Browse Names

Stetson m English (Modern)
From an English surname that was originally derived from the name of the village of Stidston in Devon, meaning "Stithweard's town". This is a type of wide-brimmed hat, originally made by the John B. Stetson Company.

Stirling m English (Rare)
From a surname that was a variant Sterling. This is the name of a city in Scotland.

Su 2 f & m Chinese
From Chinese 素 (sù) meaning "plain, simple" or 肃 (sù) meaning "respectful", besides other characters pronounced in a similar way.

Sutton f & m English (Modern)
From a surname, itself derived from the name of numerous English towns, of Old English origin meaning "south town".

Svetlana f Russian, Slovak, Bulgarian, Serbian, Macedonian, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Armenian, Georgian
Derived from Russian свет (svet) meaning "light, world". It was popularized by the poem Svetlana (1813) by the poet Vasily Zhukovsky. It is sometimes used as a translation of Photine.

Svetomir m Serbian, Bulgarian (Rare)
Derived from the Slavic elements svętŭ "sacred, holy" and mirŭ "peace, world".

Sydney f & m English
From a surname that was a variant of the surname Sidney. This is the name of the largest city in Australia, which was named for Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney in 1788. Formerly used by both genders, since the 1980s this spelling of the name has been mostly feminine.

Sylvan m English
Either a variant of Silvanus or directly from the Latin word silva meaning "wood, forest".

Taiwo m & f Yoruba
Means "taste the world, taste life" in Yoruba.

Takumi m Japanese
From Japanese 匠 (takumi) meaning "artisan" or 巧 (takumi) meaning "skillful". It can also come from 拓 (taku) meaning "expand, open, support" combined with 海 (mi) meaning "sea, ocean" or 実 (mi) meaning "fruit, good result, truth". This name can also be formed of other kanji combinations.

Talfryn m Welsh
From a Welsh place name meaning "front hill", derived from Welsh tal "front, extremity" and bryn "hill".

Tallulah f English (Rare)
This is the name of waterfalls in Georgia. Popularly claimed to mean "leaping waters" in the Choctaw language, it may actually mean "town" in the Creek language. It was borne by American actress Tallulah Bankhead (1902-1968), who was named after her grandmother, who may have been named after the waterfalls.

Tara 1 f English
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.

Taron m Armenian
From the name of a region in historic Armenia (now in Turkey).

Tasi f & m Chamorro
Means "sea, ocean" in Chamorro.

Tasnim f Arabic
Means "a spring in paradise" in Arabic.

Tatton m English (Rare)
From a surname that was originally derived from a place name meaning "Tata's town" in Old English.

Tatum f & m English (Modern)
From an English surname that was originally derived from a place name meaning "Tata's homestead" in Old English. It was brought to public attention by the child actress Tatum O'Neal (1963-) in the 1970s, though it did not catch on. It attained a modest level of popularity after 1996, when it was borne by a character in the movie Scream.

Tautvydas m Lithuanian
From Lithuanian tauta "people, nation" and the root vyd- "to see".

Tekakwitha f Mohawk
Means "she who bumps into things" or "she who puts things in place" in Mohawk. Tekakwitha, also named Kateri, was a 17th-century Mohawk woman who has become the first Native American Catholic saint.

Tengiz m Georgian
Derived from Turkic tengiz meaning "sea, ocean".

Tenley f English (Modern)
From an English surname, itself possibly from a place name derived from Old English tind "point" and leah "woodland, clearing". This name was popularized in 2010 by a contestant on the reality television series The Bachelor.

Tex m English
From a nickname denoting a person who came from the state of Texas. A famous bearer was the American animator Tex Avery (1908-1980), real name Frederick, who was born in Texas.

Thalassa f Greek Mythology
Means "sea" in Greek. In Greek mythology she was the personification of the sea. A small moon of Neptune is named for her.

Theseus m Greek Mythology
Possibly derived from Greek τίθημι (tithemi) meaning "to set, to place". Theseus was a heroic king of Athens in Greek mythology. He was the son of Aethra, either by Aegeus or by the god Poseidon. According to legend, every seven years the Cretan king Minos demanded that Athens supply Crete with seven boys and seven girls to be devoured by the Minotaur, a half-bull creature that was the son of Minos's wife Pasiphaë. Theseus volunteered to go in place of one of these youths in order to slay the Minotaur in the Labyrinth where it lived. He succeeded with the help of Minos's daughter Ariadne, who provided him with a sword and a roll of string so he could find his way out of the maze.... [more]

Thetis f Greek Mythology
Possibly derived from Greek θέτης (thetes) meaning "one who places", a derivative of τίθημι (tithemi) meaning "to set, to place". This was the name of one of the Nereids in Greek mythology. With Peleus she was the mother of Achilles.

Thorley m English (Rare)
From a surname that was derived from a place name meaning "thorn clearing" in Old English.

Thornton m English
From a surname that was derived from a place name meaning "thorn town" in Old English.

Þórví f Old Norse
Derived from the name of the Norse god Þórr (see Thor) combined with vé "holy".

Thusitha f & m Sinhalese
Means "heaven" in Sinhala.

Tiamat f Semitic Mythology
From Akkadian tâmtu meaning "sea". In Babylonian myth Tiamat was the personification of the sea, appearing in the form of a huge dragon. By Apsu she gave birth to the first of the gods. Later, the god Marduk (her great-grandson) defeated her, cut her in half, and used the pieces of her body to make the earth and the sky.

Tierra f Various
Means "earth" in Spanish.

Tihomir m Bulgarian, Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian, Slovene
Derived from the Slavic elements tixŭ "quiet" and mirŭ "peace, world".

Tirta m & f Indonesian
Means "sacred water, place of pilgrimage" in Indonesian, ultimately from Sanskrit तीर्थ (tirtha).

Tirto m Indonesian
Javanese form of Tirta.

Tivoli m & f Various (Rare)
From the name of a picturesque Italian town, used as a summer resort by the ancient Romans.

Tlalli f Nahuatl
Means "earth, land, soil" in Nahuatl.

Tlaloc m Aztec and Toltec Mythology, Nahuatl
Possibly from Nahuatl tlālloh meaning "covered with earth", derived from tlālli meaning "earth, land, soil". This was the name of the Aztec god of rain and fertility, the husband of Chalchiuhtlicue.

Topsy f English (Rare)
From a nickname that is of unknown meaning, perhaps deriving from the English word top. This is the name of a young slave in Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852).

Topʉsana f Comanche
Means "prairie flower" in Comanche.

Trefor m Welsh
Welsh form of Trevor.

Trent m English
From an English surname that originally denoted someone who lived by the River Trent. A famous bearer is the American musician Trent Reznor (1965-).... [more]

Trenton m English
From the name of a New Jersey city established in the 17th century by William Trent. It means "Trent's town".

Trevelyan m English (Rare)
From a surname that was derived from a Cornish place name meaning "homestead on the hill".

Trevor m Welsh, English
From a Welsh surname, originally taken from the name of towns in Wales meaning "big village", derived from Middle Welsh tref "village" and maur "large". As a given name it became popular in the United Kingdom in the middle of the 20th century, then caught on in the United States in the 1960s.

Triton m Greek Mythology
Meaning uncertain. It is possibly related to a root meaning "the sea" (cognate with Old Irish trethan). Alternatively it could be connected to Greek τρεῖς (treis) meaning "three" (ordinal form τρίτος). In Greek mythology Triton was the son of Poseidon and Amphitrite. He was often depicted as a merman, half-human and half-fish. The largest of Neptune's moons is named after him.

Troilos m Greek Mythology
Greek form of Troilus.

Troy m English
Originally from a surname that denoted a person from the city of Troyes in France. It is now more likely used in reference to the ancient city of Troy that was besieged by the Greeks in Homer's Iliad. The city's name, from Greek Τροία (Troia), is said to derive from its mythical founder Τρώς (Tros), but is more likely of Luwian or Hittite origin. This name was popularized in the 1960s by the actor Troy Donahue (1936-2001), who took his stage name from that of the ancient city.

Túathal m Old Irish
Means "ruler of the people", from Old Irish túath "people, country" and fal "rule". This was the name of a few Irish kings, including the legendary Túathal Techtmar.

Tuathflaith f Old Irish
From Old Irish túath "people, country" and flaith "ruler, sovereign, princess".

Tudwal m Welsh (Rare)
From the Old Welsh and Breton name Tutgual, derived from tut "people, country" and gual "ruler, leader". This was the name of a 6th-century Breton saint.

Tuğçe f Turkish
Derived from Turkish tuğ meaning "banner, crest", referring to a type of banner made of horse hairs used in the Ottoman Empire, ultimately from Chinese 纛 (dào).

Turan m & f Turkish, Azerbaijani
From Persian توران (Turan), a historical region in Central Asia, originally inhabited by nomadic Iranian peoples. It is traditionally said to mean "land of Tur". The place is mentioned frequently in the 10th-century Persian epic the Shahnameh.

Tye m English
From a surname meaning "pasture" in Middle English.

Tyrone m English, African American
From the name of a county in Northern Ireland, which is derived from Irish Gaelic Tir Eoghain meaning "land of Eoghan". This name was popularized by American actor Tyrone Power (1914-1958), who was named after his great-grandfather, an Irish actor.

Uʻilani f & m Hawaiian
Means "heavenly beauty" or "royal beauty" from Hawaiian uʻi "youth, beauty" and lani "heaven, sky, royal, majesty".

U-Jin m Korean
From Sino-Korean 宇 (u) meaning "house, eaves, universe" or 佑 (u) meaning "help, protect, bless" combined with 眞 (jin) meaning "real, genuine" or 鎭 (jin) meaning "town, market place". Other combinations of hanja characters can form this name as well.

Upton m English (Rare)
From a surname that was derived from a place name meaning "upper town" in Old English. A famous bearer of this name was the American novelist Upton Sinclair (1878-1968).

Ural m Bashkir, Turkish
From the name of the Ural Mountains, of uncertain meaning, possibly from Turkic aral meaning "island, boundary". This is the name of the title character in the Bashkir epic Ural-batyr.

Uranus m Greek Mythology (Latinized)
From Greek Οὐρανός (Ouranos), the name of the husband of Gaia and the father of the Titans in Greek mythology. His name is derived from οὐρανός (ouranos) meaning "the heavens". This is also the name of the seventh planet in the solar system.

Urban m Swedish, German, Slovak, Slovene, Polish, Biblical
From the Latin name Urbanus meaning "city dweller". This name is mentioned briefly in one of Paul's epistles in the New Testament. It was subsequently borne by eight popes.

Vadimir m Russian (Rare)
Possibly a variant of Vadim, with the addition of the Slavic element mirŭ "peace, world".

Vaimiti f Tahitian
From Tahitian vai "water" and miti "sea, salt".

Väinämöinen m Finnish Mythology
Derived from Finnish väinä meaning "wide and slow-flowing river". In Finnish mythology Väinämöinen was a wise old magician, the son of the primal goddess Ilmatar. He is the hero of the Finnish epic the Kalevala.

Vale f English (Rare)
From the English word meaning "wide river valley".

Valencia f Various
From the name of cities in Spain and Venezuela, both derived from Latin valentia meaning "strength, vigour".

Vance m English
From an English surname that was derived from Old English fenn meaning "marsh, fen".

Vasanta m Hinduism
Means "brilliant" or "spring" in Sanskrit. This is the name of a Hindu personification of the spring.

Vebjørn m Norwegian
From the Old Norse name Vébjǫrn, derived from the elements vé "holy" and bjǫrn "bear".

Vega 1 f Spanish
Means "meadow, plain" in Spanish. It is taken from a title of the Virgin Mary, La Virgen de la Vega, meaning "The Virgin of the Meadow". She is the patron saint of several Spanish municipalities, such as Salamanca.

Vegard m Norwegian
From the Old Norse name Végarðr, derived from the elements vé "holy" and garðr "enclosure, yard".

Velimir m Croatian, Serbian
Derived from the Slavic elements velĭ "great" and mirŭ "peace, world".

Venetia f English (Rare), Greek
From the Latin name of the Italian region of Veneto and the city of Venice (see the place name Venetia). This name was borne by the celebrated English beauty Venetia Stanley (1600-1633), though in her case the name may have been a Latinized form of the Welsh name Gwynedd. Benjamin Disraeli used it for the heroine of his novel Venetia (1837).

Venkat m Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam
Variant of Venkata.

Venkata m Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam
From the name of a sacred hill in Andhra Pradesh in southern India. It is the home of the Venkateswara Temple, a pilgrimage site for Hindus.

Verna f English
Feminine form of Vernon, sometimes associated with the Latin word vernus "spring". It has been in use since the 19th century.

Verona f Various
From the name of the city in Italy, which is itself of unknown meaning.

Vesna f Croatian, Serbian, Slovene, Macedonian, Slavic Mythology
Means "spring" in many Slavic languages. This was the name of a Slavic spirit associated with the springtime. It has been used as a given name only since the 20th century.

Viện m Vietnamese
From Sino-Vietnamese 院 (viện) meaning "courtyard, institution".

Vienna f English (Modern)
From the name of the capital city of Austria, Vienna.

Vienne f Various (Rare)
From the French name for Vienna, the capital city of Austria.

Viltautas m Lithuanian (Rare)
From Lithuanian viltis "hope" and tauta "people, nation".

Vinyet f Catalan
Means "vineyard" in Catalan. It is from a devotional title of the Virgin Mary, Mare de Déu del Vinyet, meaning "Mother of God of the Vineyard". This is the name of a sanctuary in Sitges, Spain.

Vipin m Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam
Means "forest" in Sanskrit.

Viracocha m Inca Mythology
Possibly from Quechua wira "fat, thick" and qucha "lake". This is the name of the creator god in Inca mythology.

Vitomir m Croatian, Serbian, Slovene
Derived from the Slavic elements vitŭ "master, lord" and mirŭ "peace, world".

Vlastimir m Serbian
Derived from the Slavic element volstĭ (Serbian vlast) meaning "power, rule, sovereignty" combined with mirŭ meaning "peace, world". This was the name of a 9th-century prince of Serbia.

Vytautas m Lithuanian
From the Lithuanian root vyd- "to see" or vyti "to chase, to drive away" combined with tauta "people, nation". This was the name of a 15th-century Grand Duke of Lithuania, revered as a national hero in that country.

Walton m English
From a surname that was originally taken from various Old English place names meaning "stream town", "wood town", or "wall town".

Wardell m English
From a surname that was derived from a place name meaning "watch hill" in Old English.

Warrick m English (Rare)
From a surname that was a variant of Warwick.

Warwick m English (Rare)
From a surname that was derived from the name of a town in England, itself from Old English wer "weir, dam" and wic "settlement".

Washington m English
From a surname that was originally derived from the name of an English town, itself meaning "settlement belonging to Wassa's people". The given name is usually given in honour of George Washington (1732-1799), commander of the Continental Army during the American Revolution and the first president of the United States.

Weldon m English
From an English surname that was derived from a place name meaning "hill near a spring" in Old English.

Wells m English
From an English surname that originally denoted a person who lived near a well or spring, from Middle English wille.

Wesley m English
From an English surname that was derived from a place name, itself meaning "west meadow" from Old English west "west" and leah "woodland, clearing". It has been sometimes given in honour of John Wesley (1703-1791), the founder of Methodism.

Westley m English
From a surname that was a variant of Wesley.

Weston m English
From an English surname that was derived from a place name, itself from Old English west "west" and tun "enclosure, yard, town".

Whitaker m English (Rare)
From a surname that was derived from a place name meaning "white field" in Old English.

Whitney f & m English
From an English surname that was originally derived from a place name meaning "white island" in Old English. Its popular use as a feminine name was initiated by actress Whitney Blake (1925-2002) in the 1960s, and further boosted in the 1980s by singer Whitney Houston (1963-2012).

Widald m Germanic
Old German name composed of the elements witu "wood" and walt "power, authority".

Wido m Germanic
Originally a short form of names beginning with the Old Frankish or Old Saxon element widu, Old High German witu, meaning "wood" (Proto-Germanic *widuz). This was the name of two 11th-century saints, one from Belgium and one from northern Italy, both commonly called Guido or Guy. From early times this name has been confused with the Latin name Vitus.

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

Widukind m Germanic
Old Saxon name composed of the elements widu "wood" and kind "child". This was the name of an 8th-century Saxon leader who fought against the Franks, in the end unsuccessfully.

Wiley m English
From a surname that was derived from various English place names: towns named Willey or the River Wylye.

Willoughby m & f English (Rare)
From a surname that was originally derived from a place name meaning "willow town" in Old English.

Wilton m English
From a surname that was derived from the names of several English towns. The town names mean variously "willow town", "well town" or "town on the River Wylye" in Old English. The river name is itself of Celtic origin, possibly meaning "tricky".

Windsor m & f English (Rare)
From an English surname that was from a place name meaning "riverbank with a windlass" in Old English (a windlass is a lifting apparatus). This has been the surname of the royal family of the United Kingdom since 1917.

Winfield m English
From a surname that originated from various English place names, themselves derived from Old English winn "meadow, pasture" and feld "field".

Winona f English, Sioux
Means "firstborn daughter" in Dakota or Lakota. According to folklore, this was the name of a daughter of a Dakota chief (possibly Wapasha III) who leapt from a cliff to her death rather than marry a man she hated. Numerous places in the United States have been named after her. The actress Winona Ryder (1971-) was named after the city in Minnesota where she was born.

Winslow m & f English (Rare)
From a surname that was derived from an Old English place name meaning "hill belonging to Wine". A famous bearer of this name was American painter Winslow Homer (1836-1910).

Winthrop m English (Rare)
From a surname that was originally taken from town names meaning either "Wine's village" or "Wigmund's village" in Old English.

Winton m English
From a surname that was derived from a place name meaning "enclosure belonging to Wine" in Old English.

Woodrow m English
From an English surname that was originally derived from a place name meaning "row of houses by a wood" in Old English. It was borne by the American president Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), who was given his mother's maiden name as his middle name (his first name was Thomas). During his candidacy and presidency (1912-1921) the name became popular, reaching the 44th rank in 1913, though it quickly declined after that.

Xavier m English, French, Portuguese, Catalan, Spanish
Derived from the Basque place name Etxeberria meaning "the new house". This was the surname of the Jesuit priest Saint Francis Xavier (1506-1552) who was born in a village by this name. He was a missionary to India, Japan, China, and other areas in East Asia, and he is the patron saint of the Orient and missionaries. His surname has since been adopted as a given name in his honour, chiefly among Catholics.

Xiang m & f Chinese
From Chinese 翔 (xiáng) meaning "soar, glide", 祥 (xiáng) meaning "good luck, good omen", 香 (xiāng) meaning "fragrant" (which is usually only feminine) or 湘 (xiāng), which refers to the Xiang River in southern China. This name can also be formed from other characters.

Xuân m & f Vietnamese
From Sino-Vietnamese 春 (xuân) meaning "spring (season)".

Yaiza f Spanish
From the name of a town in the Canary Islands, Spain. It was used by the novelist Alberto Vázquez-Figueroa for the main character in his Ocean trilogy of books (beginning 1984).

Yam m Semitic Mythology
Means "sea" in Ugaritic. Yam was the Ugaritic god of the sea, also associated with chaos, storms and destruction. He was a son of the chief god El.

Yamato m Japanese
From Yamato, an ancient name for Japan. It can also refer to the Yamato period in Japanese history, which lasted into the 8th century. The individual kanji are 大 meaning "great" and 和 meaning "harmony".

Yamuna f Tamil, Telugu
From the name of an Indian river, which is possibly derived from the name of the goddess Yami.

Yan 2 f & m Chinese
From Chinese 艳 (yàn) meaning "beautiful, gorgeous" (which is usually only feminine) or 岩 (yán) meaning "cliff, rocks", as well as other Chinese characters pronounced in a similar fashion.

Yang m & f Chinese
From Chinese 洋 (yáng) meaning "ocean" or 阳 (yáng) meaning "light, sun, male" (which is typically only masculine), as well as other Chinese characters pronounced similarly.

Yarden m & f Hebrew
Hebrew form of Jordan.

Yōko f Japanese
From Japanese 陽 (yō) meaning "light, sun, male" or 洋 (yō) meaning "ocean" combined with 子 (ko) meaning "child". Other combinations of kanji characters can also form this name.

Yordan m Bulgarian
Bulgarian form of Jordan.

York m English
From an English surname that was derived from York, the name of a city in northern England. The city name was originally Eburacon, Latinized as Eboracum, meaning "yew" in Brythonic. In the Anglo-Saxon period it was corrupted to Eoforwic, as if from Old English eofor "boar" and wic "village". This was rendered as Jórvík by the Vikings and eventually reduced to York.

Yōsuke m Japanese
From Japanese 陽 (yō) meaning "light, sun, male" or 洋 (yō) meaning "ocean" combined with 介 (suke) meaning "help, assist". This name can also be formed from other combinations of kanji characters.

Yūri f Japanese
From Japanese 悠 (yū) meaning "permanence" and 里 (ri) meaning "village". This name can also be formed from other combinations of kanji.

Zaire m African American (Modern)
From the name of a country in Africa from 1971 to 1997, now called the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is said to be derived from Kikongo nzadi o nzere meaning "river swallowing rivers", referring to the Congo River.

Zedong m & f Chinese
From Chinese 泽 (zé) meaning "moist, grace, brilliance" combined with 东 (dōng) meaning "east", as well as other character combinations. A notable bearer was the founder of the People's Republic of China, Mao Zedong (1893-1976).

Želimir m Croatian, Serbian
Derived from Serbo-Croatian želeti "to wish, to desire" combined with the Slavic element mirŭ "peace, world".

Želmíra f Slovak
Slovak feminine form of Želimir.

Zuriel m Biblical
Means "my rock is God" in Hebrew. In the Old Testament this name is borne by a chief of the Merarite Levites at the time of the Exodus.

Zvonimir m Croatian
Derived from the Slavic elements zvonŭ "sound, chime" and mirŭ "peace, world". Dmitar Zvonimir was an 11th-century Croatian king.