Edweis's Personal Name List

From the Hebrew name אֲבִיגָיִל ('Avigayil) meaning "my father is joy", derived from the roots אָב ('av) meaning "father" and גִּיל (gil) meaning "joy". In the Old Testament this is the name of Nabal's wife. After Nabal's death she became the third wife of King David.

As an English name, Abigail first became common after the Protestant Reformation, and it was popular among the Puritans. The biblical Abigail refers to herself as a servant, and beginning in the 17th century the name became a slang term for a servant, especially after the release of the play The Scornful Lady (1616), which featured a character named Abigail. The name went out of fashion at that point, but it was revived in the 20th century.

French form of Adrian.

French feminine form of Alban.

Short form of Alexander.

From the Greek name Ἄλεξις (Alexis) meaning "helper" or "defender", derived from Greek ἀλέξω (alexo) meaning "to defend, to help". This was the name of a 3rd-century BC Greek comic poet, and also of several saints. It is used somewhat interchangeably with the related name Ἀλέξιος or Alexius, borne by five Byzantine emperors.

In the English-speaking world this name is more commonly given to girls. This is due to the American actress Alexis Smith (1921-1993), who began appearing in movies in the early 1940s. It got a boost in popularity in the 1980s from a character on the soap opera Dynasty.

From the Old French name Aalis, a short form of Adelais, itself a short form of the Germanic name Adalheidis (see Adelaide). This name became popular in France and England in the 12th century. It was among the most common names in England until the 16th century, when it began to decline. It was revived in the 19th century.

This name was borne by the heroine of Lewis Carroll's novels Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking Glass (1871).

Feminine form of Andrew. As an English name, it has been used since the 17th century, though it was not common until the 20th century.

French form of Ariadne.

Alternate transcription of Hebrew עֲטָרָה (see Atarah).

French form of Athenais.

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

Feminine diminutive of Charles.

Italian form of Clara. Saint Chiara (commonly called Clare in English) was a follower of Saint Francis of Assisi.

French feminine form of Clementius (see Clement).

French form of Delphina.

Means "snow" in Welsh. This is a recently created name.

Means "saint, holy person" in Turkish.

Anglicized form of Éireann. It was initially used by people of Irish heritage in America, Canada and Australia. It was rare until the mid-1950s.

Modern Greek form of Eugenia. It is also an alternate transcription of Russian Евгения (see Yevgeniya) or Bulgarian Евгения (see Evgeniya).

Feminine form of Felicianus (see Feliciano).

Feminine form of Fionn. This name was (first?) used by the Scottish poet James Macpherson in his poem Fingal (1761), in which it is spelled as Fióna.

Italian and Spanish form of Flavius.

Danish and Swedish form of Freya.

From Old Norse Freyja meaning "lady". This is the name of a goddess associated with love, beauty, war and death in Norse mythology. She claims half of the heroes who are slain in battle and brings them to her realm of Fólkvangr. Along with her brother Freyr and father Njord, she is one of the Vanir (as opposed to the Æsir). Some scholars connect her with the goddess Frigg.

This is not the usual spelling in any of the Scandinavian languages (in Sweden and Denmark it is Freja and in Norway it is Frøja) but it is the common spelling of the goddess's name in English. In the 2000s it became popular in Britain.

French feminine form of Gabriel. This was the real name of French fashion designer Coco Chanel (1883-1971).

Lithuanian and Latvian form of Eve. This is also the Lithuanian and Latvian word for a type of cherry tree (species Prunus padus).

From the English word for the climbing plant that has small yellow flowers. It is ultimately derived from Old English ifig.

From the Roman name Iulianus, which was derived from Julius. This was the name of the last pagan Roman emperor, Julian the Apostate (4th century). It was also borne by several early saints, including the legendary Saint Julian the Hospitaller. This name has been used in England since the Middle Ages, at which time it was also a feminine name (from Juliana, eventually becoming Gillian).

Variant or feminine form of Laurence 1. Originally a masculine name, it was first popularized as a feminine name by actress Betty Jean Perske (1924-2014), who used Lauren Bacall as her stage name.

Combination of Lee and Anne 1.

French feminine form of Louis.

French form of Maia 1.

Feminine form of Michael.

French feminine form of Perrin, a diminutive of Pierre.

From Japanese 凛 (rin) meaning "dignified, severe, cold" or other kanji that are pronounced the same way.

Medieval English diminutive of Robert, now usually regarded as an independent name. Robin Hood was a legendary hero and archer of medieval England who stole from the rich to give to the poor. In modern times it has also been used as a feminine name, and it may sometimes be given in reference to the red-breasted bird.

Variant of Roxane.

Variant of Solange.

From an Old Norse name, which was derived from the elements sól "sun" and veig "strength". This is the name of the heroine in Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt (1876).

Means "magic, spell" in Finnish.

From the Roman family name Terentius, which is of unknown meaning. Famous bearers include Publius Terentius Afer, a Roman playwright, and Marcus Terentius Varro, a Roman scholar. It was also borne by several early saints. The name was used in Ireland as an Anglicized form of Toirdhealbhach, but it was not found as an English name until the late 19th century. It attained only a moderate level of popularity in the 20th century, though it has been common as an African-American name especially since the 1970s.

Possibly means "bandage" in Greek. This was the name of a companion of Alexander the Great. It was also borne by a 4th-century saint from Alexandria, a wealthy socialite who became a Christian convert, though in her case the name may have had a distinct Coptic origin. She has been a popular subject of art and literature, including an 1891 novel by Anatole France and an 1894 opera by Jules Massenet.

Short form of Tatiana or Christiana. It was rare in the United States until it jumped in popularity in 1975, perhaps due to the Vietnamese-American actress Tiana Alexandra (1956-), who had some exposure at that time. It was used as the name of the princess in the Disney movie The Princess and the Frog (2009).

Estonian variant of Tuuli.