Yippal's Personal Name List
Aadolf
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Finnish (Rare)
Pronounced: AH-dolf
Rating: 26% based on 9 votes
Ada 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Spanish, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Hungarian, Finnish, Germanic [1]
Pronounced: AY-də(English) A-dha(Spanish) A-da(Polish) AW-daw(Hungarian) AH-dah(Finnish)
Rating: 54% based on 9 votes
Originally a short form of Germanic names such as
Adelaide or
Adelina that begin with the element
adal meaning "noble".
Saint Ada was a 7th-century Frankish abbess at Le Mans. This name was also borne by Augusta Ada King (1815-1852), the Countess of Lovelace (known as Ada Lovelace), a daughter of Lord Byron. She was an assistant to Charles Babbage, the inventor of an early mechanical computer.
Adalia
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: אֲדַלְיָא(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: ad-ə-LIE-ə(English) ə-DAH-lee-ə(English)
Rating: 36% based on 7 votes
Meaning unknown, possibly of Persian origin. In Book of Esther in the
Old Testament this is the name of a son of
Haman the Agagite.
Adamina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: ad-ə-MEEN-ə
Rating: 48% based on 4 votes
Adella
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: ə-DEHL-ə
Adolphe
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: A-DAWLF
Rating: 36% based on 5 votes
French form of
Adolf, rarely used since World War II.
Agata
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Polish, Slovene, Russian, Croatian, Serbian, Swedish
Other Scripts: Агата(Russian, Serbian)
Pronounced: A-ga-ta(Italian) a-GA-ta(Polish) u-GA-tə(Russian)
Rating: 50% based on 5 votes
Form of
Agatha in various languages.
Agnieszka
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Polish
Pronounced: ag-NYEH-shka
Rating: 36% based on 5 votes
Aileen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Scottish, Irish, English
Pronounced: ie-LEEN(English) IE-leen(English)
Rating: 20% based on 5 votes
Aina 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish
Pronounced: IE-nah(Finnish) IE-na(Swedish)
Rating: 34% based on 5 votes
Variant of
Aino. It also means "always" in Finnish.
Aisling
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: ASH-lyən
Rating: 36% based on 5 votes
Means "dream" or "vision" in Irish. This name was created in the 20th century.
Akseli
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: AHK-seh-lee
Rating: 23% based on 4 votes
Aleksandra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Serbian, Bulgarian, Slovene, Croatian, Macedonian, Finnish, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Georgian
Other Scripts: Александра(Russian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Macedonian) ალექსანდრა(Georgian)
Pronounced: u-lyik-SAN-drə(Russian) a-lehk-SAN-dra(Polish) u-lyehk-SAN-dru(Lithuanian)
Rating: 60% based on 4 votes
Aleksei
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Russian
Other Scripts: Алексей(Russian)
Pronounced: u-lyi-KSYAY
Rating: 65% based on 4 votes
Aleksis
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Finnish, Latvian
Pronounced: AH-lehk-sees(Finnish)
Finnish and Latvian form of
Alexis. This name was borne by Finnish author Aleksis Kivi (originally Alexis Stenvall) who wrote the first significant novel in the Finnish language, 'Seitsemän veljestä' ('Seven Brothers') in 1870.
Alice
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, French, Portuguese, Italian, German, Czech, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Dutch
Pronounced: AL-is(English) A-LEES(French) u-LEE-si(European Portuguese) a-LEE-see(Brazilian Portuguese) a-LEE-cheh(Italian) a-LEES(German) A-li-tseh(Czech)
Rating: 72% based on 5 votes
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).
Aliisa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: AH-lee-sah
Rating: 34% based on 5 votes
Alis
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Rating: 33% based on 4 votes
Alma 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Albanian, Slovene, Croatian
Pronounced: AL-mə(English) AL-ma(Spanish)
Rating: 60% based on 4 votes
This name became popular after the Battle of Alma (1854), which took place near the River Alma in Crimea and ended in a victory for Britain and France. However, the name was in rare use before the battle; it was probably inspired by Latin
almus "nourishing". It also coincides with the Spanish word meaning
"the soul".
Amalia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish, Italian, Romanian, Greek, Finnish, Swedish, Dutch, German, Germanic (Latinized) [1]
Other Scripts: Αμαλία(Greek)
Pronounced: a-MA-lya(Spanish, German) a-MA-lee-a(Dutch)
Rating: 45% based on 4 votes
Short form of Germanic names beginning with the element
amal. This element means
"unceasing, vigorous, brave", or it can refer to the Gothic dynasty of the Amali (derived from the same root).
This was another name for the 7th-century saint Amalberga of Maubeuge.
Amelina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Germanic (Latinized) [1]
Rating: 30% based on 4 votes
Amina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic, Bosnian, Tatar, Kazakh, Eastern African, Western African, Swahili, Hausa
Other Scripts: آمنة, أمينة(Arabic) Әминә(Tatar) Әмина(Kazakh) Амина(Russian)
Pronounced: A-mee-nah(Arabic) a-MEE-nah(Arabic)
Rating: 25% based on 4 votes
Alternate transcription of Arabic
Aminah 1 or
Aminah 2, as well as the form in several other languages.
Anastasia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, English, Spanish, Italian, Georgian, Ancient Greek
Other Scripts: Αναστασία(Greek) Анастасия(Russian) Анастасія(Ukrainian, Belarusian) ანასტასია(Georgian) Ἀναστασία(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: a-na-sta-SEE-a(Greek) u-nu-stu-SYEE-yə(Russian) u-nu-stu-SYEE-yu(Ukrainian) a-na-sta-SYEE-ya(Belarusian) an-ə-STAY-zhə(English) a-na-STA-sya(Spanish) a-na-STA-zya(Italian) A-NA-STA-SEE-A(Classical Greek)
Feminine form of
Anastasius. This was the name of a 4th-century Dalmatian
saint who was martyred during the persecutions of the Roman emperor Diocletian. Due to her, the name has been common in Eastern Orthodox Christianity (in various spellings). As an English name it has been in use since the Middle Ages. A famous bearer was the youngest daughter of the last Russian tsar Nicholas II, who was rumoured to have escaped the execution of her family in 1918.
Andor 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Norwegian
Rating: 58% based on 4 votes
From the Old Norse name
Arnþórr, derived from the element
ǫrn "eagle" combined with the name of the Norse god
Þórr (see
Thor).
Andraste
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Celtic Mythology (Hellenized)
Other Scripts: Ἀνδράστη(Ancient Greek)
Rating: 40% based on 4 votes
Possibly means
"invincible" in Celtic. According to the Greco-Roman historian Cassius Dio
[1], this was the name of a Briton goddess of victory who was invoked by
Boudicca before her revolt.
Andromeda
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ἀνδρομέδα, Ἀνδρομέδη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: AN-DRO-MEH-DA(Classical Greek) an-DRAH-mi-də(English)
Rating: 48% based on 4 votes
Derived from Greek
ἀνήρ (aner) meaning "man" (genitive
ἀνδρός) combined with one of the related words
μέδομαι (medomai) meaning "to be mindful of, to provide for, to think on" or
μέδω (medo) meaning "to protect, to rule over". In Greek
mythology Andromeda was an Ethiopian princess rescued from sacrifice by the hero
Perseus. A constellation in the northern sky is named for her. This is also the name of a nearby galaxy, given because it resides (from our point of view) within the constellation.
Anna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Estonian, Latvian, Greek, Hungarian, Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Czech, Slovak, Bulgarian, Armenian, Icelandic, Faroese, Catalan, Occitan, Breton, Scottish Gaelic, Biblical, Old Church Slavic, Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek
Other Scripts: Άννα(Greek) Анна(Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Church Slavic) Աննա(Armenian) Ἄννα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: AN-ə(English) AN-na(Italian, Polish, Icelandic) A-na(German, Swedish, Danish, Greek, Czech) AH-na(Dutch) AHN-na(Norwegian) AHN-nah(Finnish) AWN-naw(Hungarian) AN-nə(Russian, Catalan)
Rating: 74% based on 5 votes
Form of
Channah (see
Hannah) used in the Greek and Latin
Old Testament. Many later Old Testament translations, including the English, use the
Hannah spelling instead of
Anna. The name appears briefly in the
New Testament belonging to a prophetess who recognized
Jesus as the Messiah. It was a popular name in the Byzantine Empire from an early date, and in the Middle Ages it became common among Western Christians due to veneration of
Saint Anna (usually known as Saint Anne in English), the name traditionally assigned to the mother of the Virgin
Mary.
In England, this Latin form has been used alongside the vernacular forms Ann and Anne since the late Middle Ages. Anna is currently the most common of these spellings in all English-speaking countries (since the 1970s), however the biblical form Hannah is presently more popular than all three.
The name was borne by several Russian royals, including an 18th-century empress of Russia. It is also the name of the main character in Leo Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina (1877), about a married aristocrat who begins an ultimately tragic relationship with Count Vronsky.
Annora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Medieval English variant of
Honora.
Annukka
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: AHN-nook-kah
Rating: 28% based on 4 votes
Antoinette
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: AHN-TWA-NEHT
Rating: 62% based on 5 votes
Feminine
diminutive of
Antoine. This name was borne by Marie Antoinette, the queen of France during the French Revolution. She was executed by guillotine.
Antonia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish, English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Romanian, Greek, Croatian, Bulgarian, Ancient Roman
Other Scripts: Αντωνία(Greek) Антония(Bulgarian)
Pronounced: an-TO-nya(Italian, Spanish, German) an-TO-nee-ə(English) ahn-TO-nee-a(Dutch) an-TO-nee-a(Latin)
Rating: 50% based on 4 votes
Feminine form of
Antonius (see
Anthony).
Anwen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Rating: 48% based on 4 votes
Means
"very beautiful" in Welsh, from the intensive prefix
an- combined with
gwen "white, blessed".
Aramis
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Literature
The surname of one of the musketeers in The Three Musketeers (1844) by Alexandre Dumas. Dumas based the character on the 17th-century Henri d'Aramitz, whose surname was derived from the French village of Aramits (itself from Basque aran meaning "valley").
Artemis
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology, Greek
Other Scripts: Ἄρτεμις(Ancient Greek) Άρτεμις(Greek)
Pronounced: AR-TEH-MEES(Classical Greek) AHR-tə-mis(English)
Rating: 30% based on 4 votes
Meaning unknown, possibly related either to Greek
ἀρτεμής (artemes) meaning
"safe" or
ἄρταμος (artamos) meaning
"a butcher". Artemis was the Greek goddess of the moon and hunting, the twin of
Apollo and the daughter of
Zeus and
Leto. She was known as
Diana to the Romans.
Arthur
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Welsh Mythology, Arthurian Romance
Pronounced: AHR-thər(English) AR-TUYR(French) AR-tuwr(German) AHR-tuyr(Dutch)
Rating: 63% based on 6 votes
The meaning of this name is unknown. It could be derived from the Celtic elements *
artos "bear" (Old Welsh
arth) combined with *
wiros "man" (Old Welsh
gur) or *
rīxs "king" (Old Welsh
ri). Alternatively it could be related to an obscure Roman family name
Artorius.
Arthur is the name of the central character in Arthurian legend, a 6th-century king of the Britons who resisted Saxon invaders. He may or may not have been based on a real person. He first appears in Welsh poems and chronicles (perhaps briefly in the 7th-century poem Y Gododdin and more definitively and extensively in the 9th-century History of the Britons [1]). However, his character was not developed until the chronicles of the 12th-century Geoffrey of Monmouth [2]. His tales were later taken up and expanded by French and English writers.
The name came into general use in England in the Middle Ages due to the prevalence of Arthurian romances, and it enjoyed a surge of popularity in the 19th century. Famous bearers include German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), mystery author and Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), and science-fiction author Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008).
Asha 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Indian, Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Malayalam
Other Scripts: आशा(Hindi, Marathi) ಆಶಾ(Kannada) ആശാ(Malayalam)
Rating: 18% based on 4 votes
Derived from Sanskrit
आशा (asha) meaning
"wish, desire, hope".
Ashley
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: ASH-lee
Rating: 43% based on 4 votes
From an English surname that was originally derived from place names meaning
"ash tree clearing", from a combination of Old English
æsc and
leah. Until the 1960s it was more commonly given to boys in the United States, but it is now most often used on girls. It reached its height of popularity in America in 1987, but it did not become the highest ranked name until 1991, being overshadowed by the likewise-popular
Jessica until then. In the United Kingdom it is still more common as a masculine name.
Augusta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Portuguese, English, German, Ancient Roman
Pronounced: ow-GOOS-ta(Italian) ə-GUS-tə(English) ow-GUWS-ta(German)
Rating: 33% based on 4 votes
Feminine form of
Augustus. It was introduced to Britain when King George III, a member of the German House of Hanover, gave this name to his second daughter in the 18th century.
Aukusti
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: OW-koos-tee
Avdotya
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian
Other Scripts: Авдотья(Russian)
Beata
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Polish, German, Swedish, Danish, Late Roman
Pronounced: beh-A-ta(Polish, German)
Rating: 38% based on 4 votes
Derived from Latin
beatus meaning
"blessed". This was the name of a few minor
saints.
Beathan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish Gaelic
Pronounced: BYA-han
Derived from a
diminutive of Scottish Gaelic
beatha meaning
"life".
Beatrice
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, English, Swedish, Romanian
Pronounced: beh-a-TREE-cheh(Italian) BEE-ə-tris(English) BEET-ris(English) BEH-ah-trees(Swedish) beh-ah-TREES(Swedish)
Rating: 67% based on 7 votes
Italian form of
Beatrix. Beatrice Portinari (1266-1290) was the woman who was loved by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri. She serves as Dante's guide through paradise in his epic poem the
Divine Comedy (1321). This is also the name of a character in Shakespeare's comedy
Much Ado About Nothing (1599), in which Beatrice and
Benedick are fooled into confessing their love for one another.
Beauregard
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: BO-rə-gahrd
Rating: 40% based on 4 votes
From a French surname meaning "beautiful outlook".
Beda
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: Swedish, Italian, Spanish, Finland Swedish, Finnish
Pronounced: BEH-dah(Swedish, Italian) BEH-da(Spanish)
Form of
Bede in various languages. Beda is a feminine name in Sweden and Finland.
Bess
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: BEHS
Rating: 28% based on 4 votes
Bethan
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Pronounced: BETH-an
Rating: 13% based on 4 votes
Bethel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Other Scripts: בֵּית־אֵל(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: BETH-əl
From an
Old Testament place name meaning
"house of God" in Hebrew. This was a town north of Jerusalem, where
Jacob saw his vision of the stairway. It is occasionally used as a given name.
Birgitta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Finnish
Pronounced: bir-GI-ta(Swedish) BEER-geet-tah(Finnish)
Rating: 38% based on 4 votes
Most likely a Scandinavian form of
Bridget via the Latinized form
Brigitta. Alternatively it could be a feminine derivative of
Birger. This is the name of the patron
saint of Europe, Birgitta of Sweden, the 14th-century founder of the Bridgettine nuns. Her father's name was Birger.
Blue
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: BLOO
From the English word for the colour, derived via Norman French from a Frankish word (replacing the native Old English
cognate blaw). Despite the fact that this name was used by the American musicians Beyoncé and Jay-Z in 2012 for their first daughter, it has not come into general use in the United States.
Bree
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: BREE
Anglicized form of
Brígh. It can also be a short form of
Brianna,
Gabriella and other names containing
bri.
Bronte
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: BRAHN-tee
Rating: 25% based on 4 votes
From a surname, an Anglicized form of Irish
Ó Proinntigh, itself derived from the given name
Proinnteach, probably from Irish
bronntach meaning "generous". The Brontë sisters — Charlotte, Emily, and Anne — were 19th-century English novelists. Their father changed the spelling of the family surname from
Brunty to
Brontë, possibly to make it coincide with Greek
βροντή meaning "thunder".
Carlyle
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: kahr-LIEL
Rating: 23% based on 4 votes
Caron
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Rating: 8% based on 4 votes
From the name of places near the town of Tregaron in Ceredigion, Wales.
Catharina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Dutch, Swedish
Pronounced: ka-ta-REE-na(Dutch)
Rating: 42% based on 5 votes
Catherine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, English
Pronounced: KA-TU-REEN(French) KA-TREEN(French) KATH-ə-rin(English) KATH-rin(English)
Rating: 58% based on 6 votes
French form of
Katherine, and also a common English variant.
Cecilia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Dutch, Romanian, Finnish
Pronounced: seh-SEE-lee-ə(English) seh-SEEL-yə(English) cheh-CHEE-lya(Italian) theh-THEE-lya(European Spanish) seh-SEE-lya(Latin American Spanish) seh-SEEL-yah(Danish, Norwegian)
Rating: 45% based on 4 votes
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.
Cecily
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: SEHS-ə-lee
Rating: 50% based on 4 votes
English form of
Cecilia. This was the usual English form during the Middle Ages.
Charis
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: Ancient Greek, Greek
Other Scripts: Χάρις(Ancient Greek) Χάρης, Χάρις(Greek)
Pronounced: KA-REES(Classical Greek) KHA-rees(Greek)
Rating: 22% based on 5 votes
Ancient Greek feminine form of
Chares. This was the word (in the singular) for one of the three Graces (plural
Χάριτες).
This is also a Modern Greek transcription of the masculine form Chares.
Charlemagne
Gender: Masculine
Usage: History
Pronounced: SHAHR-lə-mayn(English)
Rating: 34% based on 5 votes
From Old French
Charles le Magne meaning
"Charles the Great". This is the name by which the Frankish king Charles the Great (742-814) is commonly known.
Clara
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, Catalan, Romanian, English, Swedish, Danish, Late Roman
Pronounced: KLA-ra(German, Spanish, Italian) KLA-ru(Portuguese) KLA-RA(French) KLEHR-ə(American English) KLAR-ə(American English) KLAH-rə(British English)
Rating: 64% based on 5 votes
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.
Conrí
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Old Irish
Rating: 23% based on 4 votes
Means "king of hounds" in Irish.
Crescentia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German (Rare), Late Roman
Rating: 35% based on 4 votes
Feminine form of
Crescentius.
Saint Crescentia was a 4th-century companion of Saint
Vitus. This is also the name of the eponymous heroine of a 12th-century German romance.
Crina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Romanian
Pronounced: KREE-na
Derived from Romanian crin meaning "lily".
Dagmar
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, German, Czech, Slovak
Pronounced: DOW-mar(Danish) DAK-mar(German) DAG-mar(Czech)
Rating: 48% based on 4 votes
From the Old Norse name
Dagmær, derived from the elements
dagr "day" and
mær "maid". This was the name adopted by the popular Bohemian wife of the Danish king Valdemar II when they married in 1205. Her birth name was
Markéta.
Damian
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Polish, Romanian, Dutch (Modern)
Pronounced: DAY-mee-ən(English) DAN-myan(Polish)
Rating: 66% based on 5 votes
From the Greek name
Δαμιανός (Damianos), which was derived from Greek
δαμάζω (damazo) meaning
"to tame".
Saint Damian was martyred with his twin brother
Cosmas in Syria early in the 4th century. They are the patron saints of physicians. Due to his renown, the name came into general use in Christian Europe. Another saint by this name was Peter Damian, an 11th-century cardinal and theologian from Italy.
Danilo
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Slovene, Serbian, Croatian
Other Scripts: Данило(Serbian)
Pronounced: da-NEE-lo(Italian, Spanish)
Rating: 35% based on 4 votes
Form of
Daniel in various languages.
Darcy
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: DAHR-see
Rating: 45% based on 4 votes
From an English surname that was derived from Norman French d'Arcy, originally denoting one who came from the town of Arcy in La Manche, France. This is the surname of a character, Fitzwilliam Darcy, in Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice (1813).
Dashiell
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: də-SHEEL, DASH-il
Rating: 34% based on 5 votes
In the case of American author Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961) it was from his mother's surname, which was possibly an Anglicized form of French de Chiel, of unknown meaning.
David
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Hebrew, French, Scottish, Welsh, Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Czech, Slovene, Russian, Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian, Romanian, Biblical, Biblical Latin
Other Scripts: דָּוִד(Hebrew) Давид(Russian, Serbian, Macedonian)
Pronounced: DAY-vid(English) da-VEED(Hebrew, Brazilian Portuguese) DA-VEED(French) da-BEEDH(Spanish) du-VEED(European Portuguese) də-BEET(Catalan) DA-vit(German, Dutch, Czech) DAH-vid(Swedish, Norwegian) du-VYEET(Russian)
Rating: 80% based on 5 votes
From the Hebrew name
דָּוִד (Dawid), which was derived from Hebrew
דּוֹד (dod) meaning
"beloved" or
"uncle". David was the second and greatest of the kings of Israel, ruling in the 10th century BC. Several stories about him are told in the
Old Testament, including his defeat of
Goliath, a giant Philistine. According to the
New Testament,
Jesus was descended from him.
This name has been used in Britain since the Middle Ages. It has been especially popular in Wales, where it is used in honour of the 5th-century patron saint of Wales (also called Dewi), as well as in Scotland, where it was borne by two kings. Over the last century it has been one of the English-speaking world's most consistently popular names, never leaving the top 30 names for boys in the United States, and reaching the top rank in England and Wales during the 1950s and 60s. In Spain it was the most popular name for boys during the 1970s and 80s.
Famous bearers include empiricist philosopher David Hume (1711-1776), explorer David Livingstone (1813-1873), musician David Bowie (1947-2016), and soccer player David Beckham (1975-). This is also the name of the hero of Charles Dickens' semi-autobiographical novel David Copperfield (1850).
Davide
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: DA-vee-deh
Rating: 53% based on 4 votes
Davina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: də-VEE-nə
Rating: 38% based on 4 votes
Feminine form of
David. It originated in Scotland.
Decima
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Roman
Pronounced: DEH-kee-ma
Rating: 30% based on 4 votes
Disa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swedish, Old Swedish
Pronounced: DEE-sah(Swedish)
From a medieval Swedish form of the Old Norse name
Dísa, a short form of other feminine names containing the element
dís "goddess". This is the name of a genus of South African orchids, which honours a heroine in Swedish legend. Disa has also been used as a Swedish short form of
Desideria.
Dorcas
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: Δορκάς(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: DAWR-kəs(English)
Rating: 40% based on 4 votes
Dorothy
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: DAWR-ə-thee, DAWR-thee
Rating: 73% based on 4 votes
Usual English form of
Dorothea. It has been in use since the 16th century. The author L. Frank Baum used it for the central character, Dorothy Gale, in his fantasy novel
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) and several of its sequels.
Edda 2
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Icelandic, Old Norse [1]
Possibly from Old Norse meaning "great-grandmother". This was the name of two 13th-century Icelandic literary works: the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda. This is also the name of a character in the Poetic Edda, though it is unclear if her name is connected to the name of the collection.
Eine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: AY-neh
Eini
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: AY-nee
Eirlys
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Pronounced: AYR-lis
Rating: 38% based on 4 votes
Means
"snowdrop (flower)" in Welsh, a compound of
eira "snow" and
llys "plant".
Elanor
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Means "star sun" in the fictional language Sindarin. In The Lord of the Rings (1954) by J. R. R. Tolkien this is Sam's eldest daughter, named after a type of flower.
Eleanor
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: EHL-ə-nawr
Rating: 55% based on 4 votes
From the Old French form of the Occitan name
Alienòr. Among the name's earliest bearers was the influential Eleanor of Aquitaine (12th century), who was the queen of Louis VII, the king of France, and later Henry II, the king of England. She was named
Aenor after her mother, and was called by the Occitan phrase
alia Aenor "the other Aenor" in order to distinguish her from her mother. However, there appear to be examples of bearers prior to Eleanor of Aquitaine. It is not clear whether they were in fact Aenors who were retroactively recorded as having the name Eleanor, or whether there is an alternative explanation for the name's origin.
The popularity of the name Eleanor in England during the Middle Ages was due to the fame of Eleanor of Aquitaine, as well as two queens of the following century: Eleanor of Provence, the wife of Henry III, and Eleanor of Castile, the wife of Edward I. More recently, it was borne by first lady Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962), the wife of American president Franklin Roosevelt.
Elen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh, Armenian, Czech
Other Scripts: Էլեն(Armenian)
Pronounced: EHL-ehn(Welsh)
Welsh and modern Armenian form of
Helen, as well as a Czech variant form. This was the name of a 4th-century Welsh
saint, traditionally said to be the wife of the Roman emperor Magnus Maximus. According to the Welsh legend
The Dream of Macsen Wledig (
Macsen Wledig being the Welsh form of
Magnus Maximus), she convinced her husband to build the roads in Wales.
Eleonoora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish (Rare)
Pronounced: EH-leh-o-no-rah
Rating: 40% based on 3 votes
Elina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish, Estonian, Swedish
Pronounced: EH-lee-nah(Finnish) eh-LEE-nah(Swedish)
Finnish, Estonian and Swedish form of
Helen.
Elisabet
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Catalan, Spanish, Biblical Greek
Other Scripts: Ἐλισάβετ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: eh-LEE-sa-beht(Swedish, Norwegian) eh-LEE-sa-behd(Danish) EH-lee-sah-beht(Finnish) eh-lee-sa-BEHT(Spanish)
Rating: 55% based on 4 votes
Scandinavian and Finnish form of
Elizabeth. It is also used in Spain alongside the traditional form
Isabel.
Elisabetta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: eh-lee-za-BEHT-ta
Rating: 43% based on 4 votes
Elisif
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Norwegian (Rare), Danish (Rare), Swedish (Rare), Finland Swedish (Rare)
Ellinoora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: EL-li-no:-rah
Ellinor
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swedish, Norwegian, Danish
Rating: 23% based on 4 votes
Elma
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Dutch, English, German (Rare)
Pronounced: EHL-mə(English) EHL-ma(German)
Rating: 50% based on 6 votes
Short form of
Wilhelmine or names ending in
elma, such as
Anselma. It has also been recorded as a combination of
Elizabeth and
Mary, as in the case of the 19th-century daughter of the Earl of Elgin, who was named using her mother's first and middle names
[1].
Elmira 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: ehl-MIE-rə(English) ehl-MEER-ə(English)
Possibly a shortened form of
Edelmira. It appears in the play
Tartuffe (1664) by the French playwright Molière (often spelled in the French style
Elmire).
Eloisa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: eh-lo-EE-za
Rating: 50% based on 6 votes
Elsa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Finnish, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, English
Pronounced: EHL-za(German) EHL-sah(Finnish) EHL-sa(Italian) EHL-sə(English)
Short form of
Elisabeth, typically used independently. Elsa von Brabant is the lover of
Lohengrin in medieval German tales, and her story was expanded by Richard Wagner for his opera
Lohengrin (1850). The name had a little spike in popularity after the 2013 release of the animated Disney movie
Frozen, which featured a magical princess by this name.
Else
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Danish, Norwegian, German, Dutch
Pronounced: EHL-seh(Danish, Norwegian) EHL-zə(German) EHL-sə(Dutch)
Rating: 10% based on 2 votes
Elsi
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: EHL-see
Emil
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, German, Romanian, Bulgarian, Czech, Slovak, Polish, Russian, Slovene, Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, Hungarian, Icelandic, English
Other Scripts: Емил(Bulgarian, Serbian, Macedonian) Эмиль(Russian)
Pronounced: EH-mil(Swedish, Czech) EH-meel(German, Slovak, Hungarian) eh-MEEL(Romanian) EHN-myeel(Polish) eh-MYEEL(Russian) ə-MEEL(English) EHM-il(English)
From the Roman family name Aemilius, which was derived from Latin aemulus meaning "rival".
Emilia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish, Romanian, Finnish, Polish, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, English, Greek, Bulgarian
Other Scripts: Αιμιλία(Greek) Емилия(Bulgarian)
Pronounced: eh-MEE-lya(Italian, Spanish) EH-mee-lee-ah(Finnish) ehn-MYEE-lya(Polish) eh-MEE-lee-ah(Swedish) i-MEE-lee-ə(English) eh-mee-LEE-a(Greek)
Rating: 50% based on 4 votes
Feminine form of
Aemilius (see
Emily). In Shakespeare's tragedy
Othello (1603) this is the name of the wife of
Iago.
Emlyn
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh
Pronounced: EHM-lin
Rating: 17% based on 3 votes
From the name of an ancient region of southwestern Wales, its name meaning
"around the valley" from Welsh
am "around" and
glyn "valley". It has also been suggested that this name is a Welsh form of Latin
Aemilianus (see
Emiliano), though this appears to be unfounded.
Emma
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, French, Italian, Spanish, Catalan, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Finnish, Latvian, Dutch, German, Hungarian, Germanic [1]
Pronounced: EHM-ə(English) EH-MA(French) EH-ma(Spanish, German) EHM-mah(Finnish) EHM-maw(Hungarian)
Rating: 48% based on 4 votes
Originally a short form of Germanic names that began with the element
irmin meaning
"whole" or
"great" (Proto-Germanic *
ermunaz). It was introduced to England by Emma of Normandy, who was the wife both of King Ethelred II (and by him the mother of Edward the Confessor) and later of King Canute. It was also borne by an 11th-century Austrian
saint, who is sometimes called
Hemma.
After the Norman Conquest this name became common in England. It was revived in the 18th century, perhaps in part due to Matthew Prior's 1709 poem Henry and Emma [2]. It was also used by Jane Austen for the central character, the matchmaker Emma Woodhouse, in her novel Emma (1816).
In the United States, it was third in rank in 1880 (behind only the ubiquitous Mary and Anna). It declined steadily over the next century, beginning another rise in the 1980s and eventually becoming the most popular name for girls in 2008. At this time it also experienced similar levels of popularity elsewhere, including the United Kingdom (where it began rising a decade earlier), Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia and the Netherlands. Famous bearers include the actresses Emma Thompson (1959-), Emma Stone (1988-) and Emma Watson (1990-).
Emmeline
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: EHM-ə-leen, EHM-ə-lien
Rating: 50% based on 5 votes
From Old French
Emeline, a
diminutive of Germanic names beginning with the element
amal meaning
"unceasing, vigorous, brave". The
Normans introduced this name to England.
Enni
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: EHN-nee
Ethel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: ETH-əl
Rating: 55% based on 2 votes
Short form of names beginning with the Old English element
æðele meaning
"noble". It was coined in the 19th century, when many Old English names were revived. It was popularized by the novels
The Newcomes (1855) by William Makepeace Thackeray and
The Daisy Chain (1856) by C. M. Yonge. A famous bearer was American actress and singer Ethel Merman (1908-1984).
Eudora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Εὐδώρα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: yoo-DAWR-ə(English)
Rating: 25% based on 2 votes
Means
"good gift" in Greek, from the elements
εὖ (eu) meaning "good" and
δῶρον (doron) meaning "gift". This was the name of a nymph, one of the Hyades, in Greek
mythology.
Eulalia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish, Italian, Polish, English, Ancient Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Εὐλαλία(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: ew-LA-lya(Spanish) yoo-LAY-lee-ə(English)
Rating: 25% based on 2 votes
Derived from Greek
εὔλαλος (eulalos) meaning
"sweetly-speaking", itself from
εὖ (eu) meaning "good" and
λαλέω (laleo) meaning "to talk". This was the name of an early 4th-century
saint and martyr from Mérida in Spain. Another martyr by this name, living at the same time, is a patron saint of Barcelona. These two saints might be the same person.
Euphemia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Greek, English (Archaic)
Other Scripts: Εὐφημία(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: yoo-FEE-mee-ə(English) yoo-FEH-mee-ə(English)
Rating: 43% based on 4 votes
Means
"to use words of good omen" from Greek
εὐφημέω (euphemeo), a derivative of
εὖ (eu) meaning "good" and
φημί (phemi) meaning "to speak, to declare".
Saint Euphemia was an early martyr from Chalcedon.
Fanny
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, French, Spanish, Swedish
Pronounced: FAN-ee(English) FA-NEE(French)
Rating: 16% based on 5 votes
Diminutive of
Frances,
Françoise or
Stéphanie. In the English-speaking world this has been a vulgar slang word since the late 19th century, and the name has subsequently dropped out of common use.
Faramund
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Germanic [1]
Derived from the Old German elements
fara "journey" and
munt "protection". This was the name of a semi-legendary 5th-century king of the Franks.
Felix
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, English, Romanian, Ancient Roman, Biblical, Biblical Latin
Pronounced: FEH-liks(German, Dutch, Swedish) FEE-liks(English) FEH-leeks(Latin)
From a Roman
cognomen meaning
"lucky, successful" in Latin. It was acquired as an
agnomen, or nickname, by the 1st-century BC Roman general Sulla. It also appears in the
New Testament belonging to the governor of Judea who imprisoned
Saint Paul.
Due to its favourable meaning, this name was popular among early Christians, being borne by many early saints and four popes. It has been used in England since the Middle Ages, though it has been more popular in continental Europe. A notable bearer was the German composer Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847).
Feodora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian (Rare)
Other Scripts: Феодора(Russian)
Rating: 50% based on 4 votes
Frances
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: FRAN-sis
Rating: 73% based on 4 votes
Feminine form of
Francis. The distinction between
Francis as a masculine name and
Frances as a feminine name did not arise until the 17th century
[1]. A notable bearer was
Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini (1850-1917), a social worker and the first American to be canonized.
Francesca
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Catalan
Pronounced: fran-CHEHS-ka(Italian) frən-SEHS-kə(Catalan)
Rating: 56% based on 5 votes
Italian and Catalan feminine form of
Franciscus (see
Francis).
Francis
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French
Pronounced: FRAN-sis(English) FRAHN-SEES(French)
Rating: 63% based on 4 votes
English form of the Late Latin name
Franciscus meaning
"Frenchman", ultimately from the Germanic tribe of the Franks, who were named for a type of spear that they used (Proto-Germanic *
frankô). This name was borne by the 13th-century
Saint Francis of Assisi, who was originally named Giovanni but was given the nickname Francesco by his father, an admirer of the French. Francis went on to renounce his father's wealth and devote his life to the poor, founding the Franciscan order of friars. Later in his life he apparently received the stigmata.
Due to the renown of the saint, this name became widespread in Western Europe during the Middle Ages. However, it was not regularly used in Britain until the 16th century. Famous bearers include Saint Francis Xavier (1506-1552), a missionary to East Asia, the philosopher and scientist Francis Bacon (1561-1626), and the explorer and admiral Sir Francis Drake (1540-1595).
In the English-speaking world this name is occasionally used for girls, as a variant of the homophone Frances.
Frans
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish
Pronounced: FRAHNS(Dutch, Finnish)
Dutch, Scandinavian and Finnish form of
Franciscus (see
Francis).
Freda
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: FREE-də
Rating: 48% based on 4 votes
Frida 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Germanic [1]
Rating: 65% based on 4 votes
Originally a short form of names containing the Old German element
fridu meaning
"peace" (Proto-Germanic *
friþuz). A famous bearer was the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (1907-1954).
Gareth
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh, English (British), Arthurian Romance
Pronounced: GAR-əth(English)
Rating: 50% based on 5 votes
Meaning uncertain. It appears in this form in Thomas Malory's 15th-century compilation of Arthurian legends
Le Morte d'Arthur, in which the knight Gareth (also named
Beaumains) is a brother of
Gawain. He goes with
Lynet to rescue her sister
Lyonesse from the Red Knight. Malory based the name on
Gaheriet or
Guerrehet, which was the name of a similar character in French sources. It may ultimately have a Welsh origin, possibly from the name
Gwrhyd meaning
"valour" (found in the tale
Culhwch and Olwen) or
Gwairydd meaning
"hay lord" (found in the chronicle
Brut y Brenhinedd).
Gavriel
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Hebrew
Other Scripts: גַּבְרִיאֵל(Hebrew)
Rating: 43% based on 4 votes
Genesis
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: JEHN-ə-sis
Rating: 18% based on 6 votes
Means
"birth, origin" in Greek. This is the name of the first book of the
Old Testament in the Bible. It tells of the creation of the world, the expulsion of
Adam and
Eve,
Noah and the great flood, and the three patriarchs.
Geoffrey
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French
Pronounced: JEHF-ree(English) ZHAW-FREH(French)
Rating: 38% based on 4 votes
From a Norman French form of a Frankish name. The second element is Old German
fridu "peace", while the first element could be *
gautaz "Geat" (a North Germanic tribe),
gawi "territory" or
walah "foreigner". It is possible that two or more names merged into a single form. In the later Middle Ages
Geoffrey was further confused with the distinct name
Godfrey.
The Normans introduced this name to England where it became common among the nobility. Famous medieval literary bearers include the 12th-century chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth and the 14th-century poet Geoffrey Chaucer, writer of The Canterbury Tales. By the end of the Middle Ages it had become uncommon, but it was revived in the 20th century, often in the spelling Jeffrey.
George
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Romanian, Indian (Christian)
Other Scripts: ജോർജ്ജ്(Malayalam)
Pronounced: JAWRJ(English) JYOR-jeh(Romanian)
Rating: 68% based on 4 votes
From the Greek name
Γεώργιος (Georgios), which was derived from the Greek word
γεωργός (georgos) meaning
"farmer, earthworker", itself derived from the elements
γῆ (ge) meaning "earth" and
ἔργον (ergon) meaning "work".
Saint George was a 3rd-century Roman soldier from Cappadocia who was martyred during the persecutions of Emperor Diocletian. Later legends describe his defeat of a dragon, with which he was often depicted in medieval art.
Initially Saint George was primarily revered by Eastern Christians, but returning crusaders brought stories of him to Western Europe and he became the patron of England, Portugal, Catalonia and Aragon. The name was rarely used in England until the German-born George I came to the British throne in the 18th century. Five subsequent British kings have borne the name.
Other famous bearers include two kings of Greece, the composer George Frideric Handel (1685-1759), the first president of the United States, George Washington (1732-1797), and the Pacific explorer George Vancouver (1757-1798). This was also the pen name of authors George Eliot (1819-1880) and George Orwell (1903-1950), real names Mary Anne Evans and Eric Arthur Blair respectively.
This name is also used by Christians in India, notably Saint Thomas Christians in the state of Kerala in the spelling ജോർജ്ജ് (Jorjj).
Georgia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Greek
Other Scripts: Γεωργία(Greek)
Pronounced: JAWR-jə(English)
Rating: 40% based on 4 votes
Latinate feminine form of
George. This is the name of an American state, which was named after the British king George II. A famous bearer was the American painter Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986).
Georgiana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Romanian
Pronounced: jawr-JAY-nə(English) jawr-jee-AN-ə(English)
Rating: 70% based on 4 votes
Feminine form of
George. This form of the name has been in use in the English-speaking world since the 18th century.
Gideon
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Biblical, Hebrew, English, Dutch
Other Scripts: גִּדְעוֹן(Hebrew)
Pronounced: GID-ee-ən(English)
Rating: 70% based on 4 votes
Means
"feller, hewer" in Hebrew. Gideon is a hero and judge of the
Old Testament. He led the vastly outnumbered Israelites against the Midianites, defeated them, and killed their two kings. In the English-speaking world,
Gideon has been used as a given name since the
Protestant Reformation, and it was popular among the
Puritans.
Gisbert
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Germanic [1]
Pronounced: GIS-behrt(German)
From a Germanic name in which the second element is
beraht "bright". The first element is probably a shortened form of
gisal "pledge, hostage" (making it a variant of
Gilbert), though it could be related to Gaulish *
gaisos "spear" (itself probably of Germanic origin
[2]).
Grania
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish
Rating: 40% based on 4 votes
Gregor
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Scottish, Slovak, Slovene
Pronounced: GREH-go(German) GREH-gawr(Slovak)
Rating: 58% based on 4 votes
German, Scottish, Slovak and Slovene form of
Gregorius (see
Gregory). A famous bearer was Gregor Mendel (1822-1884), a Czech monk and scientist who did experiments in genetics.
Gregory
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: GREHG-ə-ree
Rating: 60% based on 2 votes
English form of Latin
Gregorius, which was from the Late Greek name
Γρηγόριος (Gregorios), derived from
γρήγορος (gregoros) meaning
"watchful, alert". This name was popular among early Christians, being borne by a number of important
saints including Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus (3rd century), Saint Gregory the Illuminator (4th century), Saint Gregory of Nyssa (4th century), Saint Gregory of Nazianzus (4th century), and Saint Gregory of Tours (6th century). It was also borne by the 6th-century pope Saint Gregory I the Great, a reformer and Doctor of the Church, as well as 15 subsequent popes.
Due to the renown of the saints by this name, Gregory (in various spellings) has remained common in the Christian world through the Middle Ages and to the present day. It has been used in England since the 12th century. A famous bearer from the modern era was American actor Gregory Peck (1916-2003).
Griselda
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Spanish, Literature
Pronounced: gri-ZEHL-də(English) gree-SEHL-da(Spanish)
Rating: 35% based on 4 votes
Possibly derived from the Old German elements
gris "grey" and
hilt "battle". It is not attested as a Germanic name. This was the name of a patient wife in medieval folklore, adapted into tales by Boccaccio (in
The Decameron) and Chaucer (in
The Canterbury Tales).
Haldor
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Norwegian
Rating: 40% based on 4 votes
From the Old Norse name
Hallþórr, which meant
"Thor's rock" from
hallr "rock" combined with the name of the Norse god
Þórr (see
Thor).
Halla
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Icelandic, Old Norse, Finnish, Norwegian (Archaic), Faroese
Pronounced: HUL-lah(Finnish)
Feminine form of
Hallr. Halla is also a Finnish word for an occasion when in growing season temperature lowers so much that ground gets covered with frost.
Halley
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: HA-lee
Transferred use of the surname
Halley.
It peaked in popularity in 1986, when the comet was last spotted from earth. Some people might use it as a spelling variant to Hallie or Hayley but it originates from Edmond Halley's surname.
Hamnet
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Archaic)
Rating: 28% based on 4 votes
Diminutive of
Hamo. This was the name of a son of Shakespeare who died in childhood. His death may have provided the inspiration for his father's play
Hamlet.
Hedda
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Norwegian, Swedish
Pronounced: HEHD-dah
Rating: 48% based on 4 votes
Diminutive of
Hedvig. This is the name of the heroine of the play
Hedda Gabler (1890) by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen.
Helena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Portuguese, Catalan, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Finnish, Estonian, Slovene, Croatian, Sorbian, English, Ancient Greek (Latinized), Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ἑλένη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: HEH-leh-na(German, Czech) heh-LEH-na(German) heh-LEH-nah(Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian) i-LEH-nu(European Portuguese) eh-LEH-nu(Brazilian Portuguese) ə-LEH-nə(Catalan) kheh-LEH-na(Polish) HEH-leh-nah(Finnish) HEHL-ə-nə(English) hə-LAYN-ə(English) hə-LEEN-ə(English)
Rating: 70% based on 4 votes
Latinate form of
Helen. This is the name of the heroine of William Shakespeare's play
All's Well That Ends Well (1603).
Helmi
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish, Swedish
Pronounced: HEHL-mee(Finnish)
Rating: 53% based on 4 votes
Henrietta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Hungarian, Finnish, Swedish
Pronounced: hehn-ree-EHT-ə(English) HEHN-ree-eht-taw(Hungarian) HEHN-ree-eht-tah(Finnish)
Rating: 75% based on 4 votes
Latinate form of
Henriette. It was introduced to England by Henriette Marie, the wife of the 17th-century English king Charles I. The name
Henriette was also Anglicized as
Harriet, a form that was initially more popular.
Henriikka
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: HEHN-reek-kah
Rating: 53% based on 4 votes
Finnish feminine form of
Heinrich (see
Henry).
Hermina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Dutch, Slovene, Hungarian, Croatian
Pronounced: HEHR-mee-naw(Hungarian)
Dutch, Slovene, Hungarian and Croatian form of
Hermine.
Hero 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ἡρώ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: HIR-o(English)
Rating: 53% based on 4 votes
Derived from Greek
ἥρως (heros) meaning
"hero". In Greek legend she was the lover of
Leander, who would swim across the Hellespont each night to meet her. He was killed on one such occasion when he got caught in a storm while in the water, and when Hero saw his dead body she drowned herself. This is also the name of a character in Shakespeare's play
Much Ado About Nothing (1599).
Hersilia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Roman Mythology
Meaning uncertain, perhaps related to Greek
ἕρση (herse) meaning
"dew". In Roman legend this was the name of a Sabine woman who became the wife of
Romulus.
Hope
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: HOP
Rating: 8% based on 4 votes
From the English word
hope, ultimately from Old English
hopian. This name was first used by the
Puritans in the 17th century.
Hulda 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Icelandic, Swedish, Norwegian, Norse Mythology [1]
Rating: 23% based on 3 votes
Derived from Old Norse
hulda meaning
"hiding, secrecy". This was the name of a sorceress in Norse
mythology. As a modern name, it can also derive from archaic Swedish
huld meaning "gracious, sweet, lovable"
[2].
Idril
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Means
"sparkle brilliance" in the fictional language Sindarin. In the
Silmarillion (1977) by J. R. R. Tolkien, Idril was the daughter of Turgon, the king of Gondolin. She escaped the destruction of that place with her husband
Tuor and sailed with him into the west.
Idris 2
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh
Rating: 45% based on 4 votes
Means
"ardent lord" from Old Welsh
iudd "lord" combined with
ris "ardent, enthusiastic". This name was borne by Idris the Giant, a 7th-century king of Meirionnydd.
Ilias
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Greek
Other Scripts: Ηλίας(Greek)
Pronounced: ee-LEE-ahs
Modern Greek form of
Elias.
Illiam
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Manx
Rating: 23% based on 4 votes
Ilta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: EEL-tah
Rating: 33% based on 4 votes
Means "evening" in Finnish.
Imogen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (British)
Pronounced: IM-ə-jehn
Rating: 50% based on 6 votes
The name of the daughter of King
Cymbeline in the play
Cymbeline (1609) by William Shakespeare. He based her on a legendary character named
Innogen, but it was printed incorrectly and never emended.
Innogen is probably derived from Gaelic
inghean meaning
"maiden". As a given name it is chiefly British and Australian.
Ingrid
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Estonian, German, Dutch
Pronounced: ING-rid(Swedish) ING-ri(Norwegian) ING-grit(German) ING-greet(German) ING-ghrit(Dutch)
Rating: 82% based on 6 votes
From the Old Norse name
Ingríðr meaning
"Ing is beautiful", derived from the name of the Germanic god
Ing combined with
fríðr "beautiful, beloved". A famous bearer was the Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman (1915-1982).
Iphigenia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ἰφιγένεια(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: if-i-ji-NIE-ə(English)
Rating: 10% based on 4 votes
Irma
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, English, Dutch, Finnish, Swedish, Danish, Spanish, Italian, Georgian, Lithuanian, Hungarian, Slovene, Germanic [1]
Other Scripts: ირმა(Georgian)
Pronounced: IR-ma(German) UR-mə(English) EER-mah(Finnish) EER-ma(Spanish) EER-maw(Hungarian)
German short form of names beginning with the Old German element
irmin meaning
"whole, great" (Proto-Germanic *
ermunaz). It is thus related to
Emma. It began to be regularly used in the English-speaking world in the 19th century.
Isaac
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, French, Jewish, Biblical, Biblical Latin
Other Scripts: יִצְחָק(Hebrew)
Pronounced: IE-zək(English) ee-sa-AK(Spanish) EE-ZAK(French) EE-ZA-AK(French)
Rating: 60% based on 5 votes
From the Hebrew name
יִצְחָק (Yitzchaq) meaning
"he will laugh, he will rejoice", derived from
צָחַק (tzachaq) meaning "to laugh". The
Old Testament explains this meaning, by recounting that
Abraham laughed when God told him that his aged wife
Sarah would become pregnant with Isaac (see
Genesis 17:17), and later Sarah laughed when overhearing the same prophecy (see
Genesis 18:12). When Isaac was a boy, God tested Abraham's faith by ordering him to sacrifice his son, though an angel prevented the act at the last moment. Isaac went on to become the father of
Esau and
Jacob with his wife
Rebecca.
As an English Christian name, Isaac was occasionally used during the Middle Ages, though it was more common among Jews. It became more widespread after the Protestant Reformation. Famous bearers include the physicist and mathematician Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727) and the science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov (1920-1992).
Isabel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish, Portuguese, English, French, German, Dutch
Pronounced: ee-sa-BEHL(Spanish) ee-zu-BEHL(European Portuguese) ee-za-BEW(Brazilian Portuguese) IZ-ə-behl(English) EE-ZA-BEHL(French) ee-za-BEHL(German, Dutch)
Rating: 50% based on 5 votes
Medieval Occitan form of
Elizabeth. It spread throughout Spain, Portugal and France, becoming common among the royalty by the 12th century. It grew popular in England in the 13th century after Isabella of Angoulême married the English king John, and it was subsequently bolstered when Isabella of France married Edward II the following century.
This is the usual form of the name Elizabeth in Spain and Portugal, though elsewhere it is considered a parallel name, such as in France where it is used alongside Élisabeth. The name was borne by two Spanish ruling queens, including Isabel of Castile, who sponsored the explorations of Christopher Columbus.
Isabella
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, German, English, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Dutch, Romanian
Pronounced: ee-za-BEHL-la(Italian) ee-za-BEH-la(German, Dutch) iz-ə-BEHL-ə(English) is-a-BEHL-la(Swedish) EE-sah-behl-lah(Finnish)
Rating: 30% based on 5 votes
Latinate form of
Isabel. This name was borne by many medieval royals, including queens consort of England, France, Portugal, the Holy Roman Empire and Hungary, as well as the powerful ruling queen Isabella of Castile (properly called
Isabel).
In the United States this form was much less common than Isabel until the early 1990s, when it began rapidly rising in popularity. It reached a peak in 2009 and 2010, when it was the most popular name for girls in America, an astounding rise over only 20 years.
A famous bearer is the Italian actress Isabella Rossellini (1952-).
Isaiah
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Biblical
Other Scripts: יְשַׁעְיָהוּ(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: ie-ZAY-ə(American English) ie-ZIE-ə(British English)
Rating: 28% based on 4 votes
From the Hebrew name
יְשַׁעְיָהוּ (Yesha'yahu) meaning
"Yahweh is salvation", from the roots
יָשַׁע (yasha') meaning "to save" and
יָה (yah) referring to the Hebrew God. Isaiah is one of the four major prophets of the
Old Testament, supposedly the author of the Book of Isaiah. He was from Jerusalem and probably lived in the 8th century BC, at a time when Assyria threatened the Kingdom of Judah. As an English Christian name,
Isaiah was first used after the
Protestant Reformation.
Isaskar
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Finnish (Rare)
Pronounced: I-sahs-kahr
Ishbel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Scottish
Rating: 38% based on 4 votes
Isidor
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German (Rare), Russian (Rare)
Other Scripts: Исидор(Russian)
Pronounced: EE-zee-dawr(German)
Rating: 43% based on 4 votes
German and Russian form of
Isidore.
Isolda
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arthurian Romance
Pronounced: i-SOL-də(English) i-ZOL-də(English)
Rating: 68% based on 4 votes
Isotta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: ee-ZAWT-ta
Rating: 70% based on 4 votes
Ithel
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh
Rating: 30% based on 4 votes
From the Old Welsh name
Iudhail,
cognate of Old Breton
Iudicael (see
Judicaël).
Iðunn
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Norse Mythology, Old Norse [1], Icelandic
Pronounced: I-dhuyn(Icelandic)
Probably derived from the Old Norse prefix
ið- "again, repeated" and
unna "to love". In Norse
mythology Iðunn was the goddess of spring and immortality whose responsibility it was to guard the gods' apples of youth.
Jack
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: JAK
Rating: 72% based on 5 votes
Derived from
Jackin (earlier
Jankin), a medieval
diminutive of
John [1]. There could be some early influence from the unrelated French name
Jacques [2]. It is often regarded as an independent name. During the Middle Ages it was very common, and it became a slang word meaning "man". It was frequently used in fairy tales and nursery rhymes, such as
Jack and the Beanstalk,
Little Jack Horner, and
Jack Sprat.
American writers Jack London (1876-1916) and Jack Kerouac (1922-1969) were two famous bearers of this name. It is also borne by the actor Jack Nicholson (1937-) and the golfer Jack Nicklaus (1940-). Apart from Nicklaus, none of these famous bearers were given the name Jack at birth.
In the United Kingdom this form has been bestowed more frequently than John since the 1990s, being the most popular name for boys from 1996 to 2008.
James
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Biblical
Pronounced: JAYMZ(English)
Rating: 93% based on 4 votes
English form of the Late Latin name
Iacomus, a variant of the Biblical Latin form
Iacobus, from the Hebrew name
Ya'aqov (see
Jacob). This was the name of two apostles in the
New Testament. The first was
Saint James the Greater, the apostle
John's brother, who was beheaded under Herod Agrippa in the Book of Acts. The second was James the Lesser, son of Alphaeus. Another James (known as James the Just) is also mentioned in the Bible as being the brother of
Jesus.
This name has been used in England since the 13th century, though it became more common in Scotland where it was borne by several kings. In the 17th century the Scottish king James VI inherited the English throne, becoming the first ruler of all Britain, and the name grew much more popular. In American name statistics (recorded since 1880) this name has never been out of the top 20, making it arguably the era's most consistently popular name. It was the top ranked name for boys in the United States from 1940 to 1952.
Famous bearers include the English explorer Captain James Cook (1728-1779), the Scottish inventor James Watt (1736-1819), and the Irish novelist and poet James Joyce (1882-1941). This name has also been borne by six American presidents. A notable fictional bearer is the British spy James Bond, created by author Ian Fleming in 1953.
Jane
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: JAYN
Rating: 80% based on 5 votes
Medieval English form of
Jehanne, an Old French feminine form of
Iohannes (see
John). This became the most common feminine form of
John in the 17th century, surpassing
Joan. In the first half of the 20th century
Joan once again overtook
Jane for a few decades in both the United States and the United Kingdom.
Famous bearers include the uncrowned English queen Lady Jane Grey (1536-1554), who ruled for only nine days, British novelist Jane Austen (1775-1817), who wrote Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, British primatologist Jane Goodall (1934-), and American actress Jane Fonda (1937-). This is also the name of the central character in Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre (1847), which tells of Jane's sad childhood and her relationship with Edward Rochester.
Janna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, English
Pronounced: YAH-na(Dutch) YAHN-nah(Finnish) JAN-ə(English)
Feminine form of
Jan 1. As an English name, it is an elaboration of
Jan 2.
Jemima
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical, English
Other Scripts: יְמִימָה(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: jə-MIE-mə(English)
Rating: 47% based on 6 votes
Means
"dove" in Hebrew. This was the oldest of the three daughters of Job in the
Old Testament. As an English name,
Jemima first became common during the
Puritan era.
Jeremiel
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Biblical, Judeo-Christian-Islamic Legend
Other Scripts: יְרַחְמְאֵל(Ancient Hebrew)
Rating: 15% based on 4 votes
From Latin
Hieremihel, probably from the Hebrew name
Yerachme'el (see
Jerahmeel). Jeremiel (also called
Remiel or
Uriel) is named as an archangel in some verions of the apocryphal book of 2 Esdras (preserved in Latin) in the
Old Testament.
Jinny
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: JIN-ee
Joan 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: JON
Rating: 42% based on 5 votes
Medieval English form of
Johanne, an Old French form of
Iohanna (see
Joanna). This was the usual English feminine form of
John in the Middle Ages, but it was surpassed in popularity by
Jane in the 17th century. It again became quite popular in the first half of the 20th century, entering the top ten names for both the United States and the United Kingdom, though it has since faded.
This name (in various spellings) has been common among European royalty, being borne by ruling queens of Naples, Navarre and Castile. Another famous bearer was Joan of Arc, a patron saint of France (where she is known as Jeanne d'Arc). She was a 15th-century peasant girl who, after claiming she heard messages from God, was given leadership of the French army. She defeated the English in the battle of Orléans but was eventually captured and burned at the stake.
Other notable bearers include the actress Joan Crawford (1904-1977) and the comedian Joan Rivers (1933-2014), both Americans.
Joel
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, Finnish, Estonian, Biblical
Other Scripts: יוֹאֵל(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: JO-əl(English) JOL(English) kho-EHL(Spanish) ZHWEHL(European Portuguese) zho-EW(Brazilian Portuguese) YO-ehl(Swedish, Finnish)
Rating: 35% based on 4 votes
From the Hebrew name
יוֹאֵל (Yo'el) meaning
"Yahweh is God", from the elements
יוֹ (yo) and
אֵל ('el), both referring to the Hebrew God. Joel is one of the twelve minor prophets of the
Old Testament, the author of the Book of Joel, which describes a plague of locusts. In England, it was first used as a Christian name after the
Protestant Reformation.
Johann
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German
Pronounced: YO-han
Rating: 53% based on 4 votes
German form of
Iohannes (see
John). Famous bearers include German composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), German novelist and poet Johann Goethe (1749-1832), and Austrian composers Johann Strauss the Elder (1804-1849) and his son Johann Strauss the Younger (1825-1899).
Johnny
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: JAHN-ee(American English) JAWN-ee(British English)
Rating: 52% based on 5 votes
Diminutive of
John. A famous bearer is American actor Johnny Depp (1963-).
Joona
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: YO-nah
Rating: 20% based on 5 votes
Jordan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, Macedonian, Serbian
Other Scripts: Јордан(Macedonian, Serbian) יַרְדֵן(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: JAWR-dən(English) ZHAWR-DAHNN(French)
Rating: 26% based on 5 votes
From the name of the river that flows between the countries of Jordan and Israel. The river's name in Hebrew is
יַרְדֵן (Yarden), and it is derived from
יָרַד (yarad) meaning
"descend" or
"flow down". In the
New Testament John the Baptist baptizes
Jesus Christ in its waters, and it was adopted as a personal name in Europe after crusaders brought water back from the river to baptize their children. There may have been some influence from the Latin name
Jordanes, notably borne by a 6th-century Gothic historian.
This name died out after the Middle Ages, but was revived in the 19th century. In America and other countries it became fairly popular in the second half of the 20th century. A famous bearer of the surname is former basketball star Michael Jordan (1963-).
Joseph
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, German, Biblical
Other Scripts: יוֹסֵף(Ancient Hebrew) ജോസഫ്(Malayalam)
Pronounced: JO-səf(English) ZHO-ZEHF(French) YO-zehf(German)
Rating: 56% based on 5 votes
From
Ioseph, the Latin form of Greek
Ἰωσήφ (Ioseph), which was from the Hebrew name
יוֹסֵף (Yosef) meaning
"he will add", from the root
יָסַף (yasaf). In the
Old Testament Joseph is the eleventh son of
Jacob and the first with his wife
Rachel. Because he was the favourite of his father, his older brothers sent him to Egypt and told their father that he had died. In Egypt, Joseph became an advisor to the pharaoh, and was eventually reconciled with his brothers when they came to Egypt during a famine. This name also occurs in the
New Testament, belonging to
Saint Joseph the husband of
Mary, and to Joseph of Arimathea.
In the Middle Ages, Joseph was a common Jewish name, being less frequent among Christians. In the late Middle Ages Saint Joseph became more highly revered, and the name became popular in Spain and Italy. In England it became common after the Protestant Reformation. In the United States it has stayed within the top 25 names for boys since 1880, making it one of the most enduringly popular names of this era.
This name was borne by rulers of the Holy Roman Empire and Portugal. Other notable bearers include the founder of Mormonism Joseph Smith (1805-1844), Polish-British author Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) and the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin (1878-1953).
Joy
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: JOI
Rating: 8% based on 4 votes
Simply from the English word joy, ultimately derived from Norman French joie, Latin gaudia. It has been regularly used as a given name since the late 19th century.
Jude 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Biblical
Pronounced: JOOD(English)
Rating: 56% based on 5 votes
Variant of
Judas. It is used in many English versions of the
New Testament to denote the second apostle named Judas, in order to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot. He was supposedly the author of the Epistle of Jude. In the English-speaking world,
Jude has occasionally been used as a given name since the time of the
Protestant Reformation.
Juhana
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: YOO-hah-nah
Rating: 8% based on 4 votes
Finnish form of
Iohannes (see
John).
Juliaana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish
Juni
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swedish, Norwegian
Pronounced: YOO-ni(Swedish)
Juno
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Roman Mythology
Pronounced: YOO-no(Latin) JOO-no(English)
Meaning unknown, possibly related to an Indo-European root meaning
"young", or possibly of Etruscan origin. In Roman
mythology Juno was the wife of
Jupiter and the queen of the heavens. She was the protectress of marriage and women, and was also the goddess of finance.
Kaarina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: KAH-ree-nah
Kaarlo
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: KAHR-lo
Kastehelmi
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: KAHS-teh-hehl-mee
Derived from Finnish kastehelmi "dewdrop", ultimately from kaste "dew" and helmi "pearl".
Katariina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish, Estonian
Pronounced: KAH-tah-ree-nah(Finnish)
Rating: 50% based on 5 votes
Katharina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish
Pronounced: ka-ta-REE-na(German, Swedish)
Rating: 66% based on 5 votes
Katheryn
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KATH-ə-rin, KATH-rin
Kathleen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish, English
Pronounced: KATH-leen(English)
Rating: 50% based on 4 votes
Kathryn
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KATH-rin
Rating: 20% based on 4 votes
Katinka
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Hungarian, Dutch
Pronounced: ka-TING-ka(German) KAW-teeng-kaw(Hungarian)
Rating: 15% based on 4 votes
Kayleigh
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: KAY-lee
Rating: 0% based on 4 votes
Variant of
Kaylee. This particular spelling was popularized by a 1985 song by the British band Marillion.
Kerttu
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: KEHRT-too
Kielo
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: KEE-lo
Means "lily of the valley" in Finnish (species Convallaria majalis).
Kitty
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KIT-ee
Rating: 18% based on 4 votes
Klaudia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Polish, Slovak, Hungarian, Albanian, German, Biblical Greek
Other Scripts: Κλαυδία(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: KLOW-dya(Polish) KLAW-oo-dee-aw(Hungarian)
Rating: 48% based on 4 votes
Polish, Slovak, Hungarian and Albanian form of
Claudia, as well as a German variant form and the form found in the Greek
New Testament.
Klaudija
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Croatian
Rating: 18% based on 4 votes
Kriemhild
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German (Rare), Germanic Mythology
Pronounced: KREEM-hilt(German)
Derived from the Old German elements
grimo "mask" and
hilt "battle". Kriemhild was a beautiful heroine in the medieval German saga the
Nibelungenlied, where she is the sister of
Gunther and the wife of
Siegfried. After her husband is killed by
Hagen with the consent of Gunther, Kriemhild tragically exacts her revenge. She is called
Gudrun in Norse versions of the tale.
Kristiina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish, Estonian
Pronounced: KREES-tee-nah(Finnish)
Rating: 18% based on 4 votes
Ksenia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Polish, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian
Other Scripts: Ксения(Russian) Ксенія(Ukrainian, Belarusian)
Pronounced: KSEH-nya(Polish) KSYEH-nyi-yə(Russian)
Rating: 23% based on 3 votes
Polish form of
Xenia, as well as an alternate transcription of Russian
Ксения or Ukrainian/Belarusian
Ксенія (see
Kseniya).
Lahja
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: LAHH-yah
Rating: 30% based on 4 votes
Means "gift" in Finnish.
Lancelot
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arthurian Romance
Pronounced: LAN-sə-laht(English)
Rating: 48% based on 4 votes
Possibly an Old French
diminutive of
Lanzo (see
Lance). In Arthurian legend Lancelot was the bravest of the Knights of the Round Table. He became the lover of
Arthur's wife
Guinevere, ultimately causing the destruction of Arthur's kingdom. His earliest appearance is in the works of the 12th-century French poet Chrétien de Troyes: briefly in
Erec and Enide and then as a main character in
Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart.
Leah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Hebrew, Biblical, Biblical Hebrew
Other Scripts: לֵאָה(Hebrew)
Pronounced: LEE-ə(English)
Rating: 60% based on 4 votes
From the Hebrew name
לֵאָה (Le'ah), which was probably derived from the Hebrew word
לְאָה (le'ah) meaning
"weary". Alternatively it might be related to Akkadian
littu meaning
"cow". In the
Old Testament Leah is the first wife of
Jacob and the mother of seven of his children. Jacob's other wife was Leah's younger sister
Rachel, whom he preferred. Leah later offered Jacob her handmaid
Zilpah in order for him to conceive more children.
Although this name was used by Jews in the Middle Ages, it was not typical as an English Christian name until after the Protestant Reformation, being common among the Puritans.
Lempi
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: LEHM-pee
Means "love" in Finnish.
Lena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, German, Dutch, Polish, Finnish, Russian, Ukrainian, English, Italian, Portuguese, Greek, Georgian, Armenian
Other Scripts: Лена(Russian, Ukrainian) Λένα(Greek) ლენა(Georgian) Լենա(Armenian)
Pronounced: LEH-na(Swedish, German, Polish, Italian) LYEH-nə(Russian) LEE-nə(English)
Rating: 75% based on 4 votes
Leni
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German
Pronounced: LEH-nee
Rating: 25% based on 4 votes
Lenora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Rating: 68% based on 4 votes
Leona
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Czech
Pronounced: lee-O-nə(English) LEH-o-na(Czech)
Rating: 65% based on 6 votes
Léonie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: LEH-AW-NEE
Rating: 43% based on 4 votes
Leonor
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish, Portuguese
Pronounced: leh-o-NOR(Spanish) leh-oo-NOR(European Portuguese) leh-o-NOKH(Brazilian Portuguese)
Rating: 60% based on 4 votes
Spanish and Portuguese form of
Eleanor. It was brought to Spain in the 12th-century by Eleanor of England, who married King Alfonso VIII of Castile.
Libby
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: LIB-ee
Lilian
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English, French, Romanian
Pronounced: LIL-ee-ən(English) LEE-LYAHN(French)
Rating: 66% based on 5 votes
English variant of
Lillian, as well as a French and Romanian masculine form.
Lilith
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Semitic Mythology, Judeo-Christian-Islamic Legend
Pronounced: LIL-ith(English)
Rating: 75% based on 4 votes
Derived from Akkadian
lilitu meaning
"of the night". This was the name of a demon in ancient Assyrian myths. In Jewish tradition she was
Adam's first wife, sent out of Eden and replaced by
Eve because she would not submit to him. The offspring of Adam (or
Samael) and Lilith were the evil spirits of the world.
Linzi
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: LIN-zee
Liron
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Hebrew
Other Scripts: לִירוֹן(Hebrew)
Means "song for me" or "joy for me" in Hebrew.
Lois 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Biblical, Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek
Other Scripts: Λωΐς(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: LO-is(English)
Rating: 48% based on 4 votes
Possibly derived from Greek
λωίων (loion) meaning
"more desirable" or
"better". Lois is mentioned in the
New Testament as the mother of
Eunice and the grandmother of
Timothy. As an English name, it came into use after the
Protestant Reformation. In fiction, this is the name of the girlfriend of the comic book hero Superman.
Louis
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French, English, Dutch
Pronounced: LWEE(French) LOO-is(English) LOO-ee(English) loo-EE(Dutch)
Rating: 53% based on 4 votes
French form of
Ludovicus, the Latinized form of
Ludwig. This was the name of 18 kings of France, starting with Louis I the son of
Charlemagne. Others include Louis IX (
Saint Louis) who led two crusades and Louis XIV (called the Sun King) who was the ruler of France during the height of its power, the builder of the Palace of Versailles, and the longest reigning monarch in the history of Europe. It was also borne by kings of Germany (as
Ludwig), Hungary (as
Lajos), and other places.
Apart from royalty, this name was only moderately popular in France during the Middle Ages. After the French Revolution, when Louis XVI was guillotined, it became less common.
The Normans brought the name to England, where it was usually spelled Lewis, though the spelling Louis has been more common in America. Famous bearers include French scientist Louis Pasteur (1822-1895), Métis leader Louis Riel (1844-1885), who led a rebellion against Canada, Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894), who wrote Treasure Island and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and American jazz musician Louis Armstrong (1901-1971).
Louna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish (Rare)
Pronounced: LO-nah
Derived from Finnish lounas "southwest" or lounatuuli "southwest wind".
Loviisa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: LO-vee-sah
Finnish feminine form of
Louis.
Lucia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, German, Dutch, English, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Romanian, Slovak, Ancient Roman
Pronounced: loo-CHEE-a(Italian) LOO-tsya(German) loo-TSEE-a(German) LOO-shə(English) loo-SEE-ə(English) luy-SEE-a(Swedish) LOO-chya(Romanian) LOO-kee-a(Latin)
Rating: 65% based on 4 votes
Feminine form of
Lucius.
Saint Lucia was a 4th-century martyr from Syracuse. She was said to have had her eyes gouged out, and thus she is the patron saint of the blind. She was widely revered in the Middle Ages, and her name has been used throughout Christian Europe (in various spellings). It has been used in the England since the 12th century, usually in the spellings
Lucy or
Luce.
Lucien
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: LUY-SYEHN
Rating: 30% based on 4 votes
Lucinda
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Portuguese, Literature
Pronounced: loo-SIN-də(English)
Rating: 43% based on 4 votes
An elaboration of
Lucia created by Cervantes for his novel
Don Quixote (1605). It was subsequently used by Molière in his play
The Doctor in Spite of Himself (1666).
Lucretia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Roman, Roman Mythology
Pronounced: loo-KREH-tee-a(Latin) loo-KREE-shə(English)
Rating: 70% based on 4 votes
Feminine form of the Roman family name
Lucretius, possibly from Latin
lucrum meaning
"profit, wealth". According Roman legend Lucretia was a maiden who was raped by the son of the king of Rome. This caused a great uproar among the Roman citizens, and the monarchy was overthrown. This name was also borne by a 4th-century
saint and martyr from Mérida, Spain.
Luther
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: LOO-thər
Rating: 50% based on 4 votes
From a German surname, itself derived from the Old German given name
Leuthar. The surname was borne by Martin Luther, a 16th-century monk and theologian, who started the
Protestant Reformation by nailing his famous 95 theses to a church door. It has since been used as a given name in his honour, especially among Protestants. A notable bearer from the modern era was the American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968).
Luz
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish
Pronounced: LOOTH(European Spanish) LOOS(Latin American Spanish)
Rating: 38% based on 4 votes
Means
"light" in Spanish. It is taken from the title of the Virgin
Mary,
Nuestra Señora de la Luz, meaning "Our Lady of Light".
Lydia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German, Dutch, Biblical, Old Church Slavic, Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek
Other Scripts: Λυδία(Ancient Greek) Лѷдіа(Church Slavic)
Pronounced: LID-ee-ə(English) LUY-dya(German)
Rating: 60% based on 5 votes
Means
"from Lydia" in Greek. Lydia was a region on the west coast of Asia Minor, said to be named for the legendary king
Lydos. In the
New Testament this is the name of a woman converted to Christianity by
Saint Paul. In the modern era the name has been in use since the
Protestant Reformation.
Lys
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Frisian
Lyydia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish (Rare)
Pronounced: LUY-dee-ah
Rating: 10% based on 2 votes
Finnish variant of
Lydia.
Magdalena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Polish, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Lithuanian, Spanish, Catalan, Occitan, Slovene, Czech, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Croatian, Serbian, Romanian, English
Other Scripts: Магдалена(Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbian)
Pronounced: mag-da-LEH-na(Polish) mak-da-LEH-na(German) magh-dha-LEH-na(Spanish) məg-də-LEH-nə(Catalan) MAG-da-leh-na(Czech) mag-də-LAY-nə(English)
Rating: 74% based on 5 votes
Maija
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish, Latvian
Pronounced: MIE-yah(Finnish)
Rating: 33% based on 4 votes
Finnish and Latvian variant of
Maria or
Marija. The Latvian playwright Anna Brigadere used this name for the main character in her play
Maija un Paija (1922).
Mair
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Pronounced: MIER
Rating: 38% based on 4 votes
Welsh form of
Maria (see
Mary).
Malla
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish, Swedish
Pronounced: MAHL-lah
Short form of various names including
Amalia,
Maria,
Magdalena and
Matilda. A notable bearer was Swedish writer and salon hostess Magdalena "Malla" Silfverstolpe (1782-1861). Malla is also the name of two fells and a nature reserve in northern Finland.
Malva
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swedish, Finnish (Rare), German, Danish, Spanish (Latin American)
Pronounced: MAHL-vah(Finnish)
Short form of
Malvina. It may be partly inspired by Latin, Swedish and Finnish
malva "mallow, hollyhock (flower)".
Manna
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: MAHN-na
Manna was originally a male name, coming from the names
Immanuel and
Mauno. Later, Manna has been used as a female name, because it ends in an "a".
Margareeta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish (Rare), Estonian (Rare)
Pronounced: MAHR-gah-reh-tah(Finnish)
Rating: 23% based on 4 votes
Finnish and Estonian variant form of
Margaret.
Maria
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Portuguese, Catalan, Occitan, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Faroese, Dutch, Frisian, Greek, Polish, Romanian, English, Finnish, Estonian, Corsican, Sardinian, Basque, Armenian, Russian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, Biblical Greek, Biblical Latin, Old Church Slavic
Other Scripts: Μαρία(Greek) Մարիա(Armenian) Мария(Russian, Bulgarian) Марія(Ukrainian) Маріа(Church Slavic)
Pronounced: ma-REE-a(Italian, German, Swedish, Dutch, Greek, Romanian, Basque) mu-REE-u(European Portuguese) ma-REE-u(Brazilian Portuguese) mə-REE-ə(Catalan, English) mah-REE-ah(Norwegian, Danish) MAR-ya(Polish) MAH-ree-ah(Finnish) mu-RYEE-yə(Russian) mu-RYEE-yu(Ukrainian)
Rating: 78% based on 4 votes
Latin form of Greek
Μαρία, from Hebrew
מִרְיָם (see
Mary).
Maria is the usual form of the name in many European languages, as well as a secondary form in other languages such as English (where the common spelling is
Mary). In some countries, for example Germany, Poland and Italy,
Maria is occasionally used as a masculine middle name.
This was the name of two ruling queens of Portugal. It was also borne by the Habsburg queen Maria Theresa (1717-1780), whose inheritance of the domains of her father, the Holy Roman emperor Charles VI, began the War of the Austrian Succession.
Marianne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish
Pronounced: MA-RYAN(French) mar-ee-AN(English) ma-RYA-nə(German) MAH-ree-ahn-neh(Finnish)
Rating: 78% based on 5 votes
Originally a French
diminutive of
Marie. It is also considered a combination of
Marie and
Anne 1. Shortly after the formation of the French Republic in 1792, a female figure by this name was adopted as the symbol of the state.
Marietta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Greek, Hungarian, German, Polish
Other Scripts: Μαριέττα(Greek)
Pronounced: MAW-ree-eht-taw(Hungarian)
Rating: 53% based on 4 votes
Marius
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Ancient Roman, Romanian, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, French, Lithuanian
Pronounced: MA-ree-oos(Latin) MEHR-ee-əs(English) MAR-ee-əs(English) MA-ree-uws(German) MA-RYUYS(French)
Rating: 65% based on 4 votes
Roman family name that was derived either from
Mars, the name of the Roman god of War, or else from the Latin root
mas, maris meaning
"male". Gaius Marius was a famous Roman consul of the 2nd century BC. Since the start of the Christian era, it has occasionally been used as a masculine form of
Maria.
Marjatta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: MAHR-yaht-tah
Marketta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: MAHR-keht-tah
Marlena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Polish, English
Pronounced: mar-LEH-na(Polish) mahr-LEEN-ə(English)
Rating: 68% based on 4 votes
Märta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swedish
Pronounced: MAT-a
Rating: 50% based on 4 votes
Martha
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, German, Greek, Biblical, Old Church Slavic, Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek
Other Scripts: Μάρθα(Greek) Марѳа(Church Slavic)
Pronounced: MAHR-thə(English) MAR-ta(German)
Rating: 48% based on 4 votes
From Aramaic
מַרְתָּא (marta') meaning
"the lady, the mistress", feminine form of
מַר (mar) meaning "master". In the
New Testament this is the name of the sister of
Lazarus and
Mary of Bethany (who is sometimes identified with Mary Magdalene). She was a witness to
Jesus restoring her dead brother to life.
The name was not used in England until after the Protestant Reformation. A notable bearer was Martha Washington (1731-1802), the wife of the first American president George Washington. It is also borne by the media personality Martha Stewart (1941-).
Matilda
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Swedish, Finnish, Slovak, Slovene
Pronounced: mə-TIL-də(English) MAH-teel-dah(Finnish) MA-teel-da(Slovak)
Rating: 65% based on 4 votes
From the Germanic name
Mahthilt meaning
"strength in battle", from the elements
maht "might, strength" and
hilt "battle".
Saint Matilda was the wife of the 10th-century German king Henry I the Fowler. The name was common in many branches of European royalty in the Middle Ages. It was brought to England by the
Normans, being borne by the wife of William the Conqueror himself. Another notable royal by this name was a 12th-century daughter of Henry I of England, known as the Empress Matilda because of her first marriage to the Holy Roman emperor Henry V. She later invaded England, laying the foundations for the reign of her son Henry II.
The name was very popular until the 15th century in England, usually in the vernacular form Maud. Both forms were revived by the 19th century. This name appears in the popular Australian folk song Waltzing Matilda, written in 1895.
Matleena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: MAHT-leh-nah
Rating: 23% based on 4 votes
Matteus
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Swedish, Norwegian
Pronounced: maht-TEH-uys
Rating: 48% based on 4 votes
Swedish and Norwegian form of
Matthew, used to refer to the evangelist and apostle also known as
Levi.
Matthias
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, French, Dutch, Biblical, Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek
Other Scripts: Ματθίας(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: ma-TEE-as(German) MA-TYAS(French) mə-THIE-əs(English) MAT-tee-as(Latin)
Rating: 70% based on 4 votes
From Greek
Ματθίας (Matthias), a variant of
Ματθαῖος (see
Matthew). This form appears in the
New Testament as the name of the apostle chosen to replace the traitor
Judas Iscariot. This was also the name of kings of Hungary (spelled
Mátyás in Hungarian), including Matthias I who made important reforms to the kingdom in the 15th century.
Mehitabel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: מְהֵיטַבְאֵל(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: mə-HIT-ə-behl(English)
Rating: 58% based on 4 votes
Meira
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hebrew
Other Scripts: מֵאִירָה(Hebrew)
Rating: 48% based on 4 votes
Melina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Greek
Other Scripts: Μελίνα(Greek)
Pronounced: mə-LEE-nə(English)
Rating: 20% based on 4 votes
Elaboration of
Mel, either from names such as
Melissa or from Greek
μέλι (meli) meaning "honey". A famous bearer was Greek-American actress Melina Mercouri (1920-1994), who was born Maria Amalia Mercouris.
Melrose
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Meredith
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Welsh, English
Pronounced: MEHR-ə-dith(English)
Rating: 35% based on 4 votes
From the Welsh name
Maredudd or
Meredydd, from Old Welsh forms such as
Margetud, possibly from
mawredd "greatness, magnificence" combined with
iudd "lord". The Welsh forms of this name were well used through the Middle Ages. Since the mid-1920s it has been used more often for girls than for boys in English-speaking countries, though it is still a masculine name in Wales. A famous bearer of this name as surname was the English novelist and poet George Meredith (1828-1909).
Mihangel
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh (Rare)
Rating: 23% based on 4 votes
Welsh name of the archangel Michael, formed from a contraction of
Michael and
angel.
Mikael
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Breton
Pronounced: MEE-ka-ehl(Swedish, Norwegian) MEE-kal(Danish) MEE-kah-ehl(Finnish)
Rating: 34% based on 5 votes
Scandinavian, Finnish and Breton form of
Michael.
Milma
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: MIL-mah
Mnemosyne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Μνημοσύνη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: MNEH-MO-SUY-NEH(Classical Greek) ni-MAWS-i-nee(English)
Rating: 5% based on 4 votes
Means
"remembrance" in Greek. In Greek
mythology Mnemosyne was a Titan goddess of memory. She was the mother by
Zeus of the nine Muses.
Molly
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MAHL-ee
Rating: 43% based on 4 votes
Medieval
diminutive of
Mary, now often used independently. It developed from
Malle and
Molle, other medieval diminutives. James Joyce used this name in his novel
Ulysses (1922), where it belongs to Molly Bloom, the wife of the main character.
Morrígan
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish Mythology
Rating: 25% based on 4 votes
Means either
"demon queen" or
"great queen", derived from Old Irish
mor "demon, evil spirit" or
mór "great, big" combined with
rígain "queen". In Irish
mythology Morrígan (called also The Morrígan) was a goddess of war and death who often took the form of a crow.
Nancy
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: NAN-see
Rating: 35% based on 4 votes
Previously a medieval
diminutive of
Annis, though since the 18th century it has been a diminutive of
Ann. It is now usually regarded as an independent name. During the 20th century it became very popular in the United States. A city in the Lorraine region of France bears this name, though it derives from a different source.
Nandag
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Scottish Gaelic
Nanna 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Norse Mythology
Pronounced: NAN-nah(Danish) NAHN-nah(Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic)
Rating: 45% based on 4 votes
Possibly derived from Old Norse
nanþ meaning
"daring, brave". In Norse
mythology she was a goddess who died of grief when her husband
Balder was killed.
Nell
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: NEHL
Rating: 48% based on 4 votes
Medieval
diminutive of names beginning with
El, such as
Eleanor,
Ellen 1 or
Helen. It may have arisen from the medieval affectionate phrase
mine El, which was later reinterpreted as
my Nel.
Nelle
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: NEHL
Rating: 15% based on 2 votes
Nikolai
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Russian, Bulgarian
Other Scripts: Николай(Russian, Bulgarian)
Pronounced: nyi-ku-LIE(Russian)
Rating: 68% based on 4 votes
Nikolas
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Greek, English
Other Scripts: Νικόλας(Greek)
Pronounced: NIK-ə-ləs(English) NIK-ləs(English)
Rating: 78% based on 4 votes
Noemi
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Czech, Polish, Romanian, German, Biblical Latin
Pronounced: no-EH-mee(Italian)
Rating: 38% based on 4 votes
Form of
Naomi 1 in several languages.
Noomi
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swedish, Finnish, Danish, Norwegian (Rare)
Pronounced: NO-mi(Swedish) NAW:-mi(Finnish)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Ofelia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish, Italian
Pronounced: o-FEH-lya
Rating: 53% based on 4 votes
Spanish and Italian form of
Ophelia.
Olga
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Finnish, Estonian, Latvian, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Czech, Slovene, Serbian, Bulgarian, Greek
Other Scripts: Ольга(Russian, Ukrainian) Олга(Serbian, Bulgarian) Όλγα(Greek)
Pronounced: OL-gə(Russian) AWL-ga(Polish, German) AWL-ka(Icelandic) OL-gaw(Hungarian) OL-gha(Spanish) OL-ga(Czech)
Rating: 50% based on 4 votes
Russian form of the Old Norse name
Helga. The 10th-century
Saint Olga was the wife of
Igor I, the ruler of Kievan Rus (a state based around the city of Kyiv). Like her husband she was probably a Varangian, who were Norse people who settled in eastern Europe beginning in the 9th century. Following Igor's death she ruled as regent for her son
Svyatoslav for 18 years. After she was baptized in Constantinople she attempted to convert her subjects to Christianity, though this goal was only achieved by her grandson
Vladimir.
Ophelia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Literature, Ancient Greek
Other Scripts: Ὠφελία(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: o-FEEL-ee-ə(English) o-FEEL-yə(English)
Rating: 68% based on 5 votes
Derived from Greek
ὠφέλεια (opheleia) meaning
"help, advantage". This was a rare ancient Greek name, which was either rediscovered or recreated by the 15th-century poet Jacopo Sannazaro for a character in his poem
Arcadia. It was borrowed by Shakespeare for his play
Hamlet (1600), in which it belongs to the daughter of
Polonius and the potential love interest of
Hamlet. She eventually goes insane and drowns herself after Hamlet kills her father. In spite of this negative association, the name has been in use since the 19th century.
Orpheus
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ὀρφεύς(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: OR-PEWS(Classical Greek) AWR-fee-əs(English)
Rating: 63% based on 4 votes
Perhaps related to Greek
ὄρφνη (orphne) meaning
"the darkness of night". In Greek
mythology Orpheus was a poet and musician who went to the underworld to retrieve his dead wife Eurydice. He succeeded in charming Hades with his lyre, and he was allowed to lead his wife out of the underworld on the condition that he not look back at her until they reached the surface. Unfortunately, just before they arrived his love for her overcame his will and he glanced back at her, causing her to be drawn back to Hades.
Ossian
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Literature
Rating: 33% based on 4 votes
Variant of
Oisín used by James Macpherson in his 18th-century poems, which he claimed to have based on early Irish legends. In the poems Ossian is the son of
Fingal, and serves as the narrator.
Ottilia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swedish
Pronounced: oot-TEE-lee-ah
Rating: 58% based on 4 votes
Owain
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh, Arthurian Romance
Pronounced: O-wien(Welsh)
Rating: 23% based on 4 votes
From an Old Welsh name (
Ougein,
Eugein and other spellings), which was possibly from the Latin name
Eugenius. Other theories connect it to the Celtic roots *
owi- "sheep", *
wesu- "good" or *
awi- "desire" combined with the Old Welsh suffix
gen "born of". This is the name of several figures from British history, including Owain mab Urien, a 6th-century prince of Rheged who fought against the Angles. The 12th-century French poet Chrétien de Troyes adapted him into
Yvain for his Arthurian romance
Yvain, the Knight of the Lion. Regarded as one of the Knights of the Round Table, Yvain or Owain has since appeared in many other Arthurian tales, typically being the son of King
Urien of Gore, and the errant husband of
Laudine, the Lady of the Fountain.
Other notable bearers include Owain the Great, a 12th-century king of Gwynedd, and Owain Glyndwr, a 14th-century leader of the Welsh resistance to English rule.
Owen 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh, English
Pronounced: O-in(English)
Rating: 40% based on 4 votes
Anglicized form of
Owain.
Parsifal
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arthurian Romance
Pronounced: PAR-zee-fal(German)
Rating: 35% based on 2 votes
Form of
Parzival used by Richard Wagner for his opera
Parsifal (1882).
Parthenope
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Παρθενόπη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: pahr-THEHN-ə-pee(English)
Rating: 43% based on 4 votes
Means
"maiden's voice", derived from Greek
παρθένος (parthenos) meaning "maiden, virgin" and
ὄψ (ops) meaning "voice". In Greek legend this is the name of one of the Sirens who enticed
Odysseus.
Penrose
Gender: Masculine
Usage: American (Rare)
Transferred use of the surname
Penrose.
Perceval
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arthurian Romance
Rating: 48% based on 4 votes
Old French form of
Percival used by Chrétien de Troyes.
Perdita
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Rating: 60% based on 4 votes
Derived from Latin
perditus meaning
"lost". Shakespeare created this name for the daughter of
Hermione and
Leontes in his play
The Winter's Tale (1610). Abandoned as an infant by her father the king, she grows up to be a shepherdess and falls in love with with
Florizel.
Peredur
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh Mythology, Arthurian Romance
Pronounced: peh-REH-dir(Welsh)
Rating: 23% based on 4 votes
Meaning uncertain. It possibly means
"hard spears" from Welsh
peri "spears" and
dur "hard, steel"
[1]. In early Welsh poetry and histories, the brothers Peredur and Gwrgi were chieftains in Cumbria who defeated
Gwenddoleu at the Battle of Arfderydd. This name was later used by the 12th-century chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth in the Latin form
Peredurus for an early (fictitious) king of Britain. Entering into Arthurian romance, Peredur is an aspiring knight in the 14th-century Welsh tale
Peredur son of Efrawg (an adaptation or parallel of Chrétien de Troyes' hero
Percival).
Peregrine
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: PEHR-ə-grin
Rating: 68% based on 4 votes
From the Late Latin name
Peregrinus, which meant
"traveller". This was the name of several early
saints.
Perpetua
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish, Late Roman
Pronounced: pehr-PEH-twa(Spanish)
Rating: 23% based on 4 votes
Derived from Latin
perpetuus meaning
"continuous". This was the name of a 3rd-century
saint martyred with another woman named Felicity.
Pharamond
Gender: Masculine
Usage: History
Rating: 30% based on 4 votes
Variant of
Faramund. This form was used by Shakespeare in his historical play
Henry V (1599), referring to the Frankish king.
Philippa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (British), German
Pronounced: FI-li-pə(English)
Rating: 65% based on 4 votes
Latinate feminine form of
Philip. As an English name, it is chiefly British.
Phillipa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Rating: 50% based on 4 votes
Philomena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German, Ancient Greek (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Φιλουμένη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: fil-ə-MEE-nə(English)
Rating: 45% based on 4 votes
From Greek
Φιλουμένη (Philoumene) meaning
"to be loved", an inflection of
φιλέω (phileo) meaning "to love". This was the name of an obscure early
saint and martyr. The name came to public attention in 1802 after a tomb seemingly marked with the name
Filumena was found in Rome, supposedly belonging to another martyr named Philomena. This may have in fact been a representation of the Greek word
φιλουμένη, not a name.
Pip
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: PIP
Rating: 48% based on 4 votes
Diminutive of
Philip or
Philippa. This was the name of the main character in
Great Expectations (1860) by Charles Dickens.
Polymnia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Πολύμνια, Πολυύμνια(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: PO-LUYM-NEE-A(Classical Greek)
Rating: 15% based on 4 votes
Means
"abounding in song", derived from Greek
πολύς (polys) meaning "much" and
ὕμνος (hymnos) meaning "song, hymn". In Greek
mythology she was the goddess of dance and sacred songs, one of the nine Muses.
Poppy
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: PAHP-ee
Rating: 54% based on 5 votes
From the word for the red flower, derived from Old English popæg.
Primrose
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: PRIM-roz
From the English word for the flower, ultimately deriving from Latin prima rosa "first rose".
Ragnhild
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swedish, Norwegian, Danish
From the Old Norse name
Ragnhildr, composed of the elements
regin "advice, counsel" and
hildr "battle" (a
cognate of
Reinhild).
Raphael
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, English, Biblical
Other Scripts: רָפָאֵל, רְפָאֵל(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: RA-fa-ehl(German) RAF-ee-əl(English) RAF-ay-ehl(English) rah-fie-EHL(English)
Rating: 85% based on 4 votes
From the Hebrew name
רָפָאֵל (Rafa'el) meaning
"God heals", from the roots
רָפָא (rafa') meaning "to heal" and
אֵל ('el) meaning "God". In Hebrew tradition Raphael is the name of an archangel. He appears in the Book of Tobit, in which he disguises himself as a man named
Azarias and accompanies
Tobias on his journey to Media, aiding him along the way. In the end he cures Tobias's father
Tobit of his blindness. He is not mentioned in the
New Testament, though tradition identifies him with the angel troubling the water in
John 5:4.
This name has never been common in the English-speaking world, though it has been well-used elsewhere in Europe. A famous bearer was the 16th-century Renaissance master Raphael Sanzio (1483-1520), usually known simply as Raphael.
Regulus
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Ancient Roman, Astronomy
Pronounced: REH-goo-loos(Latin)
Rating: 70% based on 2 votes
Roman
cognomen meaning
"prince, little king", a
diminutive of Latin
rex "king". This was the cognomen of several 3rd-century BC consuls from the gens Atilia. It was also the name of several early
saints. A star in the constellation Leo bears this name as well.
Reko
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: REH-ko
Remiel
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Biblical
Rating: 38% based on 4 votes
Remigio
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian, Spanish
Pronounced: reh-MEE-jo(Italian) reh-MEE-khyo(Spanish)
Rating: 48% based on 5 votes
Italian and Spanish form of
Remigius (see
Rémy).
Remus
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Roman Mythology, Romanian
Pronounced: REH-moos(Latin) REE-məs(English)
Rating: 58% based on 4 votes
Meaning unknown. In Roman legend
Romulus and Remus were the founders of Rome. Remus was later slain by Romulus.
Rodolphe
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: RO-DAWLF
Rating: 58% based on 4 votes
Romeo
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian, Romanian
Pronounced: ro-MEH-o(Italian) RO-mee-o(English)
Rating: 43% based on 4 votes
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.
Rosemary
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: ROZ-mə-ree, ROZ-mehr-ee
Rating: 43% based on 4 votes
Combination of
Rose and
Mary. This name can also be given in reference to the herb, which gets its name from Latin
ros marinus meaning "dew of the sea". It came into use as a given name in the 19th century.
Rowena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: ro-EEN-ə
Rating: 66% based on 5 votes
Meaning uncertain. According to the 12th-century chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth, this was the name of a daughter of the Saxon chief Hengist. It is possible (but unsupported) that Geoffrey based it on the Old English elements
hroð "fame" and
wynn "joy", or alternatively on the Old Welsh elements
ron "spear" and
gwen "white". It was popularized by Walter Scott, who used it for a character in his novel
Ivanhoe (1819).
Ruusa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish, Greenlandic
Pronounced: ROO-sah(Finnish)
Greenlandic form of
Rosa 1, as well as a Finnish variant of
Ruusu.
Sancha
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish (Rare), Portuguese (Rare)
Pronounced: SAN-cha(Spanish) SUN-shu(Portuguese)
Rating: 13% based on 4 votes
Sanni
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: SAHN-nee
Sarah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, French, German, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch, Hebrew, Arabic, Biblical, Biblical Hebrew
Other Scripts: שָׂרָה(Hebrew) سارة(Arabic)
Pronounced: SEHR-ə(English) SAR-ə(English) SA-RA(French) ZA-ra(German) SA-ra(Danish, Dutch) SA-rah(Arabic)
Rating: 30% based on 5 votes
Means
"lady, princess, noblewoman" in Hebrew. In the
Old Testament this is the name of
Abraham's wife, considered the matriarch of the Jewish people. She was barren until she unexpectedly became pregnant with
Isaac at the age of 90. Her name was originally
Sarai, but God changed it at the same time Abraham's name was changed (see
Genesis 17:15).
In England, Sarah came into use after the Protestant Reformation. It was consistently popular in the 20th century throughout the English-speaking world, reaching the top of the charts for England and Wales in the 1970s and 80s.
Notable bearers include Sarah Churchill (1660-1744), an influential British duchess and a close friend of Queen Anne, and the French actress Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923).
Selwyn
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: SEHL-win
Rating: 35% based on 4 votes
From a surname that was originally derived from an Old English given name, which was formed of the elements sele "manor" and wine "friend".
Shane
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish, English
Pronounced: SHAYN(English)
Rating: 48% based on 4 votes
Anglicized form of
Seán. It came into general use in America after the release of the western movie
Shane (1953).
Shirley
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: SHUR-lee
Rating: 10% based on 4 votes
From an English surname that was originally derived from a place name meaning "bright clearing" in Old English. This is the name of a main character in Charlotte Brontë's semi-autobiographical novel Shirley (1849). Though the name was already popular in the United States, the child actress Shirley Temple (1928-2014) gave it a further boost. By 1935 it was the second most common name for girls.
Silke
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Dutch
Pronounced: ZIL-kə(German)
Rating: 24% based on 5 votes
Silvia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, German, Dutch, English, Late Roman, Roman Mythology
Pronounced: SEEL-vya(Italian) SEEL-bya(Spanish) ZIL-vya(German) SIL-vee-ə(English)
Rating: 48% based on 4 votes
Feminine form of
Silvius.
Rhea Silvia was the mother of
Romulus and
Remus, the founders of Rome. This was also the name of a 6th-century
saint, the mother of the pope Gregory the Great. It has been a common name in Italy since the Middle Ages. It was introduced to England by Shakespeare, who used it for a character in his play
The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1594). It is now more commonly spelled
Sylvia in the English-speaking world.
Síofra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: SHEE-frə
Means "elf, sprite" in Irish. This name was created in the 20th century.
Sissi
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German (Modern), Italian (Modern), Popular Culture, Finnish
Pronounced: SIS-ee(German, Italian) SIS-si(Popular Culture)
Diminutive of
Cecilia,
Elisabet and names beginning
Si-. Specifically, it is a nickname of Empress Elisabeth of Austria popularised through the film "Sissi" (1955).
Sissi is also Finnish for "guerrilla" and a type of training in the Finnish Defence Forces and the Finnish Border Guard.
Somerled
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Old Norse (Anglicized)
Anglicized form of the Old Norse name Sumarliði meaning "summer traveller". This was the name of a 12th-century Norse-Gaelic king of Mann and the Scottish Isles.
Soner
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Turkish
Rating: 40% based on 4 votes
Means "last man" in Turkish.
Sophia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Greek, German, Ancient Greek
Other Scripts: Σοφία(Greek)
Pronounced: so-FEE-ə(English) sə-FIE-ə(British English) so-FEE-a(Greek) zo-FEE-a(German)
Rating: 53% based on 4 votes
Means
"wisdom" in Greek. This was the name of an early, probably mythical,
saint who died of grief after her three daughters were martyred during the reign of the emperor Hadrian. Legends about her probably arose as a result of a medieval misunderstanding of the phrase
Hagia Sophia "Holy Wisdom", which is the name of a large basilica in Constantinople.
This name was common among continental European royalty during the Middle Ages, and it was popularized in Britain by the German House of Hanover when they inherited the British throne in the 18th century. It was the name of characters in the novels Tom Jones (1749) by Henry Fielding and The Vicar of Wakefield (1766) by Oliver Goldsmith.
In the United States this name was only moderately common until the 1990s when it began rising in popularity, eventually becoming the most popular for girls from 2011 to 2013. A famous bearer is the Italian actress Sophia Loren (1934-).
Sophronia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature, Late Greek
Other Scripts: Σωφρονία(Ancient Greek)
Rating: 30% based on 4 votes
Feminine form of
Sophronius. Torquato Tasso used it in his epic poem
Jerusalem Delivered (1580), in which it is borne by the lover of Olindo.
Sophy
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: SO-fee
Rating: 35% based on 4 votes
Suoma
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: SOO-mah
Rating: 20% based on 4 votes
Derived from Finnish Suomi meaning "Finland".
Tabitha
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Biblical, Biblical Greek
Other Scripts: Ταβιθά(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: TAB-i-thə(English)
Rating: 44% based on 5 votes
Means
"gazelle" in Aramaic. Tabitha in the
New Testament was a woman restored to life by
Saint Peter. Her name is translated into Greek as
Dorcas (see
Acts 9:36). As an English name,
Tabitha became common after the
Protestant Reformation. It was popularized in the 1960s by the television show
Bewitched, in which Tabitha (sometimes spelled Tabatha) is the daughter of the main character.
Tara 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: TAHR-ə, TEHR-ə, TAR-ə
Rating: 37% based on 3 votes
Anglicized form of the Irish place name Teamhair, which possibly means "elevated place". This was the name of the sacred hill near Dublin where the Irish high kings resided. It was popularized as a given name by the novel Gone with the Wind (1936) and the subsequent movie adaptation (1939), in which it is the name of the O'Hara plantation.
Tegan
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh, English (Modern)
Pronounced: TEH-gan(Welsh) TEE-gən(English)
Means
"darling" in Welsh, derived from a
diminutive of Welsh
teg "beautiful, pretty". It was somewhat common in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Canada in the 1980s and 90s. It was borne by an Australian character on the television series
Doctor Who from 1981 to 1984.
Tegwen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Derived from the Welsh elements
teg "beautiful, pretty" and
gwen "white, blessed". This name was created in the 19th century
[1].
Teo
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Spanish, Italian, Croatian, Slovene, Georgian
Other Scripts: თეო(Georgian)
Pronounced: TEH-o(Spanish, Italian, Croatian)
Rating: 50% based on 4 votes
Short form of
Teodoro and other names that begin with
Teo. In Georgian this is a feminine name, a short form of
Teona.
Teodolinda
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish (Rare), Galician, Portuguese (Rare), Hungarian
Italian, Spanish, Galician, Portuguese and Hungarian form of
Theodelind.
Teodor
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Romanian, Bulgarian, Slovak, Czech, Polish, Serbian, Croatian, Slovene, Macedonian, Swedish, Norwegian
Other Scripts: Теодор(Bulgarian, Serbian, Macedonian)
Pronounced: teh-O-dor(Romanian) TEH-aw-dawr(Slovak) TEH-o-dor(Czech, Croatian) teh-AW-dawr(Polish)
Rating: 68% based on 4 votes
Form of
Theodore used in various languages.
Tesni
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Rating: 23% based on 3 votes
Means "warmth" in Welsh.
Theodora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Greek, Ancient Greek
Other Scripts: Θεοδώρα(Greek)
Pronounced: thee-ə-DAWR-ə(English)
Rating: 55% based on 4 votes
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.
Theodore
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: THEE-ə-dawr
Rating: 65% based on 4 votes
From the Greek name
Θεόδωρος (Theodoros), which meant
"gift of god" from Greek
θεός (theos) meaning "god" and
δῶρον (doron) meaning "gift". The name
Dorothea is derived from the same roots in reverse order. This was the name of several
saints, including Theodore of Amasea, a 4th-century Greek soldier; Theodore of Tarsus, a 7th-century archbishop of Canterbury; and Theodore the Studite, a 9th-century Byzantine monk. It was also borne by two popes.
This was a common name in classical Greece, and, due to both the saints who carried it and the favourable meaning, it came into general use in the Christian world, being especially popular among Eastern Christians. It was however rare in Britain before the 19th century. Famous bearers include three tsars of Russia (in the Russian form Fyodor) and American president Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919).
Theodosia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Greek, Greek
Other Scripts: Θεοδοσία(Greek)
Pronounced: TEH-O-DO-SEE-A(Classical Greek) thee-ə-DO-see-ə(English) thee-ə-DO-shə(English)
Rating: 43% based on 4 votes
Tisiphone
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Τισιφόνη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: ti-SIF-ə-nee(English)
Rating: 38% based on 4 votes
Means
"avenging murder" in Greek, derived from
τίσις (tisis) meaning "vengeance" and
φόνος (phonos) meaning "murder". This was the name of one of the Furies or
Ἐρινύες (Erinyes) in Greek
mythology. She killed Cithaeron with the bite of one of the snakes on her head.
Toivo
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Finnish, Estonian
Pronounced: TOI-vo(Finnish)
Rating: 38% based on 4 votes
Means "hope" in Finnish.
Tove
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Norwegian, Danish, Swedish
Pronounced: TOO-veh(Norwegian, Swedish) TO-və(Danish)
Modern form of the Old Norse name
Tófa, a short form of
Þórfríðr.
Trista
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: TRIS-tə
Rating: 7% based on 3 votes
Tuovi
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: TOO-vee
Derived from the place name Tuovila "village of Tove", a village in Finland. It was invented by the Finnish author Yrjö Sakari Yrjö-Koskinen for a character of his novel "Pohjan-Piltti" (1859).
Ulrika
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swedish
Pronounced: uyl-REE-ka
Rating: 33% based on 4 votes
Swedish feminine form of
Ulrich. This was the name of two queens of Sweden.
Unna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Old Norse, Danish (Rare), Faroese, Icelandic (Rare), Swedish (Rare), Finnish (Rare)
Pronounced: UHN-nah(Swedish)
Derived from Old Norse
unna "to love" or
unnr "wave".
Usva
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish (Rare)
Directly taken from Finnish usva "mist; haze".
Valentin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French, Romanian, German, Czech, Russian, Bulgarian, Slovene, Croatian, Swedish, Danish, Finnish
Other Scripts: Валентин(Russian, Bulgarian)
Pronounced: VA-LAHN-TEHN(French) va-lehn-TEEN(Romanian) VA-lehn-teen(German) VA-lehn-kyin(Czech) və-lyin-TYEEN(Russian)
Rating: 63% based on 4 votes
Form of
Valentinus (see
Valentine 1) in several languages.
Valentina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Russian, Lithuanian, German, Croatian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Slovene, Albanian, Romanian, Spanish, Greek, Ancient Roman
Other Scripts: Валентина(Russian, Bulgarian, Macedonian) Βαλεντίνα(Greek)
Pronounced: va-lehn-TEE-na(Italian) və-lyin-TYEE-nə(Russian) vu-lyehn-tyi-NU(Lithuanian) ba-lehn-TEE-na(Spanish)
Rating: 63% based on 6 votes
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.
Valentino
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: va-lehn-TEE-no
Rating: 38% based on 4 votes
Valeria
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish, Romanian, German, Ancient Roman
Pronounced: va-LEH-rya(Italian) ba-LEH-rya(Spanish) və-LEHR-ee-ə(English) wa-LEH-ree-a(Latin)
Rating: 80% based on 4 votes
Feminine form of
Valerius. This was the name of a 2nd-century Roman
saint and martyr.
Valo
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: VAH-law
Means "light" in Finnish.
Vanamo
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish (Modern)
Pronounced: VAH-nah-mo
Means "twinflower" in Finnish.
Venus
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Roman Mythology
Pronounced: WEH-noos(Latin) VEE-nəs(English)
Rating: 8% based on 4 votes
Means
"love, sexual desire" in Latin. This was the name of the Roman goddess of love and sex. Her character was assimilated with that of the Greek goddess
Aphrodite. As the mother of
Aeneas she was considered an ancestor of the Roman people. The second planet from the sun is named after her.
Vidar
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Norwegian, Swedish, Norse Mythology
Pronounced: VEE-dahr(Swedish)
Rating: 43% based on 4 votes
From Old Norse
Víðarr, which was possibly derived from
víðr "wide" and
herr "army, warrior". In Norse
mythology Víðarr was the son of
Odin and
Grid. At the time of the end of the world, Ragnarök, it is said he will avenge his father's death by slaying the wolf
Fenrir.
Viena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: VEE-eh-nah
Variant of
Vieno. Viena may also refer to the area of White Sea Karelia or White Karelia in the northwestern Russia, known as Vienan Karjala or Viena in Finnish and Karelian.
Viktoria
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Estonian, Greek, Georgian, Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Belarusian
Other Scripts: Βικτωρία, Βικτώρια, Βικτόρια(Greek) ვიქტორია(Georgian) Виктория(Russian, Bulgarian) Вікторія(Ukrainian) Вікторыя(Belarusian)
Pronounced: vik-TO-rya(German) vyik-TO-ryi-yə(Russian)
Rating: 80% based on 4 votes
Vilhelmiina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: VEEL-hehl-mee-nah
Rating: 38% based on 4 votes
Vincent
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Slovak
Pronounced: VIN-sənt(English, Dutch) VEHN-SAHN(French) VEEN-tsent(Slovak)
Rating: 68% based on 5 votes
From the Roman name
Vincentius, which was derived from Latin
vincere meaning
"to conquer". This name was popular among early Christians, and it was borne by many
saints. As an English name,
Vincent has been in use since the Middle Ages, though it did not become common until the 19th century. Famous bearers include the French priest Saint Vincent de Paul (1581-1660) and the post-impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890).
Viola
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, German, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak
Pronounced: vie-O-lə(English) vi-O-lə(English) VIE-ə-lə(English) VYAW-la(Italian) vi-OO-la(Swedish) VEE-o-la(German) vee-O-la(German) VEE-o-law(Hungarian) VI-o-la(Czech) VEE-aw-la(Slovak)
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.
Violet
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: VIE-lit, VIE-ə-lit
Rating: 70% based on 5 votes
From the English word violet for the purple flower, ultimately derived from Latin viola. It was common in Scotland from the 16th century, and it came into general use as an English given name during the 19th century.
Viveka
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swedish
Rating: 45% based on 4 votes
Willem
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Dutch
Pronounced: VI-ləm
Rating: 53% based on 3 votes
Dutch form of
William. Willem the Silent, Prince of Orange, was the leader of the Dutch revolt against Spain that brought about the independence of the Netherlands. He is considered the founder of the Dutch royal family. In English he is commonly called William of Orange.
Willemina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Dutch
Pronounced: vi-lə-MEE-na
Willoughby
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: WIL-ə-bee
Rating: 83% based on 3 votes
From a surname that was originally derived from a place name meaning "willow town" in Old English.
Zachary
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Biblical
Pronounced: ZAK-ə-ree(English)
Rating: 55% based on 4 votes
Usual English form of
Zacharias, used in some English versions of the
New Testament. This form has been in use since the Middle Ages, though it did not become common until after the
Protestant Reformation. It was borne by American military commander and president Zachary Taylor (1784-1850).
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