AMANDA f English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Late RomanIn part this is a feminine form of
AMANDUS. However, it was not used during the Middle Ages. In the 17th century it was recreated by authors and poets who based it directly on Latin
amanda meaning
"lovable, worthy of love". Notably, the playwright Colley Cibber used it for a character in his play
Love's Last Shift (1696). It came into regular use during the 19th century.
AMELIA f English, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Dutch, German, Ancient GermanicVariant of
AMALIA, though it is sometimes confused with
EMILIA, which has a different origin. The name became popular in England after the German House of Hanover came to the British throne in the 18th century - it was borne by daughters of both George II and George III. The author Henry Fielding used it for the title character in his novel
Amelia (1751). Another famous bearer was Amelia Earhart (1897-1937), the first woman to make a solo flight over the Atlantic Ocean.
... [more] JAMES m English, BiblicalEnglish form of the Late Latin name
Iacomus, a variant of the Biblical Latin form
Iacobus, from the Hebrew name
Ya'aqov (see
JACOB). This was the name of two apostles in the New Testament. The first was Saint James the Greater, the apostle
John's brother, who was beheaded under Herod Agrippa in the Book of Acts. The second was James the Lesser, son of Alphaeus. Another James (known as James the Just) is also mentioned in the Bible as being the brother of
Jesus.
... [more] LARA (1) f Russian, English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Hungarian, Slovene, CroatianRussian short form of
LARISA. It was introduced to the English-speaking world by a character from Boris Pasternak's novel
Doctor Zhivago (1957) and the subsequent movie adaptation (1965).
MARCO m Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, DutchItalian form of
Marcus (see
MARK). During the Middle Ages this name was common in Venice, where Saint Mark was supposedly buried. A famous bearer was the Venetian explorer Marco Polo, who travelled across Asia to China in the 13th century.
MARK m English, Russian, Dutch, Danish, BiblicalForm of Latin
MARCUS used in several languages. Saint Mark was the author of the second gospel in the New Testament. Though the author's identity is not certain, some traditions hold him to be the same person as the John Mark who appears in the Book of Acts. He is the patron saint of Venice, where he is supposedly buried. Though in use during the Middle Ages,
Mark was not common in the English-speaking world until the 19th century, when it began to be used alongside the classical form
Marcus.
... [more] RICHARD m English, French, German, Czech, Slovak, Dutch, Ancient GermanicMeans
"brave ruler", derived from the Germanic elements
ric "ruler, mighty" and
hard "brave, hardy". The Normans introduced this name to Britain, and it has been very common there since that time. It was borne by three kings of England including Richard I the Lionheart, one of the leaders of the Third Crusade in the 12th century.
... [more] SOPHIA f English, Greek, German, Ancient GreekMeans
"wisdom" in Greek. This was the name of an early, probably mythical, saint who died of grief after her three daughters were martyred during the reign of the emperor Hadrian. Legends about her probably arose as a result of a medieval misunderstanding of the phrase
Hagia Sophia "Holy Wisdom", which is the name of a large basilica in Constantinople.
... [more] WERNER m German, DutchFrom a Germanic name derived from
warin "guard" combined with
hari "army". A famous bearer was the German physicist Werner Heisenberg (1901-1976).
WINSTON m EnglishFrom a surname derived from an English place name, which was in turn derived from the Old English given name
WYNNSTAN. A famous bearer was Winston Churchill (1874-1965), the British prime minister during World War II. This name was also borne by the fictional Winston Smith, the protagonist in George Orwell's 1949 novel
1984.