TammyS's Personal Name List
Abella
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (African, Rare), English (American, Rare)
Rating: 20% based on 3 votes
Abrionna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern, Rare)
Pronounced: Ah-bree-uh-nah
Rating: 35% based on 4 votes
Acacia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: ə-KAY-shə
Personal remark: Acacia Rose
Rating: 35% based on 30 votes
From the name of a type of tree, ultimately derived from Greek
ἀκή (ake) meaning "thorn, point".
Addison
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AD-i-sən
Rating: 60% based on 4 votes
From an English surname meaning
"son of Adam". Its recent popularity as a feminine name stems from its similarity in sound to
Madison.
Adrasteia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ἀδράστεια(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: A-DRAS-TEH-A(Classical Greek)
Rating: 26% based on 26 votes
Feminine form of
Adrastos. In Greek
mythology this name was borne by a nymph who fostered the infant
Zeus. This was also another name of the goddess
Nemesis.
Adria
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AY-dree-ə
Rating: 33% based on 27 votes
Aella
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ἄελλα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: A-EHL-LA(Classical Greek)
Rating: 31% based on 26 votes
Means
"whirlwind" in Greek. In Greek
myth this was the name of an Amazon warrior killed by
Herakles during his quest for Hippolyta's girdle.
Aeronwen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh (Rare)
Rating: 33% based on 26 votes
Combination of
Aeron and the Welsh element
gwen meaning "white, blessed".
Afton
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: AF-tən
Rating: 23% based on 3 votes
Transferred use of the surname
Afton. It is also the name of a river in Scotland, and it coincides with the Swedish noun
afton meaning "evening".
This name enjoyed a brief revival in the early 1980s, thanks to the character of Afton Cooper from the popular American television series Dallas (1978-1991).
Aggie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AG-ee
Rating: 20% based on 25 votes
Aglaia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology, Greek
Other Scripts: Ἀγλαΐα(Ancient Greek) Αγλαΐα(Greek)
Pronounced: ə-GLIE-ə(English)
Rating: 30% based on 3 votes
Means
"splendour, beauty" in Greek. In Greek
mythology she was one of the three Graces or
Χάριτες (Charites). This name was also borne by a 4th-century
saint from Rome.
Ailen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Mapuche
Rating: 26% based on 26 votes
Ailís
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: A-lyeesh
Rating: 32% based on 24 votes
Aina 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish
Pronounced: IE-nah(Finnish) IE-na(Swedish)
Rating: 38% based on 26 votes
Variant of
Aino. It also means "always" in Finnish.
Aislin
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish (Rare)
Pronounced: ASH-lyən
Rating: 47% based on 25 votes
Aithne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish (Rare)
Rating: 27% based on 23 votes
Akasha
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature, Indian
Other Scripts: आकाश(Hindi)
Pronounced: a-KAH-sha
Rating: 20% based on 3 votes
Means "ether (quintessence)" in Sanskrit and Hindi. Related to the masculine
Akash meaning "open sky". Used by Anne Rice in her Vampire Chronicles for the mother of all vampires, a pre-Egyptian queen.
Alaia 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Basque
Rating: 36% based on 23 votes
Means "joyful, happy" from Basque alai.
Alanis
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: ə-LAN-is
Rating: 31% based on 23 votes
Feminine form of
Alan. Canadian musician Alanis Morissette (1974-) was named after her father Alan. Her parents apparently decided to use this particular spelling after seeing this word in a Greek newspaper.
Alcyone
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ἀλκυόνη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: al-SIE-ə-nee(English)
Rating: 27% based on 21 votes
Latinized form of Greek
Ἀλκυόνη (Alkyone), derived from the word
ἀλκυών (alkyon) meaning
"kingfisher". In Greek
myth this name belonged to a daughter of Aeolus and the wife of Ceyx. After her husband was killed in a shipwreck she threw herself into the water, but the gods saved her and turned them both into kingfishers. This is also the name of the brightest of the Pleiades, a group of stars in the constellation Taurus, supposedly the daughters of
Atlas and
Pleione.
Alexa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German, Hungarian
Pronounced: ə-LEHK-sə(English) AW-lehk-saw(Hungarian)
Rating: 43% based on 23 votes
Alexiana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Late Roman, Dutch (Rare)
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
Alexina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: al-ik-SEE-nə
Rating: 30% based on 21 votes
Alexis
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, English, Greek, Spanish, Ancient Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Αλέξης(Greek) Ἄλεξις(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: A-LEHK-SEE(French) ə-LEHK-sis(English) a-LEHK-sees(Spanish)
Rating: 42% based on 27 votes
From the Greek name
Ἄλεξις (Alexis) meaning
"helper" or
"defender", derived from Greek
ἀλέξω (alexo) meaning "to defend, to help". This was the name of a 3rd-century BC Greek comic poet, and also of several
saints. It is used somewhat interchangeably with the related name
Ἀλέξιος or
Alexius, borne by five Byzantine emperors.
In the English-speaking world this name is more commonly given to girls. This is due to the American actress Alexis Smith (1921-1993), who began appearing in movies in the early 1940s. It got a boost in popularity in the 1980s from a character on the soap opera Dynasty.
Ali 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Urdu, Pashto, Indonesian, Malay, Avar, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Tajik, Dhivehi, Albanian, Bosnian
Other Scripts: عليّ(Arabic) علی(Persian, Urdu) علي(Pashto) ГӀали(Avar) Әли(Kazakh) Али(Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Russian) Алӣ(Tajik) ޢަލީ(Dhivehi)
Pronounced: ‘A-leey(Arabic) a-LEE(Persian, Turkish, Tajik Persian) A-lee(Indonesian, Malay) u-LYEE(Russian)
Rating: 48% based on 4 votes
Means
"lofty, sublime" in Arabic, from the root
علا (ʿalā) meaning "to be high". Ali ibn Abi Talib was a cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet
Muhammad and the fourth caliph to rule the Muslim world. His followers were the original Shia Muslims, who regard him as the first rightful caliph.
This name is borne by the hero in Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, the tale of a man who finds the treasure trove of a band of thieves. Another famous bearer was the boxer Muhammad Ali (1942-2016), who changed his name from Cassius Clay upon his conversion to Islam.
Alivia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: ə-LIV-ee-ə
Rating: 20% based on 3 votes
Alona
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hebrew
Other Scripts: אַלוֹנָה(Hebrew)
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
Alyssa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: ə-LIS-ə
Rating: 47% based on 23 votes
Variant of
Alicia. The spelling has probably been influenced by that of the alyssum flower, the name of which is derived from Greek
ἀ (a), a negative prefix, combined with
λύσσα (lyssa) meaning "madness, rabies", since it was believed to cure madness.
Alyssia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: ə-LIS-ee-ə
Rating: 34% based on 22 votes
Amaia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Basque
Rating: 37% based on 21 votes
Means "the end" in Basque. This is the name of a character in the historical novel Amaya, or the Basques in the 8th century (1879) by Francisco Navarro-Villoslada (Amaya in the Spanish original; Amaia in the Basque translation).
Amani
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic
Other Scripts: أماني(Arabic)
Pronounced: a-MA-nee
Rating: 33% based on 3 votes
Means
"wishes" in Arabic, related to the root
منا (manā) meaning "to tempt, to put to the test".
Amara
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Igbo
Rating: 53% based on 4 votes
Means "grace" in Igbo.
Amber
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Dutch
Pronounced: AM-bər(English) AHM-bər(Dutch)
Rating: 34% based on 24 votes
From the English word
amber that denotes either the gemstone, which is formed from fossil resin, or the orange-yellow colour. The word ultimately derives from Arabic
عنبر (ʿanbar) meaning "ambergris". It began to be used as a given name in the late 19th century, but it only became popular after the release of Kathleen Winsor's novel
Forever Amber (1944).
Amethyst
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: AM-ə-thist
Rating: 40% based on 23 votes
From the name of the purple semi-precious stone, which is derived from the Greek negative prefix
ἀ (a) and
μέθυστος (methystos) meaning "intoxicated, drunk", as it was believed to be a remedy against drunkenness. It is the traditional birthstone of February.
Amira 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic, Bosnian, Malay
Other Scripts: أميرة(Arabic)
Pronounced: a-MEE-ra(Arabic)
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
Anastasia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, English, Spanish, Italian, Georgian, Ancient Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Αναστασία(Greek) Анастасия(Russian) Анастасія(Ukrainian, Belarusian) ანასტასია(Georgian) Ἀναστασία(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: a-na-sta-SEE-a(Greek) u-nu-stu-SYEE-yə(Russian) u-nu-stu-SYEE-yu(Ukrainian) a-na-sta-SYEE-ya(Belarusian) an-ə-STAY-zhə(English) a-na-STA-sya(Spanish) a-na-STA-zya(Italian) A-NA-STA-SEE-A(Classical Greek)
Rating: 55% based on 2 votes
Feminine form of
Anastasius. This was the name of a 4th-century Dalmatian
saint who was martyred during the persecutions of the Roman emperor Diocletian. Due to her, the name has been common in Eastern Orthodox Christianity (in various spellings). As an English name it has been in use since the Middle Ages. A famous bearer was the youngest daughter of the last Russian tsar Nicholas II, who was rumoured to have escaped the execution of her family in 1918.
Andriana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek, Bulgarian
Other Scripts: Ανδριάνα(Greek) Андриана(Bulgarian)
Rating: 30% based on 21 votes
Andromeda
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ἀνδρομέδα, Ἀνδρομέδη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: AN-DRO-MEH-DA(Classical Greek) an-DRAH-mi-də(English)
Rating: 42% based on 20 votes
Derived from Greek
ἀνήρ (aner) meaning "man" (genitive
ἀνδρός) combined with one of the related words
μέδομαι (medomai) meaning "to be mindful of, to provide for, to think on" or
μέδω (medo) meaning "to protect, to rule over". In Greek
mythology Andromeda was an Ethiopian princess rescued from sacrifice by the hero
Perseus. A constellation in the northern sky is named for her. This is also the name of a nearby galaxy, given because it resides (from our point of view) within the constellation.
Anemone
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: ə-NEHM-ə-nee
Rating: 29% based on 22 votes
From the name of the anemone flower, which is derived from Greek
ἄνεμος (anemos) meaning "wind".
Angelica
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Romanian, Carolingian Cycle
Pronounced: an-JEHL-i-kə(English) an-JEH-lee-ka(Italian)
Rating: 53% based on 23 votes
Derived from Latin
angelicus meaning
"angelic", ultimately related to Greek
ἄγγελος (angelos) meaning "messenger". The poets Boiardo and Ariosto used this name in their
Orlando poems (1483 and 1532), where she is the love interest of both
Orlando and
Rinaldo. It has been used as a given name since the 18th century.
Aniston
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English (Modern)
Rating: 30% based on 2 votes
Transferred use of the surname
Aniston.
The first is that it is an obscure English locational surname, which is said to mean "town of Anis". Anis is a medieval English form of Agnes, which is also found spelled as Annice, Annise, Annis and Annys. Interestingly, there is no town in the modern-day United Kingdom that is called Aniston or a variant spelling thereof. It seems that over time, the original town must either have perished or been renamed. Perhaps we could even go so far as to say that such a town never existed in the first place, in that Aniston might have originated as a nickname for any town (with a different name) that had a church that was devoted to Saint Agnes.
The second possibility is that the surname is an anglicization of the Gaelic surname McAniston, which in turn is a variant spelling of McAnistan. The meaning of the surname as a whole is uncertain, but we can at least say that it is a patronymic surname, as Mc means "son of".
The third possibility is that the surname is a variant spelling of the rare English surname Aneston, which itself may be a variant form of the surname Haneston (also found spelled as Haniston, Heneston and Heniston). The meaning of these surnames is uncertain.
The fourth and final possibility is that the surname Aniston is an anglicization of Greek surnames starting with Anastas-, such as Anastasides. A famous example of this is the Greek-American actor John Aniston (b. 1933), who is best known for his role as Victor Kiriakis on the NBC daytime drama "Days of our Lives" (1965-present). His father anglicized the family's surname of Anastasakis to Aniston, sometime after the family had emigrated to the United States. The family's original surname meant "little Anastasius" in Greek. John Aniston's daughter Jennifer (b. 1969) went on to become an actress in her own right, her fame eventually surpassing that of her father's. Due to her iconic role as Rachel Green in the television sitcom "Friends" (1994-2004), her popularity became such that it can be argued that most parents naming their child Aniston were probably inspired (to do so) by her in one way or the other.
Finally, as a given name, Aniston can be a variant spelling of Anniston in some cases, which has an entirely different etymology.
Annabelle
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, French
Pronounced: AN-ə-behl(English)
Rating: 39% based on 24 votes
Variant of
Annabel. It can also be interpreted as a combination of
Anna and French
belle "beautiful".
Annabeth
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: AN-ə-beth
Rating: 40% based on 22 votes
Anwen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Rating: 46% based on 21 votes
Means
"very beautiful" in Welsh, from the intensive prefix
an- combined with
gwen "white, blessed".
Aphrodite
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ἀφροδίτη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: A-PRO-DEE-TEH(Classical Greek) af-rə-DIE-tee(English)
Rating: 27% based on 21 votes
Meaning unknown, possibly of Phoenician origin. Aphrodite was the Greek goddess of love and beauty, identified with the Roman goddess
Venus. She was the wife of
Hephaestus and the mother of
Eros, and she was often associated with the myrtle tree and doves. The Greeks connected her name with
ἀφρός (aphros) meaning
"foam", resulting in the story that she was born from the foam of the sea. Many of her characteristics are based on the goddess known as
Ashtoreth to the Phoenicians and
Ishtar to the Mesopotamian Semitic peoples, and on the Sumerian goddess
Inanna.
Arabella
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: ar-ə-BEHL-ə
Rating: 30% based on 2 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).
Ariadne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ἀριάδνη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: A-REE-AD-NEH(Classical Greek) ar-ee-AD-nee(English)
Rating: 53% based on 22 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.
Ariel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hebrew, English, French, Spanish, Polish, Biblical, Biblical Greek
Other Scripts: אֲרִיאֵל(Hebrew) Ἀριήλ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: a-ree-EHL(Hebrew) EHR-ee-əl(English) AR-ee-əl(English) A-RYEHL(French) a-RYEHL(Spanish) A-ryehl(Polish)
Personal remark: I like Arielle and Ariella
Rating: 45% based on 26 votes
Means
"lion of God" in Hebrew, from
אֲרִי (ʾari) meaning "lion" and
אֵל (ʾel) meaning "God". In the
Old Testament it is used as another name for the city of Jerusalem. Shakespeare utilized it for a spirit in his play
The Tempest (1611) and Alexander Pope utilized it for a sylph in his poem
The Rape of the Lock (1712), and one of the moons of Uranus bears this name in his honour. As an English name, it became more common for females in the 1980s, especially after it was used for the title character in the Disney film
The Little Mermaid (1989).
Arista
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Astronomy
Pronounced: ə-RIS-tə(English)
Rating: 60% based on 2 votes
Means "ear of grain" in Latin. This is the name of a star, also known as Spica, in the constellation Virgo.
Arwen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Rating: 57% based on 6 votes
Means
"noble maiden" in the fictional language Sindarin. In
The Lord of the Rings (1954) by J. R. R. Tolkien, Arwen was the daughter of
Elrond and the lover of
Aragorn.
Ashlyn
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: ASH-lin
Rating: 15% based on 2 votes
Combination of
Ashley and the popular name suffix
lyn.
Aspen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: AS-pən
Rating: 74% based on 5 votes
From the English word for a variety of deciduous trees in the genus Populus, derived from Old English æspe. It is also the name of a ski resort in Colorado.
Astra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: AS-trə
Rating: 32% based on 21 votes
Means
"star", ultimately from Greek
ἀστήρ (aster). This name has only been (rarely) used since the 20th century.
Astraea
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ἀστραία(Ancient Greek)
Rating: 30% based on 20 votes
Latinized form of the Greek
Ἀστραία (Astraia), derived from Greek
ἀστήρ (aster) meaning
"star". Astraea was a Greek goddess of justice and innocence. After wickedness took root in the world she left the earth and became the constellation Virgo.
Athanasia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek, Ancient Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Αθανασία(Greek) Ἀθανασία(Ancient Greek)
Rating: 26% based on 20 votes
Athena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology, English
Other Scripts: Ἀθηνᾶ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: A-TEH-NA(Classical Greek) ə-THEE-nə(English)
Rating: 60% based on 2 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.
Augusta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Portuguese, English, German, Ancient Roman
Pronounced: ow-GOOS-ta(Italian) ə-GUS-tə(English) ow-GUWS-ta(German)
Rating: 50% based on 19 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.
Aurelia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Roman, Romanian, Italian, Spanish, Polish
Pronounced: ow-REH-lee-a(Latin) ow-REH-lya(Italian, Spanish, Polish)
Rating: 47% based on 21 votes
Aureole
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: AWR-ee-ol
Rating: 23% based on 19 votes
From the English word meaning "radiant halo", ultimately derived from Latin aureolus "golden".
Aurora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, English, Romanian, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, Roman Mythology
Pronounced: ow-RAW-ra(Italian) ow-RO-ra(Spanish, Latin) ə-RAWR-ə(English) OW-ro-rah(Finnish)
Rating: 77% based on 3 votes
Means "dawn" in Latin. Aurora was the Roman goddess of the morning. It has occasionally been used as a given name since the Renaissance.
Avalon
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: AV-ə-lahn
Rating: 60% based on 3 votes
From the name of the island paradise to which King
Arthur was brought after his death. The name of this island is perhaps related to Welsh
afal meaning "apple", a fruit that was often linked with paradise.
Aviana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Sicilian
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Ayla 3
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature, English (Modern)
Pronounced: AY-lə(English)
Rating: 36% based on 20 votes
Created for the novel
Clan of the Cave Bear (1980) by author Jean M. Auel. In the novel Ayla is an orphaned Cro-Magnon girl adopted by Neanderthals.
Ayla is the Neanderthal pronunciation of her real name, which is not given.
This name entered the American popularity charts after the release of the movie adaptation of the novel in 1986. Its continuing popularity is likely due to the fact that it contains the trendy phonetic elements ay and la.
Aylen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Mapuche
Rating: 28% based on 18 votes
Azalea
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: ə-ZAY-lee-ə
Rating: 46% based on 20 votes
From the name of the flower (shrubs of the genus Rhododendron), ultimately derived from Greek
ἀζαλέος (azaleos) meaning "dry".
Azra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic, Turkish, Bosnian, Persian, Urdu
Other Scripts: عذراء(Arabic) عذرا(Persian, Urdu)
Pronounced: ‘adh-RA(Arabic)
Rating: 50% based on 2 votes
Means "virgin, maiden" in Arabic.
Azure
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: AZH-ər
Rating: 36% based on 19 votes
From the English word that means "sky blue". It is ultimately (via Old French, Latin and Arabic) from Persian
لاجورد (lājvard) meaning "azure, lapis lazuli".
Bambi
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: BAM-bee
Rating: 19% based on 21 votes
Derived from Italian bambina meaning "young girl". The American novelist Marjorie Benton Cooke used it in her novel Bambi (1914). This was also the name of a male deer in a cartoon by Walt Disney, which was based on a 1923 novel by Swiss author Felix Salten.
Bay
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: Medieval English, English
Pronounced: BAY(Middle English)
Rating: 50% based on 2 votes
From the Middle English personal name
Baye, from Old English
Beaga (masculine) or
Beage (feminine).
A diminutive of Baylee, or any name containing the element or sound -bay-.
May also be given in reference to the English word "bay," from the Middle English baye, from the Old English beġ 'berry', as in beġbēam 'berry-tree'.
Belén
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish
Pronounced: beh-LEHN
Rating: 36% based on 17 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".
Bella
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: BEHL-ə
Rating: 34% based on 20 votes
Short form of
Isabella and other names ending in
bella. It is also associated with the Italian word
bella meaning
"beautiful". It was used by the American author Stephenie Meyer for the main character in her popular
Twilight series of novels, first released 2005, later adapted into a series of movies beginning 2008.
Bellatrix
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Astronomy
Pronounced: bə-LAY-triks(English) BEHL-ə-triks(English)
Rating: 41% based on 20 votes
Means "female warrior" in Latin. This is the name of the star that marks the left shoulder of the constellation Orion.
Belle
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: BEHL
Rating: 53% based on 21 votes
Short form of
Isabella or names ending in
belle. It is also associated with the French word
belle meaning "beautiful". A famous bearer was Belle Starr (1848-1889), an outlaw of the American west, whose real given name was Maybelle.
Belphoebe
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Rating: 25% based on 17 votes
Combination of Old French
bele "beautiful" and the name
Phoebe. This name was first used by Edmund Spenser in his poem
The Faerie Queene (1590).
Bethel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Other Scripts: בֵּית־אֵל(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: BETH-əl
Rating: 27% based on 19 votes
From an
Old Testament place name meaning
"house of God" in Hebrew. This was a town north of Jerusalem, where
Jacob saw his vision of the stairway. It is occasionally used as a given name.
Bianca
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Romanian
Pronounced: BYANG-ka
Rating: 15% based on 2 votes
Italian
cognate of
Blanche. Shakespeare had characters named Bianca in
The Taming of the Shrew (1593) and
Othello (1603).
Blaise
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: BLEHZ
Rating: 51% based on 7 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).
Briar
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: BRIE-ər
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
From the English word for the thorny plant.
Brionna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: American (Modern)
Pronounced: bree-ON-uh
Rating: 25% based on 2 votes
Briseis
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Βρισηΐς(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: brie-SEE-is(English)
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
Patronymic derived from
Βρισεύς (Briseus), a Greek name of unknown meaning. In Greek
mythology Briseis (real name Hippodameia) was the daughter of Briseus. She was captured during the Trojan War by
Achilles. After
Agamemnon took her away from him, Achilles refused to fight in the war.
Bronwen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Pronounced: BRAWN-wehn
Rating: 63% based on 22 votes
Seemingly derived from Welsh
bron "breast" and
gwen "white, blessed", though it has sometimes occurred as a variant spelling of the legendary name
Branwen [1]. It has been used as a given name in Wales since the 19th century. It is borne by a character in Richard Llewellyn's 1939 novel
How Green Was My Valley, as well as the 1941 movie adaptation.
Brooklyn
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: BRUWK-lən
Rating: 30% based on 22 votes
From the name of a borough of New York City, originally named after the Dutch town of
Breukelen, itself meaning either "broken land" (from Dutch
breuk) or "marsh land" (from Dutch
broek). It can also be viewed as a combination of
Brook and the popular name suffix
lyn. It is considered a feminine name in the United States, but is more common as a masculine name in the United Kingdom.
Bryony
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: BRIE-ə-nee
Rating: 15% based on 2 votes
From the name of a type of Eurasian vine, formerly used as medicine. It ultimately derives from Greek
βρύω (bryo) meaning "to swell".
Callisto 2
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Καλλιστώ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: kə-LIS-to(English)
Rating: 31% based on 17 votes
Latinized form of
Kallisto. A moon of Jupiter bears this name.
Cambria
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Various (Rare)
Pronounced: KAM-bree-ə(English)
Rating: 15% based on 2 votes
Latin form of the Welsh Cymru, the Welsh name for the country of Wales, derived from cymry meaning "the people". It is occasionally used as a given name in modern times.
Caoimhe
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: KEE-vyə
Rating: 58% based on 21 votes
Derived from Irish caomh meaning "dear, beloved, gentle".
Carolina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, English, Swedish
Pronounced: ka-ro-LEE-na(Italian, Spanish) ka-roo-LEE-nu(European Portuguese) ka-ro-LEE-nu(Brazilian Portuguese) kar-ə-LIE-nə(English)
Rating: 64% based on 21 votes
Latinate feminine form of
Carolus. This is the name of two American states: North and South Carolina. They were named for Charles I, king of England.
Cassiopeia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Κασσιόπεια, Κασσιέπεια(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: kas-ee-ə-PEE-ə(English)
Rating: 34% based on 18 votes
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.
Celia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Spanish
Pronounced: SEEL-yə(English) SEE-lee-ə(English) THEHL-ya(European Spanish) SEHL-ya(Latin American Spanish)
Rating: 64% based on 19 votes
Feminine form of the Roman family name
Caelius. Shakespeare used it in his play
As You Like It (1599), which introduced the name to the English-speaking public at large. It is sometimes used as a short form of
Cecilia.
Charity
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: CHEHR-ə-tee, CHAR-ə-tee
Rating: 22% based on 20 votes
From the English word
charity, ultimately derived from Late Latin
caritas "generous love", from Latin
carus "dear, beloved".
Caritas was in use as a Roman Christian name. The English name
Charity came into use among the
Puritans after the
Protestant Reformation. It is currently most common in parts of English-influenced Africa.
Cherish
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: CHEHR-ish
Rating: 40% based on 4 votes
From the English word meaning "to treasure".
Chesney
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: CHEZ-nee
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
From the traditionally English and French topographic surname for someone who lived by or in an oak wood, from the Old French chesnai "oak grove", from chesne 'oak tree'.
Cinderella
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: sin-də-REHL-ə(English)
Rating: 18% based on 22 votes
Means "little ashes", in part from the French name Cendrillon. This is the main character in the folktale Cinderella about a maltreated young woman who eventually marries a prince. This old story is best known in the English-speaking world from the French author Charles Perrault's 1697 version. She has other names in other languages, usually with the meaning "ashes", such as German Aschenputtel and Italian Cenerentola.
Clear
Usage: English
Rating: 23% based on 4 votes
Cleopatra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Greek (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Κλεοπάτρα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: klee-o-PAT-rə(English)
Rating: 34% based on 20 votes
From the Greek name
Κλεοπάτρα (Kleopatra) meaning
"glory of the father", derived from
κλέος (kleos) meaning "glory" combined with
πατήρ (pater) meaning "father" (genitive
πατρός). This was the name of queens of Egypt from the Ptolemaic royal family, including Cleopatra VII, the mistress of both Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. After being defeated by Augustus she committed suicide (according to popular belief, by allowing herself to be bitten by a venomous asp). Shakespeare's tragedy
Antony and Cleopatra (1606) tells the story of her life.
Clover
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: KLO-vər
Rating: 73% based on 4 votes
From the English word for the wild flower, ultimately deriving from Old English clafre.
Cordelia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature, English
Pronounced: kawr-DEE-lee-ə(English) kawr-DEEL-yə(English)
Rating: 70% based on 23 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).
Cornelia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Romanian, Italian, Dutch, English, Ancient Roman
Pronounced: kawr-NEH-lya(German) kor-NEH-lya(Italian) kawr-NEH-lee-a(Dutch) kawr-NEE-lee-ə(English) kor-NEH-lee-a(Latin)
Rating: 59% based on 20 votes
Feminine form of
Cornelius. In the 2nd century BC it was borne by Cornelia Scipionis Africana (the daughter of the military hero Scipio Africanus), the mother of the two reformers known as the Gracchi. After her death she was regarded as an example of the ideal Roman woman. The name was revived in the 18th century.
Crimson
Usage: English
Rating: 53% based on 3 votes
Dahlia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: DAL-yə, DAHL-yə, DAYL-yə
Rating: 50% based on 20 votes
From the name of the flower, which was named for the Swedish botanist Anders Dahl.
Daisy
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: DAY-zee
Rating: 62% based on 21 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.
Dakota
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: də-KO-tə
Rating: 53% based on 3 votes
From the name of the Native American people of the northern Mississippi Valley, or from the two American states that were named for them: North and South Dakota (until 1889 unified as the Dakota Territory). The tribal name means
"allies, friends" in the Dakota language.
It was rare as an American given name before 1975. In the mid-1980s it began growing in popularity for boys after a character by this name began appearing on the soap opera Ryan's Hope. It is now more common as a feminine name, probably due to the fame of the actress Dakota Fanning (1994-).
Danika
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Daphna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hebrew
Rating: 63% based on 3 votes
Variant transcription of
Dafna.
Dareia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek (Rare)
Other Scripts: Δαρεία(Greek)
Rating: 22% based on 16 votes
Dayanara
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish (Latin American), American (Hispanic)
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
Possibly an elaboration of
Dayana or a variant of
Deyanira. This is borne by Dayanara Torres (1974-), a Puerto Rican actress, singer, model, writer and former Miss Universe.
Delaney
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: di-LAYN-ee
Rating: 40% based on 3 votes
Desideria
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian (Rare), Spanish (Rare), Late Roman
Pronounced: deh-zee-DEH-rya(Italian) deh-see-DHEH-rya(Spanish)
Rating: 26% based on 16 votes
Feminine form of
Desiderio. This was the Latin name of a 19th-century queen of Sweden, the wife of Karl XIV. She was born in France with the name
Désirée.
Desta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Amharic
Other Scripts: ደስታ(Amharic)
Rating: 24% based on 17 votes
Means "joy" in Amharic.
Diamond
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare), African American (Modern)
Pronounced: DIE-mənd(English)
Rating: 29% based on 19 votes
From the English word diamond for the clear colourless precious stone, the traditional birthstone of April. It is derived from Late Latin diamas, from Latin adamas, which is of Greek origin meaning "unconquerable, unbreakable".
Divine
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English (Rare), Filipino
Pronounced: di-VIEN(English)
Rating: 50% based on 3 votes
This name is derived from the word of the name meaning "eternal, heavenly, holy, godlike" (from Old French devin, which, in turn, derives from Latin divinus meaning "of a God").
Drusilla
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical, Ancient Roman, Biblical Latin
Pronounced: droo-SIL-ə(English)
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
Echo
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ἠχώ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: EH-ko(English)
Rating: 67% based on 3 votes
From the Greek word
ἠχώ (echo) meaning
"echo, reflected sound", related to
ἠχή (eche) meaning "sound". In Greek
mythology Echo was a nymph given a speech impediment by
Hera, so that she could only repeat what others said. She fell in love with
Narcissus, but her love was not returned, and she pined away until nothing remained of her except her voice.
Eirian
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: Welsh
Rating: 40% based on 16 votes
Means
"bright, beautiful" in Welsh
[1].
Eirwen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Rating: 44% based on 16 votes
Means
"white snow" from the Welsh elements
eira "snow" and
gwen "white, blessed". This name was created in the early 20th century.
Elektra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ἠλέκτρα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: EH-LEHK-TRA(Classical Greek)
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
Eliana 2
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hebrew
Other Scripts: אֶלִיעַנָה(Hebrew)
Rating: 39% based on 17 votes
Means "my God has answered" in Hebrew.
Elissa 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Roman Mythology
Rating: 46% based on 19 votes
Meaning unknown, possibly Phoenician in origin. This is another name of
Dido, the legendary queen of Carthage.
Elizabeth
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Biblical
Pronounced: i-LIZ-ə-bəth(English)
Rating: 77% based on 22 votes
From
Ἐλισάβετ (Elisabet), the Greek form of the Hebrew name
אֱלִישֶׁבַע (ʾElishevaʿ) meaning
"my God is an oath", derived from the roots
אֵל (ʾel) referring to the Hebrew God and
שָׁבַע (shavaʿ) meaning "oath". The Hebrew form appears in the
Old Testament where Elisheba is the wife of
Aaron, while the Greek form appears in the
New Testament where Elizabeth is the mother of
John the Baptist.
Among Christians, this name was originally more common in Eastern Europe. It was borne in the 12th century by Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, a daughter of King Andrew II who used her wealth to help the poor. In medieval England it was occasionally used in honour of the saint, though the form Isabel (from Occitan and Spanish) was more common. It has been very popular in England since the reign of Queen Elizabeth I in the 16th century. In American name statistics (as recorded since 1880) it has never ranked lower than 30, making it the most consistently popular name for girls in the United States.
Besides Elizabeth I, this name has been borne (in various spellings) by many other European royals, including a ruling empress of Russia in the 18th century. Famous modern bearers include the British queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022) and actress Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011).
Emerald
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: EHM-ə-rəld
Rating: 33% based on 20 votes
From the word for the green precious stone, which is the traditional birthstone of May. The emerald supposedly imparts love to the bearer. The word is ultimately from Greek
σμάραγδος (smaragdos).
Enya
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: EHN-yə(English)
Rating: 40% based on 2 votes
Éowyn
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: AY-ə-win(English)
Rating: 51% based on 18 votes
Means "horse joy" in Old English. This name was invented by J. R. R. Tolkien who used Old English to represent the Rohirric language. In his novel The Lord of the Rings (1954) Eowyn is the niece of King Theoden of Rohan. She slays the Lord of the Nazgul in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.
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: 38% based on 18 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.
Eternity
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern, Rare)
Rating: 40% based on 2 votes
From the English word eternity meaning "existence without end; infinite time", ultimately from Latin aeternitas. Use of the name has been influenced by the brand of perfume called Eternity, which was introduced by Calvin Klein in 1988.
Euri
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Basque (Rare)
Rating: 20% based on 16 votes
Means "rain" in Basque.
Evangeline
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: i-VAN-jə-leen, i-VAN-jə-lien
Rating: 62% based on 20 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.
Evelina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Swedish, Lithuanian, Greek, Russian, Bulgarian
Other Scripts: Εβελίνα(Greek) Эвелина(Russian) Евелина(Bulgarian)
Pronounced: ehv-ə-LEE-nə(English) eh-veh-LEE-na(Italian, Swedish)
Rating: 48% based on 18 votes
Latinate form of
Aveline. It was revived by the author Fanny Burney for the heroine of her first novel
Evelina (1778). It is often regarded as a variant of the related name
Evelyn or an elaboration of
Eve.
Ever
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: EHV-ər
Rating: 50% based on 3 votes
Simply from the English word ever, derived from Old English æfre.
Fable
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: FAY-bel
Rating: 47% based on 6 votes
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".
Faina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian
Other Scripts: Фаина(Russian)
Pronounced: fu-EE-nə
Rating: 32% based on 18 votes
Meaning unknown, possibly derived from
Phaenna.
Fallon
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
From an Irish surname that was an Anglicized form of the Irish Gaelic Ó Fallamháin, itself derived from the given name Fallamhán meaning "leader". It was popularized in the 1980s by a character on the soap opera Dynasty.
Farah
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Malay
Other Scripts: فرح(Arabic, Persian, Urdu)
Pronounced: FA-rah(Arabic)
Rating: 30% based on 2 votes
Means
"joy, happiness" in Arabic, from the root
فرح (fariḥa) meaning "to be happy".
Felicity
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: fə-LIS-i-tee
Rating: 51% based on 19 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.
Felina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Late Roman
Rating: 33% based on 16 votes
Fiona
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Scottish, English
Pronounced: fee-O-nə(English)
Rating: 63% based on 19 votes
Feminine form of
Fionn. This name was (first?) used by the Scottish poet James Macpherson in his poem
Fingal (1761), in which it is spelled as
Fióna.
Fleur
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, Dutch, English (British)
Pronounced: FLUUR(French, Dutch) FLU(British English) FLUR(American English)
Rating: 53% based on 17 votes
Means
"flower" in French.
Saint Fleur of Issendolus (
Flor in Gascon) was a 14th-century nun from Maurs, France. This was also the name of a character in John Galsworthy's novels
The Forsyte Saga (1922).
Fraya
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Danish (Rare)
Rating: 40% based on 2 votes
Freya
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Norse Mythology, English (Modern), German
Pronounced: FRAY-ə(English) FRAY-a(German)
Rating: 66% based on 5 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.
Gaia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology, Italian
Other Scripts: Γαῖα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: GIE-A(Classical Greek) GIE-ə(English) GAY-ə(English) GA-ya(Italian)
Rating: 31% based on 16 votes
From the Greek word
γαῖα (gaia), a parallel form of
γῆ (ge) meaning
"earth". In Greek
mythology Gaia was the mother goddess who presided over the earth. She was the mate of
Uranus and the mother of the Titans and the Cyclopes.
Gaiana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Greek (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Γαϊανή(Ancient Greek)
Rating: 24% based on 16 votes
Latinized form of the Greek name
Γαϊανή (Gaiane), a derivative of
Gaia. This was the name of a (perhaps fictional) martyr who was killed in Armenia during the persecutions of Emperor Diocletian in the late 3rd century.
Galadriel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: gə-LAD-ree-əl(English)
Rating: 65% based on 2 votes
Means "maiden crowned with a radiant garland" in the fictional language Sindarin. Galadriel was a Noldorin elf princess renowned for her beauty and wisdom in J. R. R. Tolkien's novels. The elements are galad "radiant" and riel "garlanded maiden". Alatáriel is the Quenya form of her name.
Garnet 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: GAHR-nət
Rating: 44% based on 18 votes
From the English word garnet for the precious stone, the birthstone of January. The word is derived from Middle English gernet meaning "dark red".
Genesis
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: JEHN-ə-sis
Rating: 67% based on 3 votes
Means
"birth, origin" in Greek. This is the name of the first book of the
Old Testament in the Bible. It tells of the creation of the world, the expulsion of
Adam and
Eve,
Noah and the great flood, and the three patriarchs.
Giselle
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, English (Modern)
Pronounced: ZHEE-ZEHL(French) ji-ZEHL(English)
Rating: 55% based on 19 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.
Guinevere
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arthurian Cycle
Pronounced: GWIN-ə-vir(English)
Rating: 45% based on 2 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.
Gwendolen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Pronounced: GWEHN-də-lin(English)
Rating: 68% based on 21 votes
Possibly means
"white ring", derived from Welsh
gwen meaning "white, blessed" and
dolen meaning "ring, loop". This name appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's 12th-century chronicles, written in the Latin form
Guendoloena, where it belongs to an ancient queen of the Britons who defeats her ex-husband in battle
[1]. Geoffrey later used it in
Vita Merlini for the wife of the prophet
Merlin [2]. An alternate theory claims that the name arose from a misreading of the masculine name
Guendoleu by Geoffrey
[3].
This name was not regularly given to people until the 19th century [4][3]. It was used by George Eliot for a character in her novel Daniel Deronda (1876).
Gwyneira
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Pronounced: gwi-NAY-ra
Rating: 35% based on 17 votes
Means
"white snow" from the Welsh element
gwyn meaning "white, blessed" combined with
eira meaning "snow". This is a recently created Welsh name.
Gypsy
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: JIP-see
Rating: 25% based on 2 votes
Simply from the English word Gypsy for the nomadic people who originated in northern India. The word was originally a corruption of Egyptian. As an ethnic term it is sometimes considered offensive.
Hala
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic
Other Scripts: هالة(Arabic)
Pronounced: HA-la
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
Means
"halo around the moon" in Arabic. This was the name of a sister-in-law of the Prophet
Muhammad.
Halona
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hawaiian
Pronounced: Hah-LOH-nah
Rating: 46% based on 5 votes
Means "peering; place from which to peer, place to peer at, lookout" in Hawaiian.
Harmony
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: HAHR-mə-nee
Rating: 45% based on 2 votes
From the English word
harmony, ultimately deriving from Greek
ἁρμονία (harmonia).
Harper
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: HAHR-pər
Rating: 30% based on 19 votes
From an English surname that originally belonged to a person who played or made harps (Old English hearpe). A notable bearer was the American author Harper Lee (1926-2016), who wrote To Kill a Mockingbird. It rapidly gained popularity in the 2000s and 2010s, entering the American top ten for girls in 2015.
Haven
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: HAY-vən
Rating: 30% based on 2 votes
From the English word for a safe place, derived ultimately from Old English hæfen.
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 3 votes
Latinate form of
Helen. This is the name of the heroine of William Shakespeare's play
All's Well That Ends Well (1603).
Hera
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ἥρα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: HEH-RA(Classical Greek) HEHR-ə(English) HEE-rə(English)
Rating: 34% based on 18 votes
Uncertain meaning, possibly from Greek
ἥρως (heros) meaning
"hero, warrior";
ὥρα (hora) meaning
"period of time"; or
αἱρέω (haireo) meaning
"to be chosen". In Greek
mythology Hera was the queen of the gods, the sister and wife of
Zeus. She presided over marriage and childbirth.
Honor
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: AHN-ər
Rating: 50% based on 2 votes
Variant of
Honour, using the American spelling.
Horizon
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Rating: 45% based on 2 votes
Late Middle English via Old French from late Latin horizon, from Greek horizōn (kuklos) ‘limiting (circle)’.
Inara
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Portuguese (Brazilian), Popular Culture
Rating: 53% based on 3 votes
The name of a leading female character from the TV show
Firefly and
Serenity movie created by Joss Whedon.
It is sometimes claimed to be a feminine form of the Basque masculine name Inar, with the meaning "ray of light", or a feminine name of Arabic origin with the meaning "heaven sent". Both of these origins, however, seem suspicious at best.
Indah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Indonesian
Pronounced: EEN-dah
Rating: 23% based on 16 votes
Means "beautiful" in Indonesian.
India
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Spanish (Modern)
Pronounced: IN-dee-ə(English) EEN-dya(Spanish)
Rating: 40% 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.
Indiana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: in-dee-AN-ə
Rating: 25% based on 19 votes
From the name of the American state, which means "land of the Indians". This is the name of the hero in the Indiana Jones series of movies, starring Harrison Ford.
Indigo
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: IN-di-go
Rating: 84% based on 5 votes
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".
Ingrid
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Estonian, German, Dutch
Pronounced: ING-rid(Swedish) ING-ri(Norwegian) ING-grit(German) ING-greet(German) ING-ghrit(Dutch)
Rating: 41% based on 18 votes
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).
Ione
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology, English
Other Scripts: Ἰόνη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: ie-O-nee(English)
Rating: 34% based on 18 votes
From Ancient Greek
ἴον (ion) meaning
"violet flower". This was the name of a sea nymph in Greek
mythology. It has been used as a given name in the English-speaking world since the 19th century, though perhaps based on the Greek place name
Ionia, a region on the west coast of Asia Minor.
Iphigeneia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ἰφιγένεια(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: EE-PEE-GEH-NEH-A(Classical Greek)
Rating: 21% based on 18 votes
Derived from Greek
ἴφιος (iphios) meaning "strong, stout" and
γενής (genes) meaning "born". In Greek
myth Iphigenia was the daughter of King
Agamemnon. When her father offended
Artemis it was divined that the only way to appease the goddess was to sacrifice Iphigenia. Just as Agamemnon was about to sacrifice his daughter she was magically transported to the city of Taurus.
In Christian tradition this was also the name of a legendary early saint, the daughter of an Ethiopian king Egippus.
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: 62% based on 20 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.
Isabella
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, German, English, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Dutch, Romanian
Pronounced: ee-za-BEHL-la(Italian) ee-za-BEH-la(German, Dutch) iz-ə-BEHL-ə(English) is-a-BEHL-la(Swedish) EE-sah-behl-lah(Finnish)
Rating: 45% based on 21 votes
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-).
Isadora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Portuguese
Pronounced: iz-ə-DAWR-ə(English)
Rating: 45% based on 2 votes
Variant of
Isidora. A famous bearer was the American dancer Isadora Duncan (1877-1927).
Isis
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Egyptian Mythology (Hellenized)
Other Scripts: Ἶσις(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: IE-sis(English)
Rating: 30% based on 3 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.
Isra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic
Other Scripts: إسراء(Arabic)
Pronounced: ees-RA
Rating: 50% based on 2 votes
Means
"nocturnal journey" in Arabic, derived from
سرى (sarā) meaning "to travel by night". According to Islamic tradition, the
Isra was a miraculous journey undertaken by the Prophet
Muhammad.
Ivory
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: African American
Pronounced: IE-və-ree(English) IEV-ree(English)
Rating: 60% based on 3 votes
From the English word for the hard, creamy-white substance that comes from elephant tusks and was formerly used to produce piano keys.
Ivy
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: IE-vee
Rating: 52% based on 21 votes
From the English word for the climbing plant that has small yellow flowers. It is ultimately derived from Old English ifig.
Izabella
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hungarian, Polish
Pronounced: EE-zaw-behl-law(Hungarian) ee-za-BEHL-la(Polish)
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Jade
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English, French
Pronounced: JAYD(English) ZHAD(French)
Rating: 44% based on 21 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.
Jaida
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: JAY-də
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Jalen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: African American (Modern)
Pronounced: JAY-lən(English)
Personal remark: I like Jaylen
Rating: 16% based on 19 votes
An invented name. In America it was popularized in the 1990s by basketball player Jalen Rose (1973-), whose name was a combination of those of his father
James and maternal uncle
Leonard [1].
Janae
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: jə-NAY
Rating: 25% based on 17 votes
Janara
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Brazilian
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
Jannah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: JAN-ə
Rating: 22% based on 18 votes
Janoah
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Dutch (Modern, Rare)
Other Scripts: תנוח(Hebrew)
Pronounced: ya-no-a
Rating: 25% based on 2 votes
From jano'hah meaning "rest" or ja-no'-a (yanoach) meaning "resting place". It is mentioned in the Bible as a town north-east of Ephraim in the Jordan valley, sometimes identified with the present day city Yanun in Palestine.
Jasmine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, French
Pronounced: JAZ-min(English) ZHAS-MEEN(French)
Rating: 44% based on 20 votes
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.
Jazlyn
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: JAZ-lin
Rating: 13% based on 3 votes
Combination of the popular phonetic elements
jaz and
lyn.
Jenna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Finnish, French
Pronounced: JEHN-ə(English) YEHN-nah(Finnish)
Rating: 33% based on 18 votes
Variant of
Jenny. Use of the name was popularized in the 1980s by the character Jenna Wade on the television series
Dallas [1].
Jericho
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Modern)
Other Scripts: יְרִיחוֹ(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: JEHR-i-ko
Rating: 25% based on 2 votes
From the name of a city in Israel that is mentioned several times in the
Old Testament. The meaning of the city's name is uncertain, but it may be related to the Hebrew word
יָרֵחַ (yareaḥ) meaning "moon"
[1], or otherwise to the Hebrew word
רֵיחַ (reyaḥ) meaning "fragrance"
[2].
Jerika
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Frisian, Finnish (Modern, Rare)
Rating: 30% based on 2 votes
Jessa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: JEHS-ə
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Jessalyn
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: JEHS-ə-lin
Rating: 21% based on 18 votes
Combination of
Jessie 1 and the popular name suffix
lyn.
Jewel
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: JOO-əl, JOOL
Rating: 60% based on 3 votes
In part from the English word
jewel, a precious stone, derived from Old French
jouel, which was possibly related to
jeu "game". It is also in part from the surname
Jewel or
Jewell (a derivative of the Breton name
Judicaël), which was sometimes used in honour of the 16th-century bishop of Salisbury John Jewel. It has been in use as a given name since the 19th century.
Jezebel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: אִיזֶבֶל(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: JEHZ-ə-behl(English)
Rating: 32% based on 20 votes
From Hebrew
אִיזֶבֶל (ʾIzevel), probably from a Phoenician name, possibly containing the Semitic root
zbl meaning
"to exalt, to dwell". According to one theory it might be an altered form of the Phoenician name
𐤁𐤏𐤋𐤀𐤆𐤁𐤋 (Baʿlʾizbel) meaning "Ba'al exalts" with the first element removed or replaced
[1].
According to the Old Testament Jezebel was the Phoenician wife of Ahab, a king of Israel. She is portrayed as an evil figure because she encouraged the worship of the god Ba'al. After she was thrown from a window to her death her body was eaten by dogs, fulfilling Elijah's prophecy.
Joanie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: JO-nee
Rating: 33% based on 18 votes
Johna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: JAHN-ə
Rating: 21% based on 19 votes
Jolie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: JO-lee(English) ZHAW-LEE(French)
Rating: 28% based on 20 votes
Means "pretty" in French. This name was popularized by American actress Angelina Jolie (1975-), whose surname was originally her middle name. It is not used as a given name in France.
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: 30% based on 2 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-).
Jordyn
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: JAWR-dən(American English) JAW-dən(British English)
Rating: 30% based on 2 votes
Josie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: JO-zee
Rating: 30% based on 2 votes
Juliana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Dutch, German, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Slovak, Ancient Roman
Pronounced: yuy-lee-A-na(Dutch) yoo-lee-A-na(German) joo-lee-AN-ə(English) joo-lee-AHN-ə(English) khoo-LYA-na(Spanish) YOO-lee-a-na(Slovak)
Rating: 56% based on 20 votes
Feminine form of
Iulianus (see
Julian). This was the name of a 4th-century
saint and martyr from Nicomedia, and also of the Blessed Juliana of Norwich, also called Julian, a 14th-century mystic and author. The name was also borne by a 20th-century queen of the Netherlands. In England, this form has been in use since the 18th century, alongside the older form
Gillian.
Juno
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Roman Mythology
Pronounced: YOO-no(Latin) JOO-no(English)
Rating: 31% based on 17 votes
Meaning unknown, possibly related to an Indo-European root meaning
"young", or possibly of Etruscan origin. In Roman
mythology Juno was the wife of
Jupiter and the queen of the heavens. She was the protectress of marriage and women, and was also the goddess of finance.
Kaida
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Estonian (Rare)
Rating: 30% based on 3 votes
Kalani
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hawaiian
Pronounced: ka-LA-nee
Rating: 28% based on 16 votes
Means "the heavens" from Hawaiian ka "the" and lani "heaven, sky, royal, majesty".
Kalea
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hawaiian
Pronounced: ka-LEH-a
Rating: 24% based on 16 votes
Means "joy, happiness" in Hawaiian.
Kalina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Bulgarian, Macedonian, Polish
Other Scripts: Калина(Bulgarian, Macedonian)
Pronounced: ka-LEE-na(Polish)
Rating: 35% based on 17 votes
Means "viburnum tree" in Bulgarian, Macedonian and Polish.
Kalista
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Polish, Croatian, Russian (Rare)
Rating: 45% based on 2 votes
Polish, Russian and Croatian form of
Calista.
Kalliope
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Καλλιόπη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: KAL-LEE-O-PEH(Classical Greek)
Rating: 30% based on 17 votes
Means
"beautiful voice" from Greek
κάλλος (kallos) meaning "beauty" and
ὄψ (ops) meaning "voice". In Greek
mythology she was a goddess of epic poetry and eloquence, one of the nine Muses.
Kallisto
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology, Ancient Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Καλλιστώ(Ancient Greek)
Rating: 25% based on 16 votes
Derived from Greek
κάλλιστος (kallistos) meaning
"most beautiful", a derivative of
καλός (kalos) meaning "beautiful". In Greek
mythology Kallisto was a nymph who was loved by
Zeus. She was changed into a she-bear by
Hera, and subsequently became the Great Bear constellation. This was also an ancient Greek personal name.
Kara 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KAHR-ə, KEHR-ə, KAR-ə
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Kari 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Norwegian
Rating: 15% based on 2 votes
Karisma
Gender: Feminine
Usage: African American
Pronounced: ka-riz-mah
Rating: 13% based on 3 votes
Karla
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Czech, Croatian, English
Pronounced: KAR-la(German, Czech) KAHR-lə(English)
Rating: 10% based on 3 votes
Kassidy
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: KAS-i-dee
Rating: 20% based on 5 votes
Katina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek, Macedonian, Bulgarian
Other Scripts: Κατίνα(Greek) Катина(Macedonian, Bulgarian)
Rating: 35% based on 16 votes
Greek contracted form of
Katerina. This name had a spike in popularity in America in 1972 when it was used for a newborn baby on the soap opera
Where the Heart Is.
Keeley
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: KEE-lee
Rating: 32% based on 18 votes
Keira
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: KEER-ə
Rating: 33% based on 16 votes
Variant of
Ciara 1. This spelling was popularized by British actress Keira Knightley (1985-).
Kelsea
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: KEHL-see
Rating: 15% based on 2 votes
Kendall
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KEHN-dəl
Rating: 63% 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.
Kenna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Scottish
Rating: 55% based on 2 votes
Kennedy
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Irish
Pronounced: KEHN-ə-dee(English)
Rating: 21% based on 19 votes
From an Irish surname, an Anglicized form of Irish Gaelic
Ó Cinnéidigh, itself derived from the given name
Cennétig. The name has sometimes been given in honour of assassinated American president John F. Kennedy (1917-1963). It was popularized as a name for girls by Lisa Kennedy Montgomery (1972-), known simply as Kennedy, the host of the television program
Alternative Nation on MTV from 1992 to 1997.
Kenya
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, African American
Pronounced: KEHN-yə(English)
Rating: 15% based on 18 votes
From the name of the African country. The country is named for Mount Kenya, which in the Kikuyu language is called Kĩrĩnyaga meaning "the one having stripes". It has been used as a given name in the English-speaking world since the 1960s.
Kenzie
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KEHN-zee
Rating: 17% based on 3 votes
Kiana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Persian
Other Scripts: کیانا(Persian)
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Persian name, possibly meaning "elements of earth". It may be a feminine form of
Kian 1.
Kinsleigh
Gender: Feminine
Usage: American (Modern, Rare)
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Kora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German (Rare)
Pronounced: KO-ra
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
Kristianna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: kris-tee-AN-ə, kris-tee-AH-nə
Rating: 25% based on 2 votes
Kylie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KIE-lee
Rating: 45% based on 2 votes
This name arose in Australia, where it is said to mean "boomerang" in the Australian Aboriginal language Nyungar. An early bearer was the author Kylie Tennant (1912-1988). It was among the most popular names in Australia in the 1970s and early 80s. It can also be considered a feminine form of
Kyle, or a combination of the popular sounds
ky and
lee, and it is likely in those capacities that it began to be used in America in the late 1970s. A famous bearer is the Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue (1968-).
Laci 2
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: LAY-see
Rating: 30% based on 2 votes
Variant of
Lacy. This name jumped in popularity in 2003 after the media coverage of the murder of Laci Peterson (1975-2002)
[1].
Laelia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Roman
Pronounced: LIE-lee-a
Rating: 23% based on 16 votes
Feminine form of Laelius, a Roman family name of unknown meaning. This is also the name of a type of flower, an orchid found in Mexico and Central America.
Lainey
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: LAY-nee
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Laken
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English (American, Modern, Rare)
Pronounced: LAY-kən(American English)
Rating: 30% based on 2 votes
Elaboration of
Lake. It became popular after a character named Laken Lockridge was introduced in the American soap opera
Santa Barbara in 1984.
Lakin
Usage: English
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Larissa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German, Portuguese (Brazilian), Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Λάρισα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: lə-RIS-ə(English) la-RI-sa(German)
Rating: 40% based on 2 votes
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.
Lark
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: LAHRK
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
From the English word for the type of songbird.
Laurel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: LAWR-əl
Rating: 55% based on 2 votes
From the name of the laurel tree, ultimately from Latin laurus.
Lavender
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: LAV-ən-dər
Rating: 56% based on 20 votes
From the English word for the aromatic flower or the pale purple colour.
Layla
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic, English
Other Scripts: ليلى(Arabic)
Pronounced: LIE-la(Arabic) LAY-lə(English)
Rating: 50% based on 2 votes
Means
"night" in Arabic. Layla was the love interest of the poet
Qays (called Majnun) in an old Arab tale, notably retold by the 12th-century Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi in his poem
Layla and Majnun. This story was a popular romance in medieval Arabia and Persia. The name became used in the English-speaking world after the 1970 release of the song
Layla by Derek and the Dominos, the title of which was inspired by the medieval story.
Líadan
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish (Rare)
Pronounced: LYEE-dən
Rating: 47% based on 17 votes
Possibly from Old Irish
líath meaning
"grey". According to an Irish tale this was the name of a poet who became a nun, but then missed her lover Cuirithir so much that she died of grief. The name was also borne by a 5th-century
saint, the mother of Saint Ciarán the Elder.
Liberty
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: LIB-ər-tee
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
Simply from the English word
liberty, derived from Latin
libertas, a derivative of
liber "free". Interestingly, since 1880 this name has charted on the American popularity lists in three different periods: in 1918 (at the end of World War I), in 1976 (the American bicentennial), and after 2001 (during the War on Terrorism)
[1].
Lilac
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: LIE-lək
Rating: 51% based on 19 votes
From the English word for the shrub with purple or white flowers (genus Syringa). It is derived via Arabic from Persian.
Lilith
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Semitic Mythology, Judeo-Christian-Islamic Legend
Other Scripts: לילית(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: LIL-ith(English)
Rating: 78% based on 4 votes
Derived from Akkadian
lilitu meaning
"of the night". This was the name of a demon in ancient Assyrian myths. In Jewish tradition she was
Adam's first wife, sent out of Eden and replaced by
Eve because she would not submit to him. The offspring of Adam (or
Samael) and Lilith were the evil spirits of the world.
Lily
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: LIL-ee
Rating: 71% based on 20 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-).
Linnaea
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: li-NAY-ə, li-NEE-ə
Rating: 38% based on 16 votes
From the word for the type of flower, also called the twinflower (see
Linnéa).
Livia 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Romanian, German, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Ancient Roman
Pronounced: LEE-vya(Italian)
Rating: 48% based on 17 votes
Feminine form of
Livius. This was the name of the wife of the Roman emperor Augustus, Livia Drusilla.
Lona
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, German (Austrian)
Rating: 50% based on 2 votes
Lucasta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Rating: 38% based on 16 votes
This name was first used by the poet Richard Lovelace for a collection of poems called Lucasta (1649). The poems were dedicated to Lucasta, a nickname for the woman he loved Lucy Sacheverel, whom he called lux casta "pure light".
Lucina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Roman Mythology
Pronounced: loo-KEE-na(Latin) loo-SIE-nə(English) loo-SEE-nə(English)
Rating: 37% based on 16 votes
Derived from Latin lucus meaning "grove", but later associated with lux meaning "light". This was the name of a Roman goddess of childbirth.
Luna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Roman Mythology, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, English
Pronounced: LOO-na(Latin, Spanish, Italian) LOO-nə(English)
Rating: 85% 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.
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: 70% based on 3 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.
Lyra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Astronomy
Pronounced: LIE-rə(English)
Rating: 60% based on 2 votes
The name of the constellation in the northern sky containing the star Vega. It is said to be shaped after the lyre of Orpheus. This is the name of the main character in the His Dark Materials series of books by Philip Pullman (beginning 1995).
Lyrik
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: American (Rare)
Rating: 10% based on 2 votes
Mackenzie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: mə-KEHN-zee
Rating: 24% based on 18 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.
Madara
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Latvian
Rating: 18% based on 15 votes
From the Latvian name for a type of flowering plant, known as cleavers or bedstraw in English.
Madison
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MAD-i-sən
Rating: 28% based on 17 votes
From an English surname meaning
"son of Maud". It was not commonly used as a feminine name until after the movie
Splash (1984), in which the main character adopted it as her name after seeing a street sign for Madison Avenue in New York City. It was ranked second for girls in the United States by 2001. This rise from obscurity to prominence in only 18 years represents an unprecedented 550,000 percent increase in usage.
A famous bearer of the surname was James Madison (1751-1836), one of the authors of the American constitution who later served as president (and after whom Madison Avenue was named).
Maeve
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish, English, Irish Mythology
Pronounced: MAYV(English)
Rating: 46% based on 17 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.
Magnolia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: mag-NO-lee-ə
Rating: 43% based on 16 votes
From the English word magnolia for the flower, which was named for the French botanist Pierre Magnol.
Maia 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology, Roman Mythology, Portuguese, Georgian
Other Scripts: Μαῖα(Ancient Greek) მაია(Georgian)
Pronounced: MIE-A(Classical Greek) MAY-ə(English) MIE-ə(English) MIE-ya(Latin) MAH-EE-AH(Georgian)
Rating: 36% based on 16 votes
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.
Makena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Kikuyu
Rating: 26% based on 16 votes
Means "happy one" in Kikuyu.
Malaika
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swahili
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Means
"angel" in Swahili, derived from Arabic
ملك (malak).
Malik 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic
Other Scripts: ملك(Arabic)
Pronounced: MA-leek
Rating: 30% based on 3 votes
Means
"king" in Arabic. In Islamic tradition
الملك (al-Malik) is one of the 99 names of Allah. This can also be another way of transcribing the name
مالك (see
Maalik).
Mara 2
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hungarian, Croatian, Serbian
Other Scripts: Мара(Serbian)
Pronounced: MAW-raw(Hungarian)
Rating: 15% based on 2 votes
Hungarian variant of
Mária, and a Croatian and Serbian variant of
Marija.
Marina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, English, Greek, Finnish, Estonian, Russian, Romanian, Czech, Bulgarian, Croatian, Serbian, Slovene, Macedonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Georgian, Ancient Roman
Other Scripts: Μαρίνα(Greek) Марина(Russian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Macedonian) მარინა(Georgian)
Pronounced: ma-REE-na(Italian, Spanish, German, Dutch, Macedonian) mə-REE-nə(Catalan) mə-REEN-ə(English) mu-RYEE-nə(Russian) MA-ri-na(Czech)
Rating: 57% based on 19 votes
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.
Marleigh
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: MAHR-lee
Rating: 17% based on 3 votes
Marley
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: MAHR-lee
Rating: 21% based on 17 votes
From an English surname that was taken from a place name meaning either "pleasant wood", "boundary wood" or "marten wood" in Old English. A famous bearer of the surname was the Jamaican musician Bob Marley (1945-1981).
Maya 3
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hebrew
Other Scripts: מַיָּה(Hebrew)
Rating: 44% based on 20 votes
Derived from Hebrew
מַיִם (mayim) meaning
"water".
McKenna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: mə-KEHN-ə
Rating: 15% based on 2 votes
From an Irish and Scottish surname, an Anglicized form of
Mac Cionaodha, itself derived from the given name
Cionaodh. As a given name, it was very rare before 1980. It rapidly increased in popularity during the 1990s, likely because it was viewed as an even more feminine alternative to
Mackenzie [1].
Megara
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology, Popular Culture
Other Scripts: Μεγάρα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: meg-AH-rah(Greek Mythology) MEG-AH-RA(Greek Mythology)
Rating: 40% based on 2 votes
Either a variant of
Megaera or derived from either the Ancient Greek city Megara in West Attica, Greece, or the Ancient Greek colony in Sicily Megara Hyblaea, both derived from
megaron, from
megas 'large, great, marvelous', referring to a large hall.
In Greek mythology, Megara was the oldest daughter of Creon, king of Thebes. In reward for Heracles' defending Thebes from the Minyans at Orchomenus in single-handed battle, Creon offered his daughter Megara to Heracles. She bore him a son and a daughter, whom Heracles killed when Hera struck him with temporary madness. In some sources Heracles slew Megara too, in others, she was given to Iolaus when Heracles left Thebes forever.
In the Disney animated film Hercules, Megara, also called Meg, is a young woman who was a pawn for the Lord of the Underworld, Hades. Sometime during the events of Hercules, Meg went to Hades and sold her soul to revive a lover of hers who had died. Hades agreed on the condition that she serve him forever, which she accepted. However, shortly after her lover was revived, he fell in love with someone else and ungratefully left Meg locked in servitude to Hades. This background story of the character alludes to the myth of Alcestis, who dies by proxy for her husband Admetus.
Melantha
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: mə-LAN-thə
Rating: 24% based on 16 votes
Probably a combination of
Mel (from names such as
Melanie or
Melissa) with the suffix
antha (from Greek
ἄνθος (anthos) meaning "flower"). John Dryden used this name in his play
Marriage a la Mode (1672).
Melia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Μελία(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: MEH-LEE-A(Classical Greek)
Rating: 35% based on 16 votes
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.
Melody
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MEHL-ə-dee
Rating: 30% based on 2 votes
From the English word
melody, which is derived (via Old French and Late Latin) from Greek
μέλος (melos) meaning "song" combined with
ἀείδω (aeido) meaning "to sing".
Mercy
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MUR-see
Rating: 55% based on 2 votes
From the English word
mercy, ultimately from Latin
merces "wages, reward", a derivative of
merx "goods, wares". This was one of the virtue names adopted by the
Puritans in the 17th century.
Mickayla
Gender: Feminine
Usage: American (Modern, Rare)
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Midori
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Japanese
Other Scripts: 緑, etc.(Japanese Kanji) みどり(Japanese Hiragana)
Pronounced: MEE-DO-REE
Rating: 36% based on 18 votes
From Japanese
緑 (midori) meaning "green", as well as other kanji or kanji combinations that have the same pronunciation.
Miley
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: MIE-lee
Rating: 22% based on 17 votes
In the case of actress and singer Miley Cyrus (1992-), it is a shortened form of the nickname
Smiley, given to her by her father because she often smiled. Although it was not at all common before she brought it to public attention, there are some examples of its use before her time, most likely as a
diminutive of
Miles.
Millaray
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Mapuche
Rating: 29% based on 18 votes
Means "golden flower" in Mapuche, from milla "gold" and rayen "flower".
Millicent
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MIL-i-sənt
Rating: 58% based on 21 votes
From the Gothic name *
Amalaswinþa, composed of the elements
amals "unceasing, vigorous, brave" and
swinþs "strong". Amalaswintha was a 6th-century queen of the Ostrogoths. The
Normans introduced this name to England in the form
Melisent or
Melisende. Melisende was a 12th-century queen of Jerusalem, the daughter of Baldwin II.
Misty
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MIS-tee
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
From the English word misty, ultimately derived from Old English. The jazz song Misty (1954) by Erroll Garner may have helped popularize the name.
Modesty
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: MAHD-ə-stee
Rating: 45% based on 4 votes
From the English word modesty, ultimately from Latin modestus "moderate", a derivative of modus "measure".
Morgana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: mawr-GAN-ə
Rating: 53% based on 3 votes
Moriah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Other Scripts: מֹרִיָה(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: mah-RIE-ə
Rating: 34% based on 16 votes
From Hebrew
מֹרִיָה (Moriya) possibly meaning "seen by
Yahweh". This is a place name in the
Old Testament, both the land where
Abraham is to sacrifice
Isaac and the mountain upon which
Solomon builds the temple. They may be the same place. Since the 1980s it has occasionally been used as a feminine given name in America.
Morrígan
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish Mythology
Rating: 36% based on 18 votes
Means either
"demon queen" or
"great queen", derived from Old Irish
mor "demon, evil spirit" or
mór "great, big" combined with
rígain "queen". In Irish
mythology Morrígan (called also The Morrígan) was a goddess of war and death who often took the form of a crow.
Nadia 2
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic, Urdu, Bengali, Indonesian, Malay
Other Scripts: ناديّة(Arabic) نادیہ(Urdu) নাদিয়া(Bengali)
Pronounced: na-DEE-ya(Arabic)
Rating: 48% based on 4 votes
Alternate transcription of Arabic
ناديّة (see
Nadiyya), as well as the usual form in several other languages.
Nadira
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic
Other Scripts: نادرة(Arabic)
Pronounced: NA-dee-ra
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
Nadra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic
Other Scripts: نضرة(Arabic)
Pronounced: NAD-ra
Rating: 53% based on 3 votes
Means "radiance" in Arabic.
Naila
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic, Urdu
Other Scripts: نائلة(Arabic) نائلہ(Urdu)
Pronounced: NA-ee-la(Arabic)
Rating: 53% based on 3 votes
Feminine form of
Nail. This was the name of the wife of
Uthman, the third caliph of the Muslims. She tried in vain to prevent a mob from murdering her husband, and had several fingers cut off in the process.
Nasrin
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Persian, Bengali
Other Scripts: نسرین(Persian) নাসরীন(Bengali)
Pronounced: nas-REEN(Persian)
Rating: 20% based on 16 votes
Means "wild rose" in Persian.
Nefertiti
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Egyptian
Pronounced: nehf-ər-TEE-tee(English)
Rating: 20% based on 21 votes
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.
Nereida
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish
Pronounced: neh-RAY-dha
Rating: 27% based on 17 votes
Derived from Greek
Νηρηΐδες (Nereides) meaning
"nymphs, sea sprites", ultimately derived from the name of the Greek sea god
Nereus, who supposedly fathered them.
Nerissa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: nə-RIS-ə(English)
Rating: 34% based on 17 votes
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.
Nerys
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Rating: 26% based on 16 votes
Probably a feminized form of Welsh nêr meaning "lord".
Nevaeh
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: nə-VAY-ə
Rating: 14% based on 22 votes
The word heaven spelled backwards. It became popular after the musician Sonny Sandoval from the rock group P.O.D. gave it to his daughter in 2000. Over the next few years it rapidly climbed the rankings in America, peaking at the 25th rank for girls in 2010.
Nia 3
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Georgian
Other Scripts: ნია(Georgian)
Pronounced: NEE-ə(English)
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
Niamh
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish, Irish Mythology
Pronounced: NYEEW(Irish) NYEEV(Irish)
Rating: 34% based on 17 votes
Means
"bright" in Irish. She was the daughter of the sea god
Manannán mac Lir in Irish legends. She fell in love with the poet
Oisín, the son of
Fionn mac Cumhaill. It has been used as a given name for people only since the early 20th century.
Nimue
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arthurian Cycle
Pronounced: NIM-ə-way(English)
Rating: 27% based on 17 votes
Meaning unknown. In Arthurian legends this is the name of a sorceress, also known as the Lady of the Lake, Vivien, or Niniane. Various versions of the tales have
Merlin falling in love with her and becoming imprisoned by her magic. She first appears in the medieval French
Lancelot-Grail Cycle.
Niobe
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Νιόβη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: NEE-O-BEH(Classical Greek) NIE-o-bee(English)
Rating: 36% based on 5 votes
Meaning unknown. In Greek
mythology Niobe was the daughter of Tantalos, a king of Asia Minor. Because she boasted that she was superior to
Leto, Leto's children
Apollo and
Artemis killed her 14 children with poison arrows. In grief, Niobe was turned to stone by
Zeus.
Noelani
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hawaiian
Pronounced: no-eh-LA-nee
Rating: 30% based on 17 votes
Means "heavenly mist" from Hawaiian noe "mist" and lani "heaven, sky, royal, majesty".
Nova
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Swedish (Modern), Dutch (Modern)
Pronounced: NO-və(English) NO-va(Swedish, Dutch)
Rating: 70% based on 3 votes
Derived from Latin novus meaning "new". It was first used as a name in the 19th century.
Nuray
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Turkish, Azerbaijani, Kazakh
Other Scripts: Нұрай(Kazakh)
Rating: 16% based on 16 votes
Means
"bright moon" in Turkish, Azerbaijani and Kazakh, ultimately from Arabic
نور (nūr) meaning "light" and Turkic
ay meaning "moon".
Nydia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare), Spanish, Literature
Pronounced: NID-ee-ə(English) NEE-dhya(Spanish)
Rating: 24% based on 17 votes
Used by British author Edward Bulwer-Lytton for a blind flower-seller in his novel The Last Days of Pompeii (1834). He perhaps based it on Latin nidus "nest".
Nyree
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (New Zealand)
Pronounced: NIE-ree
Rating: 19% based on 16 votes
Anglicized form of
Ngaire. It was borne by New Zealand actress Nyree Dawn Porter (1936-2001).
Ocean
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: O-shən
Personal remark: I like Oceana also
Rating: 33% based on 18 votes
Simply from the English word
ocean for a large body of water. It is ultimately derived from Greek
Ὠκεανός (Okeanos), the name of the body of water thought to surround the Earth.
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: 73% 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.
Odessa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Various
Rating: 54% based on 23 votes
From the name of a Ukrainian city that sits on the north coast of the Black Sea, which was named after the ancient Greek city of
Ὀδησσός (Odessos), of uncertain meaning. This name can also be used as a feminine form of
Odysseus.
Odyssey
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (American, Modern, Rare)
Pronounced: AH-di-see(American English) AH-də-see(American English)
Rating: 40% based on 3 votes
From the English word meaning "an adventurous voyage" and "a spiritual quest", derived from Greek Ὀδύσσεια
(Odysseia), literally "of
Odysseus". This is the name of the epic poem written by the Greek poet
Homer around 8th century BC. Use of the name has been influenced by the 1981 Avon perfume called Odyssey.
Onnika
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Obscure
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
Opal
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: O-pəl
Rating: 64% based on 5 votes
From the English word
opal for the iridescent gemstone, the birthstone of October. The word ultimately derives from Sanskrit
उपल (upala) meaning "jewel".
Orchid
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: AW-kid(British English) AWR-kid(American English)
Rating: 52% based on 6 votes
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).
Oriana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish
Pronounced: o-RYA-na
Rating: 43% based on 20 votes
Possibly derived from Latin
aurum "gold" or from its derivatives, Spanish
oro or French
or. In medieval legend Oriana was the daughter of a king of England who married the knight
Amadis.
Padma
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hinduism, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu
Other Scripts: पद्म, पद्मा(Sanskrit, Hindi) பத்மா(Tamil) ಪದ್ಮಾ(Kannada) పద్మా(Telugu)
Pronounced: pəd-MA(Hindi)
Rating: 38% based on 17 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.
Paige
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: PAYJ
Rating: 34% based on 18 votes
From an English surname meaning
"servant, page" in Middle English. It is ultimately derived (via Old French and Italian) from Greek
παιδίον (paidion) meaning "little boy".
As a given name for girls, it received some public attention from a character in the 1958 novel Parrish and the 1961 movie adaptation [1]. It experienced a larger surge in popularity in the 1980s, probably due to the character Paige Matheson from the American soap opera Knots Landing.
Paisley
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: PAYZ-lee
Rating: 15% based on 2 votes
From a Scots surname, originally from the name of a town near Glasgow, maybe ultimately derived from Latin basilica "church". This is also a word (derived from the name of that same town) for a type of pattern commonly found on fabrics.
Pandora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Πανδώρα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: PAN-DAW-RA(Classical Greek) pan-DAWR-ə(English)
Rating: 68% based on 4 votes
Means
"all gifts", derived from a combination of Greek
πᾶν (pan) meaning "all" and
δῶρον (doron) meaning "gift". In Greek
mythology Pandora was the first mortal woman.
Zeus gave her a jar containing all of the troubles and ills that mankind now knows, and told her not to open it. Unfortunately her curiosity got the best of her and she opened it, unleashing the evil spirits into the world.
Pansy
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: PAN-zee
Rating: 18% based on 16 votes
From the English word for a type of flower, ultimately deriving from Old French pensee "thought".
Paris 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Πάρις(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: PA-REES(Classical Greek) PAR-is(English) PEHR-is(English)
Rating: 29% based on 18 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.
Patience
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: PAY-shəns
Rating: 77% based on 3 votes
From the English word
patience, ultimately from Latin
patientia, a derivative of
pati "to suffer". This was one of the virtue names coined by the
Puritans in the 17th century. It is now most commonly used in African countries where English is widely understood, such as Nigeria and Ghana.
Peony
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: PEE-ə-nee
Rating: 34% based on 18 votes
From the English word for the type of flower. It was originally believed to have healing qualities, so it was named after the Greek medical god Pæon.
Persephone
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Περσεφόνη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: PEHR-SEH-PO-NEH(Classical Greek) pər-SEHF-ə-nee(English)
Rating: 68% based on 4 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.
Petra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Dutch, Spanish, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Croatian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Swedish, Finnish, English
Other Scripts: Петра(Bulgarian) Πέτρα(Greek)
Pronounced: PEH-tra(German, Dutch, Spanish, Czech, Slovak) PEH-traw(Hungarian) PEHT-rah(Finnish) PEHT-rə(English)
Rating: 50% based on 22 votes
Feminine form of
Peter. This was also the name of an ancient city in the region that is now Jordan.
Phaedra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Φαίδρα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: FEED-rə(English) FEHD-rə(English)
Rating: 40% based on 19 votes
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.
Phoenix
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: FEE-niks
Rating: 50% based on 4 votes
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".
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].
Poppy
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: PAHP-ee
Rating: 39% based on 18 votes
From the word for the red flower, derived from Old English popæg.
Portia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: PAWR-shə
Rating: 38% based on 19 votes
Variant of
Porcia, the feminine form of the Roman family name
Porcius, used by William Shakespeare for the heroine of his play
The Merchant of Venice (1596). In the play Portia is a woman who disguises herself as a man in order to defend
Antonio in court. It is also the name of a moon of Uranus, after the Shakespearean character.
Posy
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: PO-zee
Rating: 36% based on 17 votes
Diminutive of
Josephine. It can also be inspired by the English word
posy for a bunch of flowers.
Presley
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: PREHS-lee
Rating: 18% based on 17 votes
From an English surname that was originally derived from a place name meaning "priest clearing" (Old English preost and leah). This surname was borne by musician Elvis Presley (1935-1977).
Primrose
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: PRIM-roz
Rating: 54% based on 22 votes
From the English word for the flower, ultimately deriving from Latin prima rosa "first rose".
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: 60% based on 3 votes
Means
"beloved" in Sanskrit. It appears briefly in the
Puranas belonging to a daughter of King
Daksha.
Prue
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: PROO
Rating: 45% based on 2 votes
Quin
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: KWIN
Rating: 55% based on 2 votes
Quintana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (American, Modern, Rare)
Pronounced: kwin-TAHN-ə(American English)
Rating: 50% based on 3 votes
Perhaps from Latin
quintanus "fifth-ranking", from
quintus "fifth" (see
Quintus) or a transferred use of the surname. In today's English-speaking world it is sometimes perceived as a feminine form of
Quintin or
Quentin.
The American writer Joan Didion named her daughter Quintana Roo.
Quintessa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: African American (Rare)
Pronounced: kwin-TES-ə
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
Variant of
Quintella inspired by the word
quintessence, meaning "the fifth element", "aether". According to Medieval science, the quintessence was the material that filled the region of the universe beyond the terrestrial sphere. Later the word came to mean "a thing that is the most perfect example of its type".
Rain 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: RAYN
Rating: 52% based on 22 votes
Simply from the English word rain, derived from Old English regn.
Raina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Bulgarian
Other Scripts: Райна(Bulgarian)
Rating: 53% based on 3 votes
Raine
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: RAYN
Rating: 63% based on 3 votes
From a surname derived from the Old French nickname
reine meaning
"queen". A famous bearer was the British socialite Raine Spencer (1929-2016), the stepmother of Princess Diana. In modern times it is also considered a variant of
Rain 1.
Raven
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: RAY-vən
Rating: 43% based on 19 votes
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.
Rayen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Mapuche
Rating: 18% based on 17 votes
Means "flower" in Mapuche.
Reagan
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: RAY-gən
Rating: 23% based on 19 votes
From an Irish surname, an Anglicized form of
Ó Riagáin, derived from the given name
Riagán. This surname was borne by American actor and president Ronald Reagan (1911-2004).
As a given name, it took off in popularity during the 1990s. It has been more common for girls in the United States probably because of its similarity to other names such as Megan, Morgan and Regan.
Rhiannon
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh, English, Welsh Mythology
Pronounced: ri-AN-awn(Welsh) ree-AN-ən(English)
Rating: 55% based on 22 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.
Rileigh
Gender: Feminine
Usage: American (Modern, Rare)
Rating: 15% based on 2 votes
Ríona
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish
Rating: 60% based on 3 votes
River
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: RIV-ər
Rating: 83% based on 4 votes
From the English word that denotes a flowing body of water. The word is ultimately derived (via Old French) from Latin ripa "riverbank".
Rose
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, French
Pronounced: ROZ
Rating: 61% based on 22 votes
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.
Sadie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: SAY-dee
Rating: 53% based on 3 votes
Saffron
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: SAF-rən
Rating: 46% based on 20 votes
From the English word that refers either to a spice, the crocus flower from which it is harvested, or the yellow-orange colour of the spice. It is derived via Old French from Arabic
زعفران (zaʿfarān), itself probably from Persian meaning "gold leaves".
Safiya
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hausa, Kazakh, Arabic
Other Scripts: Сафия(Kazakh) صفيّة(Arabic)
Pronounced: sa-FEE-ya(Arabic)
Rating: 57% based on 3 votes
Hausa and Kazakh form of
Safiyya. It is also an alternate transcription of the Arabic name.
Safiyyah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic
Other Scripts: صفيّة(Arabic)
Pronounced: sa-FEE-ya
Rating: 53% based on 3 votes
Saga
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Norse Mythology, Swedish, Icelandic
Pronounced: SAH-gah(Swedish) SA-gha(Icelandic)
Rating: 63% based on 3 votes
From Old Norse
Sága, possibly meaning
"seeing one", derived from
sjá "to see". This is the name of a Norse goddess, possibly connected to
Frigg. As a Swedish and Icelandic name, it is also derived from the unrelated word
saga "story, fairy tale, saga".
Sahar
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic, Persian
Other Scripts: سحر(Arabic, Persian)
Pronounced: SA-har(Arabic) sa-HAR(Persian)
Rating: 55% based on 2 votes
Means "dawn" in Arabic.
Sahara
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: sə-HAHR-ə, sə-HAR-ə
Rating: 67% based on 3 votes
From the name of the world's largest hot desert, which is derived from Arabic صَحَارَى
(ṣaḥārā) meaning "deserts" (see
Sahara).
Sa'id
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic
Other Scripts: سعيد(Arabic)
Pronounced: sa-‘EED
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
Alternate transcription of Arabic
سعيد (see
Said).
Samara
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern), Portuguese (Brazilian)
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
Possibly derived from the name of the city of Samarra (in Iraq) or Samara (in Russia). The former appears in the title of the novel
Appointment in Samarra (1934) by John O'Hara, which refers to an ancient Babylonian legend about a man trying to evade death. Alternatively, this name could be derived from the word for the winged seeds that grow on trees such as maples and elms.
The name received a boost in popularity after it was borne by the antagonist in the horror movie The Ring (2002).
Samir 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic, Azerbaijani
Other Scripts: سمير(Arabic)
Pronounced: sa-MEER(Arabic)
Rating: 15% based on 2 votes
Means
"companion in evening talk" in Arabic, from the root
سمر (samara) meaning "to talk in the evening".
Samira 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic, Persian
Other Scripts: سميرة(Arabic) سمیرا(Persian)
Pronounced: sa-MEE-ra(Arabic) sa-mee-RAW(Persian)
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
Sana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic
Other Scripts: سناء(Arabic)
Pronounced: sa-NA
Rating: 60% based on 3 votes
Alternate transcription of Arabic
سناء (see
Sanaa).
Santana
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: Spanish (Latin American), Portuguese (Brazilian), English (Modern)
Pronounced: san-TA-na(Spanish) sun-TU-nu(Portuguese) san-TAN-ə(English)
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
From a contraction of
Santa Ana (referring to
Saint Anna) or from a Spanish and Portuguese surname derived from any of the numerous places named for the saint. It can be given in honour of the Mexican-American musician Carlos Santana (1947-), the founder of the band Santana. The name received a boost in popularity for American girls after the character Santana Andrade began appearing on the soap opera
Santa Barbara in 1984.
Sapphira
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: Σαπφείρη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: sə-FIE-rə(English)
Rating: 45% based on 16 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.
Sapphire
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: SAF-ie-ər
Rating: 45% based on 17 votes
From the name of the gemstone, typically blue, which is the traditional birthstone of September. It is derived from Greek
σάπφειρος (sappheiros), ultimately from the Hebrew word
סַפִּיר (sappir).
Saraia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern, Rare)
Pronounced: sah-RIE-ah
Rating: 38% based on 5 votes
Saria
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Judeo-Anglo-Norman
Rating: 44% based on 5 votes
Sariah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Mormon
Pronounced: sə-RIE-ə(English)
Rating: 38% based on 5 votes
Possibly from an alternate reading of Hebrew
שׂריה (see
Seraiah). In the Book of Mormon this is the name of
Lehi's wife.
Sariyah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Rating: 50% based on 3 votes
Savannah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: sə-VAN-ə
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
From the English word for the large grassy plain, ultimately deriving from the Taino (Native American) word zabana. It came into use as a given name in America in the 19th century. It was revived in the 1980s by the movie Savannah Smiles (1982).
Saylor
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: SAY-lər
Rating: 25% based on 2 votes
From an English surname that was derived from Old French sailleor meaning "acrobat, dancer". As a modern English given name it could also come from the homophone vocabulary word sailor.
Scarlett
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: SKAHR-lit
Rating: 50% based on 3 votes
From an English surname that denoted a person who sold or made clothes made of scarlet (a kind of cloth, possibly derived from Persian
سقرلاط (saqrelāṭ)). Margaret Mitchell used it for the main character, Scarlett O'Hara, in her novel
Gone with the Wind (1936). Her name is explained as having come from her grandmother. Despite the fact that the book was adapted into a popular movie in 1939, the name was not common until the 21st century. It started rising around 2003, about the time that the career of American actress Scarlett Johansson (1984-) started taking off.
Scout
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: SKOWT
Rating: 80% based on 2 votes
From the English word scout meaning "one who gathers information covertly", which is derived from Old French escouter "to listen". Harper Lee used this name in her novel To Kill a Mockingbird (1960).
Selene
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Σελήνη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: SEH-LEH-NEH(Classical Greek) si-LEE-nee(English) si-LEEN(English)
Rating: 51% based on 18 votes
Means
"moon" in Greek. This was the name of a Greek goddess of the moon, a Titan. She was sometimes identified with the goddess
Artemis.
Seneca
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Ancient Roman
Pronounced: SEH-neh-ka(Latin) SEHN-ə-kə(English)
Rating: 70% based on 2 votes
From a Roman
cognomen derived from Latin
senectus meaning
"old". This was the name of both a Roman orator (born in Spain) and also of his son, a philosopher and statesman.
This name also coincides with that of the Seneca, a Native American tribe that lived near the Great Lakes, whose name meant "place of stones".
Seona
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Scottish
Rating: 34% based on 17 votes
Sequoia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: sə-KWOI-ə
Rating: 22% based on 18 votes
From the name of huge trees that grow in California. The tree got its name from the 19th-century Cherokee scholar
Sequoyah (also known as George Guess), the inventor of the Cherokee writing system.
Seraphina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare), German (Rare), Late Roman
Pronounced: sehr-ə-FEEN-ə(English) zeh-ra-FEE-na(German)
Rating: 65% based on 23 votes
Feminine form of the Late Latin name
Seraphinus, derived from the biblical word
seraphim, which was Hebrew in origin and meant
"fiery ones". The seraphim were an order of angels, described by Isaiah in the Bible as having six wings each.
This was the name of a 13th-century Italian saint who made clothes for the poor. As an English name, it has never been common.
Seren
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Pronounced: SEH-rehn
Rating: 57% based on 20 votes
Means "star" in Welsh. This is a recently created Welsh name.
Serena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Late Roman
Pronounced: sə-REEN-ə(English) seh-REH-na(Italian)
Rating: 61% based on 21 votes
From a Late Latin name that was derived from Latin
serenus meaning
"clear, tranquil, serene". This name was borne by an obscure early
saint. Edmund Spenser also used it in his poem
The Faerie Queene (1590). A famous bearer from the modern era is tennis player Serena Williams (1981-).
Serenity
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: sə-REHN-ə-tee
Rating: 80% based on 3 votes
From the English word meaning "serenity, tranquility", ultimately from Latin serenus meaning "clear, calm".
Shalimar
Gender: Feminine
Usage: American (Modern, Rare)
Pronounced: SHAL-i-mahr
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
From the name of the Shalamar Gardens near what is now Lahore, Pakistan, which were created in the mid-17th century by the Mughal emperor Shah
Jahan (who also built the Taj Mahal). It might be derived from Arabic
shah al-‘imarat meaning "master of buildings". This spelling of the name is sometimes given in reference to the Guerlain perfume called Shalimar, which was first introduced in 1921 and was named after the famous Mughal gardens. This was also used for the titular Egyptian princess (played by actress Debra Paget) in the 1954 movie
Princess of the Nile.
Shanley
Gender: Feminine
Usage: American (Rare)
Pronounced: SHAN lee
Rating: 25% based on 2 votes
Shannon
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: SHAN-ən
Rating: 27% based on 17 votes
From the name of the River Shannon, the longest river in Ireland, called
an tSionainn in Irish. It is associated with the legendary figure
Sionann and is sometimes said to be named for her. However it is more likely she was named after the river, which may be related to Old Irish
sen "old, ancient"
[1]. As a given name, it first became common in America after the 1940s.
Shariah
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic (Rare)
Other Scripts: شريعة(Arabic)
Pronounced: sha-REE-‘a
Rating: 15% based on 2 votes
Shayla
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: SHAY-lə
Rating: 40% based on 3 votes
Invented name, based on the sounds found in other names such as
Sheila and
Kayla.
Shayna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Yiddish
Other Scripts: שיינאַ(Yiddish)
Rating: 23% based on 17 votes
From Yiddish
שיין (shein) meaning
"beautiful".
Sheridan
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: SHEHR-i-dən
Rating: 53% based on 3 votes
From an Irish surname (Anglicized from Irish Gaelic Ó Sirideáin), which was derived from the given name Sirideán possibly meaning "searcher".
Sidonie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: SEE-DAW-NEE
Rating: 34% based on 17 votes
Sienna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: see-EHN-ə
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
From the English word meaning "orange-red". It is ultimately from the name of the city of Siena in Italy, because of the colour of the clay there.
Silver
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: SIL-vər
Rating: 28% based on 19 votes
From the English word for the precious metal or the colour, ultimately derived from Old English seolfor.
Siren
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Norwegian, Swedish (Rare)
Rating: 25% based on 2 votes
Of debated origin.
Some scholars argue that it might be a contracted form of Severine, others theorize a derivation from the Scandinavian name Sirin, while another theory assumes a derivation from Greek Seirenes (Σειρῆνας), the sirens or nymphs from Greek mythology.
Whatever theory might be true, in Norway this name was first recorded in the late 1700s.
Sitara
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Urdu
Other Scripts: ستارہ(Urdu)
Rating: 24% based on 16 votes
Means "star" in Urdu, ultimately from Persian.
Sky
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: SKIE
Rating: 43% based on 19 votes
Simply from the English word sky, which was ultimately derived from Old Norse ský "cloud".
Skyler
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: SKIE-lər
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
Variant of
Schuyler, based on the pronunciation of the surname but respelled as if it was a blend of the English word
sky with names such as
Tyler. It was rare before 1980, and first gained popularity as a name for boys. It is now more common for girls, though it is more evenly unisex than the mostly feminine variant
Skylar.
Sloane
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: SLON
Rating: 40% based on 2 votes
From an Irish surname, an Anglicized form of
Ó Sluaghadháin, itself derived from the given name
Sluaghadhán.
Solana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish (Latin American, Rare), Catalan (Rare), Portuguese (Brazilian, Rare)
Rating: 50% based on 3 votes
Feminine form of
Solano, a Spanish surname which is used as a given name in honour of Saint Francisco Solano (1549-1610).
Soleil
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Various
Pronounced: SAW-LAY(French)
Rating: 37% based on 18 votes
Means "sun" in French. It is not commonly used as a name in France itself.
Star
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: STAHR
Rating: 32% based on 17 votes
From the English word for the celestial body, ultimately from Old English steorra.
Sunday
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: SUN-day
Rating: 70% based on 2 votes
From the name of the day of the week, which ultimately derives from Old English sunnandæg, which was composed of the elements sunne "sun" and dæg "day". This name is most common in Nigeria and other parts of Africa.
Sunita
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hinduism, Hindi, Marathi, Nepali
Other Scripts: सुनीता(Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi, Nepali)
Rating: 21% based on 17 votes
Means
"well conducted, wise", derived from the Sanskrit prefix
सु (su) meaning "good" combined with
नीत (nīta) meaning "conducted, led". In Hindu legend this is the name of the wife of King Anga of Bengal and the mother of
Vena.
Sunniva
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Norwegian
Rating: 34% based on 18 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.
Suri
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Yiddish
Other Scripts: שרה(Yiddish)
Rating: 45% based on 2 votes
Tacey
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Archaic)
Rating: 21% based on 16 votes
Derived from Latin tace meaning "be silent". It was in use from the 16th century, though it died out two centuries later.
Taegan
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Rating: 33% based on 18 votes
Tahira
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic, Urdu
Other Scripts: طاهرة(Arabic) طاہرہ(Urdu)
Pronounced: TA-hee-ra(Arabic)
Rating: 53% based on 3 votes
Tahlia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Australian)
Rating: 44% based on 17 votes
Tahnee
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: TAW-nee
Rating: 16% based on 17 votes
Taina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: TIE-nah
Rating: 27% based on 17 votes
Taisiya
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian, Ukrainian
Other Scripts: Таисия(Russian) Таїсія(Ukrainian)
Pronounced: tu-EE-syi-yə(Russian)
Rating: 26% based on 18 votes
Russian and Ukrainian form of
Thaïs (referring to the
saint).
Takara
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Japanese
Other Scripts: 宝, etc.(Japanese Kanji) たから(Japanese Hiragana)
Pronounced: TA-KA-RA
Rating: 22% based on 18 votes
From Japanese
宝 (takara) meaning "treasure, jewel", as well as other kanji or kanji combinations with the same pronunciation.
Takiyah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: African American (Modern)
Pronounced: tə-KEE-ə
Rating: 37% based on 3 votes
Talia 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hebrew
Other Scripts: טַלְיָה, טַלְיָא(Hebrew)
Rating: 53% based on 18 votes
Means
"dew from God" in Hebrew, from
טַל (ṭal) meaning "dew" and
יָהּ (yah) referring to the Hebrew God.
Taline
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Armenian
Other Scripts: Թալին(Armenian)
Pronounced: tah-LEEN
Rating: 24% based on 16 votes
Alternate transcription of Armenian
Թալին (see
Talin).
Talitha
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical
Pronounced: TAL-i-thə(English) tə-LEE-thə(English)
Rating: 31% based on 17 votes
Means
"little girl" in Aramaic. The name is taken from the phrase
talitha cumi meaning "little girl arise" spoken by
Jesus in order to restore a young girl to life (see
Mark 5:41).
Tallulah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: tə-LOO-lə
Rating: 44% based on 18 votes
This is the name of waterfalls in Georgia. Popularly claimed to mean "leaping waters" in the Choctaw language, it may actually mean "town" in the Creek language. It was borne by American actress Tallulah Bankhead (1902-1968), who was named after her grandmother, who may have been named after the waterfalls.
Tamela
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Rating: 20% based on 15 votes
Probably a blend of
Tamara and
Pamela. It first arose in the 1950s.
Tamia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: African American (Modern)
Pronounced: tə-MEE-ə(English)
Rating: 24% based on 16 votes
An invented name, using the initial sound found in names such as
Tamika. It was popularized by the Canadian singer Tamia Hill (1975-), who is known simply as Tamia.
Tamra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: TAM-rə
Rating: 28% based on 18 votes
Tamsin
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (British)
Pronounced: TAM-zin
Rating: 41% based on 16 votes
Contracted form of
Thomasina. It was traditionally used in Cornwall.
Tamya
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Quechua
Rating: 20% based on 15 votes
Means "rain" in Quechua.
Tamzen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Rating: 22% based on 15 votes
Tanika
Gender: Feminine
Usage: African American (Modern)
Pronounced: tə-NEE-kə(English)
Rating: 23% based on 19 votes
Invented name, probably modelled on the sounds found in other names like
Tamika,
Tanisha and
Tanya.
Tanis
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Semitic Mythology (Hellenized)
Rating: 26% based on 16 votes
Tanith
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Semitic Mythology
Other Scripts: 𐤕𐤍𐤕(Phoenician)
Rating: 28% based on 16 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.
Tansy
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: TAN-zee
Rating: 17% based on 18 votes
From the name of the flower, which is derived via Old French from Late Latin tanacita.
Taryn
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: TAR-in, TEHR-in
Rating: 29% based on 16 votes
Probably a feminine form of
Tyrone. Actors Tyrone Power and Linda Christian created it for their daughter Taryn Power (1953-).
Tatiana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, French, Slovak, Polish, Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, German, Dutch, Greek, Georgian, English, Russian, Bulgarian, Ancient Roman
Other Scripts: Τατιάνα(Greek) ტატიანა(Georgian) Татьяна(Russian) Татяна(Bulgarian)
Pronounced: ta-TYA-na(Italian, Spanish, Polish, German) TAH-tee-ah-nah(Finnish) ta-TYAHN-ə(English) tu-TYA-nə(Russian)
Rating: 55% based on 22 votes
Feminine form of the Roman name
Tatianus, a derivative of the Roman name
Tatius. This was the name of a 3rd-century
saint who was martyred in Rome under the emperor Alexander Severus. She was especially venerated in Orthodox Christianity, and the name has been common in Russia (as
Татьяна) and Eastern Europe. It was not regularly used in the English-speaking world until the 1980s.
Tatum
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: TAY-təm
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
From an English surname that was originally derived from a place name meaning "Tata's homestead" in Old English. It was brought to public attention by the child actress Tatum O'Neal (1963-) in the 1970s, though it did not catch on. It attained a modest level of popularity after 1996, when it was borne by a character in the movie Scream.
Tawny
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: TAW-nee
Rating: 22% based on 15 votes
From the English word, ultimately deriving from Old French tané, which means "light brown".
Taya
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: TAH-yah
Rating: 40% based on 3 votes
Diminutive of
Taisiya and
Thaïs influenced by the spelling of the name
Tai.
Tayla
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: TAY-lə
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
Probably a feminine form of
Taylor influenced by similar-sounding names such as
Kayla.
Teagan
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: TEE-gən
Rating: 40% based on 2 votes
Variant of
Tegan. It also coincides with a rare Irish surname
Teagan. This name rose on the American popularity charts in the 1990s, probably because of its similarity to names like
Megan and
Reagan.
Teela
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern, Rare)
Pronounced: TEE-la
Rating: 50% based on 3 votes
Temperance
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: TEHM-prəns, TEHM-pər-əns
Rating: 50% based on 5 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.
Tesla
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: TEHS-lə
Rating: 50% based on 3 votes
Transferred use of the surname
Tesla. This was the surname or Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla (1856-1943). He is known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system. There has been a resurgence in popular interest in Tesla since the 1990s.
Thalia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized), Greek
Other Scripts: Θάλεια(Greek)
Pronounced: THAY-lee-ə(English) thə-LIE-ə(English)
Rating: 54% based on 18 votes
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).
Theia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Θεία(Ancient Greek)
Rating: 34% based on 16 votes
Possibly derived from Greek
θεά (thea) meaning
"goddess". In Greek
myth this was the name of a Titan goddess of light, glittering and glory. She was the wife of
Hyperion and the mother of the sun god
Helios, the moon goddess
Selene, and the dawn goddess
Eos.
Thekla
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German (Rare), Greek (Rare), Late Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Θέκλα(Greek)
Rating: 29% based on 16 votes
From the ancient Greek name
Θεόκλεια (Theokleia), which meant
"glory of God" from the Greek elements
θεός (theos) meaning "god" and
κλέος (kleos) meaning "glory". This was the name of a 1st-century
saint, appearing (as
Θέκλα) in the apocryphal
Acts of Paul and Thecla. The story tells how Thecla listens to
Paul speak about the virtues of chastity and decides to remain a virgin, angering both her mother and her suitor.
Thistle
Usage: English
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
Derived from Middle English thistel "thistle", this was either a nickname or a topographic name for someone who lived near a place overgrown with thistles.
Tia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: TEE-ə
Rating: 25% based on 2 votes
Short form of names ending with
tia. It has been suggested that its use since the 1950s is the result of the brand name for the coffee liqueur Tia Maria
[1]. In the brand name,
Tia is not a given name; rather, it means "aunt" in Spanish or Portuguese.
Tiana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: tee-AHN-ə, tee-AN-ə
Rating: 50% based on 3 votes
Short form of
Tatiana or
Christiana. It was rare in the United States until it jumped in popularity in 1975, perhaps due to the Vietnamese-American actress Tiana Alexandra (1956-), who had some exposure at that time. It was used as the name of the princess in the Disney movie
The Princess and the Frog (2009).
Titania
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: tie-TAY-nee-ə(American English) ti-TAH-nee-ə(British English)
Rating: 36% based on 18 votes
Perhaps based on Latin
Titanius meaning
"of the Titans". This name was (first?) used by William Shakespeare in his comedy
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595) where it belongs to the queen of the fairies, the wife of
Oberon. This is also a moon of Uranus, named after the Shakespearean character.
Topaz
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: TO-paz
Rating: 67% based on 3 votes
From the English word for the yellow precious stone, the traditional birthstone of November, ultimately derived from Greek
τόπαζος (topazos).
Tori
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: TAWR-ee
Rating: 53% based on 3 votes
Trinity
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: TRIN-i-tee
Rating: 60% based on 3 votes
From the English word Trinity, given in honour of the Christian belief that God has one essence, but three distinct expressions of being: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It has only been in use as a given name since the 20th century.
Trista
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: TRIS-tə
Rating: 60% based on 3 votes
Ulyssa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: yoo-LIS-ə
Rating: 46% based on 5 votes
Unique
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: yoo-NEEK
Rating: 15% based on 2 votes
From the English word unique, ultimately derived from Latin unicus.
Unity
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: YOO-ni-tee
Rating: 53% based on 3 votes
From the English word unity, which is ultimately derived from Latin unitas.
Vada
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Popular Culture
Pronounced: VAY-də(English) VAH-də(English) VA-də(English)
Rating: 52% based on 5 votes
Meaning unknown. Possibly a variant of
Veda or
Valda or short form of
Nevada.
It was used for the heroine of the American film
My Girl (1991).
Vanity
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (American)
Pronounced: VAN-ə-tee(American English)
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
From the English word vanity. This name surged in 1983 coinciding with the revival of the magazine 'Vanity Fair'.
Venus
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Roman Mythology
Pronounced: WEH-noos(Latin) VEE-nəs(English)
Rating: 33% based on 16 votes
Means
"love, sexual desire" in Latin. This was the name of the Roman goddess of love and sex. Her character was assimilated with that of the Greek goddess
Aphrodite. As the mother of
Aeneas she was considered an ancestor of the Roman people. The second planet from the sun is named after her.
Verity
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: VEHR-i-tee
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
From the English word meaning
"verity, truth", from Latin
verus "true, real". This was one of the virtue names adopted by the
Puritans in the 17th century.
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: 65% based on 22 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.
Vienna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: vee-EHN-ə
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
From the name of the capital city of Austria,
Vienna.
Violet
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: VIE-lit, VIE-ə-lit
Rating: 67% based on 22 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.
Waverly
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: WAY-vər-lee
Rating: 10% based on 2 votes
From the rare English surname
Waverley, derived from the name of a place in Surrey, itself possibly from Old English
wæfre "flickering, wavering" and
leah "woodland, clearing".
The surname was borne by the title character in the novel Waverley (1814) by Walter Scott. Streets in New York and San Francisco have been named Waverly after the novel, and a female character in Amy Tan's novel The Joy Luck Club (1989) is named after the San Francisco street. The name received a small boost in popularity for girls after the 1993 release of the novel's movie adaptation, and it rose further after the debut of the television series Wizards of Waverly Place (2007-2012).
Whisper
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Rating: 40% based on 2 votes
From the English word whisper, meaning "speaking softly without vibration of the vocal cords", itself from Proto-Germanic *hwisprōną (“to hiss, whistle, whisper”).
Whitley
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English (American)
Pronounced: WIT-lee(American English)
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
Transferred use of the surname
Whitley.
Willa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: WIL-ə
Rating: 40% based on 3 votes
Willow
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: WIL-o
Rating: 50% based on 3 votes
From the name of the tree, which is ultimately derived from Old English welig.
Wilona
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Dutch (Rare), Afrikaans (Rare), English (Rare)
Rating: 40% based on 3 votes
Winona
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Sioux
Pronounced: wi-NO-nə(English)
Rating: 43% based on 18 votes
Means
"firstborn daughter" in Dakota or Lakota. According to folklore, this was the name of a daughter of a Dakota chief (possibly
Wapasha III) who leapt from a cliff to her death rather than marry a man she hated. Numerous places in the United States have been named after her. The actress Winona Ryder (1971-) was named after the city in Minnesota where she was born.
Winter
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: WIN-tər
Rating: 68% based on 4 votes
From the English word for the season, derived from Old English winter.
Wisdom
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: WIZ-dəm
Rating: 16% based on 17 votes
Simply from the English word, a derivative of Old English wis "wise".
Wisteria
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: wis-TEHR-ee-ə, wis-TEER-ee-ə
Rating: 63% based on 4 votes
From the name of the flowering plant, which was named for the American anatomist Caspar Wistar.
Xanthe
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology, Ancient Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Ξάνθη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: KSAN-TEH(Classical Greek)
Rating: 34% based on 17 votes
Derived from Greek
ξανθός (xanthos) meaning
"yellow, blond, fair-haired". This was the name of a few minor figures in Greek
mythology.
Xena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Popular Culture
Pronounced: ZEE-nə(English)
Rating: 27% based on 17 votes
Probably a variant of
Xenia. This was the name of the main character in the 1990s television series
Xena: Warrior Princess.
Xiana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Chinese
Other Scripts: 夏娜, 霞娜, etc.(Chinese)
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
Combination of
Xia and
Na. This name is borne by Dawn Xiana Moon (1983-), a Chinese American dancer and musician.
Xoie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Obscure (Modern)
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
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: 25% 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.
Yuliana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian, Bulgarian, Indonesian
Other Scripts: Юлиана(Russian, Bulgarian)
Pronounced: yoo-lyi-A-nə(Russian)
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
Russian, Bulgarian and Indonesian form of
Juliana.
Yuna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Popular Culture, Japanese
Pronounced: YUN-A(Japanese) YUUN-A(Japanese) YOU-NA(Japanese)
Rating: 60% based on 3 votes
Yuna is a supporting character in the videogame Final Fantasy X as well as the main character of Final Fantasy X-2. She was the High Summoner who defeated Sin and brought the Eternal Calm. She was named for
Yunalesca, who was the first Summoner to defeat Sin according to the franchise mythology.
Zabel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Armenian
Other Scripts: Զաբել(Armenian)
Pronounced: zah-BEHL(Eastern Armenian) zah-PEHL(Western Armenian)
Rating: 21% based on 15 votes
Armenian form of
Isabel. A 13th-century ruling queen of Cilician Armenia bore this name.
Zahra 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic, Persian
Other Scripts: زهراء(Arabic) زهرا(Persian)
Pronounced: zah-RA(Arabic)
Rating: 31% based on 16 votes
From Arabic
زهراء (zahrāʾ), the feminine form of
أزهر (ʾazhar) meaning
"shining, brilliant, bright". This is an epithet of the Prophet
Muhammad's daughter
Fatima.
See also the related name Zahra 2.
Zaid
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic
Other Scripts: زيد(Arabic)
Pronounced: ZIED
Rating: 25% based on 2 votes
Alternate transcription of Arabic
زيد (see
Zayd).
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: 23% based on 15 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.
Zain
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic, Urdu, Malay
Other Scripts: زين(Arabic) زین(Urdu)
Pronounced: ZIEN(Arabic)
Rating: 25% based on 2 votes
Alternate transcription of Arabic
زين (see
Zayn), as well as the usual Urdu and Malay form.
Zaina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic
Other Scripts: زينة(Arabic)
Pronounced: ZIE-na
Rating: 28% based on 17 votes
Alternate transcription of Arabic
زينة (see
Zayna).
Zaira
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish
Pronounced: DZIE-ra(Italian) dza-EE-ra(Italian) THIE-ra(European Spanish) SIE-ra(Latin American Spanish)
Rating: 26% based on 16 votes
Italian and Spanish form of
Zaïre. It was used by Vincenzo Bellini for the heroine of his opera
Zaira (1829), which was based on Voltaire's 1732 play
Zaïre.
Zakiah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic
Other Scripts: زكيّة(Arabic)
Pronounced: za-KEE-ya
Rating: 23% based on 16 votes
Zakiya
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic
Other Scripts: زكيّة(Arabic)
Pronounced: za-KEE-ya
Rating: 40% based on 3 votes
Zala
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Slovene
Rating: 24% based on 16 votes
Zaniyah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: African American (Modern, Rare)
Rating: 40% based on 3 votes
Zanna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: ZAN-ə
Rating: 31% based on 18 votes
Zara 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature, English
Pronounced: ZAHR-ə(English)
Rating: 34% based on 17 votes
Used by William Congreve for a character in his tragedy
The Mourning Bride (1697), where it belongs to a captive North African queen. Congreve may have based it on the Arabic name
Zahra 1. In 1736 the English writer Aaron Hill used it to translate
Zaïre for his popular adaptation of Voltaire's French play
Zaïre (1732).
In England the name was popularized when Princess Anne gave it to her daughter in 1981. Use of the name may also be influenced by the trendy Spanish clothing retailer Zara.
Zaray
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish (Latin American)
Rating: 17% based on 14 votes
Meaning unknown.
Zaria
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: ZAHR-ee-ə
Rating: 39% based on 16 votes
Possibly based on
Zahra 2 or the Nigerian city of Zaria.
Zariah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: zə-RIE-ə, ZAHR-ee-ə
Rating: 43% based on 3 votes
Zavanna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: zə-VAN-ə
Rating: 21% based on 16 votes
Zavia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: ZAY-vee-ə
Rating: 23% based on 15 votes
Modern feminine form of
Xavier.
Zaya
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Mongolian
Other Scripts: заяа(Mongolian Cyrillic)
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
Means "fate, destiny" in Mongolian.
Zayd
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic
Other Scripts: زيد(Arabic)
Pronounced: ZIED
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
Means
"growth" in Arabic, derived from
زاد (zāda) meaning "to grow, to increase". This was the name of a slave who became the adopted son of the Prophet
Muhammad.
Zenovia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek
Other Scripts: Ζηνοβία(Greek)
Rating: 33% based on 15 votes
Zia
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic, Urdu, Bengali
Other Scripts: ضياء(Arabic) ضیاء(Urdu) জিয়া(Bengali)
Pronounced: dee-YA(Arabic)
Rating: 50% based on 3 votes
Alternate transcription of Arabic
ضياء (see
Ziya), as well as the usual Urdu and Bengali transcription.
Zinnia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: ZIN-ee-ə
Rating: 35% based on 15 votes
From the name of the flower, which was itself named for the German botanist Johann Zinn.
Zipporah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical, Hebrew
Other Scripts: צִפּוֹרָה(Hebrew)
Pronounced: zi-PAWR-ə(English) ZIP-ə-rə(English)
Rating: 38% based on 19 votes
Zoe
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Spanish, German, Czech, Ancient Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Ζώη, Ζωή(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: ZO-ee(English) DZAW-eh(Italian) THO-eh(European Spanish) SO-eh(Latin American Spanish)
Rating: 47% based on 19 votes
Means
"life" in Greek. From early times it was adopted by Hellenized Jews as a translation of
Eve. It was borne by two early Christian
saints, one martyred under Emperor Hadrian, the other martyred under Diocletian. The name was common in the Byzantine Empire, being borne by a ruling empress of the 11th century.
As an English name, Zoe (sometimes with a diaeresis as Zoë) has only been in use since the 19th century. It has generally been more common among Eastern Christians (in various spellings).
Zoie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: ZO-ee
Rating: 23% based on 16 votes
Zola 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: ZO-lə
Rating: 33% based on 15 votes
Meaning unknown, perhaps an invented name. It has been in occasional use in the English-speaking world since the 19th century. It coincides with an Italian surname, a famous bearer being the French-Italian author Émile Zola (1840-1902).
Zona
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Various
Rating: 25% based on 16 votes
Means "girdle, belt" in Greek. This name was made popular by the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and poet Zona Gale (1874-1938).
Zosia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Polish
Pronounced: ZAW-sha
Rating: 39% based on 15 votes
Zoya
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Bulgarian
Other Scripts: Зоя(Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Bulgarian)
Pronounced: ZO-yə(Russian)
Rating: 50% based on 3 votes
Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian and Bulgarian form of
Zoe.
Zuri
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swahili
Rating: 36% based on 15 votes
Means "beautiful" in Swahili.
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