steerthestars's Personal Name List

Latinized form of the Greek name Ἁγνή (Hagne), derived from Greek ἁγνός (hagnos) meaning "chaste". Saint Agnes was a virgin martyred during the persecutions of the Roman emperor Diocletian. The name became associated with Latin agnus "lamb", resulting in the saint's frequent depiction with a lamb by her side. Due to her renown, the name became common in Christian Europe.

As an English name it was highly popular from the Middle Ages until the 17th century. It was revived in the 19th century and was common into the 20th, but it fell into decline after the 1930s. It last appeared on the American top 1000 rankings in 1972.

Italian feminine form of Augustinus (see Augustine 1).

Derived from Greek ἀμαρύσσω (amarysso) meaning "to sparkle". This is the name of a character appearing in Virgil's pastoral poems Eclogues [1]. The amaryllis flower is named for her.

Derived from Greek ἀντί (anti) meaning "against, compared to, like" and γονή (gone) meaning "birth, offspring". In Greek legend Antigone was the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta. King Creon of Thebes declared that her slain brother Polynices was to remain unburied, a great dishonour. She disobeyed and gave him a proper burial, and for this she was sealed alive in a cave.

Meaning uncertain; possibly a variant of Afra 1, or possibly a variant of Aphrah, a biblical place name meaning "dust". This name was borne by the English writer Aphra Behn (1640-1689).

Feminine form of Arcadius. This is the name of a region on the Greek Peloponnese, long idealized for its natural beauty.

Feminine form of Artemisios. This was the name of the 4th-century BC builder of the Mausoleum, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. She built it in memory of her husband, the Carian prince Mausolus.

From the Greek Ἀταλάντη (Atalante) meaning "equal in weight", derived from ἀτάλαντος (atalantos), a word related to τάλαντον (talanton) meaning "a scale, a balance". In Greek legend she was a fast-footed maiden who refused to marry anyone who could not beat her in a race. She was eventually defeated by Hippomenes, who dropped three golden apples during the race causing her to stop to pick them up.

From a surname meaning "cheerful" in Old English.

Variant of Calanthe.

From the name of a type of orchid, ultimately meaning "beautiful flower", derived from Greek καλός (kalos) meaning "beautiful" and ἄνθος (anthos) meaning "flower".

Spanish and Portuguese feminine form of Calixtus.

It is of Italian and Middle French origin, and the meaning is "skin". From Italian cammeo which refers to a gem portrait carved in relief.

Derived from Irish caomh meaning "dear, beloved, gentle".

Latinized form of Greek Κασσιόπεια (Kassiopeia) or Κασσιέπεια (Kassiepeia), possibly meaning "cassia juice". In Greek myth Cassiopeia was the wife of Cepheus and the mother of Andromeda. She was changed into a constellation and placed in the northern sky after she died.

Possibly from cyrrid "bent, crooked" (a derivative of Old Welsh cwrr "corner") combined with ben "woman" or gwen "white, blessed". According to the medieval Welsh legend the Tale of Taliesin (recorded by Elis Gruffyd in the 16th century) this was the name of a sorceress who created a potion that would grant wisdom to her son Morfan. The potion was instead consumed by her servant Gwion Bach, who was subsequently reborn as the renowned bard Taliesin.

This name appears briefly in a poem in the Black Book of Carmarthen in the form Kyrridven [1] and in a poem in the Book of Taliesin in the form Kerrituen [2]. Some theories connect her to an otherwise unattested Celtic goddess of inspiration, and suppose her name is related to Welsh cerdd "poetry".

Combination of Christina and the name suffix bel (inspired by Latin bella "beautiful"). This name occurs in medieval literature, and was later used by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in his 1816 poem Christabel [1].

English feminine form of Cletus and Catalan short form of Anacleta.

Meaning unknown. In Irish legend this was the name of a beautiful goddess. She fell in love with a mortal named Ciabhán and left the Land of Promise with him, but when she arrived on the other shore she was swept to sea by a great wave.

Variant of Clotilde.

From the English word for the wild flower, ultimately deriving from Old English clafre.

From the name of a variety of flower. It is also an English form of Colombina, the pantomime character.

Meaning uncertain, from the name of a character in medieval legend, possibly first recorded by Spanish writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. Perhaps it was derived from an older form of Spanish corazón "heart" (e.g., Old Spanish coraçon; ultimately from Latin cor "heart", with the hypothetic Vulgar Latin root *coratione, *coraceone) or the Greek name Chrysanthe. As a nickname it was used by a mistress of King Henry IV of France: Diane d'Andoins (1554-1620), la Belle Corisande. Some usage may be generated by Jean-Baptiste Lully's opera 'Amadis' (1684; based on Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo), in which it belongs to the lover of the prince Florestan. The name was also used by Benjamin Disraeli for a character in his play 'Lothair' (1870).

Form of Criseida used by Shakespeare in his play Troilus and Cressida (1602).

Manx form of Elizabeth.

Means "snowdrop (flower)" in Welsh, a compound of eira "snow" and llys "plant".

Derived from Cornish elester meaning "iris flower". This is a recently coined Cornish name.

Italian form of Electra.

Medieval French diminutive of Emmeline.

English form of Éponine.

Cornish form of Iseult.

Derived from Greek εὐανθής (euanthes) meaning "blooming, flowery", a derivative of εὖ (eu) meaning "good" and ἄνθος (anthos) meaning "flower". According to some sources, this was the name of the mother of the three Graces or Χάριτες (Charites) in Greek mythology.

Feminine form of Eugenius (see Eugene). It was borne by a semi-legendary 3rd-century saint who escaped persecution by disguising herself as a man. The name was occasionally found in England during the Middle Ages, but it was not regularly used until the 19th century.

French form of Eulalia.

Derived from the word for a succinct story, in prose or verse, that features animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature which are given human qualities, and that illustrates a moral lesson.
The word "fable" comes from the Latin fabula (a "story"), itself derived from fari ("to speak") with the -ula suffix that signifies "little".

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.

Feminine form of Gael.

English form of Henriette, and thus a feminine form of Harry. It was first used in the 17th century, becoming very common in the English-speaking world by the 18th century. Famous bearers include the Americans Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896), the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, and the abolitionist Harriet Tubman (1820-1913).

Derived from Cornish Hedra "October". This is a recent coinage.

Medieval English form of Eloise.

Variant of Hesperia.

Latin form of Esther. Like Esther, it has been used in England since the Protestant Reformation. Nathaniel Hawthorne used it for the heroine of his novel The Scarlet Letter (1850), Hester Prynne, a Puritan woman forced to wear a red letter A on her chest after giving birth to a child out of wedlock.

Derived from Greek ὕπατος (hypatos) meaning "highest, supreme". Hypatia of Alexandria was a 5th-century philosopher and mathematician, daughter of the mathematician Theon.

From the English word indigo for the purplish-blue dye or the colour. It is ultimately derived from Greek Ἰνδικόν (Indikon) meaning "Indic, from India".

Latinized form of Iphigeneia.

The origins of this name are uncertain, though some Celtic roots have been suggested. It is possible that the name is ultimately Germanic, from a hypothetical name like *Ishild, composed of the elements is "ice" and hilt "battle".

According to tales first recorded in Old French in the 12th century, Yseut or Ysolt was an Irish princess betrothed to King Mark of Cornwall. After accidentally drinking a love potion, she became the lover of his nephew Tristan. Their tragic story, which was set in the Arthurian world, was popular during the Middle Ages and the name became relatively common in England at that time. It was rare by the 19th century, though some interest was generated by Richard Wagner's opera Tristan und Isolde (1865).

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.

Medieval diminutive of Laurence 1.

Late Latin name that might be derived from the name of the Greek island of Leucadia or from Greek λευκός (leukos) meaning "bright, clear, white" (which is also the root of the island's name). Saint Leocadia was a 3rd-century martyr from Spain.

Medieval form of the Old English name Leofdæg, literally "beloved day". According to medieval English custom, a love day or dies amoris was a day for disputants to come together to try to resolve their differences amicably. Mainly a feminine name, with some male usage. Known textual examples date from the 11th century. It seems to have been most common in Cornwall and Devon, according to the British births, deaths and marriages index. Currently very rare.

The novel Coming Home (1995) by Rosamunde Pilcher, set in 1930s Cornwall, has a character called Loveday. Loveday Minette is a fictional character in the children's fantasy novel The Little White Horse (1946) by Elizabeth Goudge (in the novel's film adaptation, she is known as Loveday de Noir). Also, a character in Poldark.

Derived from Latin lumina "lights", ultimately from Latin lumen "light". In the English-speaking world, this name was first recorded in the 1800s.

Feminine form of Maelon.

Variant of Magdalene.

Irish form of Margaret.

Feminine form of Marcellus.

Derived from Latin Margarita, which was from Greek μαργαρίτης (margarites) meaning "pearl", a word that was probably ultimately a borrowing from an Indo-Iranian language. Saint Margaret, the patron of expectant mothers, was martyred at Antioch in the 4th century. Later legends told of her escape from a dragon, with which she was often depicted in medieval art. The saint was popular during the Middle Ages, and her name has been widely used in the Christian world.

As an English name it has been very popular since the Middle Ages. It was the top name for girls in England and Wales in the 1920s, 30s and 40s, but it declined in the latter half of the 20th century.

Other saints by this name include a queen of Scotland and a princess of Hungary. It was also borne by Queen Margaret I of Denmark, who united Denmark, Sweden, and Norway in the 14th century. Famous literary bearers include American writer Margaret Mitchell (1900-1949), the author of Gone with the Wind, and Canadian writer Margaret Atwood (1939-). Others include American anthropologist Margaret Mead (1901-1978) and British prime minister Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013).

Medieval variant of Margery, influenced by the name of the herb marjoram. After the Middle Ages this name was rare, but it was revived at the end of the 19th century.

Italian feminine form of Matthew.

Usage of this still relatively new French given name first started with Mazarine Pingeot (b. 1974), the illegitimate daughter of former French president François Mitterrand (1916-1996) and his mistress Anne Pingeot (b. 1943), whose existence was only brought to light in 1994 or 1995. Her parents' love of books is said to have inspired them to name their daughter after the Bibliothèque Mazarine, the oldest public library in France. The library itself was named after the 17th-century cardinal Jules Raymond Mazarin, who had been born in Italy as Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino. He came from a family that was originally from Sicily and had taken their surname from their ancestral town, Mazzarino.

The town's name is said to have been derived from Mazzara, which either originates from Arabic mazari or mazar meaning "shrine", or is a corruption of Mactorium, the name of a town that had existed in the area in ancient times. That town had been founded by ancient Greek colonists, who had called it Μακτώριον (Maktorion). It is uncertain what the town's name meant in Greek, but it is possibly related to the Greek noun μακτήριον (makterion) meaning "food". Also compare Μαιμακτηριών (Maimakterion), which is the name of one of the lunar months of the Hellenic calendar used in ancient Attica. Alternatively, an etymological relation with the Greek adjective μακτός (maktos) meaning "kneaded" is also possible. This word is ultimately derived from the Greek verb μάσσω (masso) meaning "to knead, to press into a mould".

With that said, the given name Mazarine is quite rare in France today. It was virtually unknown in the country, until the existence of Mitterrand's illegitimate daughter was revealed in 1994 or 1995. The name gained quite a bit of exposure after that, which made it possible for prospective parents to take a liking to the name and bestow it upon their daughters. This clearly shows in the available statistics for the name Mazarine: it suddenly appeared on the radar in the mid-1990s and has remained on it ever since, whereas in previous decades, the name was not used on a noteworthy scale at all (as was to be expected, since this name was more or less "invented" as a given name).

Derived from Latin melior meaning "better".

Means "June" in Cornish (literally "midsummer"). This is a recently coined Cornish name.

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.

From Old Cornish moroin meaning "maiden, girl" (related to the Welsh word morwyn [1]). This was the name of a 6th-century Cornish saint, said to be one of the daughters of Brychan Brycheiniog.

Greek form of Egyptian nbt-ḥwt (reconstructed as Nebet-Hut) meaning "lady of the house", derived from nbt "lady" and ḥwt "house". This was the name of an Egyptian goddess associated with the air, death and mourning. She was wife of the desert god Seth.

Medieval Welsh diminutive of Agnes.

Short form of Nicholas (or sometimes Nicodemus).

Feminine form of Olympos.

French form of Undine.

Derived from Greek ὠφέλεια (opheleia) meaning "help, advantage". This was a rare ancient Greek name, which was either rediscovered or recreated by the poet Jacopo Sannazaro for a character in his poem Arcadia (1480). It was borrowed by Shakespeare for his play Hamlet (1600), in which it belongs to the daughter of Polonius and the potential love interest of Hamlet. She eventually goes insane and drowns herself after Hamlet kills her father. In spite of this negative association, the name has been in use since the 19th century.

Taken from the name of the gemstone, whose name is of uncertain origin and meaning. A current theory, however, derives it from Anglo-Norman pedoretés, ultimately from Greek paiderôs (via Latin paederos): pais "child" and erôs "love".

As a given name, it has found occasional usage in the English-speaking world from the late 19th century onwards.

Derived from Latin perpetuus meaning "continuous". This was the name of a 3rd-century saint martyred with another woman named Felicity.

Greek name meaning "Persian woman". This was the name of a woman mentioned in Paul's epistle to the Romans in the New Testament.

From the Greek Φαίδρα (Phaidra), derived from φαιδρός (phaidros) meaning "bright". Phaedra was the daughter of Minos and the wife of Theseus in Greek mythology. Aphrodite caused her to fall in love with her stepson Hippolytos, and after she was rejected by him she killed herself.

From Middle English ploume, from Old English plume "plum, plum tree," from an early Germanic borrowing (Middle Dutch prume, Dutch pruim, Old High German pfluma, pfruma, German Pflaume) from Vulgar Latin *pruna, from Latin prunum "plum," from Greek prounon, a later form of proumnon, a word of unknown origin, which is probably, like the tree itself, of Anatolian origin.

Variant form of Pomelline. This name is best known for being one of the middle names of Charlotte Casiraghi (b. 1986), who is the daughter of Princess Caroline of Hanover (formerly of Monaco). She was given this middle name in honour of her ancestor Pomellina Fregoso (c. 1387-1468), a Genovese noblewoman who was the wife of Jean I of Monaco (c. 1382-1454). Her name had been gallicized to Pomelline in Monaco, as it was (and still is) predominantly a French-speaking country.

From the English word for a flat treeless grassland, taken from French prairie "meadow". This was used by Thomas Pynchon for a character in his novel 'Vineland' (1990).

Means "to emerge" in Latin. She was the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess Persephone.

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.

The first element of this name is derived from the Germanic element rîcja "powerful, strong, mighty." This element is also closely related to Celtic rîg or rix and Gothic reiks, which all mean "king, ruler." The second element of this Germanic name is derived from Old Norse hildr "battle."

From an Aramaic name that was related to the Hebrew word שָׁלוֹם (shalom) meaning "peace". According to the historian Josephus this was the name of the daughter of Herodias (the consort of Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee). In the New Testament, though a specific name is not given, it was a daughter of Herodias who danced for Herod and was rewarded with the head of John the Baptist, and thus Salome and the dancer have traditionally been equated.

As a Christian given name, Salome has been in occasional use since the Protestant Reformation. This was due to a second person of this name in the New Testament: one of the women who witnessed the crucifixion and later discovered that Jesus' tomb was empty. It is used in Georgia due to the 4th-century Salome of Ujarma, who is considered a saint in the Georgian Church.

Variant of Serket.

Variant of Séverine.

Latinate form of Sibyl.

From the Old Norse name Sigríðr, which was derived from the elements sigr "victory" and fríðr "beautiful, beloved".

Latinized form of the Etruscan name Thanchvil which meant "gift of Thana", presumably from the name of a lost Etruscan goddess Thana combined with Etruscan cvil. This was the name of the wife of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth king of Rome in the 7th century BC. Edmund Spenser also used it (in the form Tanaquill) in his poem 'The Faerie Queene' (1590), where it belongs to a daughter of Oberon who becomes the fairy queen Gloriana. In modern times it was borne by prima ballerina Tanaquil LeClercq (1929-2000).

From the name of the flower, which is derived via Old French from Late Latin tanacita.

Derived from Greek τήθη (tethe) meaning "grandmother". In Greek mythology this was the name of a Titan associated with the sea. She was the wife of Oceanus.

Means "sea" in Greek. In Greek mythology she was the personification of the sea. A small moon of Neptune is named for her.

Ancient Greek form of Thalia.

From the Greek name Θάλεια (Thaleia), derived from θάλλω (thallo) meaning "to blossom". In Greek mythology she was one of the nine Muses, presiding over comedy and pastoral poetry. This was also the name of one of the three Graces or Χάριτες (Charites).

Means "law of nature, divine law, custom" in Greek. In Greek mythology this was the name of a Titan who presided over custom and natural law. She was often depicted blindfolded and holding a pair of scales. By Zeus she was the mother of many deities, including the three Μοῖραι (Moirai) and the three Ὥραι (Horai).

From the name of an ancient Greek town in Boeotia, itself supposedly named after a nymph. In a Greek legend (the oldest surviving version appearing in Latin in Ovid's Metamorphoses) this is the name of a young woman from Babylon. Believing her to be dead, her lover Pyramus kills himself, after which she does the same to herself. The splashes of blood from their suicides is the reason mulberry fruit are red.

Feminine form of Umbro. In some cases, however, it can also be a variant of Ombra.

Derived from Latin unda meaning "wave". The word undine was created by the 16th-century Swiss author Paracelsus, who used it for female water spirits.

French form of Ursulina.

From a Norman surname, which was from a French place name, which was itself derived from a Gaulish word meaning "alder".

Means "of the evening", derived from Esperanto vespero "evening", ultimately from Latin vesper.

French form of Iseult.