Browse Names - Behind the Name

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Dougal m Scottish
Anglicized form of the Scottish Gaelic name Dubhghall meaning "dark stranger", from Old Irish dub "dark" and gall "stranger". This name was borne by a few medieval Scottish chiefs.

Fingal m Literature
Means "white stranger", derived from the Old Irish elements finn "white, blessed" and gall "foreigner, stranger". This was the name of the hero in the Scottish author James Macpherson's 1761 poem Fingal, which he claimed to have based on early Gaelic legends about Fionn mac Cumhaill.

Gallchobhar m Medieval Irish
Derived from Old Irish gall "stranger" and cobar "desiring".

Gaston m French
Possibly from a Germanic name derived from the element gast meaning "guest, stranger". This is the usual French name for Saint Vedastus, called Vaast in Flemish. The name was also borne by several counts of Foix-Béarn, beginning in the 13th century.

Gershom m Biblical, Biblical Hebrew
Probably means "exile" in Hebrew, though the Bible explains that it derives from גֵּר שָׁם (ger sham) meaning "a stranger there" (see Exodus 18:3). This is the name of a son of Moses in the Old Testament.

Polyxena f Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Latinized form of Greek Πολυξένη (Polyxene), which was from the word πολύξενος (polyxenos) meaning "entertaining many guests, very hospitable", itself derived from πολύς (polys) meaning "many" and ξένος (xenos) meaning "foreigner, guest". In Greek legend she was a daughter of Priam and Hecuba, beloved by Achilles. After the Trojan War, Achilles' son Neoptolemus sacrificed her.

Widogast m Germanic
Old German name composed of the elements witu "wood" and gast "guest, stranger".

Xenagoras m Ancient Greek
Derived from Greek ξένος (xenos) meaning "foreign, strange" and ἀγορά (agora) meaning "assembly, marketplace". This was the name of a 2nd-century BC Greek historian.

Xenocrates m Ancient Greek (Latinized)
From the Greek name Ξενοκράτης (Xenokrates), which was derived from ξένος (xenos) meaning "foreigner, guest" and κράτος (kratos) meaning "power". This was the name of a 4th-century BC Greek philosopher.

Xenophon m Ancient Greek
Derived from Greek ξένος (xenos) meaning "foreign, strange" and φωνή (phone) meaning "voice". This was the name of a 4th-century BC Greek military commander and historian. This name was also borne by a 5th-century saint from Constantinople.

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