CARL m German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, EnglishGerman form of
CHARLES. Two noteworthy bearers of the name were the German mathematician Carl Gauss (1777-1855), who made contributions to number theory and algebra as well as physics and astronomy, and the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung (1875-1961), who founded analytical psychology. It was imported to America in the 19th century by German immigrants.
FRANK m English, German, Dutch, FrenchFrom a Germanic name that referred to a member of the Germanic tribe, the Franks. The Franks settled in the regions now called France and the Netherlands in the 3rd and 4th century. They possibly derived their tribal name from the name of a type of spear that they used. From medieval times, the various forms of this name have been commonly conflated with the various forms of
Francis. In modern times it is sometimes used as a short form of
Francis or
Franklin.
... [more] JEFFREY m EnglishMedieval variant of
GEOFFREY. In America,
Jeffrey has been more common than
Geoffrey, though this is not true in Britain.
JIMMY m EnglishDiminutive of
JAMES. This was the usual name of American actor James Stewart (1908-1997).
KENT m EnglishFrom a surname that was originally derived from
Kent, the name of a county in England, which may be derived from a Brythonic word meaning "coastal district".
LANCE m EnglishFrom the Germanic name
Lanzo, originally a short form of names that began with the element
landa meaning
"land". During the Middle Ages it became associated with Old French
lance "spear, lance". A famous bearer is American cyclist Lance Armstrong (1971-).
RYDER m English (Modern)From an English occupational surname derived from Old English
ridere meaning
"mounted warrior" or
"messenger".
WU m & f ChineseFrom Chinese
武 (wǔ) meaning "military, martial" (which is generally only masculine) or
务 (wù) meaning "affairs, business", as well as other characters that are pronounced similarly. This was the name of several Chinese rulers, including the 2nd-century BC emperor Wu of Han (name spelled
武) who expanded the empire and made Confucianism the state philosophy.