PurpleManners's Personal Name List

From the Greek name Ζήνων (Zenon), which was derived from the name of the Greek god Zeus (the poetic form of his name being Ζήν). Zeno was the name of two famous Greek philosophers: Zeno of Elea and Zeno of Citium, the founder of the Stoic school in Athens.

Italian, Russian and Hungarian form of Violet.

Latin form of Yolanda.

Means "violet" in Latin. This is the name of the heroine of William Shakespeare's comedy Twelfth Night (1602). In the play she is the survivor of a shipwreck who disguises herself as a man named Cesario. Working as a messenger for Duke Orsino, she attempts to convince Olivia to marry him. Instead Viola falls in love with the duke.

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.

Feminine form of Tullius (see Tullio).

Norwegian form of the Old Norse name Þórunn, from the name of the Norse god Þórr (see Thor) combined with unnr "wave" or unna "to love".

Means "white wave" in Welsh. Tonwen (or simply Gwen) was the mother of Saint Cybi and sister of Non (herself mother of Wales' patron saint, David). It was used by John Cowper Powys for a character in his novel 'Porius' (1951).

Spanish, Portuguese and Italian form of Timothy.

Short form of Teodoro and other names that begin with Teo. In Georgian this is a feminine name, a short form of Teona.

Italian and Spanish form of Thekla.

Means "star" in Latin. This name was created by the 16th-century poet Philip Sidney for the subject of his collection of sonnets Astrophel and Stella. It was a nickname of a lover of Jonathan Swift, real name Esther Johnson (1681-1728), though it was not commonly used as a given name until the 19th century. It appears in Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), belonging to the sister of Blanche DuBois and the wife of Stanley Kowalski.

Form of Sophia used in various languages.

From a Late Latin name that was derived from Latin serenus meaning "clear, tranquil, serene". This name was borne by an obscure early saint. Edmund Spenser also used it in his poem The Faerie Queene (1590). A famous bearer from the modern era is tennis player Serena Williams (1981-).

Italian diminutive of Rosa 1. This is the name of a character in Rossini's opera The Barber of Seville (1816).

Italian diminutive of Rosa 1.

Late Latin name derived from rosa "rose". This was the name of a 12th-century Sicilian saint.

Italian form of the Late Latin Romaeus or Late Greek Ρωμαῖος (Romaios), which meant "from Rome" or "Roman". Romeo is best known as the lover of Juliet in William Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet (1596). Shakespeare based his play on earlier Italian stories by Luigi Da Porto (1524) and Matteo Bandello (1554), which both featured characters named Giulietta and Romeo.

Means "rose" in Welsh. This is a modern Welsh name.

Derived from the Welsh elements rhos "rose" (cf. Rhosyn) and gwen "white, pure, holy, fair".

Italian form of Remus.

Italian form of Mireille.

Diminutive of Mari 1.

Italian form of Matthias.

Italian form of Matthew.

Italian feminine form of Matthew.

Feminine form of Marinus. This name was borne by a few early saints. This is also the name by which Saint Margaret of Antioch is known in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Means "the moon" in Latin (as well as Italian, Spanish and other Romance languages). Luna was the Roman goddess of the moon, frequently depicted driving a white chariot through the sky.

Italian and Romanian form of Lucas (see Luke). This name was borne by Luca della Robbia, a Renaissance sculptor from Florence.

Either a variant of Lynette or else from the name of the small bird, a type of finch.

Italian form of Aetius.

Italian form of Hermes.

Variant of Éowyn, which J. R. R. Tolkien invented using the Old English elements e(o)h "horse" and wynn "joy".

Means "horse joy" in Old English. This name was invented by J. R. R. Tolkien who used Old English to represent the Rohirric language. In his novel The Lord of the Rings (1954) Eowyn is the niece of King Theoden of Rohan. She slays the Lord of the Nazgul in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.

From Old English eoh "horse, steed" and #mære "famous, illustrious, known". Eomer was, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the great-great-grandfather of Creoda of Mercia, the first King of Mercia. His name may be the basis for the fictional Lord of the Rings character Éomer.

Means "rainbow" in Welsh. This name was first used in the 19th century.

Meaning uncertain, possibly related to a place name. Other suggested origins include elwydd/eilwydd, meaning "love tryst, meeting", or "beatic presence" from an invented word comprised of el- "much" and gwydd "presence".

Italian form of Eloise.

Italian form of Aelius or Helios.

Italian, Spanish and Portuguese form of Éliane.

Derived from Cornish elester meaning "iris flower". This is a recently coined Cornish name.

Form of Eleanor in several languages.

Means "snowdrop (flower)" in Welsh, a compound of eira "snow" and llys "plant".

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

Italian form of Cosmas. A famous bearer was Cosimo de' Medici (1389-1464), the founder of Medici rule in Florence, who was a patron of the Renaissance and a successful merchant. Other members of the Medici family have also borne this name.

Italian feminine form of Cosimo.

Latinized form of Kleio.

Latinate feminine form of Caelestinus.

Italian feminine and masculine form of Caelestis. It is also the Portuguese, Spanish and English feminine form.

Italian, Spanish and Galician form of Carmel.

Italian and Spanish form of Arthur.

Italian and Spanish form of Artemios.

Spanish and Italian form of Amarantha.

Amarant is a Dutch girl's name. The name comes from the Greek word Amarantos which means "unfading beauty".

In the 18th century it was a common name in the Netherlands. Nowadays the name still occurs sporadically in the Netherlands.