
Rating: 70% based on 3 votes
French and Czech form of
Maria. It has been very common in France since the 13th century. At the opening of the 20th century it was given to approximately 20 percent of French girls. This percentage has declined steadily over the course of the century, and it dropped from the top rank in 1958.
A notable bearer of this name was Marie Antoinette, a queen of France who was executed by guillotine during the French Revolution. Another was Marie Curie (1867-1934), a physicist and chemist who studied radioactivity with her husband Pierre.
In France it is occasionally used as a masculine name in pairings such as Jean-Marie.
Maribel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish
Pronounced: ma-ree-BEHL
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Maria
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: Italian, Portuguese, Catalan, Occitan, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Faroese, Dutch, Frisian, Greek, Polish, Romanian, English, Finnish, Estonian, Corsican, Sardinian, Basque, Armenian, Russian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, Biblical Greek [1], Biblical Latin, Old Church Slavic
Other Scripts: Μαρία(Greek) Մարիա(Armenian) Мария(Russian, Bulgarian) Марія(Ukrainian) Маріа(Church Slavic)
Pronounced: ma-REE-a(Italian, German, Swedish, Dutch, Greek, Romanian, Basque) mu-REE-u(European Portuguese) ma-REE-u(Brazilian Portuguese) mə-REE-ə(Catalan, English) mah-REE-ah(Norwegian, Danish) MAR-ya(Polish) MAH-ree-ah(Finnish) mu-RYEE-yə(Russian) mu-RYEE-yu(Ukrainian)
Rating: 60% based on 2 votes
Latin form of Greek
Μαρία, from Hebrew
מִרְיָם (see
Mary).
Maria is the usual form of the name in many European languages, as well as a secondary form in other languages such as English (where the common spelling is
Mary). In some countries, for example Germany, Poland and Italy,
Maria is occasionally used as a masculine middle name.
This was the name of two ruling queens of Portugal. It was also borne by the Habsburg queen Maria Theresa (1717-1780), whose inheritance of the domains of her father, the Holy Roman emperor Charles VI, began the War of the Austrian Succession.
Malcolm
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish, English
Pronounced: MAL-kəm(English)
Rating: 60% based on 2 votes
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.
Maksim
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Russian, Belarusian, Macedonian, Ukrainian
Other Scripts: Максим(Russian, Macedonian, Ukrainian) Максім(Belarusian)
Pronounced: muk-SYEEM(Russian)
Rating: 30% based on 2 votes
Russian, Belarusian and Macedonian form of
Maximus, as well as an alternate transcription of Ukrainian
Максим (see
Maksym).
Mairwen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Rating: 25% based on 2 votes
Combination of
Mair and Welsh
gwen meaning "white, blessed".
Máire
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: MA-ryə
Rating: 25% based on 2 votes
Irish form of
Maria (see
Mary). The form
Muire is used to refer to the Virgin Mary.
Mai 2
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Japanese
Other Scripts: 舞, 麻衣, 真愛, etc.(Japanese Kanji) まい(Japanese Hiragana)
Pronounced: MA-EE
Rating: 40% based on 2 votes
From Japanese
舞 (mai) meaning "dance" or
麻衣 (mai) meaning "linen robe". It can also come from
真 (ma) meaning "real, genuine" combined with
愛 (ai) meaning "love, affection". Other kanji or kanji combinations can also form this name.
Magda
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Czech, Slovak, Polish, Hungarian, Croatian, Slovene, Romanian, Portuguese, Greek
Other Scripts: Μάγδα(Greek)
Pronounced: MAK-da(German) MAHKH-da(Dutch) MAG-da(Czech, Slovak, Polish) MAWG-daw(Hungarian)
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
Maeve
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish, English, Irish Mythology
Pronounced: MAYV(English)
Rating: 60% based on 3 votes
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.
Madoc
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh (Rare)
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
From the Old Welsh name
Matauc, derived from
mad meaning
"good, fortunate" combined with a
diminutive suffix. This is the name of a warrior mentioned in the 7th-century Welsh poem
Y Gododdin. It was also borne by several medieval rulers, including the 12th-century Madoc ap Maredudd, the last prince of Powys. Another bearer, according to later folklore, was a son of the 12th-century
Owain the Great who sailed to the Americas.
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)
Rating: 45% based on 2 votes
Mackenzie
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: mə-KEHN-zee
Rating: 15% based on 2 votes
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.
Mack 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MAK
Rating: 30% based on 2 votes
From a surname, originally a shortened form of various Irish and Scottish surnames beginning with Mac or Mc (from Irish mac meaning "son"). It is also used as a generic slang term for a man.
Macie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MAY-see
Rating: 25% based on 2 votes
Mabel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MAY-bəl
Rating: 60% based on 3 votes
Medieval feminine form of
Amabilis. This spelling and
Amabel were common during the Middle Ages, though they became rare after the 15th century. It was revived in the 19th century after the publication of C. M. Yonge's 1854 novel
The Heir of Redclyffe [1], which featured a character named Mabel (as well as one named Amabel).
Lyudmila
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian, Bulgarian
Other Scripts: Людмила(Russian, Bulgarian)
Pronounced: lyuwd-MYEE-lə(Russian)
Rating: 15% based on 2 votes
Russian and Bulgarian form of
Ludmila. This was the name of a character in Aleksandr Pushkin's poem
Ruslan and Lyudmila (1820).
Lydia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German, Dutch, Biblical, Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Λυδία(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: LID-ee-ə(English) LUY-dya(German) LEE-dee-ya(Dutch)
Rating: 93% based on 4 votes
Means
"from Lydia" in Greek. Lydia was a region on the west coast of Asia Minor, said to be named for the legendary king
Lydos. In the
New Testament this is the name of a woman converted to Christianity by
Saint Paul. In the modern era the name has been in use since the
Protestant Reformation.
Luz
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish
Pronounced: LOOTH(European Spanish) LOOS(Latin American Spanish)
Rating: 25% based on 2 votes
Means
"light" in Spanish. It is taken from the title of the Virgin
Mary,
Nuestra Señora de la Luz, meaning "Our Lady of Light".
Luna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Roman Mythology, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, English
Pronounced: LOO-na(Latin, Spanish, Italian) LOO-nə(English)
Rating: 65% based on 2 votes
Means "the moon" in Latin (as well as Italian, Spanish and other Romance languages). Luna was the Roman goddess of the moon, frequently depicted driving a white chariot through the sky.
Luke
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Biblical
Pronounced: LOOK(English)
Rating: 90% based on 2 votes
English form of Latin
Lucas, from the Greek name
Λουκᾶς (Loukas), probably a shortened form of
Λουκανός (Loukanos) meaning
"from Lucania", Lucania being a region in southern Italy. Luke was a doctor who travelled in the company of the apostle
Paul. According to tradition, he was the author of the third gospel and Acts in the
New Testament. He was probably of Greek ethnicity. He is considered a
saint by many Christian denominations.
Due to the saint's renown, the name became common in the Christian world (in various spellings). As an English name, Luke has been in use since the 12th century alongside the Latin form Lucas. Both forms became popular throughout the English-speaking world towards the end of the 20th century. A famous fictional bearer was the hero Luke Skywalker from the Star Wars movies, beginning in 1977.
Lucinda
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Portuguese, Literature
Pronounced: loo-SIN-də(English)
Rating: 25% based on 2 votes
An elaboration of
Lucia created by Cervantes for his novel
Don Quixote (1605). It was subsequently used by Molière in his play
The Doctor in Spite of Himself (1666).
Lucienne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: LUY-SYEHN
Rating: 70% based on 2 votes
Lucas
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Dutch, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Biblical Latin
Pronounced: LOO-kəs(English) LUY-kahs(Dutch) LUY-KA(French) LOO-kush(European Portuguese) LOO-kus(Brazilian Portuguese) LOO-kas(Spanish, Swedish, Latin)
Rating: 83% based on 3 votes
Latin form of Greek
Λουκᾶς (see
Luke), as well as the form used in several other languages.
This name became very popular in the second half of the 20th century. It reached the top ten names for boys in France (by 1997), Belgium (1998), Denmark (2003), Canada (2008), the Netherlands (2009), New Zealand (2009), Australia (2010), Scotland (2013), Spain (2015) and the United States (2018).
Luca 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian, Romanian
Pronounced: LOO-ka
Rating: 55% based on 2 votes
Italian and Romanian form of
Lucas (see
Luke). This name was borne by Luca della Robbia, a Renaissance sculptor from Florence.
Louisa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German, Dutch
Pronounced: loo-EEZ-ə(English) loo-EE-za(German)
Rating: 60% based on 4 votes
Latinate feminine form of
Louis. A famous bearer was the American novelist Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888), the author of
Little Women.
Lorelei
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature, English
Pronounced: LAWR-ə-lie(English)
Rating: 53% based on 3 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).
Lola
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish, English, French
Pronounced: LO-la(Spanish) LO-lə(English) LAW-LA(French)
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Spanish
diminutive of
Dolores. A famous bearer was Lola Montez (1821-1861; birth name Eliza Gilbert), an Irish-born dancer, actress and courtesan.
Llywelyn
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh
Pronounced: shəw-EH-lin(Welsh) loo-EHL-in(English)
Rating: 15% based on 2 votes
Probably a Welsh form of an unattested old Celtic name *
Lugubelinos, a combination of the names of the gods
Lugus and
Belenus, or a compound of
Lugus and a Celtic root meaning "strong". Alternatively it may be derived from Welsh
llyw "leader". This was the name of several Welsh rulers, notably the 13th-century Llywelyn the Great who fought against the English.
Liv 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Norwegian, Swedish, Danish
Pronounced: LEEV
Rating: 80% based on 3 votes
Derived from the Old Norse name Hlíf meaning "protection". Its use has been influenced by the modern Scandinavian word liv meaning "life".
Lisbet
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swedish, Danish, Norwegian
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
Lior
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Hebrew
Other Scripts: לִיאוֹר(Hebrew)
Rating: 15% based on 2 votes
Means
"my light" in Hebrew, from
לִי (li) "for me" and
אוֹר (ʾor) "light".
Lily
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: LIL-ee
Rating: 68% based on 4 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-).
Lillian
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: LIL-ee-ən
Rating: 40% based on 2 votes
Probably originally a
diminutive of
Elizabeth. It may also be considered an elaborated form of
Lily, from the Latin word for "lily"
lilium. This name has been used in England since the 16th century.
Lilac
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: LIE-lək
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
From the English word for the shrub with purple or white flowers (genus Syringa). It is derived via Arabic from Persian.
Liesel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German
Pronounced: LEE-zəl
Rating: 90% based on 2 votes
Liam
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish, English, French (Modern), Dutch (Modern), German (Modern), Swedish (Modern), Norwegian (Modern)
Pronounced: LYEEM(Irish) LEE-əm(English) LYAM(French) LEE-yahm(Dutch)
Rating: 70% based on 2 votes
Irish short form of
William. It became popular in the United Kingdom in the 1980s, and elsewhere in Europe and the Americas after that. It was the top ranked name for boys in the United States beginning in 2017. Famous bearers include British actor Liam Neeson (1952-), British musician Liam Gallagher (1972-), and Australian actor Liam Hemsworth (1990-).
Levon
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Armenian
Other Scripts: Լեւոն(Armenian)
Pronounced: leh-VAWN
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Armenian form of
Leon. This was the name of several kings of Cilician Armenia, including the first king Levon I the Magnificent.
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)
Rating: 70% based on 2 votes
Derived from the Old German elements
liut "people" and
bald "bold, brave". The spelling was altered due to association with Latin
leo "lion". This name was common among German royalty, first with the Babenbergs and then the Habsburgs.
Saint Leopold was a 12th-century Babenberg margrave of Austria, who is now considered the patron of that country. It was also borne by two Habsburg Holy Roman emperors, as well as three kings of Belgium. Since the 19th century this name has been occasionally used in England, originally in honour of Queen Victoria's uncle, a king of Belgium, after whom she named one of her sons. It was later used by James Joyce for the main character, Leopold Bloom, in his novel
Ulysses (1922).
Leonora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Rating: 65% based on 2 votes
Leonard
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Dutch, German, Polish, Romanian, Germanic [1]
Pronounced: LEHN-ərd(English) LEH-o-nahrt(Dutch) LEH-o-nart(German) leh-AW-nart(Polish)
Rating: 70% based on 2 votes
Means
"brave lion", derived from the Old German elements
lewo "lion" (of Latin origin) and
hart "hard, firm, brave, hardy". This was the name of a 6th-century Frankish
saint from Noblac who is the patron of prisoners and horses. The
Normans brought this name to England, where it was used steadily through the Middle Ages, becoming even more common in the 20th century.
Leon
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, German, Dutch, Polish, Slovene, Croatian, Greek, Ancient Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Λέων(Greek)
Pronounced: LEE-ahn(English) LEH-awn(German, Dutch, Polish, Slovene)
Rating: 70% based on 2 votes
Derived from Greek
λέων (leon) meaning
"lion". During the Christian era this Greek name was merged with the Latin
cognate Leo, with the result that the two forms are used somewhat interchangeably across European languages. In England during the Middle Ages this was a common name among Jews. A famous bearer was the communist revolutionary Leon Trotsky (1879-1940), whose name is
Лев in Russian.
Leo
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Estonian, English, Croatian, Armenian, Late Roman
Other Scripts: Լեո(Armenian)
Pronounced: LEH-o(German, Danish, Finnish) LEH-yo(Dutch) LEE-o(English)
Rating: 100% based on 4 votes
Derived from Latin
leo meaning
"lion", a
cognate of
Leon. It was popular among early Christians and was the name of 13 popes, including
Saint Leo the Great who asserted the dominance of the Roman bishops (the popes) over all others in the 5th century. It was also borne by six Byzantine emperors and five Armenian kings. Another famous bearer was the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), name spelled
Лев in Russian, whose works include
War and Peace and
Anna Karenina. Leo is also a constellation and the fifth sign of the zodiac.
Leif
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Swedish, Norwegian, Danish
Pronounced: LAYF
Rating: 50% based on 2 votes
From the Old Norse name Leifr meaning "descendant, heir". Leif Eriksson was a Norse explorer who reached North America in the early 11th century. He was the son of Erik the Red.
Leah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Hebrew, Biblical
Other Scripts: לֵאָה(Hebrew)
Pronounced: LEE-ə(English)
Rating: 87% based on 3 votes
From the Hebrew name
לֵאָה (Leʾa), which was probably derived from the Hebrew word
לָאָה (laʾa) meaning
"weary, grieved" [1]. Alternatively it might be related to Akkadian
littu meaning
"cow". In the
Old Testament Leah is the first wife of
Jacob and the mother of seven of his children. Jacob's other wife was Leah's younger sister
Rachel, whom he preferred. Leah later offered Jacob her handmaid
Zilpah in order for him to conceive more children.
Although this name was used by Jews in the Middle Ages, it was not typical as an English Christian name until after the Protestant Reformation, being common among the Puritans.
Lavender
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: LAV-ən-dər
Rating: 40% based on 2 votes
From the English word for the aromatic flower or the pale purple colour.
Laurence 2
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: LAW-RAHNS
Rating: 65% based on 2 votes
French feminine form of
Laurentius (see
Laurence 1).
Laurel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: LAWR-əl
Rating: 75% based on 2 votes
From the name of the laurel tree, ultimately from Latin laurus.
Lark
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: LAHRK
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
From the English word for the type of songbird.
Laetitia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Late Roman, French
Pronounced: LEH-TEE-SYA(French)
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Original Latin form of
Letitia, as well as a French variant. This name began rising in popularity in France around the same time that Serge Gainsbourg released his 1963 song
Elaeudanla Téïtéïa (this title is a phonetic rendering of the letters in the name
Lætitia). It peaked in 1982 as the fourth most common name for girls.
Keziah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: קְצִיעָה(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: kə-ZIE-ə(English)
Rating: 25% based on 2 votes
From the Hebrew name
קְצִיעָה (Qetsiʿa) meaning
"cassia, cinnamon", from the name of the spice tree. In the
Old Testament she is a daughter of
Job.
Kerenza
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Cornish
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Kenyon
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Rating: 10% based on 3 votes
From a surname that was derived from an English place name, of uncertain meaning.
Kendrick
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KEHN-drik
Rating: 7% based on 3 votes
From a surname that has several different origins. It could be from the Old English given names
Cyneric "royal power" or
Cenric "bold power", or from the Welsh name
Cynwrig "chief hero". It can also be an Anglicized form of the Gaelic surname
Mac Eanraig meaning "son of
Henry".
As an American given name, it got a boost in popularity in 2012 after the rapper Kendrick Lamar (1987-) released his debut album.
Kendall
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KEHN-dəl
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
From an English surname that comes from the name of the city of Kendale in northwestern England meaning "valley on the river Kent". Originally mostly masculine, the name received a boost in popularity for girls in 1993 when the devious character Kendall Hart began appearing on the American soap opera All My Children.
Katharine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German
Pronounced: KATH-ə-rin(English) KATH-rin(English) ka-ta-REE-nə(German)
Rating: 75% based on 2 votes
English variant of
Katherine and German variant of
Katharina. A famous bearer was American actress Katharine Hepburn (1907-2003).
Kate
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Croatian
Pronounced: KAYT(English)
Rating: 87% based on 3 votes
Short form of
Katherine, often used independently. It is short for
Katherina in Shakespeare's play
The Taming of the Shrew (1593). It has been used in England since the Middle Ages. A famous bearer is the British actress Kate Winslet (1975-).
Katarzyna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Polish
Pronounced: ka-ta-ZHI-na
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Justus
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Dutch, Finnish, Late Roman
Pronounced: YUWS-tuws(German) YUYS-tuys(Dutch) JUS-təs(English)
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Latin name meaning
"just". This name was borne by at least eight
saints.
Juniper
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: JOON-i-pər
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
From the English word for the type of tree, derived ultimately from Latin iuniperus.
June
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: JOON
Rating: 57% based on 3 votes
From the name of the month, which was originally derived from the name of the Roman goddess
Juno. It has been used as a given name since the 19th century.
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)
Rating: 30% based on 2 votes
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.
Juliet
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: joo-lee-EHT, JOOL-yət
Rating: 87% based on 3 votes
Anglicized form of
Giulietta or
Juliette. This spelling was used for the ill-fated lover of
Romeo in the play
Romeo and Juliet (1596) by William Shakespeare. Shakespeare based his story on earlier Italian tales such as
Giulietta e Romeo (1524) by Luigi Da Porto.
Julian
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Polish, German
Pronounced: JOO-lee-ən(English) JOOL-yən(English) YOO-lyan(Polish) YOO-lee-an(German)
Rating: 70% based on 2 votes
From the Roman name
Iulianus, which was derived from
Julius. This was the name of the last pagan Roman emperor, Julian the Apostate (4th century). It was also borne by several early
saints, including the legendary Saint Julian the Hospitaller. This name has been used in England since the Middle Ages, at which time it was also a feminine name (from
Juliana, eventually becoming
Gillian).
Julia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Spanish, Polish, Finnish, Estonian, Russian, Ukrainian, Ancient Roman, Biblical
Other Scripts: Юлия(Russian) Юлія(Ukrainian)
Pronounced: JOO-lee-ə(English) YOO-lya(German, Danish, Polish) YOO-lee-ah(Swedish, Finnish) YUY-lee-a(Dutch) KHOO-lya(Spanish) YOO-lyi-yə(Russian) YOO-lee-a(Latin)
Rating: 87% based on 3 votes
Feminine form of the Roman family name
Julius. Among the notable women from this family were Julia Augusta (also known as Livia Drusilla), the wife of Emperor
Augustus, and Julia the Elder, the daughter of Augustus and the wife of
Tiberius. A person by this name has a brief mention in the
New Testament. It was also borne by a few early
saints and martyrs, including the patron saint of Corsica. Additionally, Shakespeare used it in his comedy
The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1594).
It has been common as a given name in the English-speaking world only since the 18th century. A famous modern bearer is American actress Julia Roberts (1967-).
Jude 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Biblical
Pronounced: JOOD(English)
Rating: 75% based on 2 votes
Variant of
Judas. It is used in many English versions of the
New Testament to denote the second apostle named Judas, in order to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot. He was supposedly the author of the Epistle of Jude. In the English-speaking world,
Jude has occasionally been used as a given name since the time of the
Protestant Reformation.
Joy
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: JOI
Rating: 80% based on 2 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)
Rating: 55% based on 2 votes
Jordan
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English, French, Macedonian, Serbian
Other Scripts: Јордан(Macedonian, Serbian) יַרְדֵן(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: JAWR-dən(American English) JAW-dən(British English) ZHAWR-DAHN(French)
Rating: 27% based on 3 votes
From the name of the river that flows between the countries of Jordan and Israel. The river's name in Hebrew is
יַרְדֵן (Yarḏen), and it is derived from
יָרַד (yaraḏ) meaning
"descend, flow down". In the
New Testament John the Baptist baptizes
Jesus Christ in its waters, and it was adopted as a personal name in Europe after crusaders brought water back from the river to baptize their children. There may have been some influence from the Latin name
Jordanes, notably borne by a 6th-century Gothic historian.
This name died out after the Middle Ages, but was revived in the 19th century. In America and other countries it became fairly popular in the second half of the 20th century. A famous bearer of the surname is former basketball star Michael Jordan (1963-).
Jonquil
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: JAHNG-kwəl
Rating: 25% based on 2 votes
From the English word for the type of flower, derived ultimately from Latin iuncus "reed".
Jonathan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Biblical
Other Scripts: יוֹנָתָן(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: JAHN-ə-thən(American English) JAWN-ə-thən(British English) ZHAW-NA-TAHN(French) YO-na-tan(German) YO-na-tahn(Dutch)
Rating: 80% based on 3 votes
From the Hebrew name
יְהוֹנָתָן (Yehonaṯan), contracted to
יוֹנָתָן (Yonaṯan), meaning
"Yahweh has given", derived from the roots
יְהוֹ (yeho) referring to the Hebrew God and
נָתַן (naṯan) meaning "to give". According to the
Old Testament, Jonathan was the eldest son of
Saul. His relationship with his father was strained due to his close friendship with his father's rival
David. Along with Saul he was killed in battle with the Philistines.
As an English name, Jonathan did not become common until after the Protestant Reformation. A famous bearer was the Anglo-Irish satirist Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), who wrote Gulliver's Travels and other works.
Jolene
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: jo-LEEN
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
Formed from
Jo and the common name suffix
lene. This name was created in the early 20th century. It received a boost in popularity after the release of Dolly Parton's 1973 song
Jolene.
Johanna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian, English, Late Roman
Pronounced: yo-HA-na(German) yuw-HAN-na(Swedish) yo-HAHN-nah(Danish) yo-HAH-na(Dutch) YO-hawn-naw(Hungarian) YO-hahn-nah(Finnish) jo-HAN-ə(English) jo-AN-ə(English)
Rating: 55% based on 2 votes
Latinate form of Greek
Ioanna (see
Joanna).
Joel
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, Finnish, Estonian, Biblical
Other Scripts: יוֹאֵל(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: JO-əl(English) JOL(English) kho-EHL(Spanish) ZHWEHL(European Portuguese) zho-EW(Brazilian Portuguese) YO-ehl(Swedish, Finnish)
Rating: 45% based on 2 votes
From the Hebrew name
יוֹאֵל (Yoʾel) meaning
"Yahweh is God", from the elements
יוֹ (yo) and
אֵל (ʾel), both referring to the Hebrew God. Joel is one of the twelve minor prophets of the
Old Testament, the author of the Book of Joel, which describes a plague of locusts. In England, it was first used as a Christian name after the
Protestant Reformation.
Jochebed
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: יוֹכֶבֶד(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: YAHK-i-behd(English)
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
Jocasta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Anglicized)
Other Scripts: Ἰοκάστη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: jo-KAS-tə(English)
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
From the Greek name
Ἰοκάστη (Iokaste), which is of unknown meaning. In Greek
mythology she was the mother
Oedipus by the Theban king
Laius. In a case of tragic mistaken identity, she married her own son.
Joaquín
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Spanish
Pronounced: kho-a-KEEN, khwa-KEEN
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
Jiro
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Japanese
Other Scripts: 二郎(Japanese Kanji) じろう(Japanese Hiragana)
Pronounced: JEE-RO
Rating: 7% based on 3 votes
Alternate transcription of Japanese Kanji
二郎 (see
Jirō).
Jimena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish
Pronounced: khee-MEH-na
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Variant of
Ximena. This form is more popular in Spain itself.
Jillian
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: JIL-ee-ən
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
Jessamine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: JEHS-ə-min
Rating: 40% based on 2 votes
From a variant spelling of the English word
jasmine (see
Jasmine), used also to refer to flowering plants in the cestrum family.
Jerome
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: jə-ROM
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
From the Greek name
Ἱερώνυμος (Hieronymos) meaning
"sacred name", derived from
ἱερός (hieros) meaning "sacred" and
ὄνυμα (onyma) meaning "name".
Saint Jerome was responsible for the creation of the Vulgate, the Latin translation of the Bible, in the 5th century. He is regarded as a Doctor of the Church. The name was used in his honour in the Middle Ages, especially in Italy and France, and has been used in England since the 12th century
[1].
Jeremy
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Biblical
Pronounced: JEHR-ə-mee(English) JEHR-mee(English)
Rating: 45% based on 2 votes
English form of
Jeremiah, originally a medieval vernacular form. This is the spelling used in some English versions of the
New Testament.
Jemima
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical, English
Other Scripts: יְמִימָה(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: jə-MIE-mə(English)
Rating: 30% based on 2 votes
Traditionally said to mean
"dove", it may actually be related to Hebrew
יוֹמָם (yomam) meaning
"daytime" [1]. This was the oldest of the three daughters of
Job in the
Old Testament. As an English name,
Jemima first became common during the
Puritan era.
Jefferson
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: JEHF-ər-sən
Rating: 7% based on 3 votes
From an English surname meaning
"son of Jeffrey". It is usually given in honour of Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), the third president of the United States and the primary author of the Declaration of Independence.
Jeannine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, English
Pronounced: ZHA-NEEN(French) jə-NEEN(English)
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Javier
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Spanish
Pronounced: kha-BYEHR
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Javan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: יָוָן(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: JAY-vən(English)
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Means
"Greece" in Hebrew, probably related to Greek
Ἴωνες (Iones), the name for the tribe of the Ionians. In the
Old Testament this is the name of a grandson of
Noah and the ancestor of the Greek peoples.
Jasper
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Dutch, Judeo-Christian-Islamic Legend
Pronounced: JAS-pər(English) YAHS-pər(Dutch)
Rating: 73% based on 3 votes
From Latin
Gaspar, perhaps from the Biblical Hebrew word
גִּזְבָּר (gizbar) meaning
"treasurer" [1], derived from Old Persian
ganzabarah. This name was traditionally assigned to one of the wise men (also known as the Magi, or three kings) who were said to have visited the newborn
Jesus. It has occasionally been used in the English-speaking world since the Middle Ages. The name can also be given in reference to the English word for the gemstone.
Jason
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, Greek Mythology (Anglicized), Biblical
Other Scripts: Ἰάσων(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: JAY-sən(English) ZHA-ZAWN(French)
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
From the Greek name
Ἰάσων (Iason) meaning
"healer", derived from Greek
ἰάομαι (iaomai) meaning "to heal". In Greek
mythology Jason was the leader of the Argonauts. After his uncle
Pelias overthrew his father
Aeson as king of Iolcos, Jason went in search of the Golden Fleece in order to win back the throne. During his journeys he married the sorceress
Medea, who helped him gain the fleece and kill his uncle, but who later turned against him when he fell in love with another woman.
This name also appears in the New Testament, belonging to man who sheltered Paul and Silas. In his case, it may represent a Hellenized form of a Hebrew name. It was not used in England until after the Protestant Reformation.
Jared
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Biblical
Other Scripts: יָרֶד, יֶרֶד(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: JAR-əd(English)
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
From the Hebrew name
יָרֶד (Yareḏ) or
יֶרֶד (Yereḏ) meaning
"descent". This is the name of a close descendant of
Adam in the
Old Testament. It has been used as an English name since the
Protestant Reformation, and it was popularized in the 1960s by the character Jarrod Barkley on the television series
The Big Valley [1].
Jane
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: JAYN
Rating: 50% based on 2 votes
Medieval English form of
Jehanne, an Old French feminine form of
Iohannes (see
John). This became the most common feminine form of
John in the 17th century, surpassing
Joan. In the first half of the 20th century
Joan once again overtook
Jane for a few decades in both the United States and the United Kingdom.
Famous bearers include the uncrowned English queen Lady Jane Grey (1536-1554), who ruled for only nine days, British novelist Jane Austen (1775-1817), who wrote Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, British primatologist Jane Goodall (1934-), and American actress Jane Fonda (1937-). This is also the name of the central character in Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre (1847), which tells of Jane's sad childhood and her relationship with Edward Rochester.
James
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Biblical
Pronounced: JAYMZ(English)
Rating: 60% based on 2 votes
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.
Jael
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical, Biblical Portuguese
Other Scripts: יָעֵל(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: JAY-əl(English) JAYL(English)
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
From the Hebrew name
יָעֵל (Yaʿel) meaning
"ibex, mountain goat". This name appears in the
Old Testament belonging to the wife of
Heber the Kenite. After Sisera, the captain of the Canaanite army, was defeated in battle by
Deborah and
Barak he took refuge in Heber's tent. When he fell asleep Jael killed him by hammering a tent peg into his head.
Jade
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English, French
Pronounced: JAYD(English) ZHAD(French)
Rating: 63% based on 3 votes
From the name of the precious stone that is often used in carvings. It is derived from Spanish (piedra de la) ijada meaning "(stone of the) flank", relating to the belief that jade could cure renal colic. As a given name, it came into general use during the 1970s. It was initially unisex, though it is now mostly feminine.
Jacob
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Jewish, Biblical
Other Scripts: יַעֲקֹב(Hebrew)
Pronounced: JAY-kəb(English) YA-kawp(Dutch) YAH-kawp(Swedish, Norwegian) YAH-kob(Danish)
Rating: 70% based on 2 votes
From the Latin
Iacob, which was from the Greek
Ἰακώβ (Iakob), which was from the Hebrew name
יַעֲקֹב (Yaʿaqov). In the
Old Testament Jacob (later called
Israel) is the son of
Isaac and
Rebecca and the father of the twelve founders of the twelve tribes of Israel. He was born holding his twin brother
Esau's heel, and his name is explained as meaning
"holder of the heel" or
"supplanter", because he twice deprived his brother of his rights as the firstborn son (see
Genesis 27:36). Other theories claim that it is in fact derived from a hypothetical name like
יַעֲקֹבְאֵל (Yaʿaqovʾel) meaning
"may God protect".
The English names Jacob and James derive from the same source, with James coming from Latin Iacomus, a later variant of the Latin New Testament form Iacobus. Unlike English, many languages do not have separate spellings for the two names.
In England, Jacob was mainly regarded as a Jewish name during the Middle Ages [1], though the variant James was used among Christians. Jacob came into general use as a Christian name after the Protestant Reformation. In America, although already moderately common, it steadily grew in popularity from the early 1970s to the end of the 1990s, becoming the top ranked name from 1999 to 2012.
A famous bearer was Jacob Grimm (1785-1863), the German linguist and writer who was, with his brother Wilhelm, the author of Grimm's Fairy Tales.
Jacinta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish, Portuguese
Pronounced: kha-THEEN-ta(European Spanish) kha-SEEN-ta(Latin American Spanish)
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Spanish and Portuguese feminine form of
Hyacinthus.
Ivan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Russian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Serbian, Macedonian, Croatian, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, English, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Estonian
Other Scripts: Иван(Russian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Macedonian) Іван(Ukrainian, Belarusian)
Pronounced: i-VAN(Russian) ee-VAN(Bulgarian, Ukrainian, Romanian) yee-VAN(Belarusian) EE-van(Serbian, Macedonian, Croatian, Slovak, Slovene, Italian) I-van(Czech) IE-vən(English) ee-VUN(Portuguese)
Rating: 60% based on 2 votes
Newer form of the Old Church Slavic name
Іѡаннъ (Ioannŭ), which was derived from Greek
Ioannes (see
John). This was the name of six Russian rulers, including the 15th-century Ivan III the Great and 16th-century Ivan IV the Terrible, the first tsar of Russia. It was also borne by nine emperors of Bulgaria. Other notable bearers include the Russian author Ivan Turgenev (1818-1883), who wrote
Fathers and Sons, and the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936), who is best known for his discovery of the conditioned reflex.
Isolde
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Arthurian Cycle
Pronounced: ee-ZAWL-də(German) i-SOL-də(English) i-ZOL-də(English) i-SOLD(English) i-ZOLD(English) EE-ZAWLD(French)
Rating: 80% based on 4 votes
German form of
Iseult, appearing in the 13th-century German poem
Tristan by Gottfried von Strassburg. In 1865 the German composer Richard Wagner debuted his popular opera
Tristan und Isolde and also used the name for his first daughter.
Isla
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Scottish, English
Pronounced: IE-lə
Rating: 80% based on 3 votes
Variant of
Islay, typically used as a feminine name. It also coincides with the Spanish word
isla meaning "island".
Isis
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Egyptian Mythology (Hellenized)
Other Scripts: Ἶσις(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: IE-sis(English)
Rating: 60% based on 2 votes
Greek form of Egyptian
ꜣst (reconstructed as
Iset,
Aset or
Ueset), possibly from
st meaning
"throne". In Egyptian
mythology Isis was the goddess of the sky and nature, the wife of
Osiris and the mother of
Horus. She was originally depicted wearing a throne-shaped headdress, but in later times she was conflated with the goddess
Hathor and depicted having the horns of a cow on her head. She was also worshipped by people outside of Egypt, such as the Greeks and Romans.
Isadora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Portuguese
Pronounced: iz-ə-DAWR-ə(English)
Rating: 60% based on 2 votes
Variant of
Isidora. A famous bearer was the American dancer Isadora Duncan (1877-1927).
Isabel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish, Portuguese, English, French, German, Dutch
Pronounced: ee-sa-BEHL(Spanish) ee-zu-BEHL(European Portuguese) ee-za-BEW(Brazilian Portuguese) IZ-ə-behl(English) EE-ZA-BEHL(French) ee-za-BEHL(German, Dutch)
Rating: 80% based on 4 votes
Medieval Occitan form of
Elizabeth. It spread throughout Spain, Portugal and France, becoming common among the royalty by the 12th century. It grew popular in England in the 13th century after Isabella of Angoulême married the English king John, and it was subsequently bolstered when Isabella of France married Edward II the following century.
This is the usual form of the name Elizabeth in Spain and Portugal, though elsewhere it is considered a parallel name, such as in France where it is used alongside Élisabeth. The name was borne by two Spanish ruling queens, including Isabel of Castile, who sponsored the explorations of Christopher Columbus.
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)
Rating: 80% based on 2 votes
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).
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)
Rating: 60% based on 2 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.
India
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Spanish (Modern)
Pronounced: IN-dee-ə(English) EEN-dya(Spanish)
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
From the name of the country, which is itself derived from the name of the Indus River. The river's name is ultimately from Sanskrit
सिन्धु (Sindhu) meaning "body of trembling water, river". India Wilkes is a character in the novel
Gone with the Wind (1936) by Margaret Mitchell.
Imogen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (British)
Pronounced: IM-ə-jehn
Rating: 60% based on 2 votes
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.
Iman
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Indonesian, Malay
Other Scripts: إيمان(Arabic) ایمان(Persian, Urdu)
Pronounced: ee-MAN(Arabic) ee-MAWN(Persian) EE-man(Indonesian)
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
Means
"faith" in Arabic, derived from
أمن (ʾamuna) meaning "to be faithful". It is typically feminine in Arabic and masculine in Persian.
Ignatius
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Late Roman
Pronounced: ig-NAY-shəs(English)
Rating: 3% based on 3 votes
From the Roman family name
Egnatius, meaning unknown, of Etruscan origin. The spelling was later altered to resemble Latin
ignis "fire". This was the name of several
saints, including the third bishop of Antioch who was thrown to wild beasts by Emperor Trajan, and by Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), founder of the Jesuits, whose real birth name was in fact
Íñigo.
Ida
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Italian, French, Polish, Finnish, Hungarian, Slovak, Slovene, Germanic [1]
Pronounced: IE-də(English) EE-da(German, Dutch, Italian, Polish) EE-dah(Swedish, Norwegian, Danish) EE-daw(Hungarian)
Rating: 10% based on 3 votes
Derived from the Germanic element
id possibly meaning
"work, labour" (Proto-Germanic *
idiz). The
Normans brought this name to England, though it eventually died out there in the Middle Ages. It was strongly revived in the 19th century, in part due to the heroine in Alfred Tennyson's poem
The Princess (1847), which was later adapted into the play
Princess Ida (1884) by Gilbert and Sullivan.
Though the etymology is unrelated, this is the name of a mountain on the island of Crete where, according to Greek myth, the god Zeus was born.
Ian
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish, English
Pronounced: EE-ən(English)
Rating: 30% based on 2 votes
Anglicized form of Scottish Gaelic
Iain, itself from Latin
Iohannes (see
John). It became popular in the United Kingdom outside of Scotland in the first half of the 20th century, but did not begin catching on in America until the 1960s.
Humphrey
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: HUM-free
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
From the Old German elements
hun "bear cub" and
fridu "peace". The
Normans introduced this name to England, where it replaced the Old English
cognate Hunfrith, and it was regularly used through the Middle Ages. A famous bearer was the American actor Humphrey Bogart (1899-1957), who starred in
The Maltese Falcon and
Casablanca.
Hugo
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Spanish, Portuguese, English, Dutch, German, French, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Germanic [1]
Pronounced: OO-gho(Spanish) OO-goo(Portuguese) HYOO-go(English) HUY-gho(Dutch) HOO-go(German) UY-GO(French)
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
Old German form of
Hugh. As a surname it has belonged to the French author Victor Hugo (1802-1885), the writer of
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and
Les Misérables.
Hugh
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: HYOO
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
From the Germanic name
Hugo, derived from Old Frankish
hugi or Old High German
hugu meaning
"mind, thought, spirit" (Proto-Germanic *
hugiz). It was common among Frankish and French nobility, being borne by Hugh Capet, a 10th-century king of France who founded the Capetian dynasty. The
Normans brought the name to England and it became common there, even more so after the time of the 12th-century bishop
Saint Hugh of Lincoln, who was known for his charity. This was also the name of kings of Cyprus and the crusader kingdom of Jerusalem. The name is used in Ireland and Scotland as the Anglicized form of
Aodh and
Ùisdean.
Hosea
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: הוֹשֵׁעַ(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: ho-ZAY-ə(English) ho-ZEE-ə(English)
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Variant English form of
Hoshea, though the name is spelled the same in the Hebrew text. Hosea is one of the twelve minor prophets of the
Old Testament, the author of the Book of Hosea. Written in the northern kingdom, it draws parallels between his relationship with his unfaithful wife and the relationship between God and his people.
Hope
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: HOP
Rating: 30% based on 2 votes
From the English word
hope, ultimately from Old English
hopian. This name was first used by the
Puritans in the 17th century.
Helena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Portuguese, Catalan, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Finnish, Estonian, Slovene, Croatian, Sorbian, English, Ancient Greek (Latinized), Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ἑλένη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: HEH-leh-na(German, Czech) heh-LEH-na(German, Dutch) heh-LEH-nah(Swedish, Danish, Norwegian) i-LEH-nu(European Portuguese) eh-LEH-nu(Brazilian Portuguese) ə-LEH-nə(Catalan) kheh-LEH-na(Polish) HEH-leh-nah(Finnish) HEHL-ə-nə(English) hə-LAYN-ə(English) hə-LEEN-ə(English)
Rating: 70% based on 2 votes
Latinate form of
Helen. This is the name of the heroine of William Shakespeare's play
All's Well That Ends Well (1603).
Heinrich
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Germanic [1]
Pronounced: HIEN-rikh(German)
Rating: 10% based on 3 votes
German form of
Henry. This was the name of several German kings.
Harry
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: HAR-ee, HEHR-ee
Rating: 50% based on 2 votes
Medieval English form of
Henry. In modern times it is used as a
diminutive of both
Henry and names beginning with
Har. Famous bearers include the American president Harry S. Truman (1884-1972), who was named after his uncle Harrison, and the British royal Prince Harry (1984-), who is actually named Henry. It is also the name of the boy wizard in J. K. Rowling's
Harry Potter series of books, first released in 1997.
Hadassah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical, Hebrew
Other Scripts: הֲדַסָּה(Hebrew)
Pronounced: hə-DAS-ə(English)
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Gwendolyn
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: GWEHN-də-lin
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
Variant of
Gwendolen. This is the usual spelling in the United States.
Gunther
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Germanic Mythology
Pronounced: GUWN-tu(German)
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
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)
Rating: 60% based on 3 votes
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.
Griffin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: GRIF-in
Rating: 55% based on 2 votes
Latinized form of
Gruffudd. This name can also be inspired by the English word
griffin, a creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle, ultimately from Greek
γρύψ (gryps).
Gray
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: GRAY
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
From an English surname meaning "grey", originally given to a person who had grey hair or clothing.
Grant
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Scottish
Pronounced: GRANT(English)
Rating: 30% based on 2 votes
From an English and Scottish surname that was derived from Norman French grand meaning "great, large". A famous bearer of the surname was Ulysses Grant (1822-1885), the commander of the Union forces during the American Civil War who later served as president. In America the name has often been given in his honour.
Grady
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: GRAY-dee
Rating: 30% based on 2 votes
From an Irish surname, itself derived from the byname Gráda meaning "noble, illustrious".
Gloria
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Spanish, Italian, German
Pronounced: GLAWR-ee-ə(English) GLO-rya(Spanish) GLAW-rya(Italian)
Rating: 45% based on 2 votes
Means
"glory", from the Portuguese and Spanish titles of the Virgin
Mary Maria da Glória and
María de Gloria. Maria da Glória (1819-1853) was the daughter of the Brazilian emperor Pedro I, eventually becoming queen of Portugal as Maria II.
The name was introduced to the English-speaking world by E. D. E. N. Southworth's novel Gloria (1891) and George Bernard Shaw's play You Never Can Tell (1898), which both feature characters with a Portuguese background [1]. It was popularized in the early 20th century by American actress Gloria Swanson (1899-1983). Another famous bearer is feminist Gloria Steinem (1934-).
Giuseppe
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: joo-ZEHP-peh
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
Italian form of
Joseph. Two noteworthy bearers were Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882), a military leader who united Italy, and Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901), a composer of operas.
Giselle
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, English (Modern)
Pronounced: ZHEE-ZEHL(French) ji-ZEHL(English)
Rating: 30% based on 2 votes
Derived from the Old German element
gisal meaning
"hostage, pledge" (Proto-Germanic *
gīslaz). This name may have originally been a descriptive nickname for a child given as a pledge to a foreign court. This was the name of both a sister and daughter of
Charlemagne. It was also borne by a daughter of the French king Charles III who married the Norman leader Rollo in the 10th century. Another notable bearer was the 11th-century Gisela of Swabia, wife of the Holy Roman emperor Conrad II.
The name was popular in France during the Middle Ages (the more common French form is Gisèle). Though it became known in the English-speaking world due to Adolphe Adam's ballet Giselle (1841), it was not regularly used until the 20th century.
Gianpiero
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: jam-PYEH-ro
Rating: 25% based on 2 votes
Gianni
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: JAN-nee
Rating: 25% based on 2 votes
Giada
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: JA-da
Rating: 7% based on 3 votes
Ghyslaine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: ZHEES-LEHN, GEE-LEHN
Rating: 45% based on 2 votes
Gerda 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Dutch
Pronounced: GEHR-da(German) GHEHR-da(Dutch)
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Gerard
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Dutch, Catalan, Polish
Pronounced: ji-RAHRD(American English) JEHR-əd(British English) GHEH-rahrt(Dutch) zhə-RART(Catalan) GEH-rart(Polish)
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
Derived from the Old German element
ger meaning "spear" combined with
hart meaning "hard, firm, brave, hardy". This name was borne by
saints from Belgium, Germany, Hungary and Italy. The
Normans introduced it to Britain. It was initially much more common there than the similar name
Gerald [1], with which it was often confused, but it is now less common.
George
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Romanian, Indian (Christian)
Other Scripts: ജോർജ്ജ്(Malayalam)
Pronounced: JAWRJ(English) JYOR-jeh(Romanian)
Rating: 80% based on 2 votes
From the Greek name
Γεώργιος (Georgios), which was derived from the Greek word
γεωργός (georgos) meaning
"farmer, earthworker", itself derived from the elements
γῆ (ge) meaning "earth" and
ἔργον (ergon) meaning "work".
Saint George was a 3rd-century Roman soldier from Cappadocia who was martyred during the persecutions of Emperor Diocletian. Later legends describe his defeat of a dragon, with which he was often depicted in medieval art.
Initially Saint George was primarily revered by Eastern Christians, but returning crusaders brought stories of him to Western Europe and he became the patron of England, Portugal, Catalonia and Aragon. The name was rarely used in England until the German-born George I came to the British throne in the 18th century. Five subsequent British kings have borne the name.
Other famous bearers include two kings of Greece, the composer George Frideric Handel (1685-1759), the first president of the United States, George Washington (1732-1797), and the Pacific explorer George Vancouver (1757-1798). This was also the pen name of authors George Eliot (1819-1880) and George Orwell (1903-1950), real names Mary Anne Evans and Eric Arthur Blair respectively.
This name is also used by Christians in India, notably Saint Thomas Christians in the state of Kerala in the spelling ജോർജ്ജ് (Jōrjj).
Geneviève
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: ZHU-NU-VYEHV, ZHUN-VYEHV
Rating: 87% based on 3 votes
From the medieval name
Genovefa, which is of uncertain origin. It could be derived from the Germanic elements *
kunją "clan, family, lineage" and *
wībą "wife, woman". Alternatively it could be of Gaulish origin, from the related Celtic element *
genos "kin, family" combined with a second element of unknown meaning. This name was borne by
Saint Geneviève, the patron saint of Paris, who inspired the city to resist the Huns in the 5th century.
Gemma
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Catalan, English (British), Dutch
Pronounced: JEHM-ma(Italian) ZHEHM-mə(Catalan) JEHM-ə(British English) GHEH-ma(Dutch)
Rating: 45% based on 2 votes
Medieval Italian nickname meaning "gem, precious stone". It was borne by the wife of the 13th-century Italian poet Dante Alighieri.
Gaspard
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: GAS-PAR
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
Gardenia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: gahr-DEEN-ee-ə
Rating: 25% based on 2 votes
From the name of the tropical flower, which was named for the Scottish naturalist Alexander Garden (1730-1791).
Gabriel
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Catalan, English, Romanian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Georgian, Biblical, Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek [1]
Other Scripts: გაბრიელ(Georgian) גַּבְרִיאֵל(Ancient Hebrew) Γαβριήλ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: GA-BREE-YEHL(French) ga-BRYEHL(Spanish) ga-bree-EHL(European Portuguese, Romanian) ga-bree-EW(Brazilian Portuguese) GA-bree-ehl(German, Slovak, Latin) GAH-bri-ehl(Swedish) GAH-bree-ehl(Finnish) gə-bree-EHL(Catalan) GAY-bree-əl(English) GAB-ryehl(Polish) GA-bri-yehl(Czech)
Rating: 57% based on 3 votes
From the Hebrew name
גַבְרִיאֵל (Ḡavriʾel) meaning
"God is my strong man", derived from
גֶּבֶר (gever) meaning "strong man, hero" and
אֵל (ʾel) meaning "God". Gabriel is an archangel in Hebrew tradition, often appearing as a messenger of God. In the
Old Testament he is sent to interpret the visions of the prophet
Daniel, while in the
New Testament he serves as the announcer of the births of
John to
Zechariah and
Jesus to
Mary. According to Islamic tradition he was the angel who dictated the
Quran to
Muhammad.
This name has been used occasionally in England since the 12th century. It was not common in the English-speaking world until the end of the 20th century.
Gabe
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: GAYB
Rating: 30% based on 2 votes
Fritz
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German
Pronounced: FRITS
Rating: 25% based on 2 votes
Frieda
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, English
Pronounced: FREE-da(German) FREE-də(English)
Rating: 40% based on 2 votes
Freya
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Norse Mythology, English (Modern), German
Pronounced: FRAY-ə(English) FRAY-a(German)
Rating: 70% based on 3 votes
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.
Frederick
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: FREHD-ə-rik, FREHD-rik
Rating: 45% based on 2 votes
English form of an Old German name meaning
"peaceful ruler", derived from
fridu "peace" and
rih "ruler, king". This name has long been common in continental Germanic-speaking regions, being borne by rulers of the Holy Roman Empire, Germany, Austria, Scandinavia, and Prussia. Notables among these rulers include the 12th-century Holy Roman emperor and crusader Frederick I Barbarossa, the 13th-century emperor and patron of the arts Frederick II, and the 18th-century Frederick II of Prussia, known as Frederick the Great.
The Normans brought the name to England in the 11th century but it quickly died out. It was reintroduced by the German House of Hanover when they inherited the British throne in the 18th century. A famous bearer was Frederick Douglass (1818-1895), an American ex-slave who became a leading advocate of abolition.
Francesca
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Catalan
Pronounced: fran-CHEHS-ka(Italian) frən-SEHS-kə(Catalan)
Rating: 65% based on 2 votes
Italian and Catalan feminine form of
Franciscus (see
Francis).
Frances
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: FRAN-sis
Rating: 70% based on 2 votes
Feminine form of
Francis. The distinction between
Francis as a masculine name and
Frances as a feminine name did not arise until the 17th century
[1]. A notable bearer was
Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini (1850-1917), a social worker and the first American to be canonized.
Fionnuala
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish, Irish Mythology
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Means
"white shoulder" from Old Irish
finn "white, blessed" and
gúala "shoulder". In Irish legend Fionnuala was one of the four children of
Lir who were transformed into swans for a period of 900 years.
Finnian
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish
Rating: 50% based on 3 votes
Derived from Old Irish
finn "white, blessed". This was the name of several Irish
saints, including the founders of monasteries at Clonard and Movilla (both 6th century).
Finley
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: FIN-lee
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
Variant of
Finlay. This is by far the preferred spelling in the United States, where it has lately been more common as a feminine name.
Finbar
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: FIN-bahr(English)
Rating: 40% based on 3 votes
Anglicized form of Irish
Fionnbharr, Old Irish
Finnbarr, derived from
finn "white, blessed" and
barr "top, head".
Saint Finbar of Cork was a 6th-century bishop who supposedly performed miraculous cures. The Isle of Barra off Scotland was (probably) named for him.
Feodora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian (Rare)
Other Scripts: Феодора(Russian)
Rating: 17% based on 3 votes
Felix
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, English, Romanian, Ancient Roman, Biblical, Biblical Latin
Pronounced: FEH-liks(German, Dutch, Swedish) FEE-liks(English) FEH-leeks(Latin)
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
From a Roman
cognomen meaning
"lucky, successful" in Latin. It was acquired as an
agnomen, or nickname, by the 1st-century BC Roman general Sulla. It also appears in the
New Testament belonging to the governor of Judea who imprisoned
Saint Paul.
Due to its favourable meaning, this name was popular among early Christians, being borne by many early saints and four popes. It has been used in England since the Middle Ages, though it has been more popular in continental Europe. A notable bearer was the German composer Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847).
Felicity
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: fə-LIS-i-tee
Rating: 67% based on 3 votes
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.
Fay
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: FAY
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
In part from the English word
fay meaning
"fairy", derived from Middle English
faie meaning "magical, enchanted", ultimately (via Old French) from Latin
fata meaning "the Fates". It appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's chronicles in the name of
Morgan le Fay. In some cases it may be used as a short form of
Faith. It has been used as a feminine given name since the 19th century.
As a rarer (but older) masculine name it is probably derived from a surname: see Fay 1 or Fay 2.
Fatima
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic, Urdu, Bosnian
Other Scripts: فاطمة(Arabic) فاطمہ(Urdu)
Pronounced: FA-tee-ma(Arabic)
Rating: 40% based on 3 votes
Derived from Arabic
فطم (faṭama) meaning
"to abstain, to wean" [1]. Fatima was a daughter of the Prophet
Muhammad and the wife of
Ali, the fourth caliph. She is regarded as the exemplary Muslim woman, especially among Shias.
Faiga
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Yiddish
Other Scripts: פֿייגאַ(Yiddish)
Rating: 17% based on 3 votes
Fabienne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: FA-BYEHN
Rating: 23% based on 3 votes
French feminine form of
Fabianus (see
Fabian).
Ezekiel
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Biblical, English
Other Scripts: יְחֶזְקֵאל(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: i-ZEE-kee-əl(English)
Rating: 27% based on 3 votes
From the Hebrew name
יְחֶזְקֵאל (Yeḥezqel) meaning
"God will strengthen", from the roots
חָזַק (ḥazaq) meaning "to strengthen" and
אֵל (ʾel) meaning "God". Ezekiel is a major prophet of the
Old Testament, the author of the Book of Ezekiel. He lived in Jerusalem until the Babylonian conquest and captivity of Israel, at which time he was taken to Babylon. The Book of Ezekiel describes his vivid symbolic visions that predict the restoration of the kingdom of Israel. As an English given name,
Ezekiel has been used since the
Protestant Reformation.
Ewan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish
Pronounced: YOO-ən(English)
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
Everett
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: EHV-ə-rit, EHV-rit
Rating: 40% based on 3 votes
From an English surname that was derived from the given name
Everard.
Eve
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Estonian, Biblical
Other Scripts: חַוָּה(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: EEV(English)
Rating: 87% based on 6 votes
From the Hebrew name
חַוָּה (Ḥawwa), which was derived from the Hebrew word
חָוָה (ḥawa) meaning
"to breathe" or the related word
חָיָה (ḥaya) meaning
"to live". According to the
Old Testament Book of Genesis, Eve and
Adam were the first humans. God created her from one of Adam's ribs to be his companion. At the urging of a serpent she ate the forbidden fruit and shared some with Adam, causing their expulsion from the Garden of
Eden.
Despite this potentially negative association, the name was occasionally used by Christians during the Middle Ages. In the English-speaking world both Eve and the Latin form Eva were revived in the 19th century, with the latter being more common.
Evangeline
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: i-VAN-jə-leen, i-VAN-jə-lien
Rating: 67% based on 3 votes
Means
"good news" from Greek
εὖ (eu) meaning "good" and
ἄγγελμα (angelma) meaning "news, message". It was (first?) used by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his 1847 epic poem
Evangeline [1][2]. It also appears in Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel
Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) as the full name of the character Eva.
Eva
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, English, Czech, Slovak, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Estonian, Danish, Icelandic, Faroese, Romanian, Greek, Slovene, Bulgarian, Croatian, Russian, Georgian, Armenian, Biblical Latin, Old Church Slavic
Other Scripts: Εύα(Greek) Ева(Bulgarian, Russian, Church Slavic) ევა(Georgian) Էվա(Armenian)
Pronounced: EH-ba(Spanish) EH-va(Italian, Czech, Slovak, Dutch, Swedish, Icelandic, Greek) EE-və(English) EH-fa(German) EH-vah(Danish) YEH-və(Russian) EH-VAH(Georgian) EH-wa(Latin)
Rating: 66% based on 5 votes
Form of
Eve used in various languages. This form is used in the Latin translation of the
New Testament, while
Hava is used in the Latin
Old Testament. A notable bearer was the Argentine first lady Eva Perón (1919-1952), the subject of the musical
Evita. The name also appears in Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel
Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) belonging to the character Little Eva, whose real name is in fact Evangeline.
This is also an alternate transcription of Russian Ева (see Yeva).
Esther
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, French, Spanish, Dutch, German, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Jewish, Biblical, Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek
Other Scripts: אֶסְתֵר(Hebrew) Ἐσθήρ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: EHS-tər(English, Dutch) EHS-TEHR(French) ehs-TEHR(Spanish) EHS-tu(German)
Rating: 63% based on 4 votes
From the Hebrew name
אֶסְתֵר (ʾEsṯer), which possibly means
"star" in Persian. Alternatively it could be a derivative of the name of the Near Eastern goddess
Ishtar. The Book of Esther in the
Old Testament tells the story of Queen Esther, the Jewish wife of the king of Persia. The king's advisor
Haman persuaded the king to exterminate all the Jews in the realm. Warned of this plot by her cousin
Mordecai, Esther revealed her Jewish ancestry and convinced the king to execute Haman instead. Her original Hebrew name was
Hadassah.
This name has been used in the English-speaking world since the Protestant Reformation. In America it received a boost in popularity after the birth of Esther Cleveland (1893-1980), the daughter of President Grover Cleveland [1].
Estella
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: ehs-TEHL-ə
Rating: 62% based on 5 votes
Latinate form of
Estelle. This is the name of the heroine, Estella Havisham, in Charles Dickens' novel
Great Expectations (1860).
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)
Rating: 33% based on 3 votes
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.
Esmé
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: EHZ-may, EHZ-mee
Rating: 60% based on 3 votes
Means "esteemed" or "loved" in Old French. It was first recorded in Scotland, being borne by the first Duke of Lennox in the 16th century. It is now more common as a feminine name.
Emmett
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: EHM-it
Rating: 40% based on 3 votes
From an English surname that was derived from a
diminutive of the feminine given name
Emma.
Emmeline
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: EHM-ə-leen, EHM-ə-lien
Rating: 80% based on 3 votes
From Old French
Emeline, a
diminutive of Germanic names beginning with the element
amal meaning
"unceasing, vigorous, brave". The
Normans introduced this name to England.
Emmanuelle
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: EH-MA-NWEHL
Rating: 33% based on 3 votes
Emilie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Czech
Pronounced: eh-MEE-lyə(German) eh-MEE-lee-eh(Norwegian) EHM-i-lee(Swedish)
Rating: 60% based on 3 votes
German, Scandinavian and Czech feminine form of
Aemilius (see
Emily).
Elspet
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Scottish
Rating: 30% based on 3 votes
Eloise
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: EHL-o-eez, ehl-o-EEZ
Rating: 80% based on 5 votes
From the Old French name
Héloïse, which was probably from the Germanic name
Helewidis, composed of the elements
heil meaning "healthy, whole" and
wit meaning "wide". It is sometimes associated with the Greek word
ἥλιος (helios) meaning "sun" or the name
Louise, though there is no etymological connection. This name was borne by the 12th-century French scholar and philosopher Héloïse. Secretly marrying the theologian Peter Abelard at a young age, she became a nun (and eventually an abbess) after Abelard was violently castrated by order of her uncle Fulbert.
There was a medieval English form of this name, Helewis, though it died out after the 13th century. In the 19th century it was revived in the English-speaking world in the form Eloise.
Elodia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish
Pronounced: eh-LO-dhya
Rating: 60% based on 4 votes
Elliot
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: EHL-ee-ət
Rating: 75% based on 4 votes
From a surname that was a variant of
Elliott.
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: 75% based on 4 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.
Elias
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Portuguese, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, English, Dutch, Greek, Amharic, Biblical, Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Ηλίας(Greek) ኤልያስ(Amharic) Ἠλίας(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: i-LEE-ush(European Portuguese) eh-LEE-us(Brazilian Portuguese) eh-LEE-as(German) EH-lee-ahs(Finnish) i-LIE-əs(English) ee-LIE-əs(English) EH-lee-yahs(Dutch)
Rating: 48% based on 4 votes
Form of
Elijah used in several languages. This is also the form used in the Greek
New Testament, as well as some English translations.
Eleanor
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: EHL-ə-nawr
Rating: 87% based on 3 votes
From the Old French form of the Occitan name
Alienòr. Among the name's earliest bearers was the influential Eleanor of Aquitaine (12th century), who was the queen of Louis VII, the king of France, and later Henry II, the king of England. She was named
Aenor after her mother, and was called by the Occitan phrase
alia Aenor "the other Aenor" in order to distinguish her from her mother. However, there appear to be examples of bearers prior to Eleanor of Aquitaine. It is not clear whether they were in fact Aenors who were retroactively recorded as having the name Eleanor, or whether there is an alternative explanation for the name's origin.
The popularity of the name Eleanor in England during the Middle Ages was due to the fame of Eleanor of Aquitaine, as well as two queens of the following century: Eleanor of Provence, the wife of Henry III, and Eleanor of Castile, the wife of Edward I. More recently, it was borne by first lady Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962), the wife of American president Franklin Roosevelt.
Elba
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish
Pronounced: EHL-ba
Rating: 27% based on 3 votes
Possibly a Spanish variant form of
Alba 3.
Edom
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Biblical, Biblical Hebrew [1]
Other Scripts: אֱדוֹם(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: EE-dəm(English)
Rating: 27% based on 3 votes
From Hebrew
אָדֹם (ʾaḏom) meaning
"red" [2]. According to the
Old Testament,
Esau, who is described as having red skin, was given this name because he traded his birthright for a helping of red broth. The bible goes on to tell that Esau was the founder of the ancient nation of Edom, located to the south of the kingdom of Judah.
Edmund
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, German, Polish
Pronounced: EHD-mənd(English) EHT-muwnt(German) EHD-moont(Polish)
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
Means
"rich protection", from the Old English elements
ead "wealth, fortune" and
mund "protection". This was the name of two Anglo-Saxon kings of England. It was also borne by two
saints, including a 9th-century king of East Anglia who, according to tradition, was shot to death with arrows after refusing to divide his Christian kingdom with an invading pagan Danish leader. This Old English name remained in use after the
Norman Conquest (even being used by King Henry III for one of his sons), though it became less common after the 15th century.
Famous bearers of the name include the English poet Edmund Spenser (1552-1599), the German-Czech philosopher Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) and New Zealand mountaineer Edmund Hillary (1919-2008), the first person to climb Mount Everest.
Duncan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish, English
Pronounced: DUNG-kən(English)
Rating: 53% based on 3 votes
Anglicized form of the Scottish Gaelic name
Donnchadh, derived from Old Irish
donn "brown" and
cath "battle". This was the name of two kings of Scotland, including the one who was featured in Shakespeare's play
Macbeth (1606).
Drew
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: DROO
Rating: 37% based on 3 votes
Dougal
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish
Rating: 40% based on 3 votes
Anglicized form of the Scottish Gaelic name
Dubhghall meaning
"dark stranger", from Old Irish
dub "dark" and
gall "stranger". This name was borne by a few medieval Scottish chiefs.
Dorothy
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: DAWR-ə-thee, DAWR-thee
Rating: 60% based on 3 votes
Usual English form of
Dorothea. It has been in use since the 16th century. The author L. Frank Baum used it for the central character, Dorothy Gale, in his fantasy novel
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) and several of its sequels.
Dominica
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare), Late Roman
Pronounced: dahm-i-NEE-kə(English) də-MIN-i-kə(English)
Rating: 30% based on 3 votes
Dolores
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish, English
Pronounced: do-LO-rehs(Spanish) də-LAWR-is(English)
Rating: 37% based on 3 votes
Means
"sorrows", taken from the Spanish title of the Virgin
Mary Nuestra Señora de los Dolores, meaning "Our Lady of Sorrows". It has been used in the English-speaking world since the 19th century, becoming especially popular in America during the 1920s and 30s.
Dmitri
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Russian
Other Scripts: Дмитрий(Russian)
Pronounced: DMEE-tree
Rating: 37% based on 3 votes
Dillon
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: DIL-ən
Rating: 40% based on 3 votes
Variant of
Dylan based on the spelling of the surname
Dillon, which has an unrelated origin.
Dietrich
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German
Pronounced: DEET-rikh
Rating: 37% based on 3 votes
German form of
Theodoric. The character Dietrich von Bern, loosely based on Theodoric the Great, appears in medieval German literature such as the
Hildebrandslied, the
Nibelungenlied and the
Eckenlied.
Dieter
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German
Pronounced: DEE-tu
Rating: 27% based on 3 votes
Means
"warrior of the people", derived from the Old German elements
theod meaning "people" (Old High German
diota, Old Frankish
þeoda) and
heri meaning "army". This name is also used as a short form of
Dietrich.
Didier
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: DEE-DYEH
Rating: 40% based on 3 votes
Diarmaid
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish, Irish Mythology
Pronounced: DYEER-ə-məd(Irish)
Rating: 33% based on 3 votes
Meaning unknown, though it has been suggested that it means
"without envy" in Irish. In Irish legend this was the name of a warrior who became the lover of
Gráinne. It was also the name of several ancient Irish kings.
Diana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Catalan, German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Estonian, Lithuanian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Armenian, Georgian, Roman Mythology
Other Scripts: Диана(Russian, Bulgarian) Діана(Ukrainian) Դիանա(Armenian) დიანა(Georgian)
Pronounced: die-AN-ə(English) DYA-na(Spanish, Italian, Polish) dee-U-nu(European Portuguese) jee-U-nu(Brazilian Portuguese) dee-A-nə(Catalan) dee-A-na(German, Dutch, Latin) dyee-A-nu(Ukrainian) DI-ya-na(Czech) DEE-a-na(Slovak)
Rating: 80% based on 3 votes
Means
"divine, goddesslike", a derivative of Latin
dia or
diva meaning
"goddess". It is ultimately related to the same Indo-European root *
dyew- found in
Zeus. Diana was a Roman goddess of the moon, hunting, forests and childbirth, often identified with the Greek goddess
Artemis.
As a given name, Diana has been regularly used since the Renaissance. It became more common in the English-speaking world following Walter Scott's novel Rob Roy (1817), which featured a character named Diana Vernon. It also appeared in George Meredith's novel Diana of the Crossways (1885). A notable bearer was the British royal Diana Spencer (1961-1997), the Princess of Wales.
Desmond
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Irish
Pronounced: DEHZ-mənd(English)
Rating: 27% based on 3 votes
Anglicized form of Irish Deasmhumhain meaning "south Munster", referring to the region of Desmond in southern Ireland, formerly a kingdom. It can also come from the related surname (an Anglicized form of Ó Deasmhumhnaigh), which indicated a person who came from that region. A famous bearer is the South African archbishop and activist Desmond Tutu (1931-2021).
Deon
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, African American
Pronounced: DEE-ahn(English)
Rating: 30% based on 3 votes
Delta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: DEHL-tə
Rating: 27% based on 3 votes
From the name of the fourth letter in the Greek alphabet,
Δ. It is also the name for an island formed at the mouth of a river.
Delphine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: DEHL-FEEN
Rating: 60% based on 3 votes
Della
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: DEHL-ə
Rating: 33% based on 3 votes
Delilah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical, English
Other Scripts: דְּלִילָה(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: di-LIE-lə(English)
Rating: 55% based on 4 votes
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.
Dean
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: DEEN
Rating: 40% based on 3 votes
From a surname, see
Dean 1 and
Dean 2. The actor James Dean (1931-1955) was a famous bearer of the surname.
Dayo
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Yoruba
Rating: 20% based on 3 votes
Means "joy arrives" in Yoruba.
Dashiell
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: də-SHEEL, DASH-il
Rating: 20% based on 3 votes
In the case of American author Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961) it was from his mother's surname, which was possibly an Anglicized form of French de Chiel, of unknown meaning.
Darya 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian
Other Scripts: Дарья(Russian) Дар'я(Belarusian, Ukrainian)
Pronounced: DA-ryə(Russian)
Rating: 30% based on 3 votes
Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian form of
Daria.
Dane
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: DAYN
Rating: 27% based on 3 votes
From an English surname that was either a variant of the surname
Dean or else an ethnic name referring to a person from Denmark.
Dana 2
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: DAY-nə
Rating: 33% based on 3 votes
From a surname that is of unknown origin. It was originally given in honour of American lawyer Richard Henry Dana Jr. (1815-1882), the author of the memoir Two Years Before the Mast.
Daisy
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: DAY-zee
Rating: 57% based on 3 votes
Simply from the English word for the white flower, ultimately derived from Old English
dægeseage meaning "day eye". It was first used as a given name in the 19th century, at the same time many other plant and flower names were coined.
This name was fairly popular at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th. The American author F. Scott Fitzgerald used it for the character of Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby (1925). The Walt Disney cartoon character Daisy Duck was created in 1940 as the girlfriend of Donald Duck. It was at a low in popularity in the United States in the 1970s when it got a small boost from a character on the television series The Dukes of Hazzard in 1979.
Dahlia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: DAL-yə, DAHL-yə, DAYL-yə
Rating: 38% based on 4 votes
From the name of the flower, which was named for the Swedish botanist Anders Dahl.
Daffodil
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: DAF-ə-dil
Rating: 17% based on 3 votes
From the name of the flower, ultimately derived from Dutch de affodil meaning "the asphodel".
Cosette
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, Literature
Pronounced: KAW-ZEHT(French)
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
From French
chosette meaning
"little thing". This is the nickname of the illegitimate daughter of Fantine in Victor Hugo's novel
Les Misérables (1862). Her real name is
Euphrasie, though it is seldom used. In the novel young Cosette is the ward of the cruel Thénardiers until she is retrieved by Jean Valjean.
Cormac
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish Mythology, Irish
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
From Old Irish
Cormacc or
Corbmac, of uncertain meaning, possibly from
corb "chariot, wagon" or
corbbad "defilement, corruption" combined with
macc "son". This is the name of several characters from Irish legend, including the semi-legendary high king Cormac mac Airt who supposedly ruled in the 3rd century, during the adventures of the hero
Fionn mac Cumhaill. This name was also borne by a few early
saints.
Cordelia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature, English
Pronounced: kawr-DEE-lee-ə(English) kawr-DEEL-yə(English)
Rating: 65% based on 4 votes
From
Cordeilla, a name appearing in the 12th-century chronicles
[1] of Geoffrey of Monmouth, borne by the youngest of the three daughters of King
Leir and the only one to remain loyal to her father. Geoffrey possibly based her name on that of
Creiddylad, a character from Welsh legend.
The spelling was later altered to Cordelia when Geoffrey's story was adapted by others, including Edmund Spenser in his poem The Faerie Queene (1590) and Shakespeare in his tragedy King Lear (1606).
Constantine
Gender: Masculine
Usage: History
Pronounced: KAHN-stən-teen(English)
Rating: 37% based on 3 votes
From the Latin name
Constantinus, a derivative of
Constans. Constantine the Great (272-337), full name Flavius Valerius Constantinus, was the first Roman emperor to adopt Christianity. He moved the capital of the empire from Rome to Byzantium, which he renamed Constantinople (modern Istanbul).
Columba
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Late Roman
Pronounced: ko-LOOM-ba(Late Latin) kə-LUM-bə(English)
Rating: 27% based on 3 votes
Late Latin name meaning
"dove". The dove is a symbol of the Holy Spirit in Christianity. This was the name of several early
saints both masculine and feminine, most notably the 6th-century Irish monk Saint Columba (or Colum) who established a monastery on the island of Iona off the coast of Scotland. He is credited with the conversion of Scotland to Christianity.
Clotilde
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish
Pronounced: KLAW-TEELD(French) kloo-TEEL-di(European Portuguese) klo-CHEEW-jee(Brazilian Portuguese) klo-TEEL-deh(Spanish)
Rating: 53% based on 3 votes
French form of
Chrodechildis, the Latin form of a Frankish name composed of the elements
hruod "fame, glory" and
hilt "battle".
Saint Clotilde (whose name was originally recorded in forms such as
Chrodechildis or
Chrotchildis in Latin sources
[1]) was the wife of the Frankish king Clovis, whom she converted to Christianity. It was also borne by others in the Merovingian royal family. In the Middle Ages this name was confused with
Chlodechilda, in which the first element is
hlut "famous, loud".
Clémentine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: KLEH-MAHN-TEEN
Rating: 40% based on 3 votes
French feminine form of
Clement. This is also the name of a variety of orange (fruit).
Claudia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Italian, Spanish, Romanian, Biblical, Biblical Latin, Ancient Roman
Pronounced: KLAW-dee-ə(English) KLOW-dya(German, Italian, Romanian) KLOW-dee-a(Dutch, Latin) KLOW-dhya(Spanish)
Rating: 33% based on 3 votes
Feminine form of
Claudius. It is mentioned briefly in the
New Testament. As a Christian name it was very rare until the 16th century.
Clarice
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: klə-REES, KLAR-is, KLEHR-is
Rating: 23% based on 3 votes
Medieval vernacular form of the Late Latin name
Claritia, which was a derivative of
Clara.
Clara
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, Catalan, Romanian, English, Swedish, Danish, Late Roman
Pronounced: KLA-ra(German, Spanish, Italian) KLA-ru(Portuguese) KLA-RA(French) KLEHR-ə(American English) KLAR-ə(American English) KLAH-rə(British English)
Rating: 70% based on 4 votes
Feminine form of the Late Latin name
Clarus, which meant
"clear, bright, famous". The name
Clarus was borne by a few early
saints. The feminine form was popularized by the 13th-century Saint Clare of Assisi (called
Chiara in Italian), a friend and follower of Saint Francis, who left her wealthy family to found the order of nuns known as the Poor Clares.
As an English name it has been in use since the Middle Ages, originally in the form Clare, though the Latinate spelling Clara overtook it in the 19th century and became very popular. It declined through most of the 20th century (being eclipsed by the French form Claire in English-speaking countries), though it has since recovered somewhat.
Cian
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish, Irish Mythology, Old Irish [1]
Pronounced: KYEEN(Irish)
Rating: 50% based on 3 votes
Means
"ancient, enduring" in Irish. In Irish
mythology this was the name of the father of
Lugh Lámfada. It was also borne by the mythical ancestor of the Ciannachta and by a son-in-law of
Brian Boru.
Charlotte
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch
Pronounced: SHAR-LAWT(French) SHAHR-lət(English) shar-LAW-tə(German) sha-LOT(Swedish) shahr-LAW-tə(Dutch)
Rating: 70% based on 4 votes
French feminine
diminutive of
Charles. It was introduced to Britain in the 17th century. It was the name of a German-born 18th-century queen consort of Great Britain and Ireland. Another notable bearer was Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855), the eldest of the three Brontë sisters and the author of
Jane Eyre and
Villette. A famous fictional bearer is the spider in the children's novel
Charlotte's Web (1952) by E. B. White.
This name was fairly common in France, England and the United States in the early 20th century. It became quite popular in France and England at the end of the 20th century, just when it was at a low point in the United States. It quickly climbed the American charts and entered the top ten in 2014.
Charles
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French
Pronounced: CHAHRLZ(English) SHARL(French)
Rating: 63% based on 3 votes
French and English form of
Carolus, the Latin form of the Germanic name
Karl, which was derived from a word meaning
"man" (Proto-Germanic *
karlaz). However, an alternative theory states that it is derived from the common Germanic name element *
harjaz meaning "army".
The popularity of the name in continental Europe was due to the fame of Charles the Great (742-814), commonly known as Charlemagne, a king of the Franks who came to rule over most of Europe. His grandfather Charles Martel had also been a noted leader of the Franks. It was subsequently the name of several Holy Roman emperors, as well as rulers of France, Spain, Portugal, Sweden and Hungary (in various spellings). After Charlemagne, his name was adopted as a word meaning "king" in many Eastern European languages, for example Czech král, Hungarian király, Russian король (korol), and Turkish kral.
The name did not become common in Britain until the 17th century when it was borne by the Stuart king Charles I. It had been introduced into the Stuart royal family by Mary Queen of Scots, who had been raised in France. Two other kings of the United Kingdom have borne this name, including the current monarch.
Other famous bearers include naturalist Charles Darwin (1809-1882) who revolutionized biology with his theory of evolution, novelist Charles Dickens (1812-1870) who wrote such works as Great Expectations and A Tale of Two Cities, French statesman Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970), and American cartoonist Charles Schulz (1922-2000), the creator of the Peanuts comic strip.
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)
Rating: 53% based on 3 votes
Cedric
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: SEHD-rik
Rating: 33% based on 3 votes
Invented by Walter Scott for a character in his novel
Ivanhoe (1819). Apparently he based it on the actual name
Cerdic, the name of the semi-legendary founder of the kingdom of Wessex in the 6th century. The meaning of
Cerdic is uncertain, but it does not appear to be Old English in origin. It could be connected to the Brythonic name
Caratācos. The name was also used by Frances Hodgson Burnett for the main character in her novel
Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886).
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)
Rating: 73% based on 3 votes
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.
Cassidy
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: KAS-i-dee
Rating: 37% based on 3 votes
From an Irish surname (Anglicized from Irish Gaelic
Ó Caiside), which is derived from the byname
Caiside. Very rare as a given name before the 1970s, it established itself in the 80s and then surged in popularity during the 90s.
Cassian
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Ancient Roman (Anglicized)
Pronounced: KASH-ən(English) KAS-ee-ən(English)
Rating: 20% based on 3 votes
From the Roman family name
Cassianus, which was derived from
Cassius. This was the name of several
saints, including a 3rd-century martyr from Tangier who is the patron saint of stenographers and a 5th-century mystic who founded a monastery in Marseille.
Casper
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish
Pronounced: KAHS-pər(Dutch) KAHS-pehr(Swedish) KAS-bu(Danish)
Rating: 27% based on 3 votes
Dutch and Scandinavian form of
Jasper. This is the name of a friendly ghost in an American series of cartoons and comic books (beginning 1945).
Caroline
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch
Pronounced: KA-RAW-LEEN(French) KAR-ə-lien(English) KAR-ə-lin(English) ka-ro-LEE-nə(German, Dutch) ka-ro-LEEN(Dutch)
Rating: 70% based on 3 votes
Carmel
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English, Jewish
Other Scripts: כַּרְמֶל(Hebrew)
Pronounced: KAHR-məl(English) KAR-məl(English)
Rating: 23% based on 3 votes
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.
Caramia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Various (Rare)
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
From the Italian phrase cara mia meaning "my beloved".
Caoimhe
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: KEE-vyə
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
Derived from Irish caomh meaning "dear, beloved, gentle".
Candida
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Late Roman, English
Pronounced: KAN-di-də(English)
Rating: 30% based on 3 votes
Late Latin name derived from
candidus meaning
"white". This was the name of several early
saints, including a woman supposedly healed by Saint
Peter. As an English name, it came into use after George Bernard Shaw's play
Candida (1898).
Camilla
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, German, Ancient Roman, Roman Mythology
Pronounced: kə-MIL-ə(English) ka-MEEL-la(Italian) kah-MEEL-lah(Danish) KAH-meel-lah(Finnish) ka-MI-la(German)
Rating: 60% based on 3 votes
Feminine form of
Camillus. This was the name of a legendary warrior maiden of the Volsci, as told by
Virgil in the
Aeneid. It was popularized in the English-speaking world by Fanny Burney's novel
Camilla (1796).
Cameron
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KAM-rən
Rating: 60% based on 3 votes
From a Scottish surname meaning
"crooked nose" from Gaelic
cam "crooked" and
sròn "nose". As a given name it is mainly used for boys. It got a little bump in popularity for girls in the second half of the 1990s, likely because of the fame of actress Cameron Diaz (1972-). In the United States, the forms
Camryn and
Kamryn are now more popular than
Cameron for girls.
Calvin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KAL-vin
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
Derived from the French surname
Cauvin, which was derived from
chauve meaning
"bald". The surname was borne by Jean Cauvin (1509-1564), a theologian from France who was one of the leaders of the
Protestant Reformation. His surname was Latinized as
Calvinus (based on Latin
calvus "bald") and he is known as John Calvin in English. It has been used as a given name in his honour since the 19th century.
In modern times, this name is borne by American fashion designer Calvin Klein (1942-), as well as one of the main characters from Bill Watterson's comic strip Calvin and Hobbes (published from 1985 to 1995).
Callum
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish
Pronounced: KAL-əm
Rating: 70% based on 3 votes
Caleb
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Biblical
Other Scripts: כָּלֵב(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: KAY-ləb(English)
Rating: 50% based on 3 votes
Most likely related to Hebrew
כֶּלֶב (kelev) meaning
"dog" [1]. An alternate theory connects it to Hebrew
כֹּל (kol) meaning "whole, all of"
[2] and
לֵב (lev) meaning "heart"
[3]. In the
Old Testament this is the name of one of the twelve spies sent by
Moses into Canaan. Of the Israelites who left Egypt with Moses, Caleb and
Joshua were the only ones who lived to see the Promised Land.
As an English name, Caleb came into use after the Protestant Reformation. It was common among the Puritans, who introduced it to America in the 17th century.
Cale
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KAYL
Rating: 23% based on 3 votes
Cal
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KAL
Rating: 40% based on 3 votes
Short form of
Calvin and other names beginning with
Cal.
Cairbre
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: KAR-bryə
Rating: 20% based on 3 votes
Means "charioteer" in Irish. This was the name of two semi-legendary high kings of Ireland.
Cáel
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish Mythology
Rating: 17% based on 3 votes
From Old Irish
cáel meaning
"slender". In Irish legend Cáel was a warrior of the Fianna and the lover of Créd.
Brook
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: BRUWK
Rating: 30% based on 2 votes
From an English surname that denoted one who lived near a brook.
Bronwyn
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Rating: 57% based on 3 votes
Variant of
Bronwen used in the English-speaking world (especially Australia and New Zealand).
Britta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swedish, Norwegian, Danish
Rating: 27% based on 3 votes
Britannia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Rating: 20% based on 3 votes
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
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
From the English word for the thorny plant.
Brett
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: BREHT
Rating: 25% based on 2 votes
From a Middle English surname meaning
"a Breton", referring to an inhabitant of
Brittany. A famous bearer is the American football quarterback Brett Favre (1969-).
Branwen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh, Welsh Mythology
Pronounced: BRAN-wehn(Welsh)
Rating: 23% based on 3 votes
Means
"white raven" from Old Welsh
bran "raven" and
gwen "white, blessed". According to the Second Branch of the
Mabinogi [1] she was the daughter of
Llŷr. After she was mistreated by her husband Matholwch, the king of Ireland, she managed to get a message to her brother
Brân, the king of Britain. Brân launched a costly invasion to rescue her, but she died of grief shortly after her return.
Brady
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: BRAY-dee
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
From an Irish surname, an Anglicized form of
Ó Brádaigh, itself derived from the byname
Brádach. A famous bearer of the surname is the American football quarterback Tom Brady (1977-). It was also borne by a fictional family on the television series
The Brady Bunch (1969-1974).
Blaise
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: BLEHZ
Rating: 53% based on 3 votes
From the Roman name
Blasius, which was derived from Latin
blaesus meaning
"lisping".
Saint Blaise was a 4th-century Armenian martyr. A famous bearer was the French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal (1623-1662).
Birgitta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Finnish
Pronounced: bir-GI-ta(Swedish) BEER-geet-tah(Finnish)
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
Most likely a Scandinavian form of
Bridget via the Latinized form
Brigitta. Alternatively it could be a feminine derivative of
Birger. This is the name of the patron
saint of Europe, Birgitta of Sweden, the 14th-century founder of the Bridgettine nuns. Her father's name was Birger.
Bianca
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Romanian
Pronounced: BYANG-ka
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
Italian
cognate of
Blanche. Shakespeare had characters named Bianca in
The Taming of the Shrew (1593) and
Othello (1603).
Bette
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: BEHT, BEHT-ee
Rating: 30% based on 3 votes
Bess
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: BEHS
Rating: 27% based on 3 votes
Bentley
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: BENT-lee
Rating: 27% based on 3 votes
From a surname that was from a place name, itself derived from Old English
beonet "bent grass" and
leah "woodland, clearing". Various towns in England bear this name.
Bennett
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: BEHN-it
Rating: 50% based on 3 votes
Medieval form of
Benedict. This was the more common spelling in England until the 18th century. Modern use of the name is probably also influenced by the common surname
Bennett, itself a derivative of the medieval name.
Benjamine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: BEHN-ZHA-MEEN
Rating: 8% based on 4 votes
Benjamin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Slovene, Croatian, Biblical
Other Scripts: בִּןְיָמִין(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: BEHN-jə-min(English) BEHN-ZHA-MEHN(French) BEHN-ya-meen(German) BEHN-ya-min(Dutch)
Rating: 67% based on 3 votes
From the Hebrew name
בִּןְיָמִין (Binyamin) meaning
"son of the south" or
"son of the right hand", from the roots
בֵּן (ben) meaning "son" and
יָמִין (yamin) meaning "right hand, south". Benjamin in the
Old Testament was the twelfth and youngest son of
Jacob and the founder of one of the southern tribes of the Hebrews. He was originally named
בֶּן־אוֹנִי (Ben-ʾoni) meaning "son of my sorrow" by his mother
Rachel, who died shortly after childbirth, but it was later changed by his father (see
Genesis 35:18).
As an English name, Benjamin came into general use after the Protestant Reformation. A famous bearer was Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), an American statesman, inventor, scientist and philosopher.
Benedikt
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Icelandic, Czech, Russian (Rare)
Other Scripts: Бенедикт(Russian)
Pronounced: BEH-nə-dikt(German) BEH-neh-dikt(Czech) byi-nyi-DYEEKT(Russian)
Rating: 23% based on 3 votes
Form of
Benedictus (see
Benedict) in several languages.
Bellatrix
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Astronomy
Pronounced: bə-LAY-triks(English) BEHL-ə-triks(English)
Rating: 20% based on 3 votes
Means "female warrior" in Latin. This is the name of the star that marks the left shoulder of the constellation Orion.
Belén
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish
Pronounced: beh-LEHN
Rating: 27% based on 3 votes
Spanish form of
Bethlehem, the name of the town in Judah where King
David and
Jesus were born. The town's name is from Hebrew
בֵּית־לֶחֶם (Beṯ-leḥem) meaning "house of bread".
Beau
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English, Dutch (Modern)
Pronounced: BO
Rating: 66% based on 5 votes
Means
"beautiful, handsome" in French. It has been used as a given name since the middle of the 20th century. In Margaret Mitchell's novel
Gone with the Wind (1936) this is the name of Ashley and Melanie's son.
Although this is a grammatically masculine adjective in French, it is given to girls as well as boys in Britain and the Netherlands. In America it is more exclusively masculine. It is not commonly used as a name in France itself.
Beatrice
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, English, Swedish, Romanian
Pronounced: beh-a-TREE-cheh(Italian) BEE-ə-tris(English) BEET-ris(English) BEH-ah-trees(Swedish) beh-ah-TREES(Swedish)
Rating: 67% based on 3 votes
Italian form of
Beatrix. Beatrice Portinari (1266-1290) was the woman who was loved by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri. She serves as Dante's guide through paradise in his epic poem the
Divine Comedy (1321). This is also the name of a character in Shakespeare's comedy
Much Ado About Nothing (1599), in which Beatrice and
Benedick are fooled into confessing their love for one another.
Bartholomew
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Biblical
Pronounced: bahr-THAHL-ə-myoo(English)
Rating: 33% based on 3 votes
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.
Barnaby
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (British)
Pronounced: BAH-nə-bee(British English) BAHR-nə-bee(American English)
Rating: 30% based on 3 votes
English form of
Barnabas, originally a medieval vernacular form.
Barbara
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, French, German, Polish, Hungarian, Slovene, Croatian, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Late Roman
Pronounced: BAHR-bə-rə(English) BAHR-brə(English) BAR-BA-RA(French) BAR-ba-ra(German) bar-BA-ra(Polish) BAWR-baw-raw(Hungarian) BAHR-ba-ra(Dutch)
Rating: 30% based on 3 votes
Derived from Greek
βάρβαρος (barbaros) meaning
"foreign, non-Greek". According to legend,
Saint Barbara was a young woman killed by her father Dioscorus, who was then killed by a bolt of lightning. She is the patron of architects, geologists, stonemasons and artillerymen. Because of her renown, the name came into general use in the Christian world in the Middle Ages. In England it became rare after the
Protestant Reformation, but it was revived in the 19th century.
Balthazar
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Judeo-Christian-Islamic Legend
Pronounced: BAL-thə-zahr(English)
Rating: 30% based on 3 votes
Variant of
Belshazzar. Balthazar is the name traditionally assigned to one of the wise men (also known as the Magi, or three kings) who visited the newborn
Jesus. He was said to have come from Arabia. This name was utilized by Shakespeare for minor characters in
The Comedy of Errors (1594) and
The Merchant of Venice (1596).
Babette
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, German, Dutch, English
Pronounced: BA-BEHT(French)
Rating: 27% based on 3 votes
Aysel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Turkish, Azerbaijani
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
Means
"moon flood" in Turkish and Azerbaijani, derived from
ay "moon" and
sel "flood, stream" (of Arabic origin).
Ava 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AY-və
Rating: 65% based on 4 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.
Aurélie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: O-REH-LEE
Rating: 50% based on 5 votes
Augustine 2
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: O-GUYS-TEEN
Rating: 58% based on 4 votes
Augusta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Portuguese, English, German, Ancient Roman
Pronounced: ow-GOOS-ta(Italian) ə-GUS-tə(English) ow-GUWS-ta(German)
Rating: 53% based on 4 votes
Feminine form of
Augustus. It was introduced to Britain when King George III, a member of the German House of Hanover, gave this name to his second daughter in 1768.
Audra 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Lithuanian
Pronounced: OW-dru
Rating: 40% based on 5 votes
Means "storm" in Lithuanian.
Athena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology, English
Other Scripts: Ἀθηνᾶ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: A-TEH-NA(Classical Greek) ə-THEE-nə(English)
Rating: 62% based on 6 votes
Meaning unknown. Athena was the Greek goddess of wisdom and warfare and the patron goddess of the city of Athens in Greece. It is likely that her name is derived from that of the city, not vice versa. The earliest mention of her seems to be a 15th-century BC Mycenaean Greek inscription from Knossos on Crete.
The daughter of Zeus, she was said to have sprung from his head fully grown after he impregnated and swallowed her mother Metis. Athena is associated with the olive tree and the owl.
Astrid
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, German, French, English
Pronounced: AS-strid(Swedish) AHS-tri(Norwegian) AS-trit(German) AS-TREED(French) AS-trid(English)
Rating: 72% based on 6 votes
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.
Ariadne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ἀριάδνη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: A-REE-AD-NEH(Classical Greek) ar-ee-AD-nee(English)
Rating: 42% based on 5 votes
Means
"most holy", composed of the Greek prefix
ἀρι (ari) meaning "most" combined with Cretan Greek
ἀδνός (adnos) meaning "holy". In Greek
mythology, Ariadne was the daughter of King
Minos. She fell in love with
Theseus and helped him to escape the Labyrinth and the Minotaur, but was later abandoned by him. Eventually she married the god
Dionysus.
Ari 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Hebrew
Other Scripts: אֲרִי(Hebrew)
Rating: 60% based on 5 votes
Means "lion" in Hebrew.
Archie
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish, English
Pronounced: AHR-chee
Rating: 63% based on 6 votes
Diminutive of
Archibald. This name is borne by Archie Andrews, an American comic-book character created in 1941. It was also used by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle for the name of their son born 2019.
Arabella
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: ar-ə-BEHL-ə
Rating: 77% based on 6 votes
Medieval Scottish name, probably a variant of
Annabel. It has long been associated with Latin
orabilis meaning "invokable, yielding to prayer", and the name was often recorded in forms resembling this.
Unrelated, this was an older name of the city of Irbid in Jordan, from Greek Ἄρβηλα (Arbela).
Apollo
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ἀπόλλων(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: ə-PAHL-o(English)
Rating: 58% based on 5 votes
From Greek
Ἀπόλλων (Apollon), which is of unknown meaning, though perhaps related to the Indo-European root *
apelo- meaning
"strength". Another theory states that Apollo can be equated with Appaliunas, an Anatolian god whose name possibly means
"father lion" or
"father light". The Greeks later associated Apollo's name with the Greek verb
ἀπόλλυμι (apollymi) meaning
"to destroy". In Greek
mythology Apollo was the son of
Zeus and
Leto and the twin of
Artemis. He was the god of prophecy, medicine, music, art, law, beauty, and wisdom. Later he also became the god of the sun and light.
Aoife
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish, Irish Mythology
Pronounced: EE-fyə(Irish)
Rating: 61% based on 7 votes
From Old Irish
Aífe, derived from
oíph meaning
"beauty" (modern Irish
aoibh). This was the name of several characters in Irish legend, including a woman at war with
Scáthach (her sister in some versions). She was defeated in single combat by the hero
Cúchulainn, who spared her life on the condition that she bear him a child (
Connla). Another legendary figure by this name appears in the
Children of Lir as the jealous third wife of
Lir.
This name is sometimes Anglicized as Eve or Eva.
Antonia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish, English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Romanian, Greek, Croatian, Bulgarian, Ancient Roman
Other Scripts: Αντωνία(Greek) Антония(Bulgarian)
Pronounced: an-TO-nya(Italian, Spanish, German) an-TO-nee-ə(English) ahn-TO-nee-a(Dutch) an-TO-nee-a(Latin)
Rating: 68% based on 5 votes
Feminine form of
Antonius (see
Anthony).
Antoine
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French, African American
Pronounced: AHN-TWAN(French) an-TWAWN(English)
Rating: 44% based on 5 votes
French form of
Antonius (see
Anthony). A famous bearer was the French writer Antoine de
Saint-Exupéry (1900-1944), the author of
The Little Prince.
Anthony
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AN-thə-nee(American English) AN-tə-nee(British English)
Rating: 76% based on 5 votes
English form of the Roman family name
Antonius, which is of unknown Etruscan origin. The most notable member of the Roman family was the general Marcus Antonius (called Mark Antony in English), who for a period in the 1st century BC ruled the Roman Empire jointly with Augustus. When their relationship turned sour, he and his mistress Cleopatra were attacked and forced to commit suicide, as related in Shakespeare's tragedy
Antony and Cleopatra (1606).
The name became regularly used in the Christian world due to the fame of Saint Anthony the Great, a 4th-century Egyptian hermit who founded Christian monasticism. Its popularity was reinforced in the Middle Ages by the 13th-century Saint Anthony of Padua, the patron saint of Portugal. It has been commonly (but incorrectly) associated with Greek ἄνθος (anthos) meaning "flower", which resulted in the addition of the h to this spelling in the 17th century.
Anne 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, English, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Estonian, German, Dutch, Basque
Pronounced: AN(French, English) A-neh(Swedish) A-nə(Danish, German) AHN-neh(Finnish) AH-nə(Dutch)
Rating: 68% based on 5 votes
French form of
Anna. It was imported to England in the 13th century, but it did not become popular until three centuries later. The spelling variant
Ann was also commonly found from this period, and is still used to this day.
The name was borne by a 17th-century English queen and also by the second wife of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn (the mother of Queen Elizabeth I), who was eventually beheaded in the Tower of London. Another notable bearer was the German-Jewish diarist Anne (Annelies) Frank, a young victim of the Holocaust in 1945. This is also the name of the heroine in the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables by Canadian author L. M. Montgomery.
Annabel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Dutch
Pronounced: AN-ə-behl(English) ah-na-BEHL(Dutch)
Rating: 64% based on 7 votes
Variant of
Amabel, with the spelling altered as if it were a combination of
Anna and French
belle "beautiful". This name appears to have arisen in Scotland in the Middle Ages.
Anna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Estonian, Latvian, Greek, Hungarian, Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Czech, Slovak, Bulgarian, Armenian, Icelandic, Faroese, Catalan, Occitan, Breton, Scottish Gaelic, Biblical, Biblical Greek [1], Biblical Latin, Old Church Slavic
Other Scripts: Άννα(Greek) Анна(Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Church Slavic) Աննա(Armenian) Ἄννα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: AN-ə(English) AN-na(Italian, Polish, Icelandic) A-na(German, Swedish, Danish, Greek, Czech) AH-na(Dutch) AHN-nah(Norwegian, Finnish, Armenian) AWN-naw(Hungarian) AN-nə(Russian, Catalan) ahn-NAH(Armenian)
Rating: 83% based on 7 votes
Form of
Hannah used in the Greek and Latin
Old Testament. Many later Old Testament translations, including the English, use the
Hannah spelling instead of
Anna. The name appears briefly in the
New Testament belonging to a prophetess who recognized
Jesus as the Messiah. It was a popular name in the Byzantine Empire from an early date, and in the Middle Ages it became common among Western Christians due to veneration of
Saint Anna (usually known as Saint Anne in English), the name traditionally assigned to the mother of the Virgin
Mary.
In England, this Latin form has been used alongside the vernacular forms Ann and Anne since the late Middle Ages. Anna is currently the most common of these spellings in all English-speaking countries (since the 1970s), however the biblical form Hannah is presently more popular than all three.
The name was borne by several Russian royals, including an 18th-century empress of Russia. It is also the name of the main character in Leo Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina (1877), about a married aristocrat who begins an ultimately tragic relationship with Count Vronsky.
Andrew
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Biblical
Pronounced: AN-droo(English)
Rating: 50% based on 5 votes
English form of the Greek name
Ἀνδρέας (Andreas), which was derived from
ἀνδρεῖος (andreios) meaning
"manly, masculine", a derivative of
ἀνήρ (aner) meaning "man". In the
New Testament the apostle Andrew, the first disciple to join
Jesus, is the brother of
Simon Peter. According to tradition, he later preached in the Black Sea region, with some legends saying he was crucified on an X-shaped cross.
Andrew, being a Greek name, was probably only a nickname or a translation of his real Hebrew name, which is not known.
This name has been common (in various spellings) throughout the Christian world, and it became very popular in the Middle Ages. Saint Andrew is regarded as the patron of Scotland, Russia, Greece and Romania. The name has been borne by three kings of Hungary, American president Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), and, more recently, English composer Andrew Lloyd Webber (1948-).
André
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French, Portuguese, Galician, German, Dutch
Pronounced: AHN-DREH(French) un-DREH(Portuguese) an-DREH(Galician, German) AHN-dreh(Dutch) ahn-DREH(Dutch)
Rating: 26% based on 5 votes
French, Portuguese and Galician form of
Andreas (see
Andrew).
Amy
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AY-mee
Rating: 64% based on 5 votes
English form of the Old French name Amée meaning "beloved" (modern French aimée), a vernacular form of the Latin Amata. As an English name, it was in use in the Middle Ages (though not common) and was revived in the 19th century.
Amélie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: A-MEH-LEE
Rating: 54% based on 5 votes
Ambrose
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AM-broz
Rating: 78% based on 5 votes
From the Late Latin name
Ambrosius, which was derived from the Greek name
Ἀμβρόσιος (Ambrosios) meaning
"immortal".
Saint Ambrose was a 4th-century theologian and bishop of Milan, who is considered a Doctor of the Church. Due to the saint, the name came into general use in Christian Europe, though it was never particularly common in England.
Amandine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: A-MAHN-DEEN
Rating: 50% based on 5 votes
Amabel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Rating: 70% based on 7 votes
Alva 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swedish, Norwegian
Pronounced: AL-va(Swedish)
Rating: 38% based on 5 votes
Allison
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AL-i-sən
Rating: 50% based on 5 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.
Allegra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, English (Rare)
Pronounced: al-LEH-gra(Italian) ə-LEHG-rə(English)
Rating: 42% based on 5 votes
Means "cheerful, lively" in Italian. It was borne by a short-lived illegitimate daughter of Lord Byron (1817-1822).
Alexandra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German, Dutch, French, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Greek, Portuguese, Romanian, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Catalan, Russian, Ukrainian, Ancient Greek [1], Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Αλεξάνδρα(Greek) Александра(Russian, Ukrainian) Ἀλεξάνδρα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: al-ig-ZAN-drə(English) a-leh-KSAN-dra(German, Romanian) a-lehk-SAHN-dra(Dutch) A-LEHK-ZAHN-DRA(French) a-leh-KSAN-dhra(Greek) u-li-SHUN-dru(European Portuguese) a-leh-SHUN-dru(Brazilian Portuguese) A-lehk-san-dra(Czech, Slovak) AW-lehk-sawn-draw(Hungarian) A-LEH-KSAN-DRA(Classical Greek)
Rating: 66% based on 7 votes
Feminine form of
Alexander. In Greek
mythology this was a Mycenaean epithet of the goddess
Hera, and an alternate name of
Cassandra. It was borne by several early Christian
saints, and also by the wife of Nicholas II, the last tsar of Russia. She was from Germany and had the birth name
Alix, but was renamed
Александра (Aleksandra) upon joining the Russian Church.
Aleksei
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Russian
Other Scripts: Алексей(Russian)
Pronounced: u-lyi-KSYAY
Rating: 36% based on 5 votes
Alba 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish, Catalan
Pronounced: AL-ba(Italian, Spanish) AL-bə(Catalan)
Rating: 14% based on 5 votes
This name is derived from two distinct names,
Alba 2 and
Alba 3, with distinct origins, Latin and Germanic. Over time these names have become confused with one another. To further complicate the matter,
alba means "dawn" in Italian, Spanish and Catalan. This may be the main inspiration behind its use in Italy and Spain.
Alasdair
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish Gaelic [1]
Rating: 34% based on 5 votes
Aidan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish, English (Modern)
Pronounced: AY-dən(English)
Rating: 42% based on 5 votes
Anglicized form of
Aodhán. In the latter part of the 20th century it became popular in America due to its sound, since it shares a sound with such names as
Braden and
Hayden. It peaked ranked 39th for boys in 2003.
Adele
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, English, Italian
Pronounced: a-DEH-lə(German) ə-DEHL(English) a-DEH-leh(Italian)
Rating: 36% based on 5 votes
Form of
Adela used in several languages. A famous bearer was the dancer and actress Adele Astaire (1896-1981). It was also borne by the British singer Adele Adkins (1988-), known simply as Adele. Shortly after she released her debut album in 2008 the name reentered the American top 1000 chart after a 40-year absence.
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)
Rating: 53% based on 6 votes
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)
Rating: 54% based on 5 votes
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)
Rating: 44% based on 5 votes
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.
Absalom
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Biblical, Biblical Latin
Other Scripts: אַבְשָׁלוֹם(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: AB-sə-ləm(English)
Rating: 52% based on 5 votes
From the Hebrew name
אַבְשָׁלוֹם (ʾAvshalom) meaning
"father is peace", derived from
אָב (ʾav) meaning "father" and
שָׁלוֹם (shalom) meaning "peace". In the
Old Testament he is a son of King
David. He avenged his sister
Tamar by arranging the murder of her rapist, their half-brother
Amnon. He later led a revolt against his father. While fleeing on the back of a mule he got his head caught in a tree and was killed by
Joab.
Abram 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Biblical
Other Scripts: אַבְרָם(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: AY-brəm(English)
Rating: 48% based on 5 votes
Abraham
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Hebrew, Spanish, French, Dutch, Biblical, Biblical German, Biblical Swedish, Biblical Norwegian, Biblical Danish, Biblical Latin
Other Scripts: אַבְרָהָם(Hebrew)
Pronounced: AY-brə-ham(English) a-bra-AM(Spanish) A-BRA-AM(French) A-bra-hahm(Dutch) A-bra-ham(German) AH-bra-ham(Swedish)
Rating: 50% based on 5 votes
From the Hebrew name
אַבְרָהָם (ʾAvraham), which may be viewed either as meaning
"father of many" or else as a contraction of
Abram 1 and
הָמוֹן (hamon) meaning "many, multitude". The biblical patriarch Abraham was originally named Abram but God changed his name (see
Genesis 17:5). With his father
Terah, he led his wife
Sarah, his nephew
Lot and their other followers from Ur into Canaan. He is regarded by Jews as being the founder of the Hebrews through his son
Isaac and by Muslims as being the founder of the Arabs through his son
Ishmael.
As an English Christian name, Abraham became common after the Protestant Reformation. A famous bearer was the American president Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), who pushed to abolish slavery and led the country through the Civil War.
Abigail
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Biblical, Biblical German, Biblical Italian, Biblical Portuguese, Biblical Latin
Other Scripts: אֲבִיגַיִל(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: AB-i-gayl(English)
Rating: 66% based on 5 votes
From the Hebrew name
אֲבִיגָיִל (ʾAviḡayil) meaning
"my father is joy", derived from the roots
אָב (ʾav) meaning "father" and
גִּיל (gil) meaning "joy". In the
Old Testament this is the name of Nabal's wife. After Nabal's death she became the third wife of King
David.
As an English name, Abigail first became common after the Protestant Reformation, and it was popular among the Puritans. The biblical Abigail refers to herself as a servant, and beginning in the 17th century the name became a slang term for a servant, especially after the release of the play The Scornful Lady (1616), which featured a character named Abigail. The name went out of fashion at that point, but it was revived in the 20th century.
Abel
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Georgian, Armenian, Biblical, Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek [1]
Other Scripts: აბელ(Georgian) Աբել(Armenian) הֶבֶל(Ancient Hebrew) Ἄβελ, Ἅβελ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: AY-bəl(English) A-BEHL(French) a-BEHL(Spanish, European Portuguese) a-BEW(Brazilian Portuguese) A-bəl(Dutch) ah-BEHL(Eastern Armenian) ah-PEHL(Western Armenian)
Rating: 40% based on 5 votes
From the Hebrew name
הֶבֶל (Hevel) meaning
"breath". In the
Old Testament he is the second son of
Adam and
Eve, murdered out of envy by his brother
Cain. In England, this name came into use during the Middle Ages, and it was common during the
Puritan era.
Abe 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AYB
Rating: 42% based on 5 votes
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