Etoile's Personal Name List
Zuleika
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: zoo-LAY-kə(English)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Meaning uncertain, possibly of Arabic origin. According to medieval tradition, notably related by the 15th-century Persian poet Jami, this was the name of the biblical Potiphar's wife. She has been a frequent subject of poems and tales.
Zoraida
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish
Pronounced: tho-RIE-dha(European Spanish) so-RIE-dha(Latin American Spanish)
Rating: 60% based on 1 vote
Perhaps means
"enchanting" or
"dawn" in Arabic. This was the name of a minor 12th-century Spanish
saint, a convert from Islam. The name was used by Cervantes for a character in his novel
Don Quixote (1606), in which Zoraida is a beautiful Moorish woman of Algiers who converts to Christianity and elopes with a Spanish officer.
Ziva
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hebrew
Other Scripts: זִיוָה(Hebrew)
Rating: 30% based on 1 vote
Zinnia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: ZIN-ee-ə
Rating: 30% based on 1 vote
From the name of the flower, which was itself named for the German botanist Johann Zinn.
Ziba 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Persian
Other Scripts: زیبا(Persian)
Pronounced: zee-BAW
Rating: 30% based on 1 vote
Means "beautiful" in Persian.
Zénaïde
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French (Rare)
Pronounced: ZEH-NA-EED
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Zenaida
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Late Greek
Other Scripts: Ζηναΐδα(Ancient Greek)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Apparently a Greek derivative of
Ζηναΐς (Zenais), which was derived from the name of the Greek god
Zeus. This was the name of a 1st-century
saint who was a doctor with her sister Philonella.
Zahra 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic, Persian
Other Scripts: زهراء(Arabic) زهرا(Persian)
Pronounced: zah-RA(Arabic)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
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.
Yvonne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish
Pronounced: EE-VAWN(French) i-VAHN(American English) i-VAWN(British English) ee-VAWN(German) ee-VAW-nə(Dutch)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
French feminine form of
Yvon. It has been regularly used in the English-speaking world since the late 19th century.
Yvain
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arthurian Cycle
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Form of
Owain used by the 12th-century French poet Chrétien de Troyes for his Arthurian romance
Yvain, the Knight of the Lion.
Yuri 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian
Other Scripts: Юрий(Russian) Юрій(Ukrainian) Юрый(Belarusian)
Pronounced: YOO-ryee(Russian)
Rating: 30% based on 1 vote
Alternate transcription of Russian
Юрий, Ukrainian
Юрій or Belarusian
Юрый (see
Yuriy).
Yeva
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian, Ukrainian, Armenian
Other Scripts: Ева(Russian) Єва(Ukrainian) Եվա(Armenian)
Pronounced: YEH-və(Russian) yeh-VAH(Armenian)
Rating: 30% based on 1 vote
Russian, Ukrainian and Armenian form of
Eve.
Yelena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian
Other Scripts: Елена(Russian)
Pronounced: yi-LYEH-nə, i-LYEH-nə
Rating: 30% based on 1 vote
Yana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Bulgarian, Russian, Ukrainian
Other Scripts: Яна(Bulgarian, Russian, Ukrainian)
Pronounced: YA-nə(Russian)
Rating: 50% based on 1 vote
Bulgarian, Russian and Ukrainian form of
Jana 1.
Ximena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish
Pronounced: khee-MEH-na
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Feminine form of
Ximeno. This was the name of the wife of El Cid.
Xena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Popular Culture
Pronounced: ZEE-nə(English)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Probably a variant of
Xenia. This was the name of the main character in the 1990s television series
Xena: Warrior Princess.
Xander
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Dutch, English (Modern)
Pronounced: SAHN-dər(Dutch) KSAHN-dər(Dutch) ZAN-dər(American English) ZAN-də(British English)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Short form of
Alexander. It was popularized in the English-speaking world by a character on the television series
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003).
Westley
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: WEST-lee
Personal remark: This spelling from The Princess Bride
Rating: 60% based on 1 vote
From a surname that was a variant of
Wesley.
Wesley
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: WEHS-lee, WEHZ-lee
Rating: 30% based on 1 vote
From an English surname that was derived from a place name, itself meaning
"west meadow" from Old English
west "west" and
leah "woodland, clearing". It has been sometimes given in honour of John Wesley (1703-1791), the founder of Methodism.
Vivienne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: VEE-VYEHN
Rating: 30% based on 1 vote
Vivien 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: VEE-VYEHN
Rating: 30% based on 1 vote
French form of
Vivianus (see
Vivian).
Vivianne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: VEE-VYAN
Rating: 30% based on 1 vote
Viviana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Late Roman
Pronounced: vee-VYA-na(Italian) bee-BYA-na(Spanish)
Rating: 60% based on 1 vote
Feminine form of
Vivianus (see
Vivian).
Saint Viviana (also known as Bibiana) was a Roman saint and martyr of the 4th century.
Vivian
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish
Pronounced: VIV-ee-ən(English)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
From the Latin name
Vivianus, which was derived from Latin
vivus "alive".
Saint Vivian was a French bishop who provided protection during the Visigoth invasion of the 5th century. It has been occasionally used as an English (masculine) name since the Middle Ages. In modern times it is also used as a feminine name, in which case it is either an Anglicized form of
Bébinn or a variant of
Vivien 2.
Viola
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, German, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak
Pronounced: vie-O-lə(English) vi-O-lə(English) VIE-ə-lə(English) VYAW-la(Italian) vi-OO-la(Swedish) VEE-o-la(German) vee-O-la(German) VEE-o-law(Hungarian) VI-o-la(Czech) VEE-aw-la(Slovak)
Personal remark: I pronounce it VIE-oh-lah
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Means
"violet" in Latin. This is the name of the heroine of William Shakespeare's comedy
Twelfth Night (1602). In the play she is the survivor of a shipwreck who disguises herself as a man named Cesario. Working as a messenger for Duke
Orsino, she attempts to convince
Olivia to marry him. Instead Viola falls in love with the duke.
Victor
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, Portuguese, Romanian, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Late Roman
Pronounced: VIK-tər(American English) VIK-tə(British English) VEEK-TAWR(French) VEEK-tor(Romanian) VIK-tawr(Dutch)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Roman name meaning
"victor, conqueror" in Latin. It was common among early Christians, and was borne by several early
saints and three popes. It was rare as an English name during the Middle Ages, but it was revived in the 19th century. A famous bearer was the French writer Victor Hugo (1802-1885), who authored
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and
Les Misérables.
Verity
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: VEHR-i-tee
Personal remark: Maybe as a middle name, but I really do love it
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
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.
Verena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Late Roman
Pronounced: veh-REH-na(German)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Possibly related to Latin
verus "true". This might also be a Coptic form of the Ptolemaic name
Berenice.
Saint Verena was a 3rd-century Egyptian-born nurse who went with the Theban Legion to Switzerland. After the legion was massacred she settled near Zurich.
Vera 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian, English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Hungarian, Slovene, Serbian, Croatian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Belarusian, Georgian
Other Scripts: Вера(Russian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Belarusian) ვერა(Georgian)
Pronounced: VYEH-rə(Russian) VIR-ə(English) VEHR-ə(English) VEH-ra(German, Dutch) VEH-rah(Swedish) BEH-ra(Spanish) VEH-raw(Hungarian)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Means "faith" in Russian, though it is sometimes associated with the Latin word verus "true". It has been in general use in the English-speaking world since the late 19th century.
Velia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: VEH-lya
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
From the Roman family name Velius, which possibly means "concealed" in Latin.
Veda
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Telugu, Kannada
Other Scripts: వేద(Telugu) ವೇದ(Kannada)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Means "knowledge" in Sanskrit.
Vasiliy
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Russian
Other Scripts: Василий(Russian)
Pronounced: vu-SYEE-lyee
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Valora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Esperanto
Pronounced: va-LO-ra
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Means "valuable" in Esperanto.
Valentine 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: VAL-in-tien
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
From the Roman
cognomen Valentinus, which was itself a derivative of the cognomen
Valens meaning
"strong, vigorous, healthy" in Latin.
Saint Valentine was a 3rd-century martyr. His feast day was the same as the Roman fertility festival of Lupercalia, which resulted in the association between Valentine's Day and love.
As an English name, it has been used occasionally since the 12th century. It is the name of a central character in Shakespeare's play The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1594).
Valentina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Russian, Lithuanian, German, Croatian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Slovene, Albanian, Romanian, Spanish, Greek, Ancient Roman
Other Scripts: Валентина(Russian, Bulgarian, Macedonian) Βαλεντίνα(Greek)
Pronounced: va-lehn-TEE-na(Italian) və-lyin-TYEE-nə(Russian) vu-lyehn-tyi-NU(Lithuanian) ba-lehn-TEE-na(Spanish)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Feminine form of
Valentinus (see
Valentine 1). A famous bearer is the Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova (1937-), who in 1963 became the first woman to visit space.
Úna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish, Medieval Irish [1]
Pronounced: OO-nə(Irish)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Probably derived from Old Irish úan meaning "lamb". This was a common name in medieval Ireland.
Tristan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, Arthurian Cycle
Pronounced: TRIS-tən(English) TREES-TAHN(French)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Probably from the Celtic name
Drustan, a
diminutive of
Drust, which occurs as
Drystan in a few Welsh sources. As
Tristan, it first appears in 12th-century French tales, probably altered by association with Old French
triste "sad". According to the tales Tristan was sent to Ireland by his uncle King Mark of Cornwall in order to fetch
Iseult, who was to be the king's bride. On the way back, Tristan and Iseult accidentally drink a potion that makes them fall in love. Later versions of the tale make Tristan one of King
Arthur's knights. His tragic story was very popular in the Middle Ages, and the name has occasionally been used since then.
Titania
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: tie-TAY-nee-ə(American English) ti-TAH-nee-ə(British English)
Rating: 50% based on 1 vote
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.
Thomas
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Greek, Biblical, Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Θωμάς(Greek) Θωμᾶς(Ancient Greek) തോമസ്(Malayalam)
Pronounced: TAHM-əs(American English) TAWM-əs(British English) TAW-MA(French) TO-mas(German) TO-mahs(Dutch) tho-MAS(Greek)
Rating: 10% based on 1 vote
Greek form of the Aramaic name
תְּאוֹמָא (Teʾoma) meaning
"twin". In the
New Testament this is the name of an apostle. When he heard that
Jesus had risen from the dead he initially doubted the story, until Jesus appeared before him and he examined his wounds himself. According to tradition he was martyred in India. Due to his renown, the name came into general use in the Christian world.
In England the name was used by the Normans and became very popular due to Saint Thomas Becket, a 12th-century archbishop of Canterbury and martyr. It was reliably among the top five most common English names for boys from the 13th to the 19th century, and it has remained consistently popular to this day.
Another notable saint by this name was the 13th-century Italian philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas, who is regarded as a Doctor of the Church. Other famous bearers include philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), American president Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), novelist Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), and inventor Thomas Edison (1847-1931).
Thalia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized), Greek
Other Scripts: Θάλεια(Greek)
Pronounced: THAY-lee-ə(English) thə-LIE-ə(English)
Rating: 70% based on 1 vote
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).
Tasia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek
Other Scripts: Τασία(Greek)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Tara 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: TAHR-ə, TEHR-ə, TAR-ə
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Anglicized form of the Irish place name Teamhair, which possibly means "elevated place". This was the name of the sacred hill near Dublin where the Irish high kings resided. It was popularized as a given name by the novel Gone with the Wind (1936) and the subsequent movie adaptation (1939), in which it is the name of the O'Hara plantation.
Talya
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hebrew
Other Scripts: טַלְיָה, טַלְיָא(Hebrew)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Talia 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hebrew
Other Scripts: טַלְיָה, טַלְיָא(Hebrew)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Means
"dew from God" in Hebrew, from
טַל (ṭal) meaning "dew" and
יָהּ (yah) referring to the Hebrew God.
Sylvia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish
Pronounced: SIL-vee-ə(English) SIL-vee-a(Dutch) SUYL-vee-ah(Finnish)
Rating: 60% based on 1 vote
Variant of
Silvia. This has been the most common English spelling since the 19th century.
Svetlana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian, Slovak, Bulgarian, Serbian, Macedonian, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Armenian, Georgian
Other Scripts: Светлана(Russian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Macedonian) Սվետլանա(Armenian) სვეტლანა(Georgian)
Pronounced: svyit-LA-nə(Russian) svyeht-lu-NU(Lithuanian)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Derived from Russian
свет (svet) meaning
"light, world". It was popularized by the poem
Svetlana (1813) by the poet Vasily Zhukovsky. It is sometimes used as a translation of
Photine.
Suraya
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic, Malay
Other Scripts: ثريّا, ثريّة(Arabic)
Pronounced: thoo-RIE-ya(Arabic)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Alternate transcription of Arabic
ثريّا or
ثريّة (see
Thurayya), as well as the usual Malay form.
Stella 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Dutch, German
Pronounced: STEHL-ə(English) STEHL-la(Italian) STEH-la(Dutch)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Means "star" in Latin. This name was created by the 16th-century poet Philip Sidney for the subject of his collection of sonnets Astrophel and Stella. It was a nickname of a lover of Jonathan Swift, real name Esther Johnson (1681-1728), though it was not commonly used as a given name until the 19th century. It appears in Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), belonging to the sister of Blanche DuBois and the wife of Stanley Kowalski.
Stelara
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Esperanto
Pronounced: steh-LA-ra
Rating: 60% based on 1 vote
From Esperanto stelaro meaning "constellation", ultimately from Latin stella "star".
Sitara
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Urdu
Other Scripts: ستارہ(Urdu)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Means "star" in Urdu, ultimately from Persian.
Sidonie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: SEE-DAW-NEE
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Sidney
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: SID-nee
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
From the English surname
Sidney. It was first used as a given name in honour of executed politician Algernon Sidney (1622-1683). Another notable bearer of the surname was the poet and statesman Philip Sidney (1554-1586).
As a given name, it has traditionally been more masculine than feminine. In America however, after the variant Sydney became popular for girls, Sidney was used more for girls than boys between 1993 and 2019.
Shoshanna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical Hebrew
Other Scripts: שׁוֹשַׁנָּה(Ancient Hebrew)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Shira
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hebrew
Other Scripts: שִׁירָה(Hebrew)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Means "singing" in Hebrew.
Seth 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Biblical, Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek [1]
Other Scripts: שֵׁת(Ancient Hebrew) Σήθ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: SETH(English)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Sergei
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Russian, Bulgarian
Other Scripts: Сергей(Russian, Bulgarian)
Pronounced: syir-GYAY(Russian)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Alternate transcription of Russian/Bulgarian
Сергей (see
Sergey).
Serena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Late Roman
Pronounced: sə-REEN-ə(English) seh-REH-na(Italian)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
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-).
Seraphina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare), German (Rare), Late Roman
Pronounced: sehr-ə-FEEN-ə(English) zeh-ra-FEE-na(German)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
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.
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: 90% based on 1 vote
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.
Selena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish, English, Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Σελήνη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: seh-LEH-na(Spanish) sə-LEEN-ə(English)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Latinized form of
Selene. This name was borne by popular Mexican-American singer Selena Quintanilla (1971-1995), who was known simply as Selena. Another famous bearer is the American actress and singer Selena Gomez (1992-).
Selah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: סֶלַה(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: SEE-lə(English)
Rating: 30% based on 1 vote
From a Hebrew musical term that occurs many times in the
Old Testament Psalms. It was probably meant to indicate a musical pause.
Scheherazade
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: shə-HEHR-ə-zahd(English) shə-hehr-ə-ZAHD(English)
Personal remark: I wouldn't use it, but I like how it sounds
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Sasha
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Russian, Ukrainian, English, French
Other Scripts: Саша(Russian, Ukrainian)
Pronounced: SA-shə(Russian) SASH-ə(English) SAH-shə(English) SA-SHA(French)
Personal remark: Nickname for both genders, possibly masc. full name
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Sander
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Dutch, Estonian, Danish, Norwegian
Pronounced: SAHN-dər(Dutch)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Dutch, Estonian, Danish and Norwegian short form of
Alexander.
Sakura
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Japanese
Other Scripts: 桜, 咲良, etc.(Japanese Kanji) さくら(Japanese Hiragana)
Pronounced: SA-KOO-RA
Rating: 50% based on 1 vote
From Japanese
桜 (sakura) meaning "cherry blossom", though it is often written using the hiragana writing system. It can also come from
咲 (saku) meaning "blossom" and
良 (ra) meaning "good, virtuous, respectable" as well as other kanji combinations.
Safira
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Portuguese
Pronounced: su-FEE-ru(European Portuguese) sa-FEE-ru(Brazilian Portuguese)
Rating: 50% based on 1 vote
Portuguese form of
Sapphira. It coincides with the Portuguese word for
"sapphire".
Runa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Norwegian, Danish, Swedish
Pronounced: ROO-nah(Norwegian) ROO-na(Danish, Swedish)
Rating: 70% based on 1 vote
Roxanne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, French
Pronounced: rahk-SAN(American English) rawk-SAN(British English) RAWK-SAN(French)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Roxana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Spanish, Romanian, Ancient Greek (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ῥωξάνη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: rahk-SAN-ə(American English) rawk-SAN-ə(British English) rok-SA-na(Spanish)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Latin form of
Ῥωξάνη (Rhoxane), the Greek form of an Old Persian or Bactrian name, from Old Iranian *
rauxšnā meaning
"bright, shining" [1]. This was the name of Alexander the Great's first wife, a daughter of the Bactrian nobleman Oxyartes. In the modern era it came into use during the 17th century. In the English-speaking world it was popularized by Daniel Defoe, who used it in his novel
Roxana (1724).
Rowena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: ro-EEN-ə
Rating: 60% based on 1 vote
Meaning uncertain. According to the 12th-century chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth, this was the name of a daughter of the Saxon chief Hengist. It is possible (but unsupported) that Geoffrey based it on the Old English elements
hroð "fame" and
wynn "joy", or alternatively on the Old Welsh elements
ron "spear" and
gwen "white". It was popularized by Walter Scott, who used it for a character in his novel
Ivanhoe (1819).
Rosetta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: ro-ZEHT-ta
Rating: 70% based on 1 vote
Rosalind
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: RAHZ-ə-lind(American English) RAWZ-ə-lind(British English)
Rating: 50% based on 1 vote
Derived from the Old German elements
hros meaning "horse" and
lind meaning "soft, flexible, tender". The
Normans introduced this name to England, though it was not common. During the Middle Ages its spelling was influenced by the Latin phrase
rosa linda "beautiful rose". The name was popularized by Edmund Spencer, who used it in his poetry, and by William Shakespeare, who used it for the heroine in his comedy
As You Like It (1599).
Rosalie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, German, Dutch, English
Pronounced: RAW-ZA-LEE(French) ro-za-LEE(German, Dutch) RO-sa-lee(Dutch) ro-sa-LEE(Dutch) RO-za-lee(Dutch) RO-zə-lee(English)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
French, German and Dutch form of
Rosalia. In the English-speaking this name received a boost after the release of the movie
Rosalie (1938), which was based on an earlier musical.
Rosalia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Late Roman
Pronounced: ro-za-LEE-a(Italian)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Late Latin name derived from
rosa "rose". This was the name of a 12th-century Sicilian
saint.
Rory
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Irish, Scottish, English
Pronounced: RAWR-ee(English)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Anglicized form of
Ruaidhrí. Typically a masculine name, it gained some popularity for girls in the United States after it was used on the television series
Gilmore Girls (2000-2007), in this case as a nickname for
Lorelai. Despite this, the name has grown more common for boys in America, especially after 2011, perhaps due to Northern Irish golfer Rory McIlroy (1989-).
Roman
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Russian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Ukrainian, Slovene, Croatian, Estonian, German, English
Other Scripts: Роман(Russian, Ukrainian)
Pronounced: ru-MAN(Russian) RAW-man(Polish, Slovak) RO-man(Czech, German) RO-mən(English)
Rating: 60% based on 1 vote
From the Late Latin name
Romanus meaning
"Roman". This name was borne by several early
saints including a 7th-century bishop of Rouen, as well as medieval rulers of Bulgaria, Kyiv and Moldavia.
Riya
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hindi, Marathi, Bengali
Other Scripts: रिया(Hindi, Marathi) রিয়া(Bengali)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Means "singer" in Sanskrit.
Riva
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hebrew
Other Scripts: רִיבָה(Hebrew)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Rhiannon
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh, English, Welsh Mythology
Pronounced: ri-AN-awn(Welsh) ree-AN-ən(English)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
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.
Renée
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, Dutch
Pronounced: RU-NEH(French) rə-NEH(Dutch) reh-NEH(Dutch)
Rating: 10% based on 1 vote
French feminine form of
René.
René
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Slovak, Czech
Pronounced: RU-NEH(French) rə-NEH(German, Dutch) reh-NEH(Dutch, Spanish) REH-neh(Slovak, Czech)
Rating: 10% based on 1 vote
French form of
Renatus. Famous bearers include the French mathematician and rationalist philosopher René Descartes (1596-1650) and the Belgian surrealist painter René Magritte (1898-1967).
Renata
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, German, Polish, Czech, Lithuanian, Croatian, Slovene, Romanian, Late Roman
Pronounced: reh-NA-ta(Italian, Spanish, German, Polish) REH-na-ta(Czech)
Rating: 70% based on 1 vote
Rémy
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: REH-MEE
Personal remark: Masculine only
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
French form of the Latin name
Remigius, which was derived from Latin
remigis "oarsman, rower".
Saint Rémy was a 5th-century bishop who converted and baptized Clovis, king of the Franks.
Reina 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish
Pronounced: RAY-na
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Means "queen" in Spanish.
Régine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: REH-ZHEEN
Rating: 30% based on 1 vote
Regina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Lithuanian, Estonian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Russian, Hungarian, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Late Roman
Other Scripts: Регина(Russian)
Pronounced: ri-JEE-nə(English) ri-JIE-nə(English) reh-GEE-na(German, Polish) reh-JEE-na(Italian) reh-KHEE-na(Spanish) ryeh-gyi-NU(Lithuanian) REH-gi-na(Czech) REH-gee-naw(Hungarian)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Means
"queen" in Latin (or Italian). It was in use as a Christian name from early times, and was borne by a 2nd-century
saint. In England it was used during the Middle Ages in honour of the Virgin
Mary, and it was later revived in the 19th century. A city in Canada bears this name, in honour of Queen Victoria.
Rayna 2
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Yiddish
Other Scripts: ריינאַ(Yiddish)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Rava
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Esperanto
Pronounced: RA-va
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Means "lovely, delightful" in Esperanto.
Rasa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Lithuanian, Latvian
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Means "dew" in Lithuanian and Latvian.
Raniya
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic
Other Scripts: رانية(Arabic)
Pronounced: RA-nee-ya
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Possibly related to the Arabic root
رنا (ranā) meaning
"to gaze, to look intently".
Raisa 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian
Other Scripts: Раиса(Russian) Раїса(Ukrainian) Раіса(Belarusian)
Pronounced: ru-EES-ə(Russian)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Probably a Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian form of
Herais.
Rainier
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French (Rare)
Pronounced: REH-NYEH
Rating: 70% based on 1 vote
Radana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Czech
Pronounced: RA-da-na
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Originally a short form of
Radovana, now used independently.
Rada
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Serbian, Bulgarian
Other Scripts: Рада(Serbian, Bulgarian)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Derived from the Slavic element
radŭ meaning
"happy, willing", originally a short form of names beginning with that element.
Quincy
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KWIN-see
Rating: 50% based on 1 vote
From an English surname that was derived (via the place name
Cuinchy) from the personal name
Quintus. A famous bearer was John Quincy Adams (1767-1848), sixth president of the United States, who was born in the town of Quincy, Massachusetts. Both the town and the president were named after his maternal great-grandfather John Quincy (1689-1767). Another notable bearer is the American musician Quincy Jones (1933-).
Psyche
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ψυχή(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: PSUY-KEH(Classical Greek) SIE-kee(English)
Personal remark: Why do I love this so much?
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Means
"the soul", derived from Greek
ψύχω (psycho) meaning "to breathe". The Greeks thought that the breath was the soul. In Greek
mythology Psyche was a beautiful maiden who was beloved by Eros (or Cupid in Roman mythology). She is the subject of Keats's poem
Ode to Psyche (1819).
Prospero
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: PRAW-speh-ro
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Italian form of
Prosper. This is the name of the main character, a shipwrecked magician, in
The Tempest (1611) by William Shakespeare.
Prosper
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French, English
Pronounced: PRAWS-PEHR(French) PRAHS-pər(American English) PRAWS-pə(British English)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
From the Latin name
Prosperus, which meant
"fortunate, successful". This was the name of a 5th-century
saint, a supporter of Saint
Augustine. It has never been common as an English name, though the
Puritans used it, partly because it is identical to the English word
prosper.
Proserpine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Roman Mythology (Anglicized, Gallicized)
Rating: 50% based on 1 vote
Proserpina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Roman Mythology
Pronounced: pro-SEHR-pee-na(Latin) pro-SUR-pin-ə(American English) pro-SU-pin-ə(British English)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Means
"to emerge" in Latin. She was the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess
Persephone.
Portia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: PAWR-shə(American English) PAW-shə(British English)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
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.
Phoebe
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Greek Mythology (Latinized), Biblical, Biblical Latin
Other Scripts: Φοίβη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: FEE-bee(English)
Rating: 60% based on 1 vote
Latinized form of the Greek name
Φοίβη (Phoibe), which meant
"bright, pure" from Greek
φοῖβος (phoibos). In Greek
mythology Phoibe was a Titan associated with the moon. This was also an epithet of her granddaughter, the moon goddess
Artemis. The name appears in
Paul's epistle to the Romans in the
New Testament, where it belongs to a female minister in the church at Cenchreae.
In England, it began to be used as a given name after the Protestant Reformation. It was moderately common in the 19th century. It began to rise in popularity again in the late 1980s, probably helped along by characters on the American television shows Friends (1994-2004) and Charmed (1998-2006). It is currently much more common in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand than the United States.
A moon of Saturn bears this name, in honour of the Titan.
Philomela
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Φιλομήλη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: fil-ə-MEE-lə(English)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
From Greek
Φιλομήλη (Philomele), derived from
φίλος (philos) meaning "lover, friend" and
μῆλον (melon) meaning "fruit". The second element has also been interpreted as Greek
μέλος (melos) meaning "song". In Greek
myth Philomela was the sister-in-law of Tereus, who raped her and cut out her tongue. Prokne avenged her sister by killing her son by Tereus, after which Tereus attempted to kill Philomela. However, the gods intervened and transformed her into a nightingale.
Philomel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: FIL-ə-mehl(English)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
From an English word meaning
"nightingale" (ultimately from
Philomela). It has been used frequently in poetry to denote the bird.
Phaedra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Φαίδρα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: FEED-rə(English) FEHD-rə(English)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
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.
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: 40% based on 1 vote
Feminine form of
Peter. This was also the name of an ancient city in the region that is now Jordan.
Persephone
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Περσεφόνη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: PEHR-SEH-PO-NEH(Classical Greek) pər-SEHF-ə-nee(American English) pə-SEHF-ə-nee(British English)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
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.
Perdita
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Derived from Latin
perditus meaning
"lost". Shakespeare created this name for the daughter of
Hermione and
Leontes in his play
The Winter's Tale (1610). Abandoned as an infant by her father the king, she grows up to be a shepherdess and falls in love with with
Florizel.
Percival
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arthurian Cycle, English
Pronounced: PUR-si-vəl(American English) PU-si-vəl(British English)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Created by the 12th-century French poet Chrétien de Troyes for his poem
Perceval, the Story of the Grail. Chrétien may have derived the name from Old French
perce val "pierce the valley", or he may have based it loosely on the Welsh name
Peredur [1]. In the poem Perceval is a boy from Wales who hopes to become a knight under King
Arthur. Setting out to prove himself, he eventually comes to the castle of the Fisher King and is given a glimpse of the Grail.
Penny
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: PEHN-ee
Rating: 70% based on 1 vote
Diminutive of
Penelope. It can also be given in reference to the copper coin (a British pound or an American dollar are worth 100 of them), derived from Old English
penning.
Peninnah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: פְּנִנָּה(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: pi-NIN-ə(English) pi-NEE-nə(English)
Rating: 60% based on 1 vote
Means
"pearl, coral, precious stone" in Hebrew. In the
Old Testament this is the name of one of the wives of
Elkanah, the other being
Hannah.
Penelope
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology, English
Other Scripts: Πηνελόπη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: PEH-NEH-LO-PEH(Classical Greek) pə-NEHL-ə-pee(English)
Rating: 60% based on 1 vote
Probably derived from Greek
πηνέλοψ (penelops), a type of duck. Alternatively it could be from
πήνη (pene) meaning "threads, weft" and
ὄψ (ops) meaning "face, eye". In
Homer's epic the
Odyssey this is the name of the wife of
Odysseus, forced to fend off suitors while her husband is away fighting at Troy.
It has occasionally been used as an English given name since the 16th century. It was moderately popular in the 1940s, but had a more notable upswing in the early 2000s. This may have been inspired by the Spanish actress Penélope Cruz (1974-), who gained prominence in English-language movies at that time. It was already rapidly rising when celebrities Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick gave it to their baby daughter in 2012.
Paul
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Estonian, Romanian, Biblical
Pronounced: PAWL(English, French) POWL(German, Dutch, Swedish)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
From the Roman family name
Paulus, which meant
"small" or
"humble" in Latin. Paul was an important leader of the early Christian church. According to Acts in the
New Testament, he was a Jewish Roman citizen who converted to Christianity after the resurrected
Jesus appeared to him. After this he travelled the eastern Mediterranean as a missionary. His original Hebrew name was
Saul. Many of the epistles in the New Testament were authored by him.
Due to the renown of Saint Paul the name became common among early Christians. It was borne by a number of other early saints and six popes. In England it was relatively rare during the Middle Ages, but became more frequent beginning in the 17th century. In the United States it was in the top 20 names for boys from 1900 to 1968, while in the United Kingdom it was very popular from the 1950s to the 80s. It has also been heavily used in Germany and France and continues to be popular there, though it is currently on the decline in the English-speaking world.
A notable bearer was the American Revolutionary War figure Paul Revere (1735-1818), who warned of the advance of the British army. Famous bearers in the art world include the French impressionists Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) and Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), and the Swiss expressionist Paul Klee (1879-1940). It is borne by actor Paul Newman (1925-2008) and the musicians Paul Simon (1941-) and Paul McCartney (1942-). This is also the name of the legendary American lumberjack Paul Bunyan and the fictional Paul Atreides from Frank Herbert's novel Dune (1965).
Parvaneh
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Persian
Other Scripts: پروانه(Persian)
Pronounced: par-vaw-NEH
Rating: 30% based on 1 vote
Means "butterfly" in Persian.
Paris 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Πάρις(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: PA-REES(Classical Greek) PAR-is(English) PEHR-is(English)
Rating: 30% based on 1 vote
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.
Pandora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Πανδώρα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: PAN-DAW-RA(Classical Greek) pan-DAWR-ə(English)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
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.
Orianne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: AW-RYAN
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Oriana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish
Pronounced: o-RYA-na
Rating: 60% based on 1 vote
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.
Ophélie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: AW-FEH-LEE
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Ophelia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Literature, Ancient Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Ὠφελία(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: o-FEEL-ee-ə(English) o-FEEL-yə(English)
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
Derived from Greek
ὠφέλεια (opheleia) meaning
"help, advantage". This was a rare ancient Greek name, which was either rediscovered or recreated by the poet Jacopo Sannazaro for a character in his poem
Arcadia (1480). It was borrowed by Shakespeare for his play
Hamlet (1600), in which it belongs to the daughter of
Polonius and the potential love interest of
Hamlet. She eventually goes insane and drowns herself after Hamlet kills her father. In spite of this negative association, the name has been in use since the 19th century.
Oona
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish, Finnish
Pronounced: OO-nə(English) O-nah(Finnish)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Anglicized form of
Úna, as well as a Finnish form.
Olivier
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French, Dutch, Carolingian Cycle
Pronounced: AW-LEE-VYEH(French) O-lee-veer(Dutch)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
French and Dutch form of
Oliver. This is also a French word meaning "olive tree".
Olivia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Spanish, French, German, Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch
Pronounced: o-LIV-ee-ə(English) ə-LIV-ee-ə(English) o-LEE-vya(Italian, German) o-LEE-bya(Spanish) AW-LEE-VYA(French) O-lee-vee-ah(Finnish) o-LEE-vee-a(Dutch)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
This name was used in this spelling by William Shakespeare for a character in his comedy
Twelfth Night (1602). This was a rare name in Shakespeare's time
[1] that may have been based on
Oliva or
Oliver, or directly on the Latin word
oliva meaning
"olive". In the play Olivia is a noblewoman wooed by Duke
Orsino. Instead she falls in love with his messenger Cesario, who is actually
Viola in disguise.
Olivia has been used in the English-speaking world since the 18th century, though it did not become overly popular until the last half of the 20th century. Its rise in popularity in the 1970s may have been inspired by a character on the television series The Waltons (1972-1982) [2] or the singer Olivia Newton-John (1948-2022). In 1989 it was borne by a young character on The Cosby Show, which likely accelerated its growth. It reached the top rank in England and Wales by 2008 and in the United States by 2019.
A famous bearer was the British-American actress Olivia de Havilland (1916-2020).
Oliver
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Estonian, Catalan, Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, Czech, Slovak, Carolingian Cycle
Other Scripts: Оливер(Serbian, Macedonian)
Pronounced: AHL-i-vər(American English) AWL-i-və(British English) O-lee-vu(German) O-lee-vehr(Finnish) oo-lee-BEH(Catalan) O-li-vehr(Czech) AW-lee-vehr(Slovak)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
From Old French
Olivier, which was possibly derived from Latin
oliva "olive tree" [1]. Alternatively there could be an underlying Germanic name, such as Old Norse
Áleifr (see
Olaf) or Frankish
Alawar (see
Álvaro), with the spelling altered by association with the Latin word. In the Middle Ages the name became well-known in Western Europe because of the French epic
La Chanson de Roland, in which Olivier is a friend and advisor to the hero
Roland.
In England Oliver was a common medieval name, however it became rare after the 17th century because of the military commander Oliver Cromwell, who ruled the country following the civil war. The name was revived in the 19th century, perhaps due in part to the title character in Charles Dickens' novel Oliver Twist (1838), about a poor orphan living on the streets of London. It became very popular at the beginning of the 21st century, reaching the top rank for boys in England and Wales in 2009 and entering the top ten in the United States in 2017.
Oihana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Basque
Pronounced: oi-A-na
Rating: 70% based on 1 vote
Odile
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: AW-DEEL
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Octavian
Gender: Masculine
Usage: History, Romanian
Pronounced: ahk-TAY-vee-ən(American English) awk-TAY-vee-ən(British English)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
From the Roman name
Octavianus, which was derived from the name
Octavius. After Gaius Octavius (later the Roman emperor
Augustus) was adopted by Julius Caesar he took the name Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus.
Octavia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Spanish, Romanian, Ancient Roman
Pronounced: ahk-TAY-vee-ə(American English) awk-TAY-vee-ə(British English) ok-TA-bya(Spanish) ok-TA-wee-a(Latin)
Rating: 70% based on 1 vote
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.
Noémie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: NAW-EH-MEE
Rating: 30% based on 1 vote
Niobe
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Νιόβη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: NEE-O-BEH(Classical Greek) NIE-o-bee(English)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
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.
Ninian
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
From the name of a 5th-century British
saint, known as the Apostle to the Picts, who was apparently responsible for many miracles and cures. He first appears briefly in the 8th-century Latin writings of the historian Bede, though his name is only written in the ablative case
Nynia [1]. This may represent a Brythonic name *
Ninniau [2][3].
Nimue
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arthurian Cycle
Pronounced: NIM-ə-way(English)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
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.
Nikita 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian
Other Scripts: Никита(Russian) Нікіта(Ukrainian, Belarusian)
Pronounced: nyi-KYEE-tə(Russian)
Personal remark: ONLY as a male name, as it's supposed to be
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Russian form of
Niketas. This form is also used in Ukrainian and Belarusian alongside the more traditional forms
Mykyta and
Mikita. A notable bearer was the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971).
Nerissa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: nə-RIS-ə(English)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
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.
Nereida
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish
Pronounced: neh-RAY-dha
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Derived from Greek
Νηρηΐδες (Nereides) meaning
"nymphs, sea sprites", ultimately derived from the name of the Greek sea god
Nereus, who supposedly fathered them.
Nella
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: NEHL-la
Nell
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: NEHL
Medieval
diminutive of names beginning with
El, such as
Eleanor,
Ellen 1 or
Helen. It may have arisen from the medieval affectionate phrase
mine El, which was later reinterpreted as
my Nel.
Natasha
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian, Belarusian, English
Other Scripts: Наташа(Russian, Belarusian)
Pronounced: nu-TA-shə(Russian) nə-TAHSH-ə(English)
Rating: 60% based on 1 vote
Russian
diminutive of
Natalya. This is the name of a character in Leo Tolstoy's novel
War and Peace (1865). It has been used in the English-speaking world only since the 20th century.
Natalya
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian
Other Scripts: Наталья(Russian)
Pronounced: nu-TA-lyə
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Russian form of
Natalia (see
Natalie).
Nanaea
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Semitic Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: 𒀭𒈾𒈾𒀀(Akkadian Cuneiform)
Rating: 70% based on 1 vote
Naiara
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Basque
Pronounced: nie-A-ra
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
From the Basque name of the Spanish city of Nájera, which is Arabic in origin. In the 12th century there was a reported apparition of the Virgin
Mary in a nearby cave.
Nadia 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, Italian, Spanish, Polish, English, Russian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian
Other Scripts: Надя(Russian, Bulgarian) Надія(Ukrainian)
Pronounced: NA-DYA(French) NA-dya(Italian, Polish) NA-dhya(Spanish) NAD-ee-ə(English) NAHD-ee-ə(English) NA-dyə(Russian)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Variant of
Nadya 1 used in Western Europe, as well as an alternate transcription of the Slavic name. It began to be used in France in the 19th century
[1]. The name received a boost in popularity from the Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci (1961-)
[2].
Nadezhda
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian, Bulgarian
Other Scripts: Надежда(Russian, Bulgarian)
Pronounced: nu-DYEZH-də(Russian)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Means "hope" in Russian and Bulgarian.
Muna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic
Other Scripts: منى(Arabic)
Pronounced: MOO-na
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Means
"wishes, desires", from the plural form of
Munya.
Morrígan
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish Mythology
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
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.
Morgana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: mawr-GAN-ə(American English) maw-GAN-ə(British English)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Morgan 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh, English, French
Pronounced: MAWR-gən(American English) MAW-gən(British English) MAWR-GAN(French)
Personal remark: I prefer this as a masculine name only
Rating: 80% based on 2 votes
From the Old Welsh masculine name
Morcant, which was possibly derived from Welsh
mor "sea" and
cant "circle". Since the 1980s in America
Morgan has been more common for girls than boys, perhaps due to stories of
Morgan le Fay or the fame of actress Morgan Fairchild (1950-).
Mirèio
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Occitan
Rating: 70% based on 1 vote
Mireille
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, Dutch
Pronounced: MEE-RAY(French)
Rating: 30% based on 1 vote
From the Occitan name Mirèio, which was first used by the poet Frédéric Mistral for the main character in his poem Mirèio (1859). He probably derived it from the Occitan word mirar meaning "to admire". It is spelled Mirèlha in classical Occitan orthography. A notable bearer is the French singer Mireille Mathieu (1946-).
Mireia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Catalan, Spanish
Pronounced: mee-REH-yə(Catalan) mee-REH-ya(Spanish)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Maximilien
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: MAK-SEE-MEE-LYEHN
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Maximilian
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, English, Swedish, Norwegian (Rare), Danish (Rare)
Pronounced: mak-see-MEE-lee-an(German) mak-sə-MIL-yən(English)
Rating: 60% based on 1 vote
From the Roman name
Maximilianus, which was derived from
Maximus. It was borne by a 3rd-century
saint and martyr. In the 15th century the Holy Roman emperor Frederick III gave this name to his son and eventual heir. In this case it was a blend of the names of the Roman generals Fabius Maximus and Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus (see
Emiliano), whom Frederick admired. It was subsequently borne by a second Holy Roman emperor, two kings of Bavaria, and a short-lived Habsburg emperor of Mexico.
Martine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, Dutch, Norwegian
Pronounced: MAR-TEEN(French) mahr-TEE-nə(Dutch)
Rating: 10% based on 1 vote
French, Dutch and Norwegian form of
Martina.
Martina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Italian, Spanish, Catalan, Czech, Slovak, Croatian, Slovene, Bulgarian, Hungarian, English, Swedish, Dutch, Ancient Roman
Other Scripts: Мартина(Bulgarian)
Pronounced: mar-TEE-na(German, Italian, Spanish) mər-TEE-nə(Catalan) MAR-kyi-na(Czech) MAR-tee-na(Slovak) MAWR-tee-naw(Hungarian) mahr-TEEN-ə(English) mahr-TEE-na(Dutch)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Feminine form of
Martinus (see
Martin).
Saint Martina was a 3rd-century martyr who is one of the patron saints of Rome.
Martin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Estonian, Russian, Romanian, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Hungarian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Finnish
Other Scripts: Мартин, Мартын(Russian) Мартин(Serbian, Bulgarian, Macedonian)
Pronounced: MAHR-tin(American English) MAH-tin(British English) MAR-TEHN(French) MAR-teen(German, Slovak) MAT-in(Swedish) MAHT-tin(Norwegian) MAH-tseen(Danish) MAR-kyin(Czech) MAWR-teen(Hungarian) mar-TIN(Bulgarian) MAHR-teen(Finnish)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
From the Roman name
Martinus, which was derived from
Martis, the genitive case of the name of the Roman god
Mars.
Saint Martin of Tours was a 4th-century bishop who is the patron saint of France. According to legend, he came across a cold beggar in the middle of winter so he ripped his cloak in two and gave half of it to the beggar. He was a favourite saint during the Middle Ages, and his name has become common throughout the Christian world.
An influential bearer of the name was Martin Luther (1483-1546), the theologian who began the Protestant Reformation. The name was also borne by five popes (two of them more commonly known as Marinus). Other more recent bearers include the German philosopher Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), the American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968), and the American filmmaker Martin Scorsese (1942-).
Marlowe
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: MAHR-lo(American English) MAH-lo(British English)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
From a surname that was derived from a place name meaning "remnants of a lake" in Old English. A famous bearer of the surname was the English playwright Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593).
Mark
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Russian, Belarusian, Dutch, Danish, Armenian, Biblical
Other Scripts: Марк(Russian, Belarusian) Մարկ(Armenian)
Pronounced: MAHRK(American English, Dutch, Eastern Armenian) MAHK(British English) MARK(Russian) MAHRG(Western Armenian)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Form of Latin
Marcus used in several languages.
Saint Mark was the author of the second gospel in the
New Testament. Though the author's identity is not certain, some traditions hold him to be the same person as the John Mark who appears in the Book of Acts. He is the patron saint of Venice, where he is supposedly buried. Though in use during the Middle Ages,
Mark was not common in the English-speaking world until the 19th century, when it began to be used alongside the classical form
Marcus.
In the medieval legend of Tristan and Iseult this was the name of a king of Cornwall. It was also borne by the American author Mark Twain (1835-1910), real name Samuel Clemens, the author of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He took his pen name from a call used by riverboat workers on the Mississippi River to indicate a depth of two fathoms. This is also the usual English spelling of the name of the 1st-century BC Roman triumvir Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony).
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: 40% based on 1 vote
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.
Marielle
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: MA-RYEHL
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Mariana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Portuguese, Spanish, Romanian, Czech, Bulgarian, Ancient Roman
Other Scripts: Мариана, Марияна(Bulgarian)
Pronounced: mu-RYU-nu(European Portuguese) ma-RYU-nu(Brazilian Portuguese) ma-RYA-na(Spanish)
Rating: 60% based on 1 vote
Roman feminine form of
Marianus. After the classical era it was sometimes interpreted as a combination of
Maria and
Ana. In Portuguese it is further used as a form of
Mariamne.
Margot
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: MAR-GO
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
Marcel
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French, Catalan, Romanian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Dutch, German
Pronounced: MAR-SEHL(French) mər-SEHL(Catalan) mar-CHEHL(Romanian) MAR-tsehl(Polish, Czech, Slovak) mahr-SEHL(Dutch) mar-SEHL(German)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Form of
Marcellus used in several languages. Notable bearers include the French author Marcel Proust (1871-1922) and the French artist Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968).
Mara 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical, Biblical Hebrew [1], Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Other Scripts: מָרָא(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: MAHR-ə(English) MAR-ə(English) MEHR-ə(English) MA-ra(Spanish)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Means
"bitter" in Hebrew. In the
Old Testament this is a name that
Naomi calls herself after the death of her husband and sons (see
Ruth 1:20).
Manon
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, Dutch
Pronounced: MA-NAWN(French) ma-NAWN(Dutch)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Maiara
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Tupi
Rating: 60% based on 1 vote
From Tupi maya arya meaning "great-grandmother".
Lysander
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Ancient Greek (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Λύσανδρος(Ancient Greek)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Latinized form of the Greek name
Λύσανδρος (Lysandros), derived from Greek
λύσις (lysis) meaning "a release, loosening" and
ἀνήρ (aner) meaning "man" (genitive
ἀνδρός). This was the name of a notable 5th-century BC Spartan general and naval commander.
Lyra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Astronomy
Pronounced: LIE-rə(English)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
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).
Luna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Roman Mythology, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, English
Pronounced: LOO-na(Latin, Spanish, Italian) LOO-nə(English)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
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.
Luminița
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Romanian
Pronounced: loo-mee-NEE-tsa
Personal remark: ...or the more Anglophone-friendly "Luminitsa"
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Means
"little light", derived from Romanian
lumina "light" combined with a
diminutive suffix.
Luke
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Biblical
Pronounced: LOOK(English)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
English form of Latin
Lucas, from the Greek name
Λουκᾶς (Loukas), probably a shortened form of
Λουκανός (Loukanos) meaning
"from Lucania", Lucania being a region in southern Italy. Luke was a doctor who travelled in the company of the apostle
Paul. According to tradition, he was the author of the third gospel and Acts in the
New Testament. He was probably of Greek ethnicity. He is considered a
saint by many Christian denominations.
Due to the saint's renown, the name became common in the Christian world (in various spellings). As an English name, Luke has been in use since the 12th century alongside the Latin form Lucas. Both forms became popular throughout the English-speaking world towards the end of the 20th century. A famous fictional bearer was the hero Luke Skywalker from the Star Wars movies, beginning in 1977.
Lucas
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Dutch, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Biblical Latin
Pronounced: LOO-kəs(English) LUY-kahs(Dutch) LUY-KA(French) LOO-kush(European Portuguese) LOO-kus(Brazilian Portuguese) LOO-kas(Spanish, Swedish, Latin)
Rating: 30% based on 1 vote
Latin form of Greek
Λουκᾶς (see
Luke), as well as the form used in several other languages.
This name became very popular in the second half of the 20th century. It reached the top ten names for boys in France (by 1997), Belgium (1998), Denmark (2003), Canada (2008), the Netherlands (2009), New Zealand (2009), Australia (2010), Scotland (2013), Spain (2015) and the United States (2018).
Luc
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French, Welsh
Pronounced: LUYK(French)
Rating: 60% based on 1 vote
French and Welsh form of
Lucas (see
Luke).
Linnéa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swedish
Pronounced: lin-NEH-a
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
From the name of a flower, also known as the twinflower. The Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus named it after himself, it being his favourite flower.
Leo
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Estonian, English, Croatian, Armenian, Late Roman
Other Scripts: Լեո(Armenian)
Pronounced: LEH-o(German, Dutch, Danish, Finnish) LEE-o(English)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Derived from Latin
leo meaning
"lion", a
cognate of
Leon. It was popular among early Christians and was the name of 13 popes, including
Saint Leo the Great who asserted the dominance of the Roman bishops (the popes) over all others in the 5th century. It was also borne by six Byzantine emperors and five Armenian kings. Another famous bearer was the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), name spelled
Лев in Russian, whose works include
War and Peace and
Anna Karenina. Leo is also a constellation and the fifth sign of the zodiac.
In some cases this name can be a short form of longer names that start with Leo, such as Leonard.
Lenore
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: lə-NAWR(American English) lə-NAW(British English)
Rating: 70% based on 1 vote
Short form of
Eleanor. This is the name of the departed love of the narrator in Edgar Allan Poe's poem
The Raven (1845).
Lenora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Leander
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Λέανδρος(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: lee-AN-dər(American English) lee-AN-də(British English)
Rating: 60% based on 1 vote
Latinized form of the Greek name
Λέανδρος (Leandros), derived from
λέων (leon) meaning "lion" and
ἀνήρ (aner) meaning "man" (genitive
ἀνδρός). In Greek legend Leander was the lover of Hero. Every night he swam across the Hellespont to meet her, but on one occasion he was drowned when a storm arose. When Hero saw his dead body she threw herself into the waters and perished.
Léa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: LEH-A
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Layla
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic, English
Other Scripts: ليلى(Arabic)
Pronounced: LIE-la(Arabic) LAY-lə(English)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
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.
Laetitia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Late Roman, French
Pronounced: LEH-TEE-SYA(French)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Original Latin form of
Letitia, as well as a French variant. This name began rising in popularity in France around the same time that Serge Gainsbourg released his 1963 song
Elaeudanla Téïtéïa (this title is a phonetic rendering of the letters in the name
Lætitia). It peaked in 1982 as the fourth most common name for girls.
Laelia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Roman
Pronounced: LIE-lee-a
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
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.
Kleio
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology, Greek
Other Scripts: Κλειώ(Greek)
Pronounced: KLEH-AW(Classical Greek)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Derived from Greek
κλέος (kleos) meaning
"glory". In Greek
mythology she was the goddess of history and heroic poetry, one of the nine Muses. She was said to have introduced the alphabet to Greece.
Kari 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Norwegian
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Kalliope
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Καλλιόπη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: KAL-LEE-O-PEH(Classical Greek)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
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.
Justin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, Slovene
Pronounced: JUS-tin(English) ZHUYS-TEHN(French)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
From the Latin name
Iustinus, which was derived from
Justus. This was the name of several early
saints including Justin Martyr, a Christian philosopher of the 2nd century who was beheaded in Rome. It was also borne by two Byzantine emperors. As an English name, it has occasionally been used since the late Middle Ages, though it did not become common until the second half of the 20th century. Famous modern bearers include pop stars Justin Timberlake (1981-) and Justin Bieber (1994-).
Juliet
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: joo-lee-EHT, JOOL-yət
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Anglicized form of
Giulietta or
Juliette. This spelling was used for the ill-fated lover of
Romeo in the play
Romeo and Juliet (1596) by William Shakespeare. Shakespeare based his story on earlier Italian tales such as
Giulietta e Romeo (1524) by Luigi Da Porto.
Julian
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Polish, German
Pronounced: JOO-lee-ən(English) JOOL-yən(English) YOO-lyan(Polish) YOO-lee-an(German)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
From the Roman name
Iulianus, which was derived from
Julius. This was the name of the last pagan Roman emperor, Julian the Apostate (4th century). It was also borne by several early
saints, including the legendary Saint Julian the Hospitaller. This name has been used in England since the Middle Ages, at which time it was also a feminine name (from
Juliana, eventually becoming
Gillian).
Jules 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: ZHUYL
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
French form of
Julius. A notable bearer of this name was the French novelist Jules Verne (1828-1905), author of
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and other works of science fiction.
Jude 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Biblical
Pronounced: JOOD(English)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Variant of
Judas. It is used in many English versions of the
New Testament to denote the second apostle named Judas, in order to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot. He was supposedly the author of the Epistle of Jude. In the English-speaking world,
Jude has occasionally been used as a given name since the time of the
Protestant Reformation.
Jane
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: JAYN
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Medieval English form of
Jehanne, an Old French feminine form of
Iohannes (see
John). This became the most common feminine form of
John in the 17th century, surpassing
Joan. In the first half of the 20th century
Joan once again overtook
Jane for a few decades in both the United States and the United Kingdom.
Famous bearers include the uncrowned English queen Lady Jane Grey (1536-1554), who ruled for only nine days, British novelist Jane Austen (1775-1817), who wrote Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, British primatologist Jane Goodall (1934-), and American actress Jane Fonda (1937-). This is also the name of the central character in Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre (1847), which tells of Jane's sad childhood and her relationship with Edward Rochester.
Ivy
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: IE-vee
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
From the English word for the climbing plant that has small yellow flowers. It is ultimately derived from Old English ifig.
Ivona
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Czech, Slovak, Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian
Other Scripts: Ивона(Serbian, Macedonian)
Pronounced: I-vo-na(Czech)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Form of
Yvonne in several languages.
Ivana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Czech, Slovak, Serbian, Croatian, Slovene, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Italian
Other Scripts: Ивана(Serbian, Bulgarian, Macedonian)
Pronounced: I-va-na(Czech) EE-va-na(Slovak) ee-VA-na(Italian)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Isotta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: ee-ZAWT-ta
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Isadora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Portuguese
Pronounced: iz-ə-DAWR-ə(English)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Variant of
Isidora. A famous bearer was the American dancer Isadora Duncan (1877-1927).
Isaac
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, French, Jewish, Biblical, Biblical Latin
Other Scripts: יִצְחָק(Hebrew)
Pronounced: IE-zək(English) ee-sa-AK(Spanish) EE-ZAK(French) EE-ZA-AK(French)
Rating: 50% based on 1 vote
From the Hebrew name
יִצְחָק (Yitsḥaq) meaning
"he will laugh, he will rejoice", derived from
צָחַק (tsaḥaq) meaning "to laugh". The
Old Testament explains this meaning, by recounting that
Abraham laughed when God told him that his aged wife
Sarah would become pregnant with Isaac (see
Genesis 17:17), and later Sarah laughed when overhearing the same prophecy (see
Genesis 18:12). When Isaac was a boy, God tested Abraham's faith by ordering him to sacrifice his son, though an angel prevented the act at the last moment. Isaac went on to become the father of
Esau and
Jacob with his wife
Rebecca.
As an English Christian name, Isaac was occasionally used during the Middle Ages, though it was more common among Jews. It became more widespread after the Protestant Reformation. Famous bearers include the physicist and mathematician Isaac Newton (1643-1727) and the science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov (1920-1992).
Irina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Romanian, Georgian, Finnish, Estonian
Other Scripts: Ирина(Russian, Bulgarian, Macedonian) ირინა(Georgian)
Pronounced: i-RYEE-nə(Russian) EE-ree-nah(Finnish)
Form of
Irene in several languages.
Iria
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Portuguese, Galician
Pronounced: EE-ryu(Galician)
Rating: 50% based on 1 vote
Possibly a Portuguese and Galician form of
Irene. This was the name of a 7th-century
saint (also known as Irene) from Tomar in Portugal. This is also the name of an ancient town in Galicia (now a district of Padrón).
Irena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Polish, Czech, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Albanian, Bulgarian, Slovak, Lithuanian
Other Scripts: Ирена(Serbian, Bulgarian)
Pronounced: ee-REH-na(Polish) I-reh-na(Czech) EE-reh-na(Slovak) i-ryeh-NU(Lithuanian)
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
Form of
Irene in several languages.
Iphigeneia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ἰφιγένεια(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: EE-PEE-GEH-NEH-A(Classical Greek)
Rating: 40% based on 2 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.
Ione
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology, English
Other Scripts: Ἰόνη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: ie-O-nee(English)
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
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.
Iolana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hawaiian
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Means "to soar" in Hawaiian.
Io
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ἰώ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: EE-AW(Classical Greek) IE-o(English)
Rating: 50% based on 2 votes
Meaning unknown. In Greek
mythology Io was a princess loved by
Zeus, who changed her into a heifer in order to hide her from
Hera. A moon of Jupiter bears this name in her honour.
Indira
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hinduism, Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Tamil
Other Scripts: इन्दिरा(Sanskrit) इन्दिरा, इंदिरा(Hindi) इंदिरा(Marathi) ಇಂದಿರಾ(Kannada) இந்திரா(Tamil)
Pronounced: IN-di-ra(Hindi)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Means
"beauty" in Sanskrit. This is another name of
Lakshmi, the wife of the Hindu god
Vishnu. A notable bearer was India's first female prime minister, Indira Gandhi (1917-1984).
Indigo
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: IN-di-go
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
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".
Inanna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Sumerian Mythology
Other Scripts: 𒀭𒈹(Sumerian Cuneiform)
Pronounced: i-NAH-nə(English)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Possibly derived from Sumerian
nin-an-a(k) meaning
"lady of the heavens", from
𒎏 (nin) meaning "lady" and the genitive form of
𒀭 (an) meaning "heaven, sky". Inanna was the Sumerian goddess of love, fertility and war. She descended into the underworld where the ruler of that place, her sister
Ereshkigal, had her killed. The god
Enki interceded, and Inanna was allowed to leave the underworld as long as her husband
Dumuzi took her place.
Inanna was later conflated with the Semitic (Akkadian, Assyrian and Babylonian) deity Ishtar.
Imogen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (British)
Pronounced: IM-ə-jehn
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
The name of the daughter of King
Cymbeline in the play
Cymbeline (1609) by William Shakespeare. He based her on a legendary character named
Innogen, but it was printed incorrectly and never emended.
Innogen is probably derived from Gaelic
inghean meaning
"maiden". As a given name it is chiefly British and Australian.
Ileana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Romanian, Spanish, Italian
Pronounced: ee-LYA-na(Romanian) ee-leh-A-na(Spanish)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Possibly a Romanian variant of
Elena. In Romanian folklore this is the name of a princess kidnapped by monsters and rescued by a heroic knight.
Horatio
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: hə-RAY-shee-o, hə-RAY-sho
Rating: 50% based on 2 votes
Variant of
Horatius. Shakespeare used it for a character in his tragedy
Hamlet (1600). It was borne by the British admiral Horatio Nelson (1758-1805), famous for his defeat of Napoleon's forces in the Battle of Trafalgar, in which he was himself killed. Since his time the name has been occasionally used in his honour.
Honoré
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: AW-NAW-REH
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
French form of
Honoratus or
Honorius. A notable bearer was the French author Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850).
Honorata
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Late Roman, Polish
Pronounced: khaw-naw-RA-ta(Polish)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Hero 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ἡρώ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: HIR-o(English)
Rating: 60% based on 1 vote
Derived from Greek
ἥρως (heros) meaning
"hero". In Greek legend she was the lover of
Leander, who would swim across the Hellespont each night to meet her. He was killed on one such occasion when he got caught in a storm while in the water, and when Hero saw his dead body she drowned herself. This is also the name of a character in Shakespeare's play
Much Ado About Nothing (1599).
Hermione
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ἑρμιόνη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: HEHR-MEE-O-NEH(Classical Greek) hər-MIE-ə-nee(American English) hə-MIE-ə-nee(British English)
Rating: 90% based on 1 vote
Derived from the name of the Greek messenger god
Hermes. In Greek
myth Hermione was the daughter of
Menelaus and
Helen. This is also the name of the wife of
Leontes in Shakespeare's play
The Winter's Tale (1610). It is now closely associated with the character Hermione Granger from the
Harry Potter series of books, first released in 1997.
Hermia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: HUR-mee-ə(American English) HU-mee-ə(British English)
Rating: 60% based on 1 vote
Feminine form of
Hermes. Shakespeare used this name in his comedy
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595).
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: 60% based on 1 vote
Latinate form of
Helen. This is the name of the heroine of William Shakespeare's play
All's Well That Ends Well (1603).
Hazel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: HAY-zəl
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
From the English word hazel for the tree or the light brown colour, derived ultimately from Old English hæsel. It was coined as a given name in the 19th century and quickly became popular, reaching the 18th place for girls in the United States by 1897. It fell out of fashion in the second half of the 20th century, but has since recovered.
Harriet
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: HAR-ee-it, HEHR-ee-it
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
English form of
Henriette, and thus a feminine form of
Harry. It was first used in the 17th century, becoming very common in the English-speaking world by the 18th century. Famous bearers include the Americans Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896), the author of
Uncle Tom's Cabin, and the abolitionist Harriet Tubman (1820-1913).
Hamlet
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Literature, Armenian
Other Scripts: Համլետ(Armenian)
Pronounced: HAM-lət(English) hahm-LEHT(Eastern Armenian) hahm-LEHD(Western Armenian)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Anglicized form of the Danish name
Amleth. Shakespeare used this name for the main character in his tragedy
Hamlet (1600), which he based upon earlier Danish tales. In the play, Hamlet is a prince of Denmark seeking to avenge the death of his father (also named Hamlet) at the hands of his uncle
Claudius.
Hala
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic
Other Scripts: هالة(Arabic)
Pronounced: HA-la
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Means
"halo around the moon" in Arabic. This was the name of a sister-in-law of the Prophet
Muhammad.
Hal
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: HAL
Personal remark: I love this as a nickname but can't think of a full name
Rating: 60% based on 2 votes
Medieval
diminutive of
Harry. In Shakespeare's two historical plays about Henry IV, Prince Hal is the name of the future King Henry V.
Gwenaëlle
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, Breton
Pronounced: GWEH-NA-EHL(French)
Rating: 70% based on 1 vote
Guinevere
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arthurian Cycle
Pronounced: GWIN-ə-vir(American English) GWIN-ə-veey(British English)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
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.
Guillaume
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: GEE-YOM
Rating: 70% based on 1 vote
Graham
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish, English
Pronounced: GRAY-əm(English) GRAM(English)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
From a Scottish surname, originally derived from the English place name
Grantham, which probably meant
"gravelly homestead" in Old English. The surname was first taken to Scotland in the 12th century by the Norman baron William de Graham
[1]. A famous bearer of the surname was Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922), the Scottish-Canadian-American inventor who devised the telephone. A famous bearer of the given name was the British author Graham Greene (1904-1991).
During the 20th century, Graham was more common in the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada than it was in the United States. However, it has been rising on the American charts since around 2006.
Gloria
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Spanish, Italian, German
Pronounced: GLAWR-ee-ə(English) GLO-rya(Spanish) GLAW-rya(Italian)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Means
"glory", from the Portuguese and Spanish titles of the Virgin
Mary Maria da Glória and
María de Gloria. Maria da Glória (1819-1853) was the daughter of the Brazilian emperor Pedro I, eventually becoming queen of Portugal as Maria II.
The name was introduced to the English-speaking world by E. D. E. N. Southworth's novel Gloria (1891) and George Bernard Shaw's play You Never Can Tell (1898), which both feature characters with a Portuguese background [1]. It was popularized in the early 20th century by American actress Gloria Swanson (1899-1983). Another famous bearer is feminist Gloria Steinem (1934-).
Ginevra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: jee-NEH-vra
Rating: 60% based on 1 vote
Italian form of
Guinevere. This is also the Italian name for the city of Geneva, Switzerland. It is also sometimes associated with the Italian word
ginepro meaning "juniper".
Gilbert
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, Dutch, Germanic [1]
Pronounced: GIL-bərt(American English) GIL-bət(British English) ZHEEL-BEHR(French) GHIL-bərt(Dutch)
Personal remark: French pronunciation
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Means
"bright pledge", derived from the Old German elements
gisal "pledge, hostage" and
beraht "bright". The
Normans introduced this name to England, where it was common during the Middle Ages. It was borne by a 12th-century English
saint, the founder of the religious order known as the Gilbertines.
Giada
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: JA-da
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Geneviève
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: ZHU-NU-VYEHV, ZHUN-VYEHV
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
From the medieval name
Genovefa, which is of uncertain origin. It could be derived from the Germanic elements *
kunją "clan, family, lineage" and *
wībą "wife, woman". Alternatively it could be of Gaulish origin, from the related Celtic element *
genos "kin, family" combined with a second element of unknown meaning. This name was borne by
Saint Geneviève, the patron saint of Paris, who inspired the city to resist the Huns in the 5th century.
Galahad
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arthurian Cycle
Pronounced: GAL-ə-had(English)
Rating: 70% based on 1 vote
From earlier
Galaad, likely derived from the Old French form of the biblical place name
Gilead. In Arthurian legend Sir Galahad was the son of
Lancelot and
Elaine. He was the most pure of the Knights of the Round Table, and he was the only one to succeed in finding the Holy Grail. He first appears in the 13th-century French
Lancelot-Grail Cycle.
Gabriel
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Catalan, English, Romanian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Georgian, Biblical, Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek [1]
Other Scripts: გაბრიელ(Georgian) גַּבְרִיאֵל(Ancient Hebrew) Γαβριήλ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: GA-BREE-YEHL(French) ga-BRYEHL(Spanish) ga-bree-EHL(European Portuguese, Romanian) ga-bree-EW(Brazilian Portuguese) GA-bree-ehl(German, Slovak, Latin) GAH-bri-ehl(Swedish) GAH-bree-ehl(Finnish) gə-bree-EHL(Catalan) GAY-bree-əl(English) GAB-ryehl(Polish) GA-bri-yehl(Czech)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
From the Hebrew name
גַבְרִיאֵל (Ḡavriʾel) meaning
"God is my strong man", derived from
גֶּבֶר (gever) meaning "strong man, hero" and
אֵל (ʾel) meaning "God". Gabriel is an archangel in Hebrew tradition, often appearing as a messenger of God. In the
Old Testament he is sent to interpret the visions of the prophet
Daniel, while in the
New Testament he serves as the announcer of the births of
John to
Zechariah and
Jesus to
Mary. According to Islamic tradition he was the angel who dictated the
Quran to
Muhammad.
This name has been used occasionally in England since the 12th century. It was not common in the English-speaking world until the end of the 20th century.
Fyodor
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Russian
Other Scripts: Фёдор(Russian)
Pronounced: FYUY-dər
Rating: 30% based on 1 vote
Russian form of
Theodore. It was borne by three tsars of Russia. Another notable bearer was Fyodor Dostoyevsky (or Dostoevsky; 1821-1881), the Russian author of such works as
Crime and Punishment and
The Brothers Karamazov.
Florian
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, French, Romanian, Polish, History
Pronounced: FLO-ree-an(German) FLAW-RYAHN(French) FLAW-ryan(Polish)
Rating: 60% based on 1 vote
From the Roman
cognomen Florianus, a derivative of
Florus. This was the name of a short-lived Roman emperor of the 3rd century, Marcus Annius Florianus. It was also borne by
Saint Florian, a martyr of the 3rd century, the patron saint of Poland and Upper Austria.
Flavia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish, Romanian, Ancient Roman
Pronounced: FLA-vya(Italian) FLA-bya(Spanish) FLA-wee-a(Latin)
Rating: 60% based on 1 vote
Fiorella
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: fyo-REHL-la
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
From Italian
fiore "flower" combined with a
diminutive suffix.
Fiera
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Esperanto
Pronounced: fee-EH-ra
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Means "proud" in Esperanto.
Fiammetta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: fyam-MEHT-ta
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
Diminutive of
Fiamma. This is the name of a character appearing in several works by the 14th-century Italian author Boccaccio. She was probably based on the Neapolitan noblewoman Maria d'Aquino.
Félix
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French, Spanish, Portuguese, Hungarian
Pronounced: FEH-LEEKS(French) FEH-leeks(Spanish, Portuguese, Hungarian)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
French, Spanish, Portuguese and Hungarian form of
Felix.
Faye
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: FAY
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Farouk
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic
Other Scripts: فاروق(Arabic)
Pronounced: fa-ROOK
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Alternate transcription of Arabic
فاروق (see
Faruq).
Faina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian
Other Scripts: Фаина(Russian)
Pronounced: fu-EE-nə
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Meaning unknown, possibly derived from
Phaenna.
Fabian
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Dutch, Polish, Romanian, English
Pronounced: FA-bee-an(German) FA-bee-ahn(Dutch) FA-byan(Polish) FAY-bee-ən(English)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
From the Roman
cognomen Fabianus, which was derived from
Fabius.
Saint Fabian was a 3rd-century pope.
Evander 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized), Roman Mythology
Other Scripts: Εὔανδρος(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: i-VAN-dər(American English) i-VAN-də(British English)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Variant of
Evandrus, the Latin form of the Greek name
Εὔανδρος (Euandros) meaning
"good of man", derived from
εὖ (eu) meaning "good" and
ἀνήρ (aner) meaning "man" (genitive
ἀνδρός). In Roman
mythology Evander was an Arcadian hero of the Trojan War who founded the city of Pallantium near the spot where Rome was later built.
Esperanza
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish
Pronounced: ehs-peh-RAN-tha(European Spanish) ehs-peh-RAN-sa(Latin American Spanish)
Rating: 60% based on 1 vote
Spanish form of the Late Latin name Sperantia, which was derived from sperare "to hope".
Élodie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: EH-LAW-DEE
Rating: 30% based on 1 vote
Élise
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: EH-LEEZ
Rating: 70% based on 1 vote
Elisa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Finnish, English
Pronounced: eh-LEE-za(Italian, German) eh-LEE-sa(Spanish) EH-lee-sah(Finnish) ə-LEE-sə(English)
Rating: 10% based on 1 vote
Eléonore
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: EH-LEH-AW-NAWR
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Electra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ἠλέκτρα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: i-LEHK-trə(English)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Latinized form of Greek
Ἠλέκτρα (Elektra), derived from
ἤλεκτρον (elektron) meaning
"amber". In Greek
myth she was the daughter of
Agamemnon and
Clytemnestra and the sister of
Orestes. She helped her brother kill their mother and her lover Aegisthus in vengeance for Agamemnon's murder. Also in Greek mythology, this name was borne by one of the Pleiades, who were the daughters of
Atlas and
Pleione.
Dmitri
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Russian
Other Scripts: Дмитрий(Russian)
Pronounced: DMEE-tree
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
David
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Hebrew, French, Scottish, Welsh, Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Czech, Slovene, Russian, Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian, Romanian, Biblical, Biblical Latin
Other Scripts: דָּוִד(Hebrew) Давид(Russian, Serbian, Macedonian)
Pronounced: DAY-vid(English) da-VEED(Hebrew, Brazilian Portuguese) DA-VEED(French) da-BEEDH(Spanish) du-VEED(European Portuguese) də-BEET(Catalan) DA-vit(German, Dutch, Czech) DAH-vid(Swedish, Norwegian) du-VYEET(Russian)
Rating: 60% based on 2 votes
From the Hebrew name
דָּוִד (Dawiḏ), which was derived from
דּוֹד (doḏ) meaning
"beloved" or
"uncle". David was the second and greatest of the kings of Israel, ruling in the 10th century BC. Several stories about him are told in the
Old Testament, including his defeat of
Goliath, a giant Philistine. According to the
New Testament,
Jesus was descended from him.
This name has been used in Britain since the Middle Ages. It has been especially popular in Wales, where it is used in honour of the 5th-century patron saint of Wales (also called Dewi), as well as in Scotland, where it was borne by two kings. Over the last century it has been one of the English-speaking world's most consistently popular names, never leaving the top 30 names for boys in the United States, and reaching the top rank in England and Wales during the 1950s and 60s. In Spain it was the most popular name for boys during the 1970s and 80s.
Famous bearers include empiricist philosopher David Hume (1711-1776), explorer David Livingstone (1813-1873), musician David Bowie (1947-2016), and soccer player David Beckham (1975-). This is also the name of the hero of Charles Dickens' semi-autobiographical novel David Copperfield (1850).
Damien
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: DA-MYEHN
Rating: 50% based on 1 vote
Damian
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Polish, Romanian, Dutch (Modern)
Pronounced: DAY-mee-ən(English) DA-myan(Polish)
Rating: 65% based on 2 votes
From the Greek name
Δαμιανός (Damianos), which was derived from Greek
δαμάζω (damazo) meaning
"to tame".
Saint Damian was martyred with his twin brother
Cosmas in Syria early in the 4th century. They are the patron saints of physicians. Due to his renown, the name came into general use in Christian Europe. Another saint by this name was Peter Damian, an 11th-century cardinal and theologian from Italy.
Cosimo
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: KAW-zee-mo
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Italian form of
Cosmas. A famous bearer was Cosimo de' Medici (1389-1464), the founder of Medici rule in Florence, who was a patron of the Renaissance and a successful merchant. Other members of the Medici family have also borne this name.
Cosima
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: KAW-zee-ma
Rating: 70% based on 1 vote
Italian feminine form of
Cosimo.
Cordelia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature, English
Pronounced: kawr-DEEL-ee-ə(American English) kaw-DEE-lee-ə(British English)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
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).
Coralie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: KAW-RA-LEE
Rating: 50% based on 1 vote
Either a French form of
Koralia, or a derivative of Latin
corallium "coral" (see
Coral).
Constantin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Romanian, French
Pronounced: kon-stan-TEEN(Romanian) KAWNS-TAHN-TEHN(French)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Romanian and French form of
Constantinus (see
Constantine).
Constance
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, French
Pronounced: KAHN-stəns(American English) KAWN-stəns(British English) KAWNS-TAHNS(French)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Medieval form of
Constantia. The
Normans introduced this name to England (it was the name of a daughter of William the Conqueror).
Conrad
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, German, Germanic [1]
Pronounced: KAHN-rad(American English) KAWN-rad(British English) KAWN-rat(German)
Personal remark: I love this for some reason; I've used it for a character
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Means
"brave counsel", derived from the Old German elements
kuoni "brave" and
rat "counsel, advice". This was the name of a 10th-century
saint and bishop of Konstanz, in southern Germany. It was also borne by several medieval German kings and dukes, notably Conrad II, the first of the Holy Roman Emperors from the Salic dynasty. In England it was occasionally used during the Middle Ages, but has only been common since the 19th century when it was reintroduced from Germany.
Colette
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: KAW-LEHT
Rating: 70% based on 2 votes
Short form of
Nicolette.
Saint Colette was a 15th-century French nun who gave her money to the poor. This was also the
pen name of the French author Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (1873-1954).
Clytemnestra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Κλυταιμνήστρα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: klie-təm-NEHS-trə(English)
Personal remark: This would make an amazing name for a villain
Rating: 45% based on 2 votes
Latinized form of Greek
Κλυταιμνήστρα (Klytaimnestra) and
Κλυταιμήστρα (Klytaimestra), in which the first element is
κλυτός (klytos) meaning "famous, noble". The spelling
Klytaimnestra would suggest the second element is
μνηστήρ (mnester) meaning "courter, wooer", while
Klytaimestra would suggest a connection to
μήδομαι (medomai) meaning "to plan, to intend". There is debate over which spelling is earlier or more authentic
[1], since the ancient texts seem to make puns based on both etymologies.
Klytaimestra appears in the works of the Greek tragedians such as Aeschylus, while
Klytaimnestra appears in Homer's poems (the earliest extant copy dating from the post-classical period).
In Greek legend Clytemnestra was the wife of Agamemnon and the mother of Orestes and Electra. While her husband was away during the Trojan War she took a lover, and upon his return she had Agamemnon murdered. She was subsequently killed by her son Orestes.
Clio
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized), Italian (Rare)
Other Scripts: Κλειώ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: KLEE-o(English, Italian) KLIE-o(English)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Célestine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: SEH-LEHS-TEEN
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Celestina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish, Italian
Pronounced: theh-lehs-TEE-na(European Spanish) seh-lehs-TEE-na(Latin American Spanish) cheh-leh-STEE-na(Italian)
Rating: 50% based on 1 vote
Céleste
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: SEH-LEST
Rating: 10% based on 1 vote
French feminine and masculine form of
Caelestis.
Cecily
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: SEHS-ə-lee
Rating: 60% based on 1 vote
English form of
Cecilia. This was the usual English form during the Middle Ages.
Catalina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish, Corsican
Pronounced: ka-ta-LEE-na(Spanish)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Cassiopeia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Κασσιόπεια, Κασσιέπεια(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: kas-ee-ə-PEE-ə(English)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
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.
Cassandra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, French, Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Κασσάνδρα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: kə-SAN-drə(English) kə-SAHN-drə(English)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
From the Greek name
Κασσάνδρα (Kassandra), possibly derived from
κέκασμαι (kekasmai) meaning "to excel, to shine" and
ἀνήρ (aner) meaning "man" (genitive
ἀνδρός). In Greek
myth Cassandra was a Trojan princess, the daughter of
Priam and
Hecuba. She was given the gift of prophecy by
Apollo, but when she spurned his advances he cursed her so nobody would believe her prophecies.
In the Middle Ages this name was common in England due to the popularity of medieval tales about the Trojan War. It subsequently became rare, but was revived in the 20th century.
Cara
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KAHR-ə, KAR-ə, KEHR-ə
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
From an Italian word meaning "beloved" or an Irish word meaning "friend". It has been used as a given name since the 19th century, though it did not become popular until after the 1950s.
Cammie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KAM-ee
Personal remark: Nickname for Camilla/phonetic nickname for Camille
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Camille
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: French, English
Pronounced: KA-MEE(French) kə-MEEL(English)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
French feminine and masculine form of
Camilla. It is also used in the English-speaking world, where it is generally only feminine.
Camilla
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, German, Ancient Roman, Roman Mythology
Pronounced: kə-MIL-ə(English) ka-MEEL-la(Italian) kah-MEEL-lah(Danish) KAH-meel-lah(Finnish) ka-MI-la(German)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Feminine form of
Camillus. This was the name of a legendary warrior maiden of the Volsci, as told by
Virgil in the
Aeneid. It was popularized in the English-speaking world by Fanny Burney's novel
Camilla (1796).
Callisto 2
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Καλλιστώ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: kə-LIS-to(English)
Rating: 60% based on 1 vote
Latinized form of
Kallisto. A moon of Jupiter bears this name.
Calista
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Portuguese (Rare), Spanish (Rare)
Pronounced: kə-LIS-tə(English) ka-LEES-ta(Spanish)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Feminine form of
Callistus. As an English name it might also be a variant of
Kallisto.
Caleb
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Biblical
Other Scripts: כָּלֵב(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: KAY-ləb(English)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Most likely related to Hebrew
כֶּלֶב (kelev) meaning
"dog" [1]. An alternate theory connects it to Hebrew
כֹּל (kol) meaning "whole, all of"
[2] and
לֵב (lev) meaning "heart"
[3]. In the
Old Testament this is the name of one of the twelve spies sent by
Moses into Canaan. Of the Israelites who left Egypt with Moses, Caleb and
Joshua were the only ones who lived to see the Promised Land.
As an English name, Caleb came into use after the Protestant Reformation. It was common among the Puritans, who introduced it to America in the 17th century.
Bryony
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: BRIE-ə-nee
Rating: 90% based on 1 vote
From the name of a type of Eurasian vine, formerly used as medicine. It ultimately derives from Greek
βρύω (bryo) meaning "to swell".
Brava
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Esperanto
Pronounced: BRA-va
Rating: 60% based on 1 vote
Means "valiant, brave" in Esperanto.
Blaise
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: BLEHZ
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
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).
Bianca
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Romanian
Pronounced: BYANG-ka(Italian, Romanian) bee-AHNG-kə(English) bee-ANG-kə(English)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Italian
cognate of
Blanche. Shakespeare had characters named Bianca in
The Taming of the Shrew (1593) and
Othello (1603). The German singer Freddy Breck's 1973 song
Bianca boosted the name's popularity elsewhere in Europe.
Beatrice
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, English, Swedish, Romanian
Pronounced: beh-a-TREE-cheh(Italian) BEE-ə-tris(English) BEET-ris(English) BEH-ah-trees(Swedish) beh-ah-TREES(Swedish)
Personal remark: Because of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing
Rating: 60% based on 1 vote
Italian form of
Beatrix. Beatrice Portinari (1266-1290) was the woman who was loved by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri. She serves as Dante's guide through paradise in his epic poem the
Divine Comedy (1321). This is also the name of a character in Shakespeare's comedy
Much Ado About Nothing (1599), in which Beatrice and
Benedick are fooled into confessing their love for one another.
Beata
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Polish, German, Swedish, Danish, Late Roman
Pronounced: beh-A-ta(Polish, German)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Derived from Latin
beatus meaning
"blessed". This was the name of a few minor
saints.
Azzurra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: ad-DZOOR-ra
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Means "azure, sky blue" in Italian.
Azalea
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: ə-ZAY-lee-ə
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
From the name of the flower (shrubs of the genus Rhododendron), ultimately derived from Greek
ἀζαλέος (azaleos) meaning "dry".
Aurore
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: AW-RAWR
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
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: 50% based on 2 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.
Aurélie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: O-REH-LEE
Personal remark: When I had to use a French name in class, I used Aurélie
Rating: 60% based on 1 vote
Aurelia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Roman, Romanian, Italian, Spanish, Polish
Pronounced: ow-REH-lee-a(Latin) ow-REH-lya(Italian, Spanish, Polish)
Rating: 70% based on 1 vote
Athénaïs
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: A-TEH-NA-EES
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Athena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology, English
Other Scripts: Ἀθηνᾶ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: A-TEH-NA(Classical Greek) ə-THEE-nə(English)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
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.
Atalanta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ἀταλάντη(Ancient Greek)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
From the Greek
Ἀταλάντη (Atalante) meaning
"equal in weight", derived from
ἀτάλαντος (atalantos), a word related to
τάλαντον (talanton) meaning "a scale, a balance". In Greek legend she was a fast-footed maiden who refused to marry anyone who could not beat her in a race. She was eventually defeated by Hippomenes, who dropped three golden apples during the race causing her to stop to pick them up.
Astraea
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ἀστραία(Ancient Greek)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
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.
Astra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: AS-trə
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Means
"star", ultimately from Greek
ἀστήρ (aster). This name has only been (rarely) used since the 20th century.
Astor
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: AS-tər(American English) AS-tə(British English)
Rating: 30% based on 1 vote
From a German and French surname derived from Occitan astur meaning "hawk". The wealthy and influential Astor family, prominent in British and American society, originated in the Italian Alps.
Arianne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French (Rare)
Pronounced: A-RYAN
Rating: 70% based on 1 vote
Arianna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, English (Modern)
Pronounced: a-RYAN-na(Italian) ar-ee-AN-ə(English) ar-ee-AHN-ə(English)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Anthony
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AN-thə-nee(American English) AN-tə-nee(British English)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
English form of the Roman family name
Antonius, which is of unknown Etruscan origin. The most notable member of the Roman family was the general Marcus Antonius (called Mark Antony in English), who for a period in the 1st century BC ruled the Roman Empire jointly with Augustus. When their relationship turned sour, he and his mistress Cleopatra were attacked and forced to commit suicide, as related in Shakespeare's tragedy
Antony and Cleopatra (1606).
The name became regularly used in the Christian world due to the fame of Saint Anthony the Great, a 4th-century Egyptian hermit who founded Christian monasticism. Its popularity was reinforced in the Middle Ages by the 13th-century Saint Anthony of Padua, the patron saint of Portugal. It has been commonly (but incorrectly) associated with Greek ἄνθος (anthos) meaning "flower", which resulted in the addition of the h to this spelling in the 17th century.
Anastasiya
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Bulgarian
Other Scripts: Анастасия(Russian, Bulgarian) Анастасія(Ukrainian, Belarusian)
Pronounced: u-nu-stu-SYEE-yə(Russian) u-nu-stu-SYEE-yu(Ukrainian) a-na-sta-SYEE-ya(Belarusian) a-na-sta-SEE-ya(Bulgarian)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Russian, Ukrainian and Bulgarian form of
Anastasia. This name was borne by the wife of the Russian tsar Ivan the Terrible.
Anastasie
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: French, Romanian (Rare)
Pronounced: A-NAS-TA-ZEE(French)
Rating: 50% based on 1 vote
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: 40% 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.
Amira 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic, Bosnian, Malay
Other Scripts: أميرة(Arabic)
Pronounced: a-MEE-ra(Arabic)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Amaia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Basque
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
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).
Allegra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, English (Rare)
Pronounced: al-LEH-gra(Italian) ə-LEHG-rə(English)
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
Means "cheerful, lively" in Italian. It was borne by a short-lived illegitimate daughter of Lord Byron (1817-1822).
Alix
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: A-LEEKS
Rating: 30% based on 2 votes
Medieval French variant of
Alice, also sometimes used as a masculine name. This is the name of the hero (a young Gaulish man) of a French comic book series, which debuted in 1948.
Algernon
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AL-jər-nən(American English) AL-gər-nən(American English) AL-jə-nən(British English)
Personal remark: It's an interesting name, to say the least
Rating: 50% based on 3 votes
Originally a Norman French nickname, derived from aux gernons "having a moustache", which was applied to William de Percy, a companion of William the Conqueror. It was first used a given name in the 15th century (for a descendant of William de Percy). This name was borne by a character (a mouse) in the short story Flowers for Algernon (1958) and novel of the same title (1966) by the American author Daniel Keyes.
Alexei
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Russian
Other Scripts: Алексей(Russian)
Pronounced: u-lyi-KSYAY
Rating: 80% based on 2 votes
Alexandrie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French (Rare)
Pronounced: A-LEHK-SAHN-DREE
Rating: 30% based on 1 vote
Alexandria
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: al-ig-ZAN-dree-ə(American English) al-ig-ZAHN-dree-ə(British English)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Feminine form of
Alexander. Alexander the Great founded several cities by this name (or renamed them) as he extended his empire eastward. The most notable of these is Alexandria in Egypt, founded by Alexander in 331 BC.
Alexandra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German, Dutch, French, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Greek, Portuguese, Romanian, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, Catalan, Russian, Ukrainian, Ancient Greek [1], Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Αλεξάνδρα(Greek) Александра(Russian, Ukrainian) Ἀλεξάνδρα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: al-ig-ZAN-drə(American English) al-ig-ZAHN-drə(British English) a-leh-KSAN-dra(German, Romanian) a-lehk-SAHN-dra(Dutch) A-LEHK-ZAHN-DRA(French) a-leh-KSAN-dhra(Greek) u-li-SHUN-dru(European Portuguese) a-leh-SHUN-dru(Brazilian Portuguese) A-lehk-san-dra(Czech, Slovak) AW-lehk-sawn-draw(Hungarian) A-LEH-KSAN-DRA(Classical Greek)
Rating: 70% based on 1 vote
Feminine form of
Alexander. In Greek
mythology this was a Mycenaean epithet of the goddess
Hera, and an alternate name of
Cassandra. It was borne by several early Christian
saints, and also by the wife of Nicholas II, the last tsar of Russia. She was from Germany and had the birth name
Alix, but was renamed
Александра (Aleksandra) upon joining the Russian Church.
Alexander
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Hungarian, Slovak, Biblical, Ancient Greek (Latinized), Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ἀλέξανδρος(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: al-ig-ZAN-dər(American English) al-ig-ZAHN-də(British English) a-leh-KSAN-du(German) a-lehk-SAHN-dər(Dutch) a-lehk-SAN-dehr(Swedish, Latin) A-lehk-san-tehr(Icelandic) AW-lehk-sawn-dehr(Hungarian) A-lehk-san-dehr(Slovak)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Latinized form of the Greek name
Ἀλέξανδρος (Alexandros), which meant
"defending men" from Greek
ἀλέξω (alexo) meaning "to defend, help" and
ἀνήρ (aner) meaning "man" (genitive
ἀνδρός). In Greek
mythology this was another name of the hero
Paris, and it also belongs to several characters in the
New Testament. However, the most famous bearer was Alexander the Great, king of Macedon. In the 4th century BC he built a huge empire out of Greece, Egypt, Persia, and parts of India. Due to his fame, and later medieval tales involving him, use of his name spread throughout Europe.
The name has been used by kings of Scotland, Poland and Yugoslavia, emperors of Russia, and eight popes. Other notable bearers include English poet Alexander Pope (1688-1744), American statesman Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804), Scottish-Canadian explorer Alexander MacKenzie (1764-1820), Russian poet Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837), and Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922), the Scottish-Canadian-American inventor of the telephone.
Alexa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German, Hungarian
Pronounced: ə-LEHK-sə(English) AW-lehk-saw(Hungarian)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Alethea
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: al-ə-THEE-ə, ə-LEE-thee-ə
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Derived from Greek
ἀλήθεια (aletheia) meaning
"truth". This name was coined in the 16th century.
Alcyone
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ἀλκυόνη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: al-SIE-ə-nee(English)
Rating: 70% based on 1 vote
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.
Alaia 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Basque
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Means "joyful, happy" from Basque alai.
Aella
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ἄελλα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: A-EHL-LA(Classical Greek)
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
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.
Adrian
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Romanian, Polish, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Russian
Other Scripts: Адриан(Russian)
Pronounced: AY-dree-ən(English) a-dree-AN(Romanian) A-dryan(Polish) A-dree-an(German) u-dryi-AN(Russian)
Rating: 50% based on 2 votes
Form of
Hadrianus (see
Hadrian) used in several languages. Several
saints and six popes have borne this name, including the only English pope, Adrian IV, and the only Dutch pope, Adrian VI. As an English name, it has been in use since the Middle Ages, though it was not popular until modern times.
Adélaïde
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: A-DEH-LA-EED
Rating: 50% based on 1 vote
Adelaide
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Portuguese
Pronounced: A-də-layd(English) a-deh-LIE-deh(Italian) a-di-LIE-di(European Portuguese) a-di-LIED(European Portuguese) a-deh-LIE-jee(Brazilian Portuguese)
Rating: 75% based on 2 votes
Means
"nobleness, nobility", from the French form of the Germanic name
Adalheidis, which was composed of
adal "noble" and the suffix
heit "kind, sort, type". It was borne in the 10th century by
Saint Adelaide, the wife of the Holy Roman emperor Otto the Great.
In Britain the parallel form Alice, derived via Old French, has historically been more common than Adelaide, though this form did gain some currency in the 19th century due to the popularity of the German-born wife of King William IV, for whom the city of Adelaide in Australia was named in 1836.
Ada 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Spanish, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Finnish, Germanic [1]
Pronounced: AY-də(English) A-dha(Spanish) A-da(Dutch, Polish) AH-dah(Finnish)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Originally a short form of Germanic names such as
Adelaide or
Adelina that begin with the element
adal meaning "noble".
Saint Ada was a 7th-century Frankish abbess at Le Mans. This name was also borne by Augusta Ada King (1815-1852), the Countess of Lovelace (known as Ada Lovelace), a daughter of Lord Byron. She was an assistant to Charles Babbage, the inventor of an early mechanical computer.
Abigail
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Biblical, Biblical German, Biblical Italian, Biblical Portuguese, Biblical Latin
Other Scripts: אֲבִיגַיִל(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: AB-i-gayl(English)
Personal remark: Not my absolute favorite, but I have a character named Abigail
Rating: 55% based on 2 votes
From the Hebrew name
אֲבִיגָיִל (ʾAviḡayil) meaning
"my father is joy", derived from the roots
אָב (ʾav) meaning "father" and
גִּיל (gil) meaning "joy". In the
Old Testament this is the name of Nabal's wife. After Nabal's death she became the third wife of King
David.
As an English name, Abigail first became common after the Protestant Reformation, and it was popular among the Puritans. The biblical Abigail refers to herself as a servant, and beginning in the 17th century the name became a slang term for a servant, especially after the release of the play The Scornful Lady (1616), which featured a character named Abigail. The name went out of fashion at that point, but it was revived in the 20th century.
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