CONSTANTINE

Gender: Masculine

Usage: History

Pronounced: KAHN-stən-teen (English)

From the Latin name Constantinus, a derivative of CONSTANS. Constantine the Great (272-337) was the first Roman emperor to adopt Christianity. He moved the capital of the empire from Rome to Byzantium, which he renamed Constantinople (modern Istanbul).

LUCIA

Gender: Feminine

Usage: Italian, German, English, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Romanian, Slovak, Ancient Roman

Pronounced: loo-CHEE-ah (Italian), LOO-tsee-ah (German), LOO-shə (English), loo-SEE-ə (English)

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 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.

LUCIUS

Gender: Masculine

Usage: Ancient Roman, Biblical, English

Pronounced: LOO-shəs (English), LOO-see-əs (English)

Roman praenomen, or given name, which was derived from Latin lux "light". Two Etruscan kings of early Rome had this name as well as several prominent later Romans, including Lucius Annaeus Seneca (known simply as Seneca), a statesman, philosopher, orator and tragedian. The name is mentioned briefly in the New Testament belonging to a Christian in Antioch. It was also borne by three popes, including the 3rd-century Saint Lucius. Despite this, the name was not regularly used in the Christian world until after the Renaissance.

LYSANDER

Gender: Masculine

Usage: Ancient Greek (Latinized)

Other Scripts: Λυσανδρος (Ancient Greek)

From the Greek name Λυσανδρος (Lysandros) which meant "a release of a man" from Greek λυσις (lysis) "a release" and ανδρος (andros) "of a man". This was the name of a Spartan general and naval commander.

MAXIMILIAN

Gender: Masculine

Usage: German, English, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish

Pronounced: mahk-see-MEE-lee-ahn (German), mak-si-MIL-ee-ən (English), mak-si-MIL-yən (English)

From the Roman name Maximilianus, which was derived from MAXIMUS. It was borne by a 3rd-century saint and martyr. In the 15th century the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III gave this name to his son and eventual heir. In this case it was a blend of the names of the Roman generals Fabius Maximus and Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus, who Frederick admired. It was subsequently borne by a second Holy Roman Emperor, two kings of Bavaria, and a short-lived Habsburg emperor of Mexico.

NATHAN

Gender: Masculine

Usage: English, French, Biblical, Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek

Other Scripts: נָתָן (Ancient Hebrew), Ναθαν (Ancient Greek)

Pronounced: NAY-thən (English)

Means "he gave" in Hebrew. In the Old Testament this is the name of both a prophet and a son of King David. It has been used as a Christian given name in the English-speaking world since the Protestant Reformation.

TIBERIUS

Gender: Masculine

Usage: Ancient Roman

Roman praenomen, or given name, meaning "of the Tiber" in Latin. The Tiber is the river that runs through Rome. Tiberius was the second Roman emperor, the stepson of emperor Augustus.