midget-jones-s-diary's Personal Name List

From the Old German element sahso meaning "a Saxon". The Saxons were a Germanic tribe, their name ultimately deriving from the Germanic word *sahsą meaning "knife". Saskia van Uylenburgh (1612-1642) was the wife of the Dutch painter Rembrandt.

Italian and Dutch variant form of Peter. In Italian, this form is often used in combination with another name.

Alternate transcription of Russian Максим or Belarusian Максім (see Maksim) or Ukrainian Максим (see Maksym). This is also the Czech form.

French form of Margaret. This is also the French word for the daisy flower (species Leucanthemum vulgare).

French short form of Margaret.

French form of Lucianus.

Means "maiden" in Greek. This was another name for the Greek goddess Persephone.

Latinate form of Greek Ioanna (see Joanna).

From a variant spelling of the English word jasmine (see Jasmine), used also to refer to flowering plants in the cestrum family.

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.

German form of Franciscus (see Francis). This name was borne by the Austrian composer Franz Schubert (1797-1828), the Hungarian composer Franz Liszt (1811-1886) and the Austrian-Czech author Franz Kafka (1883-1924), whose works include The Trial and The Castle. It was also the name of rulers of Austria and the Holy Roman Empire.

Italian form of Franciscus (see Francis). Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374) was an Italian Renaissance poet, usually known in English as Petrarch.

French feminine form of Faustinus (see Faustino).

Form of Elijah used in several languages. This is also the form used in the Greek New Testament.

Variant of Ekkehard.

Feminine form of Claudius. It is mentioned briefly in the New Testament. As a Christian name it was very rare until the 16th century.

Feminine form of the Late Latin name Clarus, which meant "clear, bright, famous". The name Clarus was borne by a few early saints. The feminine form was popularized by the 13th-century Saint Clare of Assisi (called Chiara in Italian), a friend and follower of Saint Francis, who left her wealthy family to found the order of nuns known as the Poor Clares.

As an English name it has been in use since the Middle Ages, originally in the form Clare, though the Latinate spelling Clara overtook it in the 19th century and became very popular. It declined through most of the 20th century (being eclipsed by the French form Claire in English-speaking countries), though it has since recovered somewhat.

Feminine form of Cassius.

French feminine and masculine form of Camilla. It is also used in the English-speaking world, where it is generally only feminine.

Variant of Bryony.

French form of Aurelianus.

Spanish, Catalan, Russian and Polish form of Ariadne.

French form of Apollonia.

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.