coIIeen's Personal Name List

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

From the South Slavic word биље (bilje) meaning "herb".

Feminine form of Callistus. As an English name it might also be a variant of Kallisto.

Latinized form of Kore. It was not used as a given name in the English-speaking world until after it was employed by James Fenimore Cooper for a character in his novel The Last of the Mohicans (1826). In some cases it may be a short form of Cordula, Corinna and other names beginning with a similar sound.

Variant of Corinna.

German form of Iseult, appearing in the 13th-century German poem Tristan by Gottfried von Strassburg. In 1865 the German composer Richard Wagner debuted his popular opera Tristan und Isolde and also used the name for his first daughter.

Means "the heavens" from Hawaiian ka "the" and lani "heaven, sky, royal, majesty".

Means "viburnum tree" in Bulgarian, Macedonian and Polish.

From the Hebrew name רָחֵל (Rachel) meaning "ewe". In the Old Testament this is the name of the favourite wife of Jacob. Her father Laban tricked Jacob into marrying her older sister Leah first, though in exchange for seven years of work Laban allowed Jacob to marry Rachel too. Initially barren and facing her husband's anger, she offered her handmaid Bilhah to Jacob to bear him children. Eventually she was herself able to conceive, becoming the mother of Joseph and Benjamin.

The name was common among Jews in the Middle Ages, but it was not generally used as a Christian name in the English-speaking world until after the Protestant Reformation. It was moderately popular in the first half of the 20th century, but starting in the 1960s it steadily rose, reaching highs in the 1980s and 90s. The character Rachel Green on the American sitcom Friends (1994-2004) may have only helped delay its downswing.

Notable bearers include American conservationist Rachel Carson (1907-1964), British actress Rachel Weisz (1970-), and Canadian actress Rachel McAdams (1978-).

Variant of Sandra. It was popularized in the English-speaking world by a character in Theodore Dreiser's novel An American Tragedy (1925) and the subsequent movie adaptation (1931).

Short form of Theodora. A famous bearer was actress Theda Bara (1885-1955), who was born Theodosia Goodman.

Feminine form of Theodore. This name was common in the Byzantine Empire, being borne by several empresses including the influential wife of Justinian in the 6th century.