ALEX m & f English, Dutch, German, French, Portuguese, Italian, Romanian, Greek, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Hungarian, Czech, RussianShort form of
ALEXANDER,
ALEXANDRA, and other names beginning with
Alex.
ANDY m & f EnglishDiminutive of
ANDREW or sometimes
ANDREA (2). American pop artist and filmmaker Andy Warhol (1928-1987) was a famous bearer of this name.
CHRISTINA f English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, GreekFrom
Christiana, the Latin feminine form of
CHRISTIAN. This was the name of an early, possibly legendary, saint who was tormented by her pagan father. It was also borne by a 17th-century Swedish queen and patron the arts who gave up her crown in order to become a Roman Catholic.
DUDLEY m EnglishFrom a surname that was originally from a place name meaning
"Dudda's clearing" in Old English. The surname was borne by a British noble family.
ELEANOR f EnglishFrom the Old French form of the Occitan name
Aliénor. Among the name's earliest bearers was the influential Eleanor of Aquitaine (12th century), who was the queen of Louis VII, the king of France, and later Henry II, the king of England. She was named
Aenor after her mother, and was called by the Occitan phrase
alia Aenor "the other AENOR" in order to distinguish her from her mother. However, there appear to be examples of bearers prior to Eleanor of Aquitaine. It is not clear whether they were in fact Aenors who were retroactively recorded as having the name Eleanor, or whether there is an alternative explanation for the name's origin.
... [more] ERIC m English, Swedish, German, SpanishMeans
"ever ruler", from the Old Norse name
Eiríkr, derived from the elements
ei "ever, always" and
ríkr "ruler, mighty". A notable bearer was Eiríkr inn Rauda (Eric the Red in English), a 10th-century navigator and explorer who discovered Greenland. This was also the name of several early kings of Sweden, Denmark and Norway.
... [more] EVE f English, BiblicalFrom the Hebrew name
חַוָּה (Chawwah), which was derived from the Hebrew word
חָוָה (chawah) meaning
"to breathe" or the related word
חָיָה (chayah) meaning
"to live". According to the Old Testament Book of Genesis, Eve and
Adam were the first humans. God created her from one of Adam's ribs to be his companion. At the urging of a serpent she ate the forbidden fruit and shared some with Adam, causing their expulsion from the Garden of
Eden.
... [more] HOWARD m EnglishFrom an English surname that can derive from several different sources: the Anglo-Norman given name
Huard, which was from the Germanic name
HUGHARD; the Anglo-Scandinavian given name
Haward, from the Old Norse name
HÁVARÐR; or the Middle English term
ewehirde meaning "ewe herder". This is the surname of a British noble family, members of which have held the title Duke of Norfolk from the 15th century to the present. A famous bearer of the given name was the American industrialist Howard Hughes (1905-1976).
IRA (1) m Biblical, English, HebrewMeans
"watchful" in Hebrew. In the Old Testament this is the name of King
David's priest. As an English Christian given name,
Ira began to be used after the Protestant Reformation. In the 17th century the Puritans brought it to America, where remained moderately common into the 20th century.
JAMIE m & f Scottish, EnglishOriginally a Lowland Scots diminutive of
JAMES. Since the late 19th century it has also been used as a feminine form.
JAYA f & m Hinduism, Tamil, Indian, Telugu, Hindi, MarathiDerived from Sanskrit
जय (jaya) meaning
"victory". This is a transcription of both the feminine form
जया (an epithet of the Hindu goddess
Durga) and the masculine form
जय (borne by several characters in Hindu texts). As a modern personal name, this transcription is both feminine and masculine in southern India, but typically only feminine in the north.
JOHN m English, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Dutch, BiblicalEnglish form of
Iohannes, the Latin form of the Greek name
Ιωαννης (Ioannes), itself derived from the Hebrew name
יוֹחָנָן (Yochanan) meaning
"YAHWEH is gracious", from the roots
יוֹ (yo) referring to the Hebrew God and
חָנַן (chanan) meaning "to be gracious". The Hebrew form occurs in the Old Testament (spelled
Johanan or
Jehohanan in the English version), but this name owes its popularity to two New Testament characters, both highly revered saints. The first is John the Baptist, a Jewish ascetic who is considered the forerunner of
Jesus. He baptized Jesus and was later executed by
Herod Antipas. The second is the apostle John, who is traditionally regarded as the author of the fourth gospel and Revelation. With the apostles
Peter and
James (his brother), he was part of the inner circle of Jesus.
... [more] JONAH m English, BiblicalFrom the Hebrew name
יוֹנָה (Yonah) meaning
"dove". This was the name of a prophet swallowed by a fish, as told in the Old Testament Book of Jonah. Jonah was commanded by God to preach in Nineveh, but instead fled by boat. After being caught in a storm, the other sailors threw Jonah overboard, at which point he was swallowed. He emerged from the fish alive and repentant three days later.
... [more] JOYCE f & m EnglishFrom the medieval masculine name
Josse, which was derived from the earlier
Iudocus, which was a Latinized form of the Breton name
Judoc meaning
"lord". The name belonged to a 7th-century Breton saint, and Breton settlers introduced it to England after the Norman Conquest. It became rare after the 14th century, but was later revived as a feminine name, perhaps because of similarity to the Middle English word
joise "to rejoice". This given name also formed the basis for a surname, as in the case of the Irish novelist James Joyce (1882-1941).
KAMALA f & m Hinduism, Tamil, Indian, Kannada, Telugu, Hindi, NepaliMeans
"lotus" or
"pale red" in Sanskrit. This is a transcription of both the feminine form
कमला and the masculine form
कमल. This is the name of one of the Krittikas, or Pleiades, in Hindu epic the
Mahabharata. It is also another name of the Hindu goddess
Lakshmi.
LESLIE f & m EnglishFrom a Scottish surname that was derived from a Scottish place name, probably derived from Gaelic
leas celyn meaning
"garden of holly". It has been used as a given name since the 19th century. In America it was more common as a feminine name after the 1940s.
MARCUS m Ancient Roman, Biblical Latin, English, Swedish, Norwegian, DanishRoman praenomen, or given name, that was probably derived from the name of the Roman god
MARS. This was among the most popular of the Roman praenomina. Famous bearers include Marcus Tullius Cicero (known simply as Cicero), a 1st-century BC statesman and orator, Marcus Antonius (known as Mark Antony), a 1st-century BC politician, and Marcus Aurelius, a notable 2nd-century emperor. This was also the name of a pope of the 4th century. This spelling has occasionally been used in the English-speaking world, though the traditional English form
Mark has been more common.
OLIVER m English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Estonian, Catalan, Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, Czech, SlovakFrom
Olivier, a Norman French form of a Germanic name such as
ALFHER or an Old Norse name such as
Áleifr (see
OLAF). The spelling was altered by association with Latin
oliva "olive tree". In the Middle Ages the name became well-known in Western Europe because of the French epic
La Chanson de Roland, in which Olivier was a friend and advisor of the hero Roland.
... [more] PATTY f EnglishOriginally a variant of
Matty, a 17th-century diminutive of
MARTHA. It is now commonly used as a diminutive of
PATRICIA.
PAXTON m English (Modern)From an English surname that was derived from a place name meaning
"Pœcc's town".
Pœcc is an Old English given name of unknown meaning.
RAJ m Indian, Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, NepaliMeans
"empire, royalty", from Sanskrit
राज्य (rajya).
REBECCA f English, Italian, Swedish, Biblical, Biblical LatinFrom the Hebrew name
רִבְקָה (Rivqah) from an unattested root probably meaning
"join, tie, snare". This is the name of the wife of
Isaac and the mother of
Esau and
Jacob in the Old Testament. It came into use as a Christian name after the Protestant Reformation, and it was popular with the Puritans in the 17th century.
STEVE m EnglishShort form of
STEVEN. A notable bearer was American technology entrepreneur Steve Jobs (1955-2011).
TRENT m EnglishFrom a surname that originally denoted someone who lived by the River
Trent in England.
Trent is also a city in Italy, though the etymology is unrelated.
VICTOR m English, French, Portuguese, Romanian, Dutch, Swedish, Late RomanRoman name meaning
"victor, conqueror" in Latin. It was common among early Christians, and was borne by several early saints and three popes. It was rare as an English name during the Middle Ages, but it was revived in the 19th century. A famous bearer was the French writer Victor Hugo (1802-1885), who authored
The Hunchback of Notre Dame and
Les Misérables.
VIVIAN m & f English, Swedish, Norwegian, DanishFrom the Latin name
Vivianus, which was derived from Latin
vivus "alive". Saint Vivian was a French bishop who provided protection during the Visigoth invasion of the 5th century. It has been occasionally used as an English (masculine) name since the Middle Ages. In modern times it is also used as a feminine name, in which case it is either an Anglicized form of
BÉBINN or a variant of
VIVIEN (2).
ZOE f English, Italian, German, Ancient GreekMeans
"life" in Greek. From early times it was adopted by Hellenized Jews as a translation of
EVE. It was borne by two early Christian saints, one martyred under Emperor Hadrian, the other martyred under Diocletian. The name was common in the Byzantine Empire, being borne by a ruling empress of the 11th century. As an English name,
Zoe has only been in use since the 19th century. It has generally been more common among Eastern Christians (in various spellings).