NicaQ76's Personal Name List

Derived from Spanish and Galician alegría "joy, happiness", taken from the Spanish title of the Virgin Mary Nuestra Señora de la Alegría, meaning "Our Lady of Joy".

Means "jaguar" in Mayan (Yucatec Maya báalam; K'iche' Maya balam).

Spanish, Portuguese and Italian form of Casimir.

Used by author C. S. Lewis for a character in his Chronicles of Narnia series, first appearing in 1950. Prince Caspian first appears in the fourth book, where he is the rightful king of Narnia driven into exile by his evil uncle Miraz. Lewis probably based the name on the Caspian Sea, which was named for the city of Qazvin, which was itself named for the ancient Cas tribe.

Latinate feminine form of the Roman family name Caecilius, which was derived from Latin caecus meaning "blind". Saint Cecilia was a semi-legendary 2nd or 3rd-century martyr who was sentenced to die because she refused to worship the Roman gods. After attempts to suffocate her failed, she was beheaded. She was later regarded as the patron saint of music and musicians.

Due to the popularity of the saint, the name became common in the Christian world during the Middle Ages. The Normans brought it to England, where it was commonly spelled Cecily — the Latinate form Cecilia came into use in the 18th century.

Latinized form of Kelaino.

Feminine form of the Roman family name Caelius. Shakespeare used it in his play As You Like It (1599), which introduced the name to the English-speaking public at large. It is sometimes used as a short form of Cecilia.

Possibly derived from Greek ἄλαρα (alara) meaning "hazelnut, spear-shaft". In Greek mythology Elara was one of Zeus's mortal lovers and by him the mother of the giant Tityos. A moon of Jupiter bears this name in her honour.

Form of Helen used in various languages, as well as an alternate transcription of Russian Елена (see Yelena).

From Elysium, the name of the realm of the dead in Greek and Roman mythology, which means "blissful".

Spanish, Portuguese and Catalan form of Geneviève.

Spanish form of Yvelise, especially used in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.

Derived from Greek κελαινός (kelainos) meaning "black, dark". This name belongs to five different figures in Greek mythology, including an Amazon (a woman warrior), one of the Pleiades and the mother of Delphus by Apollo.

Means "light" in Spanish. It is taken from the title of the Virgin Mary, Nuestra Señora de la Luz, meaning "Our Lady of Light".

From the Latin name Sebastianus, which meant "from Sebaste". Sebaste was the name a town in Asia Minor, its name deriving from Greek σεβαστός (sebastos) meaning "venerable" (a translation of Latin Augustus, the title of the Roman emperors). According to Christian tradition, Saint Sebastian was a 3rd-century Roman soldier martyred during the persecutions of the emperor Diocletian. After he was discovered to be a Christian, he was tied to a stake and shot with arrows. This however did not kill him. Saint Irene of Rome healed him and he returned to personally admonish Diocletian, whereupon the emperor had him beaten to death.

Due to the saint's popularity, the name came into general use in medieval Europe, especially in Spain and France. It was also borne by a 16th-century king of Portugal who died in a crusade against Morocco.

Spanish and Slovak form of Valentinus (see Valentine 1).

Feminine form of Valentinus (see Valentine 1). A famous bearer is the Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova (1937-), who in 1963 became the first woman to visit space.