MxBramble's Personal Name List

French form of Amy.

From Japanese 愛 (ai) meaning "love, affection" and 美 (mi) meaning "beautiful". Other combinations of kanji characters are possible.

Means "dream" or "vision" in Irish. This name was created in the 20th century.

Form of Alexander in several languages.

Old Norse form of Alvis.

From the Late Latin name Ambrosius, which was derived from the Greek name Αμβροσιος (Ambrosios) meaning "immortal".

Short form of Ashley. It can also come directly from the English word denoting either the tree or the residue of fire.

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.

Greek form of Athanasius.

German, Polish, Scandinavian and Catalan form of Augustus. This was the name of three Polish kings.

As an English name it can also derive from the month of August, which was named for the Roman emperor Augustus.

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.

From the Basque place name Basurtu, a village (now part of Bilbao) in Biscay. It means "middle of the forest".

Perhaps derived from an Arabic word meaning "foster brother(s)".

From the name of a city in Lancashire, meaning "black stream" in Old English.

Variant of Baines 2.

Modern Irish form of Brighid.

From an English place name derived from bucc "buck, male deer" and leah "woodland, clearing".

Derived from Middle English burgh meaning "fortress, fortification, castle". It was brought to Ireland in the 12th century by the Norman invader William de Burgh.

Variant of O'Byrne.

From a Gaelic nickname cam beul meaning "wry or crooked mouth". The surname was later represented in Latin documents as de bello campo meaning "of the fair field".

Variant of Clark.

Variant of Colum.

Anglicized form of Conchobar (or the Modern Irish form Conchúr).

Welsh form of David. This name was borne by Dafydd ap Gruffydd, a 13th-century Welsh ruler, and Dafydd ap Gwilym, a 14th-century poet.

Anglicized form of Domhnall (see Donald).

Derived from the Old Norse byname Draki or the Old English byname Draca both meaning "dragon", both via Latin from Greek δράκων (drakon) meaning "dragon, serpent".

Derived from Irish Ó Dubhthaigh meaning "descendant of Dubthach". Their original homeland was Monaghan where the surname is still the most common; they are also from Donegal and Roscommon.

From the Welsh prefix dy meaning "to, toward" and llanw meaning "tide, flow". According to the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi [1], Dylan was a son of Arianrhod and the twin brother of Lleu Llaw Gyffes. Immediately after he was baptized he took to the sea, where he could swim as well as a fish. He was slain accidentally by his uncle Gofannon. According to some theories the character might be rooted in an earlier and otherwise unattested Celtic god of the sea.

Famous bearers include the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas (1914-1953) and the American musician Bob Dylan (1941-), real name Robert Zimmerman, who took his stage surname from the poet's given name. Due to those two bearers, use of the name has spread outside of Wales in the last half of the 20th century. It received a further boost in popularity in the 1990s due to a character on the television series Beverly Hills 90210.

Irish Gaelic form of Elizabeth (or sometimes of Alice).

Means "fawn" in Welsh. This name was created in the 19th century [1].

From an English surname that was derived from the given name Elis, a medieval vernacular form of Elias. This name has also functioned as an Anglicized form of Welsh Elisedd.

Possibly means "born from the yew tree", from Old Irish eó "yew" and the suffix gan "born". Alternatively, it might be derived from the Latin name Eugenius. It was borne by several legendary or semi-legendary Irish figures, including a son of the king Niall of the Nine Hostages.

Variant of Asha 2.

Perhaps derived from Old French esmer meaning "to like, love, respect". This was the name of an enchanted queen of Wales in Le Bel Inconnu (ca. 1185-90), an Old French Arthurian poem by Renaut de Bâgé. In the poem, Blonde Esmeree is transformed from a serpent back into a maiden by the hero Guinglain, also known as the Fair Unknown.

From the Hebrew name אֵיתָן (ʾEṯan) meaning "solid, enduring, firm". In the Old Testament this name is borne by a few minor characters, including the wise man Ethan the Ezrahite, supposedly the author of Psalm 89.

After the Protestant Reformation it was occasionally used as a given name in the English-speaking world, and it became somewhat common in America due to the fame of the revolutionary Ethan Allen (1738-1789). It only became popular towards the end of the 20th century. It is the name of the main character in Edith Wharton's novel Ethan Frome (1911), about a man in love with his wife's cousin.

Means "cosmos, the universe" in Turkish. In Turkic mythology the Evren is a gigantic snake-like dragon.

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.

Anglicized form of Irish Ó Fionnagáin meaning "descendant of Fionnagán". The given name Fionnagán is a diminutive of Fionn.

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.

Irish (Connacht) reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Flaithbheartaigh ‘descendant of Flaithbheartach’, a byname meaning ‘generous’, ‘hospitable’ (from flaith(eamh) ‘prince’, ‘ruler’ + beartach ‘acting’, ‘behaving’).

From Irish Ó Flannagáin meaning "descendant of Flannagán". Flannagán is a given name meaning "blood red". From County Roscommon in Ireland, it has many other spellings.

From Old Tagalog gatos meaning "million" or Cebuano gatos meaning "hundred".

Feminine form of George.

Means "dark-skinned, swarthy" in Welsh.

Short form of various Scandinavian names beginning with the Old Norse element guð meaning "god".

From the Old Norse name Gunnvaldr, derived from gunnr "war" and valdr "ruler".

Originally belonged to a person who played the harp or who made harps.

Anglicized form of Irish Ó hAodha meaning "descendant of Aodh".

Greek form of Hector.

Variant of Helen.

From place names meaning "high hill" in German.

From an English occupational surname for a hunter, derived from Old English hunta. A famous bearer was the eccentric American journalist Hunter S. Thompson (1937-2005).

Arabic form of Abraham, also used in several other languages. This form appears in the Quran.

From the Old Norse name Ingríðr meaning "Ing is beautiful", derived from the name of the Germanic god Ing combined with fríðr "beautiful, beloved". A famous bearer was the Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman (1915-1982).

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.

Arabic form of Ishmael, also used in several other languages. According to the Quran and Islamic tradition Ismail was a prophet and the founder of the Arab people.

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.

From the English word for the climbing plant with fragrant flowers that is used for making perfumes. It is derived via Arabic from Persian یاسمین (yāsamīn), which is also a Persian name. In the United States this name steadily grew in popularity from the 1970s, especially among African Americans [1]. It reached a peak in the early 1990s shortly after the release of the animated Disney movie Aladdin (1992), which featured a princess by this name.

Medieval English variant of Jehanne (see Jane). It was common in England and Scotland during the Middle Ages, but eventually became rare in England. It was reintroduced to the English-speaking world from Scotland in the 19th century.

Derived from the given name Jon, a medieval variant of John.

From Ioseph, the Latin form of Greek Ἰωσήφ (Ioseph), which was from the Hebrew name יוֹסֵף (Yosef) meaning "he will add", from the root יָסַף (yasaf) meaning "to add, to increase". In the Old Testament Joseph is the eleventh son of Jacob and the first with his wife Rachel. Because he was the favourite of his father, his older brothers sent him to Egypt and told their father that he had died. In Egypt, Joseph became an advisor to the pharaoh, and was eventually reconciled with his brothers when they came to Egypt during a famine. This name also occurs in the New Testament, belonging to Saint Joseph the husband of Mary, and to Joseph of Arimathea.

In the Middle Ages, Joseph was a common Jewish name, being less frequent among Christians. In the late Middle Ages Saint Joseph became more highly revered, and the name became popular in Spain and Italy. In England it became common after the Protestant Reformation. In the United States it has stayed within the top 25 names for boys since 1880, making it one of the most enduringly popular names of this era.

This name was borne by rulers of the Holy Roman Empire and Portugal. Other notable bearers include Austrian composer Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), the founder of Mormonism Joseph Smith (1805-1844), Polish-British author Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) and Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin (1878-1953).

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.

Derived from the given name Kamau.

Means "generous, noble" in Arabic, from the root كرم (karuma) meaning "to be generous". In Islamic tradition الكريم (al-Karīm) is one of the 99 names of Allah.

Derived from the given name Kariuki.

Anglicized form of Caitlín.

Anglicized form of Irish Ó Ceallaigh meaning "descendant of Ceallach". Famous bearers include actor and dancer Gene Kelly (1912-1996) and actress and princess Grace Kelly (1929-1982).

Anglicized form of Caireall.

German short form of Nicholas, now used independently.

Means "remember" in Chewa.

From a German and Dutch surname that was derived from Old High German linta meaning "linden tree".

Originally a nickname from the Welsh word llwyd meaning "grey".

English form of Lucia, in use since the Middle Ages.

Probably an Irish form of Lugus. In Irish mythology Lugh Lámfada was a divine hero who led the Tuatha Dé Danann against his grandfather Balor and the Fomorians. Lugh killed Balor by shooting a stone into his giant eye.

From Old Irish Lugaid, a combination of the name of the mythological figure Lugh and Old Irish dech "honour, better" [1]. This was the name of several characters in Irish legend, including the king Lugaid mac Con.

Derived from Latin luscinia "nightingale". This was an epithet of the Roman goddess Minerva. As an English name, it has been used sparingly since the 19th century.

Variant of Lindsay.

Magindara is a name of a demigoddess who turned into a mermaid, it is also the name of mythical creatures in the Philippines that are man-eating mermaids. It's a Central Bikol word for "mermaid".

Alternate transcription of Arabic محمود (see Mahmud), as well as an Urdu transcription.

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).

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).

From the name of the flower, which comes from a combination of Mary and the English word gold.

Polish form of Morana.

Diminutive of Maria. It coincides with the Italian word mia meaning "mine".

This name was common in Sweden and Denmark in the 1970s [1]. It rose in popularity in the English-speaking world in the 1990s, entering the top ten for girls in the United States in 2009. It was also popular in many other countries at that time. Famous bearers include American actress Mia Farrow (1945-) and American soccer player Mia Hamm (1972-), birth names Maria and Mariel respectively.

Irish form of Michael.

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.

Anglicized form of Irish Ó Móráin meaning "descendant of Mórán", a given name meaning "great, large".

From Middle English mos meaning "bog, moss".

Means "mill" in French.

Means "praised, commendable" in Arabic, derived from the root حمد (ḥamida) meaning "to praise". This was the name of the prophet who founded the Islamic religion in the 7th century. According to Islamic belief, at age 40 Muhammad was visited by the angel Gabriel, who provided him with the first verses of the Quran. Approximately 20 years later he conquered Mecca, the city of his birth, and his followers controlled most of the Arabian Peninsula at the time of his death in 632.

Since the prophet's time his name has been very popular in the Muslim world. It was borne by several Abbasid caliphs and six sultans of the Ottoman Empire (though their names are usually given in the Turkish spelling Mehmet). Other famous bearers include Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (9th century), a Persian mathematician and scientist who devised algebra, Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Rushd (1126-1198), an Andalusian scholar also called Averroes, and Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (1207-1273), a Persian poet. In the modern era there is Muhammad Ali Jinnah (1876-1948), the founder of Pakistan, and the American boxer Muhammad Ali (1942-2016).

Anglicized form of Irish Ó Murchadha meaning "descendant of Murchadh". This is the most common Irish surname.

Feminine form of Najm.

Means "oasis" in Hebrew.

Means "fire" in Quechua and Aymara.

Means "son of Nick". A famous bearer was the American president Richard Nixon (1913-1994).

Alternate transcription of Arabic نور (see Nur).

Means "light" in Swahili, ultimately from Arabic نور (nūr).

English: Topographic name, a plural variant of Oak.
Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Dubhdara ‘son of Dubhdara’, a personal name composed of the elements dubh ‘dark’ + dara(ch), genitive of dair ‘oak’, by translation of the main element of the Gaelic name.

Alternate transcription of Arabic عمر (see Umar). This is the usual English spelling of the name of the 12th-century poet Umar Khayyam. In his honour it has sometimes been used in the English-speaking world, notably for the American general Omar Bradley (1893-1981).

From the eponymous flowering plant. The plant's name derives from Latin orchis, borrowed from Ancient Greek ὄρχις (orkhis), meaning "testicle" (the name was given to the plant because of the testicle-shaped subterranean parts of some European orchids).

From an Irish surname, an Anglicized form of Irish Gaelic Ó Ruaidh, derived from the given name Ruadh.

Means "born at night" in Luo.

Means "butterfly" in Persian.

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.

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.

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.

From the name of a beautiful immortal bird that appears in Egyptian and Greek mythology. After living for several centuries in the Arabian Desert, it would be consumed by fire and rise from its own ashes, with this cycle repeating every 500 years. The name of the bird was derived from Greek φοῖνιξ (phoinix) meaning "dark red".

Derived from Sanskrit राजन् (rajan) meaning "king".

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).

Originally indicated a person who lived in a thickly wooded area, from Latin ramus meaning "branch".

Alternate transcription of Arabic رانية (see Raniya).

From the name of the bird, ultimately from Old English hræfn. The raven is revered by several Native American groups of the west coast. It is also associated with the Norse god Odin.

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).

Denoted a person who lived near a river, from Middle English, from Old French riviere meaning "river", from Latin riparius meaning "riverbank".

Means "dew" in Spanish. It is taken from the title of the Virgin Mary María del Rocío meaning "Mary of the Dew".

Breton and Anglicized form of Rónán.

Originally a Norman French form of the Germanic name Hrodohaidis meaning "famous type", composed of the elements hruod "fame" and heit "kind, sort, type". The Normans introduced it to England in the forms Roese and Rohese. From an early date it was associated with the word for the fragrant flower rose (derived from Latin rosa). When the name was revived in the 19th century, it was probably with the flower in mind.

Derived from Old French ros meaning "red", from Latin russus, a nickname for a red-haired person.

Anglicized form of Ó Riain, or else a simplified form of Mulryan.

Form of Sarah used in various languages.

Occupational name derived from Middle High German smit "smith, metalworker", a cognate of Smith.

Irish form of John, derived via the Old French form Jehan.

Means "honey" in Arabic.

Anglicized form of Séaghdha, sometimes used as a feminine name.

Welsh form of Jane.

French form of Sophia.

Anglicized form of the Irish name Ó Súileabháin meaning "descendant of Súileabhán". The name Súileabhán means "dark eye".

English (Yorkshire): nickname for someone with a blustery temperament, from Middle English, Old French tempest(e) ‘storm’ (Latin tempestas ‘weather’, ‘season’, a derivative of tempus ‘time’).

Afrikaans form of Tjaard.

From an English surname, either Wade 1 or Wade 2.

Occupational name meaning "weaver", from Old English webba, a derivative of wefan "to weave".

Means "albino" in Persian. According to the 10th-century Persian epic the Shahnameh this was the name of a white-haired warrior, the father of Rostam.

From an Old Slavic word meaning "winter". This may have been a nickname for a person with a chilly personality.