PAY's Personal Name List

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.

A Greek goddess of vengence and destruction, the personification of curses. Her name is derived from the Ancient Greek word ἀρά (ara) meaning "prayer, vow; curse".

Variant of Eve. A famous bearer was the American actress Ava Gardner (1922-1990). This name became very popular throughout the English-speaking world in the early 21st century, entering the top ten for girls in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It began to rise sharply after 1997, possibly inspired by the actress Heather Locklear and musician Richie Sambora when they used it for their baby daughter that year.

Short form of Beatrix or Beáta.

Short form of names ending in ea.

Medieval diminutive of Edith.

Welsh form of Eva.

Means "mercy" in Old Norse. This was the name of a Norse goddess of healing and medicine.

Anglicized form of Eithne.

In part from the English word fay meaning "fairy", derived from Middle English faie meaning "magical, enchanted", ultimately (via Old French) from Latin fata meaning "the Fates". It appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's chronicles in the name of Morgan le Fay. In some cases it may be used as a short form of Faith. It has been used as a feminine given name since the 19th century.

As a rarer (but older) masculine name it is probably derived from a surname: see Fay 1 or Fay 2.

Of unknown origin and meaning. Saint Ia was a 5th-century Cornish virgin martyr, an Irish princess, according to popular tradition, who travelled to Cornwall as a missionary and was martyred on the River Hayle under Tudur Mawr, ruler of Penwith. Ia gave her name to her burial place; St Ia's Church was erected over her grave and around the church grew the town of Porth Ia (later renamed St Ives in honour of a bishop named Ivo or Ive).

Derived from the Germanic element id possibly meaning "work, labour" (Proto-Germanic *idiz). The Normans brought this name to England, though it eventually died out there in the Middle Ages. It was strongly revived in the 19th century, in part due to the heroine in Alfred Tennyson's poem The Princess (1847), which was later adapted into the play Princess Ida (1884) by Gilbert and Sullivan.

Though the etymology is unrelated, this is the name of a mountain on the island of Crete where, according to Greek myth, the god Zeus was born.

Short form of names ending with or otherwise containing ina, such as Martina, Christina and Carolina.

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.

Short form of Irina.

Means "willow tree" in South Slavic.

From the English word for the climbing plant that has small yellow flowers. It is ultimately derived from Old English ifig.

Simply from the English word joy, ultimately derived from Norman French joie, Latin gaudium. It has been regularly used as a given name since the late 19th century.

Short form of Katherine and other names beginning with K.

Diminutive of Christopher or Katherine. A notable bearer was Kit Carson (1809-1868), an American frontiersman and explorer.

Derived from the Old Norse name Hlíf meaning "protection". Its use has been influenced by the modern Scandinavian word liv meaning "life".

Short form of Louise or Louis. Famous bearers include the baseball player Lou Gehrig (1903-1941) and the musician Lou Reed (1942-2013).

Short form of names beginning with Lu, such as Lucy, Luis or Luisa. Known bearers include Luciana 'Lu' Andrade (1978-), a Brazilian singer; Luzerne 'Lu' Blue (1897-1958), an American baseball player; Maria Luisa 'Lu' Colombo (1952-), an Italian singer; Lucien 'Lu' Gambino (1923-2003), an American football player; Lucy 'Lu' Rees (1901-1983), an Australian book collector and children's literature advocate; and Luis 'Lu' Senarens (1863-1939), an American science fiction writer.

Derived from Latin lux meaning "light".

Used by William Shakespeare for the queen of the fairies in his play Romeo and Juliet (1596). Of uncertain origin, it is possibly derived from Mabel or the Irish name Medb. After being used by Shakespeare, the name subsequently appeared in other literary works such as Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem Queen Mab (1813).

Variant of May. A famous bearer was the American actress Mae West (1893-1980), whose birth name was Mary.

Derived from the name of the month of May, which derives from Maia, the name of a Roman goddess. May is also another name of the hawthorn flower. It is also used as a diminutive of Mary, Margaret or Mabel.

Means "great" in Irish. This was a popular medieval Irish name. It was probably given in some cases as an alternative to Máire, which was considered too sacred for general use.

Welsh form of Niamh. The Welsh poet T. Gwynn Jones used it in his long poem Tir na n-Óg (1916), referring to the lover of Oisín.

Lithuanian form of Anna.

Means "peace" in Latin. In Roman mythology this was the name of the goddess of peace.

Short form of Rachel. It can also be used as a feminine form of Ray.

From Japanese 蓮 (ren) meaning "lotus", 恋 (ren) meaning "romantic love", or other kanji that are pronounced the same way.

Short form of Maria.

Directly taken from Faroese ró "calm, tranquility; peace; quiet; rest".

Means "rose" in Icelandic.

From the name of the bitter medicinal herb, ultimately deriving from Greek ῥυτή (rhyte). This is also sometimes used as a short form of Ruth 1.

Old Norse, Danish and Icelandic form of Siv.

Simply from the English word sky, which was ultimately derived from Old Norse ský "cloud".

Diminutive of Urszula (Polish) or Uršula (Slovene).

Means "flax" in Sanskrit. This is another name of the Hindu goddess Parvati. In Hindu texts it is said to derive from the Sanskrit exclamation उ मा (u mā) meaning "O do not (practice austerities)!", which was addressed to Parvati by her mother.

Anglicized form of Irish Úna or Scottish Ùna. It is also associated with Latin una, feminine form of unus meaning "one". The name features in Edmund Spenser's poem The Faerie Queene (1590).

Variant of Wynn.

Means "life" in Greek. From early times it was adopted by Hellenized Jews as a translation of Eve. It was borne by two early Christian saints, one martyred under Emperor Hadrian, the other martyred under Diocletian. The name was common in the Byzantine Empire, being borne by a ruling empress of the 11th century.

As an English name, Zoe (sometimes with a diaeresis as Zoë) has only been in use since the 19th century. It has generally been more common among Eastern Christians (in various spellings).