AGATHA

Gender: Feminine

Usage: English, Ancient Greek (Latinized)

Other Scripts: Αγαθη (Ancient Greek)

Pronounced: AG-ə-thə (English)

Rating: 73% based on 4 votes

Latinized form of the Greek name Αγαθη (Agathe), derived from Greek αγαθος (agathos) meaning "good". Saint Agatha was a 3rd-century martyr from Sicily who was tortured and killed after spurning the advances of a Roman official. The saint was widely revered in the Middle Ages, and her name has been used throughout Christian Europe (in various spellings). The mystery writer Agatha Christie (1890-1976) was a famous modern bearer of this name.

ANTIGONE

Gender: Feminine

Usage: Greek Mythology

Other Scripts: Αντιγονη (Ancient Greek)

Pronounced: an-TIG-ə-nee (English)

Personal note: an-TIG-uh-nee; beautiful

Rating: 67% based on 3 votes

Derived from Greek αντι (anti) "against, compared to, like" and γονη (gone) "birth, offspring". In Greek legend Antigone was the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta. King Creon of Thebes declared that her slain brother Polynices was to remain unburied, a great dishonour. She disobeyed and gave him a proper burial, and for this she was sealed alive in a cave.

AVELINE

Gender: Feminine

Usage: English (Rare)

Pronounced: AV-ə-lien, av-ə-LEEN

Personal note: I love this name. av-eh-LEEN

Rating: 73% based on 6 votes

From the Norman French form of the Germanic name Avelina, a diminutive of AVILA. The Normans introduced this name to Britain. After the Middle Ages it became rare as an English name, though it persisted in America until the 19th century.

CECILY

Gender: Feminine

Usage: English

Pronounced: SES-i-lee

Rating: 78% based on 4 votes

English form of CECILIA. This was the usual English form during the Middle Ages.

CERRIDWEN

Gender: Feminine

Usage: Welsh

Rating: 76% based on 5 votes

Variant of CERIDWEN.

CHARLOTTE

Gender: Feminine

Usage: French, English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch

Pronounced: shar-LOT (French), SHAHR-lət (English), shahr-LAW-tə (German), shah-LOT (Swedish), shahr-LAWT-tə (Dutch)

Rating: 74% based on 5 votes

French feminine diminutive of CHARLES. It was introduced to Britain in the 17th century. A notable bearer was Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855), the eldest of the three Bronte sisters and the author of 'Jane Eyre' and 'Villette'.

CLAUDIE

Gender: Feminine

Usage: French

Pronounced: klo-DEE

Personal note: klo-DEE in French

Rating: 67% based on 3 votes

French feminine variant of CLAUDE.

CRESSIDA

Gender: Feminine

Usage: Literature

Pronounced: KRES-ə-də (English)

Personal note: CRESS-ih-dah

Rating: 87% based on 3 votes

Medieval form of CHRYSEIS. Various medieval tales describe her as a woman of Troy, daughter of Calchus, who leaves her Trojan lover Troilus for the Greek hero Diomedes. Shakespeare's play 'Troilus and Cressida' (1602) was based on these tales.

DELPHINE

Gender: Feminine

Usage: French

Pronounced: del-FEEN

Rating: 64% based on 5 votes

French form of DELPHINA.

ÉLODIE

Gender: Feminine

Usage: French

Pronounced: e-lo-DEE

Rating: 87% based on 3 votes

French form of ALODIA.

ESPERANZA

Gender: Feminine

Usage: Spanish

Pronounced: es-pe-RAHN-thah (Spanish), es-pe-RAHN-sah (Latin American Spanish)

Personal note: Amazing<3

Rating: 68% based on 4 votes

Spanish form of the Late Latin name Sperantia which was derived from sperare "to hope".

ESTELLE

Gender: Feminine

Usage: English, French

Pronounced: es-TEL

Personal note: One of my favorite old-fashioned names; now recycled.

Rating: 81% based on 9 votes

From an Old French name which was derived from Latin stella, meaning "star". It was rare in the English-speaking world in the Middle Ages, but it was revived in the 19th century, perhaps due to the character Estella Havisham in Charles Dickens' novel 'Great Expectations' (1860).

EVREN

Gender: Masculine & Feminine

Usage: Turkish

Rating: 57% based on 3 votes

Means "cosmos, the universe" in Turkish.

GINEVRA

Gender: Feminine

Usage: Italian

Pronounced: jee-NEV-rah

Rating: 90% based on 4 votes

Italian form of GUINEVERE. This is also the Italian name for the city of Geneva, Switzerland. It is also sometimes associated with the Italian word ginepro meaning "juniper".

GWENAËLLE

Gender: Feminine

Usage: French, Breton

Rating: 43% based on 4 votes

Feminine form of GWENAËL.

GWYNEIRA

Gender: Feminine

Usage: Welsh

Personal note: gwin-AY-rah

Rating: 76% based on 5 votes

Means "white snow" from the Welsh element gwyn "white, fair, blessed" combined with eira "snow".

HELIODOROS

Gender: Masculine

Usage: Ancient Greek

Other Scripts: ‘Ηλιοδωρος (Ancient Greek)

Personal note: Rate this as Heliodora (since it's not in the database and I love it)

Rating: 53% based on 3 votes

Greek form of HELIODORO.

LÍADAN

Gender: Feminine

Usage: Irish

Pronounced: LEE-din

Rating: 68% based on 5 votes

Means "grey lady" in Irish Gaelic. In Irish legend she was a poetess who became a nun, but then missed her lover Cuirithir so much that she died of grief.

MACARIA

Gender: Feminine

Usage: Spanish

Pronounced: mah-KAH-ryah

Rating: 10% based on 2 votes

Feminine form of MACARIO.

MAEVE

Gender: Feminine

Usage: Irish, Irish Mythology

Pronounced: MAYV

Rating: 53% based on 3 votes

Anglicized form of the Gaelic name Medb meaning "intoxicating". In Irish legend this was the name of a warrior queen of Connacht. Her fight against Ulster and the hero Cúchulainn is told in the Irish epic 'The Cattle Raid of Cooley'.

MAIALEN

Gender: Feminine

Usage: Basque

Rating: 80% based on 5 votes

Basque form of MAGDALENE.

MARGALIT

Gender: Feminine

Usage: Hebrew

Other Scripts: מַרְגָלִית (Hebrew)

Personal note: MARG-ah-leet/MARG-ah-lit; adore this

Rating: 68% based on 5 votes

Means "pearl" in Hebrew, ultimately from Greek μαργαριτης (margarites).

MEHITABEL

Gender: Feminine

Usage: Biblical

Pronounced: mi-HIT-ə-bel (English), mee-HIT-ə-bel (English)

Rating: 65% based on 6 votes

Variant of MEHETABEL.

NEVENA

Gender: Feminine

Usage: Bulgarian, Macedonian, Croatian, Serbian

Other Scripts: Невена (Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbian)

Personal note: NEH-ven-ah

Rating: 87% based on 3 votes

Derived from South Slavic neven meaning "marigold".

NIAMH

Gender: Feminine

Usage: Irish, Irish Mythology

Pronounced: NEEV

Personal note: old favorite.

Rating: 48% based on 5 votes

Means "bright" in Irish. She was the daughter of the sea god in Irish legends. She fell in love with the poet Oisín, son of Fionn.

NIOBE

Gender: Feminine

Usage: Greek Mythology

Other Scripts: Νιοβη (Ancient Greek)

Rating: 50% based on 2 votes

Meaning unknown. In Greek mythology Niobe was the daughter of Tantalos, a king of Asia Minor. Because she boasted that she was superior to Leto, Leto's children Apollo and Artemis killed her 14 children with poison arrows. In grief, Niobe was turned to stone by Zeus.

NOA (1)

Gender: Feminine

Usage: Hebrew, Biblical

Other Scripts: נוֹעָה (Hebrew)

Rating: 55% based on 4 votes

Hebrew form of NOAH (2).

SAOIRSE

Gender: Feminine

Usage: Irish

Pronounced: SEER-sha

Rating: 67% based on 3 votes

Means "freedom" in Irish Gaelic.

SASKIA

Gender: Feminine

Usage: Dutch, German

Pronounced: SAHS-kee-ah: (Dutch), ZAHS-kee-ah (German)

Rating: 90% based on 5 votes

From the Germanic element Sahs "Saxon". The Saxons were a Germanic tribe, their name ultimately deriving from the Germanic word sahs meaning "knife".

SHOSHANA

Gender: Feminine

Usage: Hebrew

Other Scripts: שׁוֹשַׁנָּה (Hebrew)

Personal note: show-SHAH-nah; my newest love<3

Rating: 83% based on 3 votes

Variant transcription of SHOSHANNAH.

TEOFILA

Gender: Feminine

Usage: Italian, Polish

Pronounced: te-aw-FEE-lah (Polish)

Personal note: Love this, too

Rating: 63% based on 3 votes

Italian and Polish feminine form of THEOPHILUS.

ZÉPHYRINE

Gender: Feminine

Usage: French (Rare)

Rating: 57% based on 3 votes

French feminine form of Zephyrinus (see ZEFERINO).

ZINOVIA

Gender: Feminine

Usage: Greek

Other Scripts: Ζηνοβια (Greek)

Rating: 40% based on 4 votes

Modern Greek form of ZENOBIA.

ZIPPORAH

Gender: Feminine

Usage: Biblical, Hebrew

Other Scripts: צִפּוֹרָה (Hebrew)

Pronounced: zi-PAWR-ə (English), ZIP-ər-ə (English)

Personal note: I adore this <3 zih-PAWR-ah

Rating: 40% based on 7 votes

From the Hebrew name צִפּוֹרָה (Tzipporah), derived from צִפּוֹר (tzippor) meaning "bird". In the Old Testament this is the name of the wife of Moses.