DarkPixie's Personal Name List

Aneirin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Old Welsh, Welsh
Pronounced: a-NAY-rin(Welsh)
Rating: 41% based on 11 votes
Old Welsh name, possibly from the Latin name Honorius [1]. This was the name of a 6th-century Brythonic poet, also known as Neirin or Aneurin [2], who is said to be the author of the poem Y Gododdin.
Benedict
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: BEHN-ə-dikt
Personal remark: Definitely a guilty pleasure. I like Ben, but don't really want to use Benjamin.
Rating: 51% based on 8 votes
From the Late Latin name Benedictus, which meant "blessed". Saint Benedict was an Italian monk who founded the Benedictines in the 6th century. After his time the name was common among Christians, being used by 16 popes. In England it did not come into use until the 12th century, at which point it became very popular. This name was also borne by the American general Benedict Arnold (1741-1801), who defected to Britain during the American Revolution.
Briallen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh (Rare)
Pronounced: bri-A-shehn
Personal remark: It's the "allen" part that makes it sound masculine...I'd just use Brianna instead.
Rating: 35% based on 11 votes
Derived from Welsh briallu meaning "primrose". This is a modern Welsh name.
Cosette
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, Literature
Pronounced: KAW-ZEHT(French)
Personal remark: I've never watched the musical, and it's not even REAL, but it sounds pretty.
Rating: 40% based on 9 votes
From French chosette meaning "little thing". This is the nickname of the illegitimate daughter of Fantine in Victor Hugo's novel Les Misérables (1862). Her real name is Euphrasie, though it is seldom used. In the novel young Cosette is the ward of the cruel Thénardiers until she is retrieved by Jean Valjean.
Eirian
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: Welsh
Rating: 53% based on 11 votes
Means "bright, beautiful" in Welsh [1].
Jareth
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Popular Culture
Pronounced: JAR-əth(English)
Personal remark: I don't think I could ever use it on a real kid...for one thing, they'd be constantly called "Jared", and of course, people would know where it was from. He'd grow to hate my favorite movie.
Rating: 37% based on 9 votes
Invented name, probably inspired by names such as Jared and Gareth. This is the name of the Goblin King, played by David Bowie, in the movie Labyrinth (1986).
Líadain
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: LYEE-dən
Rating: 39% based on 9 votes
Variant of Líadan.
Líadan
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish (Rare)
Pronounced: LYEE-dən
Rating: 51% based on 8 votes
Possibly from Old Irish líath meaning "grey". According to an Irish tale this was the name of a poet who became a nun, but then missed her lover Cuirithir so much that she died of grief. The name was also borne by a 5th-century saint, the mother of Saint Ciarán the Elder.
Maiara
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Tupi
Rating: 56% based on 9 votes
From Tupi maya arya meaning "great-grandmother".
Mélisande
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French (Rare)
Personal remark: This is just over the top, I think - and it sounds like a cat's name - but once upon a time, I thought it was pretty.
Rating: 51% based on 9 votes
French form of Millicent used by Maurice Maeterlinck in his play Pelléas et Mélisande (1893). The play was later adapted by Claude Debussy into an opera (1902).
Melody
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MEHL-ə-dee
Personal remark: It's probably because I like Melanie so much that I would consider this one.
Rating: 64% based on 10 votes
From the English word melody, which is derived (via Old French and Late Latin) from Greek μέλος (melos) meaning "song" combined with ἀείδω (aeido) meaning "to sing".
Millicent
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MIL-i-sənt
Personal remark: Even though it implies a bratty Eddie Haskell-type prissy girl, I still do like this name. I won't be using it any time soon, though.
Rating: 53% based on 9 votes
From the Gothic name *Amalaswinþa, composed of the elements amals "unceasing, vigorous, brave" and swinþs "strong". Amalaswintha was a 6th-century queen of the Ostrogoths. The Normans introduced this name to England in the form Melisent or Melisende. Melisende was a 12th-century queen of Jerusalem, the daughter of Baldwin II.
Morwen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Cornish, Welsh
Rating: 37% based on 10 votes
Variant of Morwenna.
Ninian
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish
Rating: 0% based on 2 votes
From the name of a 5th-century British saint, known as the Apostle to the Picts, who was apparently responsible for many miracles and cures. He first appears briefly in the 8th-century Latin writings of the historian Bede, though his name is only written in the ablative case Nynia [1]. This may represent a Brythonic name *Ninniau [2][3].
Samara
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern), Portuguese (Brazilian)
Personal remark: Never even saw the movie, I just think it's a nice name.
Rating: 56% based on 8 votes
Possibly derived from the name of the city of Samarra (in Iraq) or Samara (in Russia). The former appears in the title of the novel Appointment in Samarra (1934) by John O'Hara, which refers to an ancient Babylonian legend about a man trying to evade death. Alternatively, this name could be derived from the word for the winged seeds that grow on trees such as maples and elms.

The name received a boost in popularity after it was borne by the antagonist in the horror movie The Ring (2002).

Savannah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: sə-VAN-ə
Personal remark: Guilty pleasure, I guess I just like the sound of it, so I could just as easily use Hannah/Brianna
Rating: 40% based on 8 votes
From the English word for the large grassy plain, ultimately deriving from the Taino (Native American) word zabana. It came into use as a given name in America in the 19th century. It was revived in the 1980s by the movie Savannah Smiles (1982).
Zora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Croatian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Slovene, Czech, Slovak
Other Scripts: Зора(Serbian, Bulgarian, Macedonian)
Pronounced: ZO-ra(Czech) ZAW-ra(Slovak)
Personal remark: Anyone remember that low-budget Frog Prince with Aileen Quinn??
Rating: 58% based on 9 votes
Means "dawn, aurora" in the South Slavic languages, as well as Czech and Slovak.
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