Felie's Personal Name List

From the name of the ancient region and kingdom in Africa, south of Egypt. It possibly derives from the Egyptian word nbw meaning "gold".

Derived from Italian novembre "November", this name was traditionally given to children born in November. Since there is no saint of this name, the name day was celebrated on All Saints' Day.

Masculine form of Novella.

Derived from Latin novellus meaning "new, young, novel", a diminutive of novus "new". This name was borne by the 14th-century Italian scholar Novella d'Andrea, who taught law at the University of Bologna.

Derived from Latin novus meaning "new". It was first used as a name in the 19th century.

Italian form of Norman.

Feminine form of Normanno.

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.

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

Form of Naomi 1 in several languages.

Hungarian borrowing of Noëlla.

Italian form of Noël.

Italian form of Noah 1.

Croatian and Hawaiian form of Noah 1, as well as a French variant.

Italian form of Nieves.

Short form of Giannino, Antonino and other names ending in nino.

Italian, Spanish and Portuguese form of Neilos (and also of the Nile River).

Short form of names that end in -nilde, such as Brunilde, Benilde, Cleonilde or Leonilde. A famous bearer was the politician Nilde Iotti (1920-1999).

Means "dark blue" in Sanskrit.

Italian variant form of Nicholas.

Danish and Norwegian variant form of Nicholas.

Italian, Spanish and Portuguese form of Nicodemus.

Short form of Nicholas (or sometimes Nicodemus).

Contracted form of Nicolina and Nicoletta.

Feminine form of Nicetas.

Ancient Greek variant as well as Latinized and Italian form of Nike. In Italy it's also used as diminutive of names with the element nice (derived from nike) such as Berenice and Eunice.

In Greek mythology, Nice (transcribed this and not with the usual Nike) was a Thespian princess as one of the 50 daughters of King Thespius and Megamede, daughter of Arneus (or by one of his many wives). She bore Nicodromus to the hero Heracles.

Italian form of Nicholas. Famous bearers include Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527), a Florentine political philosopher, and Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840), a Genoese composer and violinist.

Short form of Nicole, Nicolena, or names beginning with Nic. Variant of Nikki or Nicky

Italian form of the Roman family name Naevius, which was derived from Latin naevus "mole (on the body)". A famous bearer was the 3rd-century BC Roman poet Gnaeus Naevius.

Derived from South Slavic neven meaning "marigold".

Directly taken from Italian neve "snow".

Italian form of Neptune.

Italian form of Nestor.

Italian form of Nero 1.

Bosnian feminine form of Nermin.

Created by Shakespeare for a character in his play The Merchant of Venice (1596). He possibly took it from Greek Νηρηΐς (Nereis) meaning "nymph, sea sprite", ultimately derived from the name of the Greek sea god Nereus, who supposedly fathered them.

Diminutive of Ranieri.

Italian and Spanish form of Nereus.

Italian form of Nereida.

Possibly from Basque nere, a dialectal variant of nire meaning "mine". Alternatively, it could be a feminine form of Nereus. This name arose in Basque-speaking regions of Spain in the first half of the 20th century, though it is now popular throughout the country.

Italian form of Neoptolemus.

From a prefix meaning "new", ultimately from Greek νέος (neos).

In the film series beginning with The Matrix (1999), this is the main character's screen alias and the name he later goes by in the real world. The character is also called The One, one being an anagram of Neo.

Means "nobody" in Latin. This was the name used by author Jules Verne for the captain of the Nautilus in his novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870). It was later used for the title character (a fish) in the 2003 animated movie Finding Nemo.

From Egyptian nfrt-jjtj meaning "the beautiful one has come" [1]. Nefertiti was a powerful Egyptian queen of the New Kingdom (14th century BC), the principal wife of Akhenaton, the pharaoh that briefly imposed a monotheistic religion centered around the sun god Aton.

From Egyptian nfrt-jrj meaning "the most beautiful" [1]. This was the name of an Egyptian queen of the New Kingdom (13th century BC), the favourite wife of Ramesses II.

Latinized form of Greek Ναυσικάα (Nausikaa) meaning "burner of ships". In Homer's epic the Odyssey this is the name of a daughter of Alcinous who helps Odysseus on his journey home.

Italian form of Nathanael.

Hebrew and Polish form of Nathan.

Latinate form of Natalia (see Natalie).

Masculine form of Natalia.

Derivative of Anastasio.

Feminine form of Narcissus.

Italian, Spanish and Portuguese form of Narcissus. This is also the word for the narcissus flower in those languages.

Italian form of Napoleon. Besides the French emperor, it was borne by the Italian cardinal Napoleone Orsini (1263-1342) and the writer and politician Napoleone Colajanni (1847-1921).

From the Hebrew name נָעֳמִי (Na'omi) meaning "pleasantness". In the Old Testament this is the name of the mother-in-law of Ruth. After the death of her husband and sons, she returned to Bethlehem with Ruth. There she declared that her name should be Mara because of her misfortune (see Ruth 1:20).

Though long common as a Jewish name, Naomi was not typically used as an English Christian name until after the Protestant Reformation. A notable bearer is the British model Naomi Campbell (1970-).

From Aymara nayra meaning "eye" or "early".

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].

Latinate form of Musette, which was possibly based on the dance style, popular in Paris in the 1880s, which took its name from a kind of small bagpipe. It was used by Puccini for the lover of Marcello in his opera La Bohème (1896), which was based on La Vie de Bohème (1851) by Henri Murger (who named the character Musette).
As an Italian name, it is found almost exclusively in Tuscany.

Arabic, Turkish and Hausa form of Moses.

Feminine form of Munir.

Italian form of Moses.

From the name of the eponymous character of the epic poem Morgante (1478) written by the Italian poet Luigi Pulci (1432-1484). In the poem, Morgante is a giant who is converted to Christianity by the knight Orlando and subsequently becomes his loyal follower.

Pulci was likely inspired by the Arthurian legends and as such may have created the name as a masculine form of Morgana, which is the Italian form of Morgan 2. Alternatively, he may have derived the name from the Old French adjective morgant (also found spelled as morjant) meaning "proud, haughty", which is a variant of the Old French adjective mordant, itself ultimately derived from the Old French verb mordre meaning "to bite". Also compare the noun morgue meaning "arrogance, haughty attitude".

A known real-life bearer of this name was Morgante Baglioni (died in July 1502), a member of the Baglioni family, which was a noble family that ruled the city of Perugia in the 15th and 16th century.

Feminine form of Morgan 1.

Italian and Spanish form of Morpheus.

Derived from Italian moro or Spanish moreno meaning "dark-skinned".

Feminine form of Moreno.

Italian form of Montanus. Montano has been used by William Shakespeare for a character in 'Othello' (1603).

Variant of Munya.

Anglicized form of Máire. It also coincides with Greek Μοῖρα (Moira) meaning "fate, destiny", the singular of Μοῖραι, the Greek name for the Fates. They were the three female personifications of destiny in Greek mythology.

Variant of Mirta also similar to the Italian word mirtillo meaning "blueberry". It has been used in the Italian translation of 'Harry Potter' franchise for the character Mirtilla Malcontenta (Moaning Myrtle).

Spanish, Italian and Croatian cognate of Myrtle.

Feminine form of Mirsad.

Short form of Miroslav and other names beginning with Mir (often the Slavic element mirŭ meaning "peace, world").

From Serbo-Croatian miran meaning "peaceful, calm".

Italian variant of Miriam.

Hebrew form of Mary. It is 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.

Italian form of Mireille.

Italian variant of Mirko.

Romanian form of Mirče. This name was borne by a 14th-century ruler of Wallachia, called Mircea the Great.

Derived from Latin mirandus meaning "admirable, wonderful". 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.

Latinate form of Mirabelle.

Derived from Albanian mirë "good".

Judeo-Spanish short form of Mirian and Judeo-Catalan short form of Miriam. In some cases it might also be a direct adoption of Judeo-Spanish mira "myrrh" (compare Spanish mirra) or an adoption of the popular Catalan feminine Mira, meaning "notable".

Short form of Miroslava and other names beginning with Mir (often the Slavic element mirŭ meaning "peace, world").

Italian form of Miniatus.

Possibly derived from Latin mens meaning "intellect", but more likely of Etruscan origin. Minerva was the Roman goddess of wisdom and war, approximately equivalent to the Greek goddess Athena. It has been used as a given name in the English-speaking world since after the Renaissance.

Short form of Wilhelmina and other names ending in mina. This was the name of a character in the novel Dracula (1897) by Bram Stoker.

From Mimosa, a genus of plants that are sensitive to touch. The best known plant from that genus is the Mimosa pudica, better known in English as the touch-me-not. The plant genus derives its name from Spanish mimosa, which is the feminine form of the Spanish adjective mimoso meaning "cuddly".

Italian form of Mimi as well as diminutive of other names with a m sound of any gender. Mimì, a seamstress, is a main character in 'La bohème' (1896) by Giacomo Puccini, based on 'Scènes de la vie de bohème' (1851) by Henri Murger.

Variant of Milva.

From the Italian words mia luna literally meaning "my moon". According to a Venetian legend the 1600s nobleman Vittore Calergi proposed to his love interest with these words (meant "my sweetness, my dear") and a beautiful diamond later renamed Miluna. In 1966 in Italy a newly-founded jewelry brand chose the name Miluna inspired by this legend.

Old German form of Miles, as well as the Latinized form. This form was revived as an English name in the 19th century [2].

Feminine form of Milan. It began to be used in Italy in honour of Milena Vukotić (1847-1923), mother of Helen of Montenegro, the wife of the Italian king Victor Emmanuel III. In Italy it can also be considered a combination of Maria and Elena.

Feminine form of Milo.

Derived from Lithuanian migla meaning "mist".

Means "honey" in Italian.

Italian variant form of Michal 2 (the Italian biblical form being Mikal). This is the name of the heroine in Giorgio Bassani's novel The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1962).

Italian form of Michael.

Combination of Michael and Angelo, referring to the archangel Michael. The Renaissance painter and sculptor Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), from Florence, was the man who created such great works of art as the statue of David and the mural on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. This name was also borne by the Baroque artist Michelangelo Merisi (1571-1610), better known as Caravaggio.

Feminine form of Michael.

From Greek μέρος (meros) meaning "share, part" and ὄψ (ops) meaning "face, eye". This was the name of several characters in Greek mythology, including the seventh of the Pleiades and the foster mother of Oedipus.

Italian form of Merlin

Means "meritorious, worthy" in Esperanto.

According to Walter Map's 12th-century work De nugis curialium (Courtiers' Trifles), Pope Sylvester II owed his powerful position in the Catholic Church to the influence of a succubus named Meridiana.
Perhaps relatedly, Meridian was used as a name for the Devil in the early 15th century.

Italian form of Mercury.

Italian form of Mercedes

Short form of Bartolomeo, Romeo, and Tolomeo.

Italian and Hungarian form of Minthe. The name coincides with both Italian and Hungarian menta "mint".

Diminutive of Meine.

Italian and Spanish form of Menelaus.

Means "bee" in Greek. In Greek mythology this was the name of a daughter of Procles, as well as an epithet of various Greek nymphs and priestesses. According to the early Christian writer Lactantius [2] this was the name of the sister of the nymph Amalthea, with whom she cared for the young Zeus. Later it appears in Ludovico Ariosto's 1532 poem Orlando Furioso [3] belonging to the fairy who helps Ruggiero escape from the witch Alcina. As an English given name, Melissa has been used since the 18th century.

Italian form of Mélisande.

Means "ash tree" in Greek, a derivative of μέλι (meli) meaning "honey". This was the name of a nymph in Greek myth, the daughter of the Greek god Okeanos.

French and Italian form of Melchiades.

Italian, Spanish, Polish and Romanian form of Melanie.

Italian and Spanish form of Melaneus.

From Greek Μήδεια (Medeia), derived from μήδεα (medea) meaning "plans, counsel, cunning". In Greek mythology Medea was a sorceress from Colchis (modern Georgia) who helped Jason gain the Golden Fleece. They were married, but eventually Jason left her for another woman. For revenge Medea slew Jason's new lover and also had her own children by Jason killed.

Italian, Galician and Spanish form of Medardus.

Means "lady" in Late Latin, a derivative of Latin mater "mother". This was the name of three early saints.

Spanish, Portuguese and Italian form of Matilda.

Italian form of Maximus.

Italian form of Maximilian.

Italian form of Marcius.

Italian form of Marcia.

Italian form of Martinus (see Martin).

Italian, Spanish and Portuguese form of Mars.

Form of Martha used in various languages.

Italian and Portuguese form of Marsilius.

Feminine form of Marsilio.

Latinate form of Marlene.

Italian form of Maristela.

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

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.

Italian and Spanish form of Marinus.

Diminutive of Marina.

Feminine form of Marinus. This name was borne by a few early saints. This is also the name by which Saint Margaret of Antioch is known in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Possibly a diminutive of Mary or a variant of Amaryllis. More common in the 19th century, this name was borne by the American suffragist Marilla Ricker (1840-1920). It is also the name of the adoptive mother of Anne in L. M. Montgomery's novel Anne of Green Gables (1908).

Diminutive of Maria.

Italian, Spanish and Portuguese form of Marianus. It is also used as a masculine form of Maria.

Italian form of Margaret. This is also the Italian word for the daisy flower (species Bellis perennis, Leucanthemum vulgare and others).

Latinate form of Margaret. This is also the Spanish word for the daisy flower (species Bellis perennis, Leucanthemum vulgare and others).

Originally an Estonian short form of Maria and Margareeta, used a given name in its own right.

Italian form of Marcellus.

Combination of Marco and Antonio, referring to the 1st-century BC Roman triumvir Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony).

Means "bitter" in Hebrew. In the Old Testament this is a name that Naomi calls herself after the death of her husband and sons (see Ruth 1:20).

Italian form of Muhammad.

Originally a short form of Germanic names beginning with the element man meaning "person, man" (Proto-Germanic *mannô).

Italian form of Manfred.

Southern Italian form of Manfred.

Created by the Scottish poet James MacPherson in the 18th century for a character in his Ossian poems. He probably intended it to mean "smooth brow", from Scottish Gaelic mala "brow" and mìn "smooth, fine" (lenited to mhìn and pronounced with a v sound).

Short form of Malvina. It may be partly inspired by Latin, Swedish and Finnish malva "mallow, hollyhock (flower)".

Means "raspberry" in several Slavic languages.

Italian form of Malachi.

Means "beloved" in Basque.

From Greek μαρμαίρω (marmairo) meaning "sparkle, gleam, flash". This name was borne by several characters in Greek mythology, including one of the Nereids.

From Greek μαῖα (maia) meaning "good mother, dame, foster mother", perhaps in origin a nursery form of μήτηρ (meter). In Greek and Roman mythology she was the eldest of the Pleiades, a group of stars in the constellation Taurus, who were the daughters of Atlas and Pleione. Her son by Zeus was Hermes.

Probably from Latin maior meaning "greater". This was the name of a Roman goddess of spring, a companion (sometimes wife) of Vulcan. She was later conflated with the Greek goddess Maia. The month of May is named for her.

From the English word magnolia for the flower, which was named for the French botanist Pierre Magnol.

Cognate of Magnus.

Derived from Latin magnifica "magnificent, splendid, excellent".

Feminine form of Maggiorino.

Feminine form of Maggio and thus ultimately derived from Italian maggio "May". This name was occasionally given to children born in the month of May (compare English May).

Short form of Magdalena.

Originally a medieval Portuguese form of Matilda. This name was borne by the wife of Afonso, the first king of Portugal. In modern times it was the name of the titular character in a popular Argentine comic strip (published from 1964 to 1973) by Quino.

Feminine form of Maël.

From the name of a barrio (district) in Seville, which got its name from a temple that may have been named for a person named Macarius (see Macario). The Virgin of Macarena, that is Mary, is widely venerated in Seville.

Italian form of Lutetia.

The etymology of this name is widely debated. However, the name may be of Celtic origin: Lus and Tanus, "tribe of Lusus", connecting the name with the personal Celtic name Luso and with the god Lugh.

Italian and Esperanto form of Lupus and Spanish variant of Lope.

Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish form of Lupercus.

Feminine form of Lupus (Late Roman) and Lup (Medieval Romanian).

In Esperanto, the name means "lupine, wolfish" and is therefore etymologically related to the aforementioned two names.

Means "moon-like" in Latin. Lunaria is a genus of flowering plants.

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.

Derived from the Latin adjective luminosus meaning "full of light, luminous". This was the name of a 5th-century saint from Pavia in Lombardy, Italy. This was also borne by a 6th-century Byzantine woman, the wife of the tribune Zemarchus. A modern bearer is Italian hurdler Luminosa Bogliolo (1995-).

Italian form of Ludwig.

Short form of Ludovicus or Ludolf.

Alternate transcription of Russian/Bulgarian Людмила (see Lyudmila).

Italian form of Lucretia.

Italian and Spanish form of Lucius.

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).

Derived from Latin lucus meaning "grove", but later associated with lux meaning "light". This was the name of a Roman goddess of childbirth.

Latin diminutive of Lucia. This was the name of a 3rd-century saint martyred in Rome.

Italian and French variant of Lucia. This also means "light" in Italian.

Means "storax tree" in Arabic. According to a 7th-century legend Lubna and Qays were a couple forced to divorce by Qays's father.

From the name of a French town. It became a popular center of pilgrimage after a young girl from the town had visions of the Virgin Mary in a nearby grotto.

Diminutive of Lorenzo.

From the name of a town in Italy, originally called Lauretum in Latin, meaning "laurel grove". Supposedly in the 13th century the house of the Virgin Mary was miraculously carried by angels from Nazareth to the town. In Spain it is a feminine name, from the Marian title Nuestra Señora de Loreto, while in Italy it is mostly masculine.

Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Romanian form of Lorraine.

Diminutive of Lora.

Spanish diminutive of Dolores. A famous bearer was Lola Montez (1821-1861; birth name Eliza Gilbert), an Irish-born dancer, actress and courtesan.

Possibly derived from Greek λωίων (loion) meaning "more desirable" or "better". Lois is mentioned in the New Testament as the mother of Eunice and the grandmother of Timothy. As an English name, it came into use after the Protestant Reformation. In fiction, this is the name of the girlfriend of the comic book hero Superman.

Italian form of Ludwig.

Means "white" in Hebrew.

Italian form of Livius.

Feminine form of Livius. This was the name of the wife of the Roman emperor Augustus, Livia Drusilla.

Derived from the Slavic element lyuby "love", this was the name of the Sorbian and Wendish goddess of spring, love and fertility.

Italian form of Lysistrate.

Italian form of Lysippos via its latinized form Lysippus.

Spanish and Portuguese form of Lysander.

Medieval truncated form of Elisabetta. Lisabetta da Messina is a character in Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio (14th century).

Derived from Portuguese lírio "lily".

From the name of the musical instrument lira (from Latin lira, from Ancient Greek λύρα (lúra)), called "lyre" in English.

Variant of Leonello and cognate of Lionel.

Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Galician form of Linus.

Variant of Lindor. Lindoro is a character in the opera L'italiana in Algeri (The Italian Girl in Algiers in English; 1813) by Gioachino Rossini and Angelo Anelli.

Originally a medieval short form of Germanic names containing the element lind meaning "soft, flexible, tender" (Proto-Germanic *linþaz). It also coincides with the Spanish and Portuguese word linda meaning "beautiful". In the English-speaking world this name experienced a spike in popularity beginning in the 1930s, peaking in the late 1940s, and declining shortly after that. It was the most popular name for girls in the United States from 1947 to 1952.

Italian and Spanish form of Lynceus.

Means either "palm tree" or "tender" in Arabic.

German, Danish and Finnish variant of Lili.

Means "lilac (the plant)" in Italian.

Latinate form of Lillian.

Spanish and Italian form of Lily, as well as an alternate transcription of Russian Лилия or Ukrainian Лілія (see Liliya).

Means "play, amusement" in Sanskrit.

Polish, Italian, Spanish and Georgian form of Lydia.

Italian form of Lykios.

Italian form of Lycia.

Variant of Licia.

The name of a zodiacal constellation supposedly shaped like a set of scales. It literally means "pound, balance" in Latin, from Mediterranean base *lithra- "a scale".

Means "free" in Italian, from Latin liber.

Feminine forms of Libero.

Short form of Juliana, Liliana and other names that end in liana. This is also the word for a type of vine that grows in jungles.

Possibly means "joined, attached" in Hebrew. As told in the Old Testament, Levi was the third son of Jacob and Leah, and the ancestor of one of the twelve tribes of the Israelites, known as the Levites. This was the tribe that formed the priestly class of the Israelites. The brothers Moses and Aaron were members. This name also occurs in the New Testament, where it is another name for the apostle Matthew.

As an English Christian name, Levi came into use after the Protestant Reformation.

Means "levant (wind); East" in Italian.

Italian form of Letitia. It was borne by Napoleon Bonaparte's mother.

Short form of Valeriya.

Italian short form of Eleanor.

Variant of Leonilda.

Italian form of Leonidas.

Italian form of Leo and Leon.

Feminine form of Leon.

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.

Italian form of Laelius (see Laelia).

Meaning unknown. In Greek myth she was a Spartan queen and the mother of Castor, Pollux, Helen and Clytemnestra by the god Zeus, who came upon her in the form of a swan.

Spanish, Portuguese and Italian form of Leander.

Form of Leah used in several languages.

Meaning unknown, probably of Etruscan origin. In Roman legend Lavinia was the daughter of King Latinus, the wife of Aeneas, and the ancestor of the Roman people. According to the legend Aeneas named the town of Lavinium in honour of his wife.

Means "lavender" in Croatian, Italian and Russian.

Italian form of Laurus (see Laura).

Feminine form of the Late Latin name Laurus, which meant "laurel". This meaning was favourable, since in ancient Rome the leaves of laurel trees were used to create victors' garlands. The name was borne by the 9th-century Spanish martyr Saint Laura, who was a nun thrown into a vat of molten lead by the Moors. It was also the name of the subject of poems by the 14th-century Italian poet Petrarch.

As an English name, Laura has been used since the 13th century. Famous bearers include Laura Secord (1775-1868), a Canadian heroine during the War of 1812, and Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957), an American author who wrote the Little House on the Prairie series of novels.

Feminine form of Latif.

Variant of Larisa. It has been commonly used as an English given name only since the 20th century, as a borrowing from Russian. In 1991 this name was given to one of the moons of Neptune, in honour of the mythological character.

Variant of Larunda.

Diminutive of Jacopo.

Italian form of Lancelot.

Short form of Alana (English) or Svetlana (Russian). In the English-speaking world it was popularized by actress Lana Turner (1921-1995), who was born Julia Jean Turner.

Variant of Layla.

Catalan diminutive of Eulalia.

Italian and Portuguese form of Laertes.

Italian form of Lachesis.

Germanic name, originally a short form of names beginning with the element iwa meaning "yew". Alternative theories suggest that it may in fact be derived from a cognate Celtic element [2]. This was the name of saints (who are also commonly known as Saint Yves or Ives), hailing from Cornwall, France, and Brittany.

Latin form of Junia.

Italian form of Italus.

Italian form of Israel.

Italian form of Iseult.

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.

Popularly claimed to be derived from the Italian word isola "island", this name might actually rather be a variant of Isolda.

Isola Wilde was the younger sister of author and playwright Oscar Wilde. Isola died aged eight of meningitis, and her brother dedicated the poem Requiescat to her memory.

Italian form of Ishmael.

Spanish, Italian and Portuguese form of Isidore.

Feminine form of Isidore. This was the name of a 4th-century Egyptian saint and hermitess.

Italian form of Isis.

Variant of Isidora. A famous bearer was the American dancer Isadora Duncan (1877-1927).

Italian form of Isaac.

Latinate form of Isabel. This name was borne by many medieval royals, including queens consort of England, France, Portugal, the Holy Roman Empire and Hungary, as well as the powerful ruling queen Isabella of Castile (properly called Isabel).

In the United States this form was much less common than Isabel until the early 1990s, when it began rapidly rising in popularity. It reached a peak in 2009 and 2010, when it was the most popular name for girls in America, an astounding rise over only 20 years.

A famous bearer is the Italian actress Isabella Rossellini (1952-).

Short form of Germanic names beginning with the element is meaning "ice" (Proto-Germanic *īsą).

German short form of names beginning with the Old German element irmin meaning "whole, great" (Proto-Germanic *ermunaz). It is thus related to Emma. It began to be regularly used in the English-speaking world in the 19th century.

Spanish, Portuguese and Italian form of Ireland.

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.

Form of Irene in several languages.

Italian variant of Iris.

Italian and Spanish form of Irenaeus.

From Greek Εἰρήνη (Eirene), derived from a word meaning "peace". This was the name of the Greek goddess who personified peace, one of the Ὥραι (Horai). It was also borne by several early Christian saints. The name was common in the Byzantine Empire, notably being borne by an 8th-century empress, who was the first woman to lead the empire. She originally served as regent for her son, but later had him killed and ruled alone.

This name has traditionally been more popular among Eastern Christians. In the English-speaking world it was not regularly used until the 19th century.

Italian form of Hippolytos.

Italian form of Hippolyte 1.

Italian form of Hippocrates.

Italian form of Hyperion.

Italian form of Hypatia.

Medieval Italian form of Giorgio originally used in Southern Italy. After Gabriele D'Annunzio used this name in his tragedy La figlia di Iorio (1904) the name has been used mostly in Toscana (Tuscany) and Emilia-Romagna (both in central Italy).

Strictly feminine form of Inge.

Italian, Slovene and Croatian form of Inés.

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.

Italian form of Indigo.

Meaning unknown, possibly from Arabic عِلْم ('ilm) meaning "knowledge".

Italian form of Ilithyia.

Italian form of Hildegard.

Norwegian dialectal variant of Hilde, recorded in the Sunnmøre area, as well as an Italian variant of Ilda.

Italian form of Hilda.

Italian form of Hilarius.

Feminine form of Ilan.

Italian form of Ignatius.

Modern Greek, Italian, and Polish form of Iphigenia. This is also a Spanish variant of Efigenia, used to refer to the tragic heroine of Greek myth.

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.

Italian form of Ikaros (see Icarus).

From Latin ibis, referring to a type of long-legged bird with long downcurved bill, ultimately coming from Egyptian hbj. It was the symbol of Thoth, thus having a great importance in Egyptian mythology.

Romanian form of Jasmine.

Italian form of Yaara.

Variant of Gianuario.

Welsh and Galician form of Iacobus (see James). This was the name of two early Welsh kings of Gwynedd. It is also the name of the villain in Shakespeare's tragedy Othello (1603).

Variant of Giaele.

Italian form of Iacobus (see James).

Italian, Spanish and Portuguese form of Gustav.

Latinized form of Wido. Notable bearers include the music theorist Guido d'Arezzo (c. 991-1033), poet Guido Cavalcanti (c. 1250-1300), and Baroque painter Guido Reni (1575-1642).

Of uncertain origin and meaning. Current theories include a feminine form of Guido, a variant of Gaia and an adoption of the Spanish name Guía.

Italian form of William.

Variant of Guendalina.

Short form of Guendalina.

Italian form of Walter.

From a Spanish title of the Virgin Mary, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, meaning "Our Lady of Guadalupe". Guadalupe is a Spanish place name, the site of a famous convent, derived from Arabic وادي (wadi) meaning "valley, river" possibly combined with Latin lupus meaning "wolf". In the 16th century Our Lady of Guadalupe supposedly appeared in a vision to a native Mexican man, and she is now regarded as a patron saint of the Americas.

Possibly derived from the Old German elements gris "grey" and hilt "battle". It is not attested as a Germanic name. This was the name of a patient wife in medieval folklore, adapted into tales by Boccaccio (in The Decameron) and Chaucer (in The Canterbury Tales).

Spanish and Italian form of Grimwald.

Short form of Margareta. A famous bearer of this name was the Swedish actress Greta Garbo (1905-1990).

Italian and Spanish form of Gregorius (see Gregory).

Means "grace" in Italian, making it a cognate of Grace.

Latinized form of Gráinne.

Italian form of Gotthard.

Italian form of Goliath.

From Yiddish גאָלד (gold) meaning "gold". This is the name of Tevye's wife in the musical Fiddler on the Roof (1964). It was also borne by the Israeli prime minister Golda Meir (1898-1978).

Italian form of Godfrey.

Elaborated form of Latin gloria meaning "glory". In Edmund Spenser's poem The Faerie Queene (1590) this was the name of the title character, a representation of Queen Elizabeth I.

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-).

Created by author L. Frank Baum for his character Glinda the Good Witch, a kind sorceress in his Oz series of books beginning in 1900. It is not known what inspired the name.

Feminine form of Glenn.

Probably a feminine form of Glenn using the suffix da (from names such as Linda and Wanda). This name was not regularly used until the 20th century.

From the name of the flowering plant gladiolus, literally meaning "small sword" from Latin gladius "sword" (a reference to its sword-shaped leaves). Gladiola Josephine "Glady Joe" is a character in the novel 'How to Make an American Quilt' (1991) and subsequent film adaptation (1995).

Italian form of Justinian.

Feminine form of Giuseppe.

Italian form of Iuno (see Juno).

Italian form of Junia. It was used for the female lead character in Mozart's opera Lucio Silla (1772).

Diminutive of Giulia.

Italian form of Iulianus (see Julian).

Italian form of Judith.

Italian, Sicilian and Sardinian form of Judah.

Italian form of Giselle.

Italian form of Iovis (see Jove). This is the Italian name for the Roman god Jupiter.

Possibly from Ambrogiotto, a diminutive of Ambrogio, or Angiolotto, a diminutive of Angiolo. This name was borne by Giotto di Bondone (1267-1337), an Italian painter and architect.

Italian form of Joshua.

Italian form of Josette.

Italian form of Jordan. A notable bearer was the cosmologist Giordano Bruno (1548-1600), who was burned at the stake by the Inquisition.

Feminine form of Giordano.

Italian form of Jonah.

Means "joy" in Italian.

From the Late Latin name Iucunda, which meant "pleasant, delightful, happy". Leonardo da Vinci's painting the Mona Lisa is also known as La Gioconda because its subject is Lisa del Giocondo.

Italian form of Joachim. A famous bearer was the Italian composer Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868).

Italian form of Guinevere. This is also the Italian name for the city of Geneva, Switzerland. It is also sometimes associated with the Italian word ginepro meaning "juniper".

Diminutive of Gina.

Italian cognate of Junípero.

Feminine form of Ginepro.

Masculine form of Gilda.

Originally an Italian short form of Ermenegilda and other names containing the Old German element gelt meaning "payment, tribute, compensation". This is the name of a character in Verdi's opera Rigoletto (1851). It is also the name of a 1946 American movie, starring Rita Hayworth in the title role.