SALVADOR m SpanishSpanish form of the Late Latin name
Salvator, which meant
"saviour". A famous bearer of this name was the Spanish surrealist painter Salvador Dalí (1904-1989).
SAMUEL m English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Jewish, BiblicalFrom the Hebrew name
שְׁמוּאֵל (Shemu'el), which could mean either
"name of God" or
"God has heard". As told in the Books of Samuel in the Old Testament, Samuel was the last of the ruling judges. He led the Israelites during a period of domination by the Philistines, who were ultimately defeated in battle at Mizpah. Later he anointed
Saul to be the first king of Israel, and even later anointed his successor
David.
... [more] SANCHO m Spanish, PortuguesePossibly a Spanish and Portuguese form of the Late Latin name
Sanctius, which was derived from the word
sanctus meaning
"saintly, holy". Alternatively,
Sancho and
Sanctius may be derived from an older Iberian name. This was the name of a 9th-century saint who was martyred by the Moors at Cordoba. It was also borne by several Spanish and Portuguese kings. Miguel de Cervantes used it in his novel
Don Quixote (1605), where it belongs to the squire of Don Quixote.
SANDALIO m SpanishSpanish form of
Sandalius, a Latinized form of the Gothic name
Sandulf meaning
"true wolf", derived from
sand "true" and
ulf "wolf". This was the name of a 9th-century Spanish saint martyred by the Moors.
SANDRA f Italian, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian, Czech, RomanianShort form of
ALESSANDRA. It was introduced to the English-speaking world by author George Meredith, who used it for the heroine in his novel
Emilia in England (1864) and the reissued version
Sandra Belloni (1887). A famous bearer is the American actress Sandra Bullock (1964-).
SANTIAGO m Spanish, PortugueseMeans
"Saint James", derived from Spanish
santo "saint" combined with
Yago, an old Spanish form of
JAMES, the patron saint of Spain. This is the name of the capital city of Chile, as well as several other cities in the Spanish-speaking world.
SARA f Greek, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Catalan, Romanian, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Finnish, German, French, Dutch, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian, Polish, English, Hebrew, Arabic, Persian, Bosnian, Biblical GreekForm of
SARAH used in various languages.
SILVIA f Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, German, Dutch, English, Late Roman, Roman MythologyFeminine form of
SILVIUS.
Rhea Silvia was the mother of
Romulus and
Remus, the founders of Rome. This was also the name of a 6th-century saint, the mother of the pope Gregory the Great. It has been a common name in Italy since the Middle Ages. It was introduced to England by Shakespeare, who used it for a character in his play
The Two Gentlemen of Verona (1594). It is now more commonly spelled
Sylvia in the English-speaking world.
SIMÓN m SpanishSpanish form of
SIMON (1). This name was borne by the South American revolutionary Simón Bolívar (1783-1830).
SOCORRO f SpanishMeans
"succour, help, relief" in Spanish. It is taken from the title of the Virgin
Mary María del Socorro meaning "Mary of Perpetual Succour".
SOLEDAD f SpanishMeans
"solitude" in Spanish. It is taken from the title of the Virgin
Mary,
María de Soledad, meaning "Mary of Solitude".
TAMARA f Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Czech, Slovak, Polish, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian, Hungarian, English, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Lithuanian, GeorgianRussian form of
TAMAR. Russian performers such as Tamara Karsavina (1885-1978), Tamara Drasin (1905-1943), Tamara Geva (1907-1997) and Tamara Toumanova (1919-1996) introduced it to the English-speaking world. It was also borne by the Polish cubist painter Tamara de Lempicka (1898-1980).
TATIANA f Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, French, Slovak, Polish, Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, German, Dutch, Greek, Georgian, English, Russian, Bulgarian, Ancient RomanFeminine form of the Roman name
Tatianus, a derivative of the Roman name
TATIUS. This was the name of a 3rd-century saint who was martyred in Rome under the emperor Alexander Severus. She was especially venerated in Orthodox Christianity, and the name has been common in Russia (as
Татьяна) and Eastern Europe. It was not regularly used in the English-speaking world until the 1980s.
TELMO m Portuguese, SpanishDerived from a misdivision of Spanish
Santelmo meaning
"saint ELMO". This name is given in honour of Pedro González Telmo, a 13th-century Spanish priest.
TERCERO m Spanish (Rare)Means
"third" in Spanish. This name was traditionally given to the third child born.
TERESA f Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Catalan, Polish, Finnish, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, EnglishForm of
THERESA used in several languages. Saint Teresa of Ávila was a 16th-century Spanish nun who reformed the Carmelite monasteries and wrote several spiritual books. It was also borne by the Albanian missionary Saint Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997), better known as Mother Teresa, who worked with the poor in India. She adopted the name in honour of the French saint Thérèse of Lisieux, who is the patron of missionaries.
TIBURCIO m SpanishSpanish form of the Roman cognomen
Tiburtius meaning
"of Tibur". Tibur (now called Tivoli) was a resort town near Rome. Saint Tiburtius was a 3rd-century martyr from Rome.
TORIBIO m SpanishSpanish form of the Latin name
Turibius, of unknown meaning. This name has been borne by three Spanish saints, from the 5th, 6th and 16th centuries (the latter being an archbishop of Lima).
TRINIDAD f & m SpanishMeans
"trinity" in Spanish, referring to the Holy Trinity. An island in the West Indies bears this name.
VALENTINA f Italian, Russian, Latvian, German, Croatian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Slovene, Romanian, Spanish, Greek, Ancient RomanFeminine form of
Valentinus (see
VALENTINE (1)). A famous bearer was the Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova (1937-), who in 1963 became the first woman to visit space.
VASCO m Portuguese, Spanish, ItalianFrom the medieval Spanish name
Velasco, which possibly meant
"crow" in Basque. A famous bearer was the 15th-century Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, the first person to sail from Europe around Africa to India.
VERA (1) f Russian, English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Hungarian, Romanian, Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, Belarusian, GeorgianMeans
"faith" in Russian, though it is sometimes associated with the Latin word
verus "true". It has been in general use in the English-speaking world since the late 19th century.
VINICIO m Italian, SpanishItalian and Spanish form of the Roman family name
Vinicius, which was possibly derived from Latin
vinum "wine".
VIRGINIA f English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Greek, Ancient RomanFeminine form of the Roman family name
Verginius or
Virginius, which is of unknown meaning, but long associated with Latin
virgo "maid, virgin". According to a legend, it was the name of a Roman woman killed by her father so as to save her from the clutches of a crooked official.
... [more] VISITACIÓN f SpanishMeans
"visitation" in Spanish. This name is given in reference to the visit of the Virgin
Mary to her cousin Elizabeth.
WÁLTER m Spanish, PortugueseSpanish and Portuguese variant form of
WALTER, more common in South America than Europe. It is often written without the diacritic.
XAVIER m English, French, Portuguese, Catalan, Spanish (Archaic)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.
YADIRA f Spanish (Latin American), American (Hispanic)Meaning unknown, possibly derived from an Arabic name. It has been used in Mexico since at least the 1940s, perhaps inspired by the Colombian actress Yadira Jiménez (1928-?), who performed in Mexican films beginning in 1946.
YAGO m SpanishSpanish form of
Iacobus (see
JAMES). The form
Santiago refers more specifically to the New Testament apostles.
YAIZA f SpanishFrom 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).
YESENIA f Spanish (Latin American)From
Jessenia, the genus name of a variety of palm trees found in South America. As a given name, it was popularized by the writer Yolanda Vargas Dulché in the 1970 Mexican telenovela
Yesenia and the 1971 film adaptation.
YOLANDA f Spanish, EnglishFrom the medieval French name
Yolande, which was probably a form of the name
Violante, which was itself a derivative of Latin
viola "violet". Alternatively it could be of Germanic origin.
... [more] ZORAIDA f SpanishPerhaps means
"enchanting" or
"dawn" in Arabic. This was the name of a minor 12th-century Spanish saint, a convert from Islam. The name was used by Cervantes for a character in his novel
Don Quixote (1606), in which Zoraida is a beautiful Moorish woman of Algiers who converts to Christianity and elopes with a Spanish officer.