Browse Names - Behind the Name

Ashanti f & m Various
From the name of an African people who reside in southern Ghana. It possibly means "warlike" in the Twi language.

Berlin f & m Various
From the name of the city in Germany, which is of uncertain meaning.

Ciel f & m Various
Means "sky" in French. It is not used as a given name in France itself.

Edsel m Various
Variant of Etzel notably borne by Edsel Ford (1893-1943), the son of the American industrialist Henry Ford.

Elián m Various
In the case of Elián Gonzalez (1993-) it is a combination of Elizabeth and Juan 1, the names of his parents.

Ferrer m Various
From a surname that meant "blacksmith" in Catalan. This name is often given in honour of Saint Vicente Ferrer, a 14th-century missionary who is the patron saint of builders.

Herk m Various
Short form of Hercules.

Junípero m Various
This was the name assumed by the 18th-century Spanish Franciscan monk Miguel José Serra, a missionary to California. He named himself after one of Saint Francis's companions, who was named from Latin iuniperus "juniper".

Kaiser m Various
German form of the Roman title Caesar (see Caesar). It is not used as a given name in Germany itself.

Kobe 2 m Various
From the name of the city in Japan. The parents of basketball player Kobe Bryant (1978-2020) chose this name after seeing Kobe beef (which is from the Japanese city) on a menu.

Lux f & m Various
Derived from Latin lux meaning "light".

Mahershala m Various
From the longer name Mahershalalhashbaz, which appears in the Old Testament at Isaiah 8:1 in reference to Isaiah's symbolic son. It is written in Hebrew as מַהֵר שָׁלָל חָשׁ בַּז, and is composed of the two-word phrases מַהֵר שָׁלָל (maher shalal) and חָשׁ בַּז (chash baz), which both mean "hurry to the plunder". A famous bearer is the American actor Mahershala Ali (1974-), whose full name is Mahershalalhashbaz.

Monet f & m Various
From a French surname that was derived from either Hamon or Edmond. This was the surname of the French impressionist painter Claude Monet (1840-1926).

Neo 2 m Various
From a prefix meaning "new", ultimately from Greek νέος (neos).... [more]

Omega m & f Various
From the name of the last letter in the Greek alphabet, Ω. It is often seen as a symbol of completion.

Rio 1 m & f Various
Means "river" in Spanish or Portuguese. A city in Brazil bears this name. Its full name is Rio de Janeiro, which means "river of January", so named because the first explorers came to the harbour in January and mistakenly thought it was a river mouth.

Sarava m Various
From a phrase used by members of the Candomblé religion (an African religion that was taken to Brazil by African slaves), which means "good luck".

Thelonius m Various
Latinized form of Tielo (see Till). A famous bearer was jazz musician Thelonious Monk (1917-1982).

Tivoli m & f Various
From the name of a picturesque Italian town, used as a summer resort by the ancient Romans.

Voltaire m Various
Pen name of François-Marie Arouet (1694-1778), a French philosopher and writer, the author of Candide. It is not known how Arouet devised his name. He may have reversed the syllables of Airvault, a town where his family owned property; it may have been an anagram of the Latin spelling of his surname Arovet and LI standing for le jeune "the young"; or it may have come from French volontaire "determined".

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the description is the meaning and history write-up for the name separate search terms with spaces search for an exact phrase by surrounding it with double quotes example: "lord of the rings" matches names from the novel 'The Lord of the Rings' this field understands simple boolean logic force a term to be included by preceding it with a + sign force a term to be excluded by preceding it with a - sign example: +greek +(legend myth) -zeus matches Greek names of myths or legends not about Zeus ignore name meanings: keywords from the name meanings are ignored

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the "relationship" is how the name relates to its parent name example: searching for diminutive matches Betsy because it is a diminutive of its parent Elizabeth selecting *(all core forms)* excludes peripheral forms such as diminutives, short forms, and combinations expand search to ancestral names: relationships between names further up the family tree are included

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name impressions are based on the ratings left by the behindthename.com community
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name impressions are based on the ratings left by the behindthename.com community
Impression	clear help?
name impressions are based on the ratings left by the behindthename.com community

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