Browse Names - Behind the Name

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Boaventura m Portuguese
Portuguese form of Bonaventura.

Bonaventura m Italian, Catalan
Means "good fortune" in Italian, from Latin bonus "good" and venturas "the things that will come, the future". Saint Bonaventura was a 13th-century Franciscan monk who is considered a Doctor of the Church.

Buenaventura m Spanish
Spanish form of Bonaventura.

Calypso f Greek Mythology (Latinized)
From Greek Καλυψώ (Kalypso), which probably meant "she that conceals", derived from καλύπτω (kalypto) meaning "to cover, to conceal". In Greek myth this was the name of the nymph who fell in love with Odysseus after he was shipwrecked on her island of Ogygia. When he refused to stay with her she detained him for seven years until Zeus ordered her to release him.

Dharma m Hindi, Telugu, Nepali
Means "that which is established, law, duty, virtue" in Sanskrit.

Kanna f Japanese
From Japanese 栞 (kan) meaning "bookmark" and 菜 (na) meaning "vegetables, greens". Other kanji combinations can form this name as well.

Micaiah m & f Biblical
Means "who is like Yahweh?" in Hebrew. This name occurs in the Old Testament in a variety of Hebrew spellings, belonging to both males and females. It is the full name of Micah, both the prophet and the man from the Book of Judges. As a feminine name it belongs to the mother of King Abijah (at 2 Chronicles 13:2), though her name is listed as Maacah in other passages.

Michael m English, German, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch, Czech, Biblical, Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek
From the Hebrew name מִיכָאֵל (Mikha'el) meaning "who is like God?". This is a rhetorical question, implying no person is like God. Michael is one of the archangels in Hebrew tradition and the only one identified as an archangel in the Bible. In the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament he is named as a protector of Israel (see Daniel 12:1). In the Book of Revelation in the New Testament he is portrayed as the leader of heaven's armies in the war against Satan, and is thus considered the patron saint of soldiers in Christianity.... [more]

Nkechinyere f Igbo
Means "this which God gave" in Igbo.

Nkemdilim f Igbo
Means "that which is mine belongs to me" in Igbo.

Nkiruka f Igbo
Means "that to come is greater" in Igbo.

Okuhle f & m Zulu, Xhosa
Means "that which is beautiful, that which is good" in Zulu and Xhosa.

Pranee f Thai
Means "living being, one that breathes" in Thai, of Sanskrit origin.

Quasimodo m Literature
From the name of the Sunday that follows Easter, called Quasimodo Sunday, which gets its name from the opening words of the Latin chant quasi modo (geniti infantes...) meaning "like the way (that newborn infants do...)". It was used by Victor Hugo for his novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831), in which Quasimodo is a hunchbacked bellringer at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. He was named thus by Archdeacon Frollo because he was abandoned as a baby at the cathedral on Quasimodo Sunday, though Hugo states that Frollo may have been inspired by the alternate meaning for quasi "almost", referring to the almost-complete appearance of the foundling.

Reva f Hinduism, Hindi
Means "one that moves" in Sanskrit. This is another name of the Hindu goddess Rati.

Stephen m English, Biblical
From the Greek name Στέφανος (Stephanos) meaning "crown, wreath", more precisely "that which surrounds". Saint Stephen was a deacon who was stoned to death, as told in Acts in the New Testament. He is regarded as the first Christian martyr. Due to him, the name became common in the Christian world. It was popularized in England by the Normans.... [more]

Xiadani f Zapotec
Meaning uncertain, said to mean "the flower that arrived" in Zapotec.

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