PAY's Personal Name List

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

Norwegian form of Auðr.

From the Middle English personal name Baye, from Old English Beaga (masculine) or Beage (feminine).

A diminutive of Baylee, or any name containing the element or sound -bay-.

May also be given in reference to the English word "bay," from the Middle English baye, from the Old English beġ 'berry', as in beġbēam 'berry-tree'.

Short form of Beatrix or Beáta.

Short form of Beatrix and other names beginning with B.

Short form of Buddy.

From a surname that meant "quiet, shy, coy" from Middle English coi.

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

Short form of Elisabeth.

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.

Originally a Frisian short form of Ferdinand (and other names starting with the Old German element fridu "peace" and a second element beginning with n [1]).

Either from the English word fox or the surname Fox, which originally given as a nickname. The surname was borne by George Fox (1624-1691), the founder of the Quakers.

Short form of Augustus or Angus.

Means "summer" in Welsh.

Welsh form of Jack.

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.

From a nickname, probably from the English word kipper meaning "male salmon".

Russian form of Cyrus.

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".

Diminutive of Élisabeth. It is also the French word for "lily".

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).

Short form of Maximilian or Maxim. In English it can also be short for Maxwell, and it coincides with the informal word max, short for maximum.

Famous bearers include the German intellectual Max Weber (1864-1920) and the German physicist Max Planck (1858-1947). This name is also borne by the title character in the Mad Max series of movies, starting 1979.

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.

Means either "speech, expression" or "fang, tusk" in Hebrew.

Malay variant of Nur.

Diminutive of Aneirin.

Old English āc, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch eik and German Eiche.

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.

Short form of Raymond, often used as an independent name. It coincides with an English word meaning "beam of light". Science-fiction author Ray Bradbury (1920-2012) and musician Ray Charles (1930-2004) are two notable bearers of the name.

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

Means "rose" in Icelandic.

Short form of Rosalind, Rosamund and other names beginning with Ros.

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.

Transferred use of the English surname Rye.

It is occasionally used as a diminutive of names that contain the -rye sound/element, for example Zachariah and Rylie.

Diminutive of Taggart or variant of Tagg. Also used as a nickname by people with initials T.A.G.

Derived from Welsh gwyn meaning "white, blessed".