Joiya's Personal Name List

From a place name mentioned briefly in the New Testament. It is probably from Hebrew אָבֵל ('avel) meaning "meadow, grassy area". It has occasionally been used as a given name in modern times.

Derived from Greek ἀμαρύσσω (amarysso) meaning "to sparkle". This is the name of a character appearing in Virgil's pastoral poems Eclogues [1]. The amaryllis flower is named for her.

French diminutive of Anne 1. It has also been widely used in the English-speaking world, and it became popular in America in the late 1950s due to the fame of actress Annette Funicello (1942-2013).

Meaning unknown. This name was (first?) used by William Congreve in his comedy The Old Bachelor (1693) and later by John Vanbrugh in his comedy The Confederacy (1705). This was the original given name of abolitionist Harriet Tubman (1820-1913), who was born Araminta Ross.

Spanish and Portuguese form of Beatrix.

From the name of a flowering plant, which was named for the French botanist Michel Bégon. In some cases it may be a variant of the Spanish Begoña.

Diminutive of Elisabeth.

French feminine form of Carolus.

Italian feminine and masculine form of Caelestis. It is also the Portuguese, Spanish and English feminine form.

Medieval vernacular form of the Late Latin name Claritia, which was a derivative of Clara.

French form of Clarice.

Means "good news" from Greek εὖ (eu) meaning "good" and ἄγγελμα (angelma) meaning "news, message". It was (first?) used by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his 1847 epic poem Evangeline [1][2]. It also appears in Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) as the full name of the character Eva.

Means "joy, happiness" in Arabic.

French feminine form of Faustinus (see Faustino).

Variant of Fay.

From the English word felicity meaning "happiness", which ultimately derives from Latin felicitas "good luck". This was one of the virtue names adopted by the Puritans around the 17th century. It can sometimes be used as an English form of the Latin name Felicitas. This name jumped in popularity in the United States after the premiere of the television series Felicity in 1998. It is more common in the United Kingdom.

From the Latin name Florentius or the feminine form Florentia, which were derived from florens "prosperous, flourishing". Florentius was borne by many early Christian saints, and it was occasionally used in their honour through the Middle Ages. In modern times it is mostly feminine.

This name can also be given in reference to the city in Italy, as in the case of Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), who was born there to British parents. She was a nurse in military hospitals during the Crimean War and is usually considered the founder of modern nursing.

Diminutive of Sophronia.

Variant of Gail. It also coincides with the English word gale meaning "storm".

Originally an Italian short form of Ermenegilda and other names containing the Old German element gelt meaning "payment, tribute, compensation". This is the name of a character in Verdi's opera Rigoletto (1851). It is also the name of a 1946 American movie, starring Rita Hayworth in the title role.

Diminutive of Geneviève.

Means "joy" in Italian.

Feminine form of Glenn.

Means "wind" in Basque.

Polish and Belarusian form of Galina.

From Greek Εἰρήνη (Eirene), derived from a word meaning "peace". This was the name of the Greek goddess who personified peace, one of the Ὥραι (Horai). It was also borne by several early Christian saints. The name was common in the Byzantine Empire, notably being borne by an 8th-century empress, who was the first woman to lead the empire. She originally served as regent for her son, but later had him killed and ruled alone.

This name has traditionally been more popular among Eastern Christians. In the English-speaking world it was not regularly used until the 19th century.

Late Latin name meaning "from Isauria". Isauria was the name of a region in Asia Minor.

From a Frankish masculine name, variously written as Gaudelenus, Gautselin, Gauzlin, along with many other spellings. It was derived from the Germanic element *gautaz, which was from the name of the Germanic tribe the Geats, combined with a Latin diminutive suffix. The Normans brought this name to England in the form Goscelin or Joscelin, and it was common until the 14th century. It was revived in the 20th century primarily as a feminine name, perhaps an adaptation of the surname Jocelyn (a medieval derivative of the given name). In France this is a masculine name only.

From the Hebrew name יְהוּדִית (Yehudit) meaning "Jewish woman", feminine of יְהוּדִי (yehudi), ultimately referring to a person from the tribe of Judah. In the Old Testament Judith is one of the Hittite wives of Esau. This is also the name of the main character of the apocryphal Book of Judith. She killed Holofernes, an invading Assyrian commander, by beheading him in his sleep.

As an English name it did not become common until after the Protestant Reformation, despite a handful of early examples during the Middle Ages. It was however used earlier on the European continent, being borne by several European royals, such as the 9th-century Judith of Bavaria.

Feminine form of Junius. This was the name of an early Christian mentioned in the New Testament (there is some debate about whether the name belongs to a man or a woman).

German diminutive of Elisabeth.

Italian feminine form of Ludwig.

From the English word magnolia for the flower, which was named for the French botanist Pierre Magnol.

Variant of Margot.

French and Czech form of Maria. It has been very common in France since the 13th century. At the opening of the 20th century it was given to approximately 20 percent of French girls. This percentage has declined steadily over the course of the century, and it dropped from the top rank in 1958.

A notable bearer of this name was Marie Antoinette, a queen of France who was executed by guillotine during the French Revolution. Another was Marie Curie (1867-1934), a physicist and chemist who studied radioactivity with her husband Pierre.

In France it is occasionally used as a masculine name in pairings such as Jean-Marie.

From the name of the type of bird, also called the song thrush, derived from Old French mauvis, of uncertain origin. It was first used as a given name by the British author Marie Corelli, who used it for a character in her novel The Sorrows of Satan (1895).

From the name of a town in southern France, said to derive from Occitan mair "mother" and French lys "lily". It is also sometimes considered a combination of Marie and lys.

Name of one of the major characters in the Help! Can be a shortened form of Minerva.

Italian form of Mireille.

Míriel is the name of two characters in Tolkien's works. It means 'jewel-garlanded maiden'.

Míriel Serindë, a Noldorin Elf, was the wife of Finwë and father of Fëanor. The birth of her mighty son took so much of her spirit that she passed away.

Tar-Míriel was the rightful heir to the throne of Númenor, but was usurped by her cousin Pharazôn. Ar-Pharazôn led a fleet against Valinor, resulting in the destruction of Númenor. Legend said that Tar-Míriel sought to reach the peak of the Meneltarma before the end, but the waters took her as she climbed the slopes of the Holy Mountain.

From Hebrew מֹרִיָה (Moriyah) possibly meaning "seen by Yahweh". This is a place name in the Old Testament, both the land where Abraham is to sacrifice Isaac and the mountain upon which Solomon builds the temple. They may be the same place. Since the 1980s it has occasionally been used as a feminine given name in America.

Created by the 17th-century poet Fulke Greville. He possibly based it on Latin myrra meaning "myrrh" (a fragrant resin obtained from a tree). Otherwise, he may have simply rearranged the letters from the name Mary. Although unrelated etymologically, this is also the name of an ancient city of Anatolia.

French diminutive of Nadia 1.

English form of Noëlle.

From the English word patience, ultimately from Latin patientia, a derivative of pati "to suffer". This was one of the virtue names coined by the Puritans in the 17th century. It is now most commonly used in African countries where English is widely understood, such as Nigeria and Ghana.

Feminine form of Paulinus (see Paulino).

A noun-name. The prinias are a genus of small birds belonging to the passerine bird family Cisticolidae. They are often also alternatively classed in the Old World warbler family, Sylviidae. The name of the genus is derived from the Javanese prinya, the local name for the bar-winged prinia. This word has only recently come into use as a name.

Roman name, a diminutive of Prisca. In Acts in the New Testament Paul lived with Priscilla (also known as Prisca) and her husband Aquila in Corinth for a while. It has been used as an English given name since the Protestant Reformation, being popular with the Puritans. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow used it in his 1858 poem The Courtship of Miles Standish [1].

Variant of Roxane.

Latinized form of Habren, the original Welsh name of the River Severn. According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, Sabrina was the name of a princess who was drowned in the Severn. Supposedly the river was named for her, but it is more likely that her name was actually derived from that of the river, which is of unknown meaning. She appears as a water nymph in John Milton's masque Comus (1634).

The name was brought to public attention by Samuel A. Taylor's play Sabrina Fair (1953) and the movie adaptation Sabrina that followed it the next year. This is also the name of a comic book character, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, first introduced 1962 and with television adaptations in 1970-1974 and 1996-2003, both causing minor jumps in popularity. Another jump occurred in 1976, when it was used for a main character on the television series Charlie's Angels.

French feminine form of Simon 1. A famous bearer was Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986), a French feminist and philosopher.

French form of Tiffany.

Feminine form of Ulysses.

From the English word meaning "wide river valley".