Wordsmith's Personal Name List
Percy
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: PUR-see
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
From an English surname that was derived from the name of a Norman town
Perci, which was itself perhaps derived from a Gaulish given name that was Latinized as
Persius. The surname was borne by a noble English family, and it first used as a given name in their honour. A famous bearer was Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), an English romantic poet whose works include
Adonais and
Ozymandias. This name can also be used as a short form of
Percival.
Aubert
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: O-BEHR
Rating: 90% based on 1 vote
Casimir
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French
Pronounced: KAZ-i-meer(English) KA-ZEE-MEER(French)
Rating: 90% based on 1 vote
English form of the Polish name
Kazimierz, derived from the Slavic element
kaziti "to destroy" combined with
miru "peace, world". Four kings of Poland have borne this name, including Casimir III the Great, who greatly strengthened the Polish state in the 14th century. It was also borne
Saint Casimir, a 15th-century Polish prince and a patron saint of Poland and Lithuania. The name was imported into Western Europe via Germany, where it was borne by some royalty.
Iris
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology, English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, French, Spanish, Catalan, Italian, Slovene, Croatian, Greek
Other Scripts: Ἶρις(Ancient Greek) Ίρις(Greek)
Pronounced: IE-ris(English) EE-ris(German, Dutch) EE-rees(Finnish, Spanish, Catalan, Italian) EE-REES(French)
Rating: 90% based on 4 votes
Means "rainbow" in Greek. Iris was the name of the Greek goddess of the rainbow, also serving as a messenger to the gods. This name can also be given in reference to the word (which derives from the same Greek source) for the iris flower or the coloured part of the eye.
Leonard
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Dutch, German, Polish, Romanian, Germanic [1]
Pronounced: LEHN-ərd(English) LEH-o-nahrt(Dutch) LEH-o-nart(German) leh-AW-nart(Polish)
Rating: 90% based on 2 votes
Means
"brave lion", derived from the Old German elements
lewo "lion" (of Latin origin) and
hart "hard, firm, brave, hardy". This was the name of a 6th-century Frankish
saint from Noblac who is the patron of prisoners and horses. The
Normans brought this name to England, where it was used steadily through the Middle Ages, becoming even more common in the 20th century.
Pietra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: PYEH-tra
Rating: 90% based on 1 vote
Italian feminine form of
Peter.
Frederick
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: FREHD-ə-rik, FREHD-rik
Rating: 87% based on 3 votes
English form of an Old German name meaning
"peaceful ruler", derived from
fridu "peace" and
rih "ruler, king". This name has long been common in continental Germanic-speaking regions, being borne by rulers of the Holy Roman Empire, Germany, Austria, Scandinavia, and Prussia. Notables among these rulers include the 12th-century Holy Roman emperor and crusader Frederick I Barbarossa, the 13th-century emperor and patron of the arts Frederick II, and the 18th-century Frederick II of Prussia, known as Frederick the Great.
The Normans brought the name to England in the 11th century but it quickly died out. It was reintroduced by the German House of Hanover when they inherited the British throne in the 18th century. A famous bearer was Frederick Douglass (1818-1895), an American ex-slave who became a leading advocate of abolition.
Marian 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MEHR-ee-ən, MAR-ee-ən
Rating: 87% based on 3 votes
Variant of
Marion 1. This name was borne in English legend by Maid Marian, Robin Hood's love. It is sometimes considered a combination of
Mary and
Ann.
Margery
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MAHR-jə-ree
Rating: 85% based on 4 votes
Romilly
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (British, Rare)
Rating: 85% based on 2 votes
From an English surname that was derived from the name of various Norman towns, themselves from the given name
Romilius.
Rosaline
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: RO-zə-leen, RAHZ-ə-lin, RAHZ-ə-lien
Rating: 85% based on 6 votes
Medieval variant of
Rosalind. This is the name of characters in Shakespeare's
Love's Labour's Lost (1594) and
Romeo and Juliet (1596).
Fiorella
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: fyo-REHL-la
Rating: 83% based on 4 votes
From Italian
fiore "flower" combined with a
diminutive suffix.
Jane
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: JAYN
Rating: 81% based on 17 votes
Medieval English form of
Jehanne, an Old French feminine form of
Iohannes (see
John). This became the most common feminine form of
John in the 17th century, surpassing
Joan. In the first half of the 20th century
Joan once again overtook
Jane for a few decades in both the United States and the United Kingdom.
Famous bearers include the uncrowned English queen Lady Jane Grey (1536-1554), who ruled for only nine days, British novelist Jane Austen (1775-1817), who wrote Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, British primatologist Jane Goodall (1934-), and American actress Jane Fonda (1937-). This is also the name of the central character in Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre (1847), which tells of Jane's sad childhood and her relationship with Edward Rochester.
Aubin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: O-BEHN
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Belinda
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: bə-LIN-də
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
The meaning of this name is not known for certain. The first element could be related to Italian
bella meaning "beautiful". The second element could be Old German
lind meaning "soft, flexible, tender" (and by extension "snake, serpent"). This name first arose in the 17th century, and was subsequently used by Alexander Pope in his poem
The Rape of the Lock (1712).
Constantia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Late Roman
Rating: 80% based on 2 votes
Feminine form of the Late Latin name
Constantius, which was itself derived from
Constans.
Helena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Portuguese, Catalan, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Finnish, Estonian, Slovene, Croatian, Sorbian, English, Ancient Greek (Latinized), Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ἑλένη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: HEH-leh-na(German, Czech) heh-LEH-na(German) heh-LEH-nah(Dutch, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian) i-LEH-nu(European Portuguese) eh-LEH-nu(Brazilian Portuguese) ə-LEH-nə(Catalan) kheh-LEH-na(Polish) HEH-leh-nah(Finnish) HEHL-ə-nə(English) hə-LAYN-ə(English) hə-LEEN-ə(English)
Rating: 80% based on 4 votes
Latinate form of
Helen. This is the name of the heroine of William Shakespeare's play
All's Well That Ends Well (1603).
Hestia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ἑστία(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: HEHS-TEE-A(Classical Greek) HEHS-tee-ə(English)
Rating: 80% based on 30 votes
Derived from Greek
ἑστία (hestia) meaning
"hearth, fireside". In Greek
mythology Hestia was the goddess of the hearth and domestic activity.
Orla 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: AWR-lə(English)
Rating: 80% based on 3 votes
Roger
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, Catalan, Swedish, Norwegian, German, Dutch
Pronounced: RAHJ-ər(American English) RAWJ-ə(British English) RAW-ZHEH(French) roo-ZHEH(Catalan) RO-gu(German)
Rating: 80% based on 2 votes
From the Germanic name
Hrodger meaning
"famous spear", derived from the elements
hruod "fame" and
ger "spear". The
Normans brought this name to England, where it replaced the Old English
cognate Hroðgar (the name of the Danish king in the Anglo-Saxon epic
Beowulf). It was a common name in England during the Middle Ages. By the 18th century it was rare, but it was revived in following years. The name was borne by the Norman lords Roger I, who conquered Sicily in the 11th century, and his son Roger II, who ruled Sicily as a king.
This name was very popular in France in the first half of the 20th century. In the English-speaking world it was popular especially from the 1930s to the 50s. Famous bearers include British actor Roger Moore (1927-2017) and Swiss tennis player Roger Federer (1981-).
Rosalba
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Rating: 80% based on 1 vote
Italian name meaning
"white rose", derived from Latin
rosa "rose" and
alba "white". A famous bearer was the Venetian painter Rosalba Carriera (1675-1757).
Rosalind
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: RAHZ-ə-lind
Rating: 80% based on 4 votes
Derived from the Old German elements
hros meaning "horse" and
lind meaning "soft, flexible, tender". The
Normans introduced this name to England, though it was not common. During the Middle Ages its spelling was influenced by the Latin phrase
rosa linda "beautiful rose". The name was popularized by Edmund Spencer, who used it in his poetry, and by William Shakespeare, who used it for the heroine in his comedy
As You Like It (1599).
Virgil
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Romanian
Pronounced: VUR-jil(English)
Rating: 80% based on 2 votes
From the Roman family name Vergilius, which is of unknown meaning. This name was borne by the 1st-century BC Roman poet Publius Vergilius Maro, commonly called Virgil, who was the writer of the Aeneid. Due to him, Virgil has been in use as a given name in the English-speaking world since the 19th century.
Delphine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: DEHL-FEEN
Rating: 79% based on 13 votes
Beatrice
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, English, Swedish, Romanian
Pronounced: beh-a-TREE-cheh(Italian) BEE-ə-tris(English) BEET-ris(English) BEH-ah-trees(Swedish) beh-ah-TREES(Swedish)
Rating: 78% based on 83 votes
Italian form of
Beatrix. Beatrice Portinari (1266-1290) was the woman who was loved by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri. She serves as Dante's guide through paradise in his epic poem the
Divine Comedy (1321). This is also the name of a character in Shakespeare's comedy
Much Ado About Nothing (1599), in which Beatrice and
Benedick are fooled into confessing their love for one another.
Cecily
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: SEHS-ə-lee
Rating: 78% based on 26 votes
English form of
Cecilia. This was the usual English form during the Middle Ages.
Hesper
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare), Dutch (Rare)
Pronounced: HES-pər(English)
Rating: 78% based on 4 votes
Juliet
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: joo-lee-EHT, JOOL-yət
Rating: 78% based on 4 votes
Anglicized form of
Giulietta or
Juliette. This spelling was used for the ill-fated lover of
Romeo in the play
Romeo and Juliet (1596) by William Shakespeare. Shakespeare based his story on earlier Italian tales such as
Giulietta e Romeo (1524) by Luigi Da Porto.
Daria
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Polish, Romanian, English, Croatian, Russian, Late Roman
Other Scripts: Дарья(Russian) Δαρεία(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: DA-rya(Italian, Polish) DAR-ya(Romanian) DAHR-ee-ə(English) DAR-ee-ə(English)
Rating: 77% based on 3 votes
Feminine form of
Darius.
Saint Daria was a 3rd-century woman who was martyred with her husband Chrysanthus under the Roman emperor Numerian. It has never been a particularly common English given name. As a Russian name, it is more commonly transcribed
Darya.
Edurne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Basque
Pronounced: eh-DHOOR-neh
Rating: 77% based on 3 votes
Means
"snow" in Basque, from
edur, a variant of
elur "snow". It is an equivalent of
Nieves, proposed by the writer Sabino Arana in his 1910 list of Basque
saints names.
Flora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Dutch, French, Greek, Albanian, Roman Mythology
Other Scripts: Φλώρα(Greek)
Pronounced: FLAWR-ə(English) FLO-ra(Spanish, German, Latin) FLAW-ru(Portuguese)
Rating: 77% based on 67 votes
Derived from Latin
flos meaning
"flower" (genitive case
floris). Flora was the Roman goddess of flowers and spring, the wife of Zephyr the west wind. It has been used as a given name since the Renaissance, starting in France. In Scotland it was sometimes used as an Anglicized form of
Fionnghuala.
Ianthe
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ἰάνθη(Ancient Greek)
Rating: 76% based on 28 votes
Means
"violet flower", derived from Greek
ἴον (ion) meaning "violet" and
ἄνθος (anthos) meaning "flower". This was the name of an ocean nymph in Greek
mythology.
Louisa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German, Dutch
Pronounced: loo-EEZ-ə(English) loo-EE-za(German)
Rating: 76% based on 70 votes
Latinate feminine form of
Louis. A famous bearer was the American novelist Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888), the author of
Little Women.
Nimue
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arthurian Romance
Pronounced: NIM-ə-way(English)
Rating: 75% based on 20 votes
Meaning unknown. In Arthurian legends this is the name of a sorceress, also known as the Lady of the Lake, Vivien, or Niniane. Various versions of the tales have
Merlin falling in love with her and becoming imprisoned by her magic. She first appears in the medieval French
Lancelot-Grail Cycle.
Mélisande
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French (Rare)
Rating: 74% based on 57 votes
French form of
Millicent used by Maurice Maeterlinck in his play
Pelléas et Mélisande (1893). The play was later adapted by Claude Debussy into an opera (1902).
Euphemia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Greek, English (Archaic)
Other Scripts: Εὐφημία(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: yoo-FEE-mee-ə(English) yoo-FEH-mee-ə(English)
Rating: 74% based on 5 votes
Means
"to use words of good omen" from Greek
εὐφημέω (euphemeo), a derivative of
εὖ (eu) meaning "good" and
φημί (phemi) meaning "to speak, to declare".
Saint Euphemia was an early martyr from Chalcedon.
Rosemary
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: ROZ-mə-ree, ROZ-mehr-ee
Rating: 74% based on 72 votes
Combination of
Rose and
Mary. This name can also be given in reference to the herb, which gets its name from Latin
ros marinus meaning "dew of the sea". It came into use as a given name in the 19th century.
Isolde
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Arthurian Romance
Pronounced: ee-ZAWL-də(German) i-SOL-də(English) i-ZOL-də(English) i-SOLD(English) i-ZOLD(English) EE-ZAWLD(French)
Rating: 73% based on 29 votes
German form of
Iseult, appearing in the 13th-century German poem
Tristan by Gottfried von Strassburg. In 1865 the German composer Richard Wagner debuted his popular opera
Tristan und Isolde and also used the name for his first daughter.
Hortensia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Roman, Spanish
Pronounced: or-TEHN-sya(Spanish)
Rating: 73% based on 3 votes
Feminine form of the Roman family name Hortensius, possibly derived from Latin hortus meaning "garden".
Martha
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, German, Greek, Biblical, Old Church Slavic, Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek
Other Scripts: Μάρθα(Greek) Марѳа(Church Slavic)
Pronounced: MAHR-thə(English) MAR-ta(German)
Rating: 73% based on 3 votes
From Aramaic
מַרְתָּא (marta') meaning
"the lady, the mistress", feminine form of
מַר (mar) meaning "master". In the
New Testament this is the name of the sister of
Lazarus and
Mary of Bethany (who is sometimes identified with Mary Magdalene). She was a witness to
Jesus restoring her dead brother to life.
The name was not used in England until after the Protestant Reformation. A notable bearer was Martha Washington (1731-1802), the wife of the first American president George Washington. It is also borne by the media personality Martha Stewart (1941-).
Marguerite
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: MAR-GU-REET
Rating: 73% based on 61 votes
French form of
Margaret. This is also the French word for the daisy flower (species Leucanthemum vulgare).
Dorothy
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: DAWR-ə-thee, DAWR-thee
Rating: 73% based on 68 votes
Usual English form of
Dorothea. It has been in use since the 16th century. The author L. Frank Baum used it for the central character, Dorothy Gale, in his fantasy novel
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) and several of its sequels.
Verena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Late Roman
Pronounced: veh-REH-na(German)
Rating: 73% based on 4 votes
Possibly related to Latin
verus "true". This might also be a Coptic form of the Ptolemaic name
Berenice.
Saint Verena was a 3rd-century Egyptian-born nurse who went with the Theban Legion to Switzerland. After the legion was massacred she settled near Zurich.
Ottavia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: ot-TA-vya
Rating: 72% based on 23 votes
Thora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Norwegian, Danish
Rating: 71% based on 50 votes
Anne 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, English, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Estonian, German, Dutch, Basque
Pronounced: AN(French, English) A-neh(Swedish) A-nə(Danish, German) AHN-neh(Finnish) AH-nə(Dutch)
Rating: 71% based on 12 votes
French form of
Anna. It was imported to England in the 13th century, but it did not become popular until three centuries later. The spelling variant
Ann was also commonly found from this period, and is still used to this day.
The name was borne by a 17th-century English queen and also by the second wife of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn (the mother of Queen Elizabeth I), who was eventually beheaded in the Tower of London. This is also the name of the heroine in Anne of Green Gables (1908) by Canadian author L. M. Montgomery.
Peregrine
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: PEHR-ə-grin
Rating: 71% based on 60 votes
From the Late Latin name
Peregrinus, which meant
"traveller". This was the name of several early
saints.
Frances
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: FRAN-sis
Rating: 71% based on 70 votes
Feminine form of
Francis. The distinction between
Francis as a masculine name and
Frances as a feminine name did not arise until the 17th century
[1]. A notable bearer was
Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini (1850-1917), a social worker and the first American to be canonized.
Helen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Estonian, Greek Mythology (Anglicized)
Other Scripts: Ἑλένη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: HEHL-ən(English)
Rating: 70% based on 64 votes
English form of the Greek
Ἑλένη (Helene), probably from Greek
ἑλένη (helene) meaning
"torch" or
"corposant", or possibly related to
σελήνη (selene) meaning
"moon". In Greek
mythology Helen was the daughter of
Zeus and
Leda, whose kidnapping by
Paris was the cause of the Trojan War. The name was also borne by the 4th-century
Saint Helena, mother of the Roman emperor
Constantine, who supposedly found the True Cross during a trip to Jerusalem.
The name was originally used among early Christians in honour of the saint, as opposed to the classical character. In England it was commonly spelled Ellen during the Middle Ages, and the spelling Helen was not regularly used until after the Renaissance. A famous bearer was Helen Keller (1880-1968), an American author and lecturer who was both blind and deaf.
Bisera
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Bulgarian, Macedonian
Other Scripts: Бисера(Bulgarian, Macedonian)
Rating: 70% based on 4 votes
Derived from the South Slavic word
бисер (biser) meaning
"pearl" (ultimately of Arabic origin).
Cicero
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Ancient Roman
Pronounced: KEE-keh-ro(Latin) SIS-ə-ro(English)
Rating: 70% based on 3 votes
Roman
cognomen derived from Latin
cicer meaning
"chickpea". Marcus Tullius Cicero (now known simply as Cicero) was a statesman, orator and author of the 1st century BC. He was a political enemy of Mark Antony, who eventually had him executed.
Clarissa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian
Pronounced: klə-RIS-ə(English)
Rating: 70% based on 6 votes
Latinate form of
Clarice. This is the name of the title character in a 1748 novel by Samuel Richardson. In the novel Clarissa is a virtuous woman who is tragically exploited by her family and her lover. Another literary character by this name is Clarissa Dalloway from the novel
Mrs. Dalloway (1925) by Virginia Woolf.
Demelza
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (British, Rare)
Pronounced: də-MEHL-zə
Rating: 70% based on 3 votes
From a Cornish place name meaning "fort of Maeldaf". It has been used as a given name since the middle of the 20th century. It was popularized in the 1970s by a character from the British television series Poldark, which was set in Cornwall.
Eithne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish, Irish Mythology, Old Irish [1]
Pronounced: EH-nyə(Irish)
Rating: 70% based on 2 votes
Possibly from Old Irish
etne meaning
"kernel, grain". In Irish
mythology Eithne or Ethniu was a Fomorian and the mother of
Lugh Lámfada. It was borne by several other legendary and historical figures, including a few early
saints.
Esmond
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: EHZ-mənd
Rating: 70% based on 3 votes
Derived from the Old English elements
est "grace" and
mund "protection". This Old English name was rarely used after the
Norman Conquest. It was occasionally revived in the 19th century.
Galatea
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Γαλάτεια(Ancient Greek)
Rating: 70% based on 1 vote
Latinized form of Greek
Γαλάτεια (Galateia), probably derived from
γάλα (gala) meaning
"milk". This was the name of several characters in Greek
mythology including a sea nymph who was the daughter of
Doris and
Nereus and the lover of Acis. According to some sources, this was also the name of the ivory statue carved by
Pygmalion that came to life.
Igor
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Russian, Polish, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian, Slovak, Czech, Italian, Portuguese, Basque
Other Scripts: Игорь(Russian) Игор(Serbian, Macedonian)
Pronounced: EE-gər(Russian) EE-gawr(Polish, Slovak) EE-gor(Croatian, Serbian, Italian) I-gor(Czech) ee-GHOR(Basque)
Rating: 70% based on 2 votes
Russian form of the Old Norse name
Yngvarr (see
Ingvar). The Varangians brought it with them when they began settling in eastern Europe in the 9th century. It was borne by two grand princes of Kyiv, notably Igor I the son of
Rurik and the husband of
Saint Olga. Other famous bearers include Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971), a Russian composer known for
The Rite of Spring, and Igor Sikorsky (1889-1972), the Russian-American designer of the first successful helicopter.
Konstantin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Russian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, German, Estonian, Finnish, Hungarian
Other Scripts: Константин(Russian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Macedonian)
Pronounced: kən-stun-TYEEN(Russian) KAWN-stan-teen(German) KON-stahn-teen(Finnish) KON-shtawn-teen(Hungarian)
Rating: 70% based on 3 votes
Lavinia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Roman Mythology, Romanian, Italian
Pronounced: la-WEE-nee-a(Latin) lə-VIN-ee-ə(English) la-VEE-nya(Italian)
Rating: 70% based on 57 votes
Meaning unknown, probably of Etruscan origin. In Roman legend Lavinia was the daughter of King Latinus, the wife of
Aeneas, and the ancestor of the Roman people. According to the legend Aeneas named the town of Lavinium in honour of his wife.
Leonora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Rating: 70% based on 63 votes
Marianne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish
Pronounced: MA-RYAN(French) mar-ee-AN(English) ma-RYA-nə(German) MAH-ree-ahn-neh(Finnish)
Rating: 70% based on 7 votes
Originally a French
diminutive of
Marie. It is also considered a combination of
Marie and
Anne 1. Shortly after the formation of the French Republic in 1792, a female figure by this name was adopted as the symbol of the state.
Marion 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, English
Pronounced: MA-RYAWN(French) MEHR-ee-ən(English) MAR-ee-ən(English)
Rating: 70% based on 4 votes
Phaedra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Φαίδρα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: FEED-rə(English) FEHD-rə(English)
Rating: 70% based on 2 votes
From the Greek
Φαίδρα (Phaidra), derived from
φαιδρός (phaidros) meaning
"bright". Phaedra was the daughter of Minos and the wife of
Theseus in Greek
mythology.
Aphrodite caused her to fall in love with her stepson
Hippolytos, and after she was rejected by him she killed herself.
Rollo
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: RAHL-o
Rating: 70% based on 2 votes
Latinized form of
Roul, the Old French form of
Rolf. Rollo (or Rolf) the Ganger was an exiled Viking who, in the 10th century, became the first Duke of Normandy. It has been used as a given name in the English-speaking world since the 19th century.
Roxana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Spanish, Romanian, Ancient Greek (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ῥωξάνη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: rahk-SAN-ə(English) rok-SA-na(Spanish)
Rating: 70% based on 1 vote
Latin form of
Ῥωξάνη (Rhoxane), the Greek form of an Old Persian or Bactrian name, from Old Iranian *
rauxšnā meaning
"bright, shining" [1]. This was the name of Alexander the Great's first wife, a daughter of the Bactrian nobleman Oxyartes. In the modern era it came into use during the 17th century. In the English-speaking world it was popularized by Daniel Defoe, who used it in his novel
Roxana (1724).
Silvana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: seel-VA-na
Rating: 70% based on 3 votes
Simonetta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: see-mo-NEHT-ta
Rating: 70% based on 1 vote
Susanna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Catalan, Swedish, Finnish, Russian, Ukrainian, Dutch, English, Armenian, Biblical, Biblical Latin, Old Church Slavic
Other Scripts: Сусанна(Russian, Ukrainian) Սուսաննա(Armenian) שׁוֹשַׁנָּה(Ancient Hebrew) Сꙋсанна(Church Slavic)
Pronounced: soo-ZAN-na(Italian) soo-ZAN-nə(Catalan) suy-SAN-na(Swedish) SOO-sahn-nah(Finnish) suw-SAN-nə(Russian) suw-SAN-nu(Ukrainian) suy-SAH-na(Dutch) soo-ZAN-ə(English)
Rating: 70% based on 61 votes
From
Σουσάννα (Sousanna), the Greek form of the Hebrew name
שׁוֹשַׁנָּה (Shoshannah). This was derived from the Hebrew word
שׁוֹשָׁן (shoshan) meaning
"lily" (in modern Hebrew this also means
"rose"), perhaps ultimately from Egyptian
sšn "lotus". In the
Old Testament Apocrypha this is the name of a woman falsely accused of adultery. The prophet
Daniel clears her name by tricking her accusers, who end up being condemned themselves. It also occurs in the
New Testament belonging to a woman who ministers to
Jesus.
As an English name, it was occasionally used during the Middle Ages in honour of the Old Testament heroine. It did not become common until after the Protestant Reformation, at which time it was often spelled Susan.
Hypatia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Greek
Other Scripts: Ὑπατία(Ancient Greek)
Rating: 70% based on 25 votes
Derived from Greek
ὕπατος (hypatos) meaning
"highest, supreme". Hypatia of Alexandria was a 5th-century philosopher and mathematician, daughter of the mathematician Theon.
Dorothea
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Dutch, English, Late Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Δωροθέα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: do-ro-TEH-a(German) dawr-ə-THEE-ə(English)
Rating: 70% based on 65 votes
Feminine form of the Late Greek name
Δωρόθεος (Dorotheos), which meant
"gift of god" from Greek
δῶρον (doron) meaning "gift" and
θεός (theos) meaning "god". The name
Theodore is composed of the same elements in reverse order. Dorothea was the name of two early
saints, notably the 4th-century martyr Dorothea of Caesarea. It was also borne by the 14th-century Saint Dorothea of Montau, who was the patron saint of Prussia.
Rosamund
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: RO-zə-mənd, RAHZ-ə-mənd
Rating: 69% based on 62 votes
Derived from the Old German elements
hros "horse" and
munt "protection". This name was borne by the wife of the Lombard king Alboin in the 6th century. The
Normans introduced it to England. It was subsequently interpreted as coming from Latin
rosa munda "pure rose" or
rosa mundi "rose of the world". This was the name of the mistress of Henry II, the king of England in the 12th century. According to legends she was murdered by his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine.
Bluma
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Yiddish
Other Scripts: בלומאַ(Yiddish)
Pronounced: BLOO-mah
Rating: 68% based on 6 votes
From Yiddish
בלום (blum) meaning
"flower".
Clotilde
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish
Pronounced: KLAW-TEELD(French)
Rating: 68% based on 29 votes
French form of
Chrodechildis, the Latin form of a Frankish name composed of the elements
hruod "fame, glory" and
hilt "battle".
Saint Clotilde (whose name was originally recorded in forms such as
Chrodechildis or
Chrotchildis in Latin sources
[1]) was the wife of the Frankish king Clovis, whom she converted to Christianity. It was also borne by others in the Merovingian royal family. In the Middle Ages this name was confused with
Chlodechilda, in which the first element is
hlut "famous, loud".
Agnes
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Estonian, Ancient Greek (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ἁγνή(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: AG-nis(English) AK-nəs(German) AHKH-nehs(Dutch) ANG-nehs(Swedish) OW-nes(Danish)
Rating: 68% based on 97 votes
Latinized form of the Greek name
Ἁγνή (Hagne), derived from Greek
ἁγνός (hagnos) meaning
"chaste".
Saint Agnes was a virgin martyred during the persecutions of the Roman emperor Diocletian. The name became associated with Latin
agnus "lamb", resulting in the saint's frequent depiction with a lamb by her side. Due to her renown, the name became common in Christian Europe.
As an English name it was highly popular from the Middle Ages until the 17th century. It was revived in the 19th century and was common into the 20th, but it fell into decline after the 1930s. It last appeared on the American top 1000 rankings in 1972.
Cressida
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: KREHS-i-də(English)
Rating: 67% based on 54 votes
Form of
Criseida used by Shakespeare in his play
Troilus and Cressida (1602).
Tullia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Ancient Roman
Pronounced: TOOL-lya(Italian)
Rating: 67% based on 20 votes
Feminine form of
Tullius (see
Tullio).
Crescentia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German (Rare), Late Roman
Rating: 67% based on 23 votes
Feminine form of
Crescentius.
Saint Crescentia was a 4th-century companion of Saint
Vitus. This is also the name of the eponymous heroine of a 12th-century German romance.
Minerva
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Roman Mythology, English, Spanish
Pronounced: mee-NEHR-wa(Latin) mi-NUR-və(English) mee-NEHR-ba(Spanish)
Rating: 67% based on 62 votes
Possibly derived from Latin
mens meaning
"intellect", but more likely of Etruscan origin. Minerva was the Roman goddess of wisdom and war, approximately equivalent to the Greek goddess
Athena. It has been used as a given name in the English-speaking world since after the Renaissance.
Celestine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: SEHL-ə-steen
Rating: 67% based on 34 votes
English form of
Caelestinus. It is more commonly used as a feminine name, from the French feminine form
Célestine.
Sibyl
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: SIB-əl
Rating: 67% based on 37 votes
From Greek
Σίβυλλα (Sibylla), meaning
"prophetess, sibyl". In Greek and Roman legend the sibyls were female prophets who practiced at different holy sites in the ancient world. In later Christian theology, the sibyls were thought to have divine knowledge and were revered in much the same way as the
Old Testament prophets. Because of this, the name came into general use in the Christian world during the Middle Ages. The
Normans imported it to England, where it was spelled both
Sibyl and
Sybil. It became rare after the
Protestant Reformation, but it was revived in the 19th century, perhaps helped by Benjamin Disraeli's novel
Sybil (1845).
Agatha
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German, Dutch, Ancient Greek (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ἀγαθή(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: AG-ə-thə(English) a-GHA-ta(Dutch)
Rating: 67% based on 95 votes
Latinized form of the Greek name
Ἀγαθή (Agathe), derived from Greek
ἀγαθός (agathos) meaning
"good".
Saint Agatha was a 3rd-century martyr from Sicily who was tortured and killed after spurning the advances of a Roman official. The saint was widely revered in the Middle Ages, and her name has been used throughout Christian Europe (in various spellings). The mystery writer Agatha Christie (1890-1976) was a famous modern bearer of this name.
Eugenie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, English
Rating: 67% based on 6 votes
German and English form of
Eugénie, the French form of
Eugenia.
Everard
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Rating: 67% based on 3 votes
From
Everardus, the Latinized form of
Eberhard. The
Normans introduced it to England, where it joined the Old English
cognate Eoforheard. It has only been rarely used since the Middle Ages. Modern use of the name may be inspired by the surname
Everard, itself derived from the medieval name.
Solveig
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Norwegian, Swedish, Danish
Pronounced: SOOL-vie(Norwegian) SOOL-vay(Swedish)
Rating: 67% based on 3 votes
From an Old Norse name, which was derived from the elements
sól "sun" and
veig "strength". This is the name of the heroine in Henrik Ibsen's play
Peer Gynt (1876).
Antonia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish, English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Romanian, Greek, Croatian, Bulgarian, Ancient Roman
Other Scripts: Αντωνία(Greek) Антония(Bulgarian)
Pronounced: an-TO-nya(Italian, Spanish, German) an-TO-nee-ə(English) ahn-TO-nee-a(Dutch) an-TO-nee-a(Latin)
Rating: 67% based on 65 votes
Feminine form of
Antonius (see
Anthony).
Ambrose
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AM-broz
Rating: 66% based on 70 votes
From the Late Latin name
Ambrosius, which was derived from the Greek name
Ἀμβρόσιος (Ambrosios) meaning
"immortal".
Saint Ambrose was a 4th-century theologian and bishop of Milan, who is considered a Doctor of the Church. Due to the saint, the name came into general use in Christian Europe, though it was never particularly common in England.
Winifred
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Welsh
Pronounced: WIN-ə-frid(English)
Rating: 66% based on 69 votes
From Latin
Winifreda, possibly from a Welsh name
Gwenfrewi (maybe influenced by the Old English masculine name
Winfred).
Saint Winifred was a 7th-century Welsh martyr, probably legendary. According to the story, she was decapitated by a prince after she spurned his advances. Where her head fell there arose a healing spring, which has been a pilgrimage site since medieval times. Her story was recorded in the 12th century by Robert of Shrewsbury, and she has been historically more widely venerated in England than in Wales. The name has been used in England since at least the 16th century.
Eulalie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: UU-LA-LEE
Rating: 66% based on 61 votes
Cécile
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: SEH-SEEL
Rating: 66% based on 63 votes
Violetta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Russian, Hungarian
Other Scripts: Виолетта(Russian)
Pronounced: vyo-LEHT-ta(Italian) vyi-u-LYEHT-tə(Russian) VEE-o-leht-taw(Hungarian)
Rating: 66% based on 60 votes
Italian, Russian and Hungarian form of
Violet.
Margareta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Swedish, Romanian, Slovene, Finnish, Croatian
Pronounced: mar-ga-REH-ta(German) MAHR-gah-reh-tah(Finnish)
Rating: 66% based on 55 votes
Leopold
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Dutch, English, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Polish
Pronounced: LEH-o-pawlt(German, Dutch) LEE-ə-pold(English) LEH-o-polt(Czech) LEH-aw-pawld(Slovak) leh-AW-pawlt(Polish)
Rating: 65% based on 63 votes
Derived from the Old German elements
liut "people" and
bald "bold, brave". The spelling was altered due to association with Latin
leo "lion". This name was common among German royalty, first with the Babenbergs and then the Habsburgs.
Saint Leopold was a 12th-century Babenberg margrave of Austria, who is now considered the patron of that country. It was also borne by two Habsburg Holy Roman emperors, as well as three kings of Belgium. Since the 19th century this name has been occasionally used in England, originally in honour of Queen Victoria's uncle, a king of Belgium, after whom she named one of her sons. It was later used by James Joyce for the main character, Leopold Bloom, in his novel
Ulysses (1922).
Claude
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French, English
Pronounced: KLOD(French) KLAWD(English)
Rating: 65% based on 2 votes
French masculine and feminine form of
Claudius. In France the masculine name has been common since the Middle Ages due to the 7th-century
Saint Claude of Besançon. It was imported to Britain in the 16th century by the aristocratic Hamilton family, who had French connections. A famous bearer of this name was the French impressionist painter Claude Monet (1840-1926).
Elvira
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, German, Dutch, Swedish, Hungarian, Russian
Other Scripts: Эльвира(Russian)
Pronounced: ehl-BEE-ra(Spanish) ehl-VEE-ra(Italian)
Rating: 65% based on 4 votes
Spanish form of a Visigothic name, recorded from the 10th century in forms such as
Geloyra or
Giluira. It is of uncertain meaning, possibly composed of the Gothic element
gails "happy" or
gails "spear" combined with
wers "friendly, agreeable, true". The name was borne by members of the royal families of León and Castille. This is also the name of a character in Mozart's opera
Don Giovanni (1787).
Henriette
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian
Pronounced: AHN-RYEHT(French) hehn-ree-EH-tə(German, Dutch) hehn-ree-EH-də(Danish) hehn-ree-EHT-teh(Norwegian)
Rating: 65% based on 2 votes
Joan 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: JON
Rating: 65% based on 2 votes
Medieval English form of
Johanne, an Old French form of
Iohanna (see
Joanna). This was the usual English feminine form of
John in the Middle Ages, but it was surpassed in popularity by
Jane in the 17th century. It again became quite popular in the first half of the 20th century, entering the top ten names for both the United States and the United Kingdom, though it has since faded.
This name (in various spellings) has been common among European royalty, being borne by ruling queens of Naples, Navarre and Castile. Another famous bearer was Joan of Arc, a patron saint of France (where she is known as Jeanne d'Arc). She was a 15th-century peasant girl who, after claiming she heard messages from God, was given leadership of the French army. She defeated the English in the battle of Orléans but was eventually captured and burned at the stake.
Other notable bearers include the actress Joan Crawford (1904-1977) and the comedian Joan Rivers (1933-2014), both Americans.
Léontine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: LEH-AWN-TEEN
Rating: 65% based on 58 votes
Vadim
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Russian
Other Scripts: Вадим(Russian)
Pronounced: vu-DYEEM
Rating: 65% based on 2 votes
Meaning unknown. It is used as a Russian form of
Bademus, but it may actually be derived from the Slavic name
Vadimir or else from an Old Norse source.
Viveca
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swedish
Rating: 65% based on 2 votes
Philomela
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Φιλομήλη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: fil-ə-MEE-lə(English)
Rating: 65% based on 45 votes
From Greek
Φιλομήλη (Philomele), derived from
φίλος (philos) meaning "lover, friend" and
μῆλον (melon) meaning "fruit". The second element has also been interpreted as Greek
μέλος (melos) meaning "song". In Greek
myth Philomela was the sister-in-law of Tereus, who raped her and cut out her tongue. Prokne avenged her sister by killing her son by Tereus, after which Tereus attempted to kill Philomela. However, the gods intervened and transformed her into a nightingale.
Florian
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, French, Romanian, Polish, History
Pronounced: FLO-ree-an(German) FLAW-RYAHN(French) FLAW-ryan(Polish)
Rating: 65% based on 62 votes
From the Roman
cognomen Florianus, a derivative of
Florus. This was the name of a short-lived Roman emperor of the 3rd century, Marcus Annius Florianus. It was also borne by
Saint Florian, a martyr of the 3rd century, the patron saint of Poland and Upper Austria.
Primrose
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: PRIM-roz
Rating: 65% based on 22 votes
From the English word for the flower, ultimately deriving from Latin prima rosa "first rose".
Millicent
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MIL-i-sənt
Rating: 64% based on 62 votes
From the Gothic name *
Amalaswinþa, composed of the elements
amals "unceasing, vigorous, brave" and
swinþs "strong". Amalaswintha was a 6th-century queen of the Ostrogoths. The
Normans introduced this name to England in the form
Melisent or
Melisende. Melisende was a 12th-century queen of Jerusalem, the daughter of Baldwin II.
Junia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical, Ancient Roman
Pronounced: YOO-nee-a(Latin)
Rating: 64% based on 24 votes
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).
Augusta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Portuguese, English, German, Ancient Roman
Pronounced: ow-GOOS-ta(Italian) ə-GUS-tə(English) ow-GUWS-ta(German)
Rating: 64% based on 69 votes
Feminine form of
Augustus. It was introduced to Britain when King George III, a member of the German House of Hanover, gave this name to his second daughter in the 18th century.
Artemisia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Greek
Other Scripts: Ἀρτεμισία(Ancient Greek)
Rating: 64% based on 66 votes
Feminine form of
Artemisios. This was the name of the 4th-century BC builder of the Mausoleum, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. She built it in memory of her husband, the Carian prince Mausolus.
Callisto 2
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Καλλιστώ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: kə-LIS-to(English)
Rating: 63% based on 3 votes
Latinized form of
Kallisto. A moon of Jupiter bears this name.
Carmella
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: kahr-MEHL-ə
Rating: 63% based on 3 votes
Cosima
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: KAW-zee-ma
Rating: 63% based on 24 votes
Italian feminine form of
Cosimo.
Keturah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: קְטוּרָה(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: kə-TOO-rə(English)
Rating: 63% based on 3 votes
Marcel
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French, Catalan, Romanian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Dutch, German
Pronounced: MAR-SEHL(French) mər-SEHL(Catalan) mar-CHEHL(Romanian) MAR-tsehl(Polish, Czech, Slovak) mahr-SEHL(Dutch) mar-SEHL(German)
Rating: 63% based on 9 votes
Form of
Marcellus used in several languages. Notable bearers include the French author Marcel Proust (1871-1922) and the French artist Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968).
Rosetta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: ro-ZEHT-ta
Rating: 63% based on 12 votes
Zenobia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Ζηνοβία(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: ZDEH-NO-BEE-A(Classical Greek) zə-NO-bee-ə(English)
Rating: 63% based on 3 votes
Means
"life of Zeus", derived from Greek
Ζηνός (Zenos) meaning "of
Zeus" and
βίος (bios) meaning "life". This was the name of the queen of the Palmyrene Empire, which broke away from Rome in the 3rd-century and began expanding into Roman territory. She was eventually defeated by the emperor
Aurelian. Her Greek name was used as an approximation of her native Aramaic name.
Ginevra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: jee-NEH-vra
Rating: 63% based on 61 votes
Italian form of
Guinevere. This is also the Italian name for the city of Geneva, Switzerland. It is also sometimes associated with the Italian word
ginepro meaning "juniper".
Elfrida
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Rating: 63% based on 16 votes
Laurence 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: LAWR-əns
Rating: 63% based on 61 votes
From the Roman
cognomen Laurentius, which meant
"from Laurentum". Laurentum was a city in ancient Italy, its name probably deriving from Latin
laurus "laurel".
Saint Laurence was a 3rd-century deacon and martyr from Rome. According to tradition he was roasted alive on a gridiron because, when ordered to hand over the church's treasures, he presented the sick and poor. Due to the saint's popularity, the name came into general use in the Christian world (in various spellings).
In the Middle Ages this name was common in England, partly because of a second saint by this name, a 7th-century archbishop of Canterbury. Likewise it has been common in Ireland due to the 12th-century Saint Laurence O'Toole (whose real name was Lorcán). Since the 19th century the spelling Lawrence has been more common, especially in America. A famous bearer was the British actor Laurence Olivier (1907-1989).
Clare
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KLEHR, KLAR
Rating: 63% based on 17 votes
Medieval English form of
Clara. The preferred spelling in the English-speaking world is now the French form
Claire, though
Clare has been fairly popular in the United Kingdom and Australia.
This is also the name of an Irish county, which was itself probably derived from Irish clár meaning "plank, level surface".
Leocadia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish, Late Roman
Pronounced: leh-o-KA-dhya(Spanish)
Rating: 63% based on 24 votes
Late Latin name that might be derived from the name of the Greek island of
Leucadia or from Greek
λευκός (leukos) meaning
"bright, clear, white" (which is also the root of the island's name).
Saint Leocadia was a 3rd-century martyr from Spain.
Edith
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch
Pronounced: EE-dith(English) EH-dit(German, Swedish)
Rating: 63% based on 70 votes
From the Old English name
Eadgyð, derived from the elements
ead "wealth, fortune" and
guð "battle". It was popular among Anglo-Saxon royalty, being borne for example by
Saint Eadgyeth;, the daughter of King Edgar the Peaceful. It was also borne by the Anglo-Saxon wife of the Holy Roman Emperor Otto I. The name remained common after the
Norman Conquest. It became rare after the 15th century, but was revived in the 19th century.
Alfred
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, German, Polish, Dutch, Albanian
Pronounced: AL-frəd(English) AL-FREHD(French) AL-freht(German, Polish) AHL-frət(Dutch)
Rating: 63% based on 19 votes
Means
"elf counsel", derived from the Old English name
Ælfræd, composed of the elements
ælf "elf" and
ræd "counsel, advice". Alfred the Great was a 9th-century king of Wessex who fought unceasingly against the Danes living in northeast England. He was also a scholar, and he translated many Latin books into Old English. His fame helped to ensure the usage of this name even after the
Norman Conquest, when most Old English names were replaced by Norman ones. It became rare by the end of the Middle Ages, but was revived in the 18th century.
Famous bearers include the British poet Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892), the Swedish inventor and Nobel Prize founder Alfred Nobel (1833-1896), and the British-American film director Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980).
Delfina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Pronounced: dehl-FEE-na(Spanish)
Rating: 63% based on 4 votes
Italian, Spanish and Portuguese form of
Delphina.
Isra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic
Other Scripts: إسراء(Arabic)
Pronounced: ees-RA
Rating: 63% based on 12 votes
Means
"nocturnal journey", derived from Arabic
سرى (sara) meaning "to travel at night".
Mariamne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: History
Rating: 63% based on 4 votes
From
Μαριάμη (Mariame), the form of
Maria used by the historian Josephus when referring to the wife of King Herod.
Jules 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: ZHUYL
Rating: 62% based on 9 votes
French form of
Julius. A notable bearer of this name was the French novelist Jules Verne (1828-1905), author of
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and other works of science fiction.
Annegret
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German
Pronounced: A-nə-greht
Rating: 62% based on 10 votes
Bertille
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Rating: 62% based on 5 votes
Betony
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: BEHT-nee, BEHT-ə-nee
Rating: 62% based on 5 votes
From the name of the minty medicinal herb.
Luljeta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Albanian
Rating: 62% based on 19 votes
Means "flower of life" in Albanian, from lule "flower" and jetë "life".
Anemone
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: ə-NEHM-ə-nee
Rating: 61% based on 24 votes
From the name of the anemone flower, which is derived from Greek
ἄνεμος (anemos) meaning "wind".
Eulalia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish, Italian, Polish, English, Ancient Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Εὐλαλία(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: ew-LA-lya(Spanish) yoo-LAY-lee-ə(English)
Rating: 61% based on 61 votes
Derived from Greek
εὔλαλος (eulalos) meaning
"sweetly-speaking", itself from
εὖ (eu) meaning "good" and
λαλέω (laleo) meaning "to talk". This was the name of an early 4th-century
saint and martyr from Mérida in Spain. Another martyr by this name, living at the same time, is a patron saint of Barcelona. These two saints might be the same person.
Crispin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: KRIS-pin
Rating: 61% based on 57 votes
From the Roman
cognomen Crispinus, which was derived from the name
Crispus.
Saint Crispin was a 3rd-century Roman who was martyred with his twin brother Crispinian in Gaul. They are the patrons of shoemakers. They were popular saints in England during the Middle Ages, and the name has occasionally been used since that time.
Clement
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KLEHM-ənt
Rating: 61% based on 32 votes
English form of the Late Latin name
Clemens (or sometimes of its derivative
Clementius), which meant
"merciful, gentle". This was the name of 14 popes, including
Saint Clement I, the third pope, one of the Apostolic Fathers. Another saint by this name was Clement of Alexandria, a 3rd-century theologian and church father who attempted to reconcile Christian and Platonic philosophies. It has been in general as a given name in Christian Europe (in various spellings) since early times. In England it became rare after the
Protestant Reformation, though it was revived in the 19th century.
Philomena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German, Ancient Greek (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Φιλουμένη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: fil-ə-MEE-nə(English)
Rating: 61% based on 51 votes
From Greek
Φιλουμένη (Philoumene) meaning
"to be loved", an inflection of
φιλέω (phileo) meaning "to love". This was the name of an obscure early
saint and martyr. The name came to public attention in 1802 after a tomb seemingly marked with the name
Filumena was found in Rome, supposedly belonging to another martyr named Philomena. This may have in fact been a representation of the Greek word
φιλουμένη, not a name.
Ingrid
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Estonian, German, Dutch
Pronounced: ING-rid(Swedish) ING-ri(Norwegian) ING-grit(German) ING-greet(German) ING-ghrit(Dutch)
Rating: 61% based on 60 votes
From the Old Norse name
Ingríðr meaning
"Ing is beautiful", derived from the name of the Germanic god
Ing combined with
fríðr "beautiful, beloved". A famous bearer was the Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman (1915-1982).
Iphigenia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ἰφιγένεια(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: if-i-ji-NIE-ə(English)
Rating: 60% based on 22 votes
Marcella
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, German, Ancient Roman
Pronounced: mar-CHEHL-la(Italian) mar-KEHL-la(Latin)
Rating: 60% based on 22 votes
Rupert
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, English
Pronounced: ROO-pehrt(German) ROO-pərt(English)
Rating: 60% based on 59 votes
German variant form of
Robert, from the Old German variant
Hrodperht. It was borne by the 7th century
Saint Rupert of Salzburg and the 8th-century Saint Rupert of Bingen. The military commander Prince Rupert of the Rhine, a nephew of Charles I, introduced this name to England in the 17th century.
Henrietta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Hungarian, Finnish, Swedish
Pronounced: hehn-ree-EHT-ə(English) HEHN-ree-eht-taw(Hungarian) HEHN-ree-eht-tah(Finnish)
Rating: 60% based on 62 votes
Latinate form of
Henriette. It was introduced to England by Henriette Marie, the wife of the 17th-century English king Charles I. The name
Henriette was also Anglicized as
Harriet, a form that was initially more popular.
Antoinette
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: AHN-TWA-NEHT
Rating: 60% based on 5 votes
Feminine
diminutive of
Antoine. This name was borne by Marie Antoinette, the queen of France during the French Revolution. She was executed by guillotine.
Anton
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Russian, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Dutch, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Slovene, Slovak, Macedonian, Croatian, Romanian, Estonian, Finnish, Georgian, English
Other Scripts: Антон(Russian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Macedonian) ანტონ(Georgian)
Pronounced: AN-ton(German) un-TON(Russian) AHN-tawn(Dutch) un-TAWN(Ukrainian) an-TON(Belarusian, Slovene) AHN-ton(Finnish) AN-TAWN(Georgian) AN-tahn(English)
Rating: 60% based on 17 votes
Form of
Antonius (see
Anthony) used in various languages.
Auberon
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: AW-bər-ahn(English) O-bər-ahn(English)
Rating: 60% based on 38 votes
From a
diminutive form of
Auberi, an Old French form of
Alberich. It is the name of the fairy king in the 13th-century epic
Huon de Bordeaux.
Bathsheba
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: בַּת־שֶׁבַע(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: bath-SHEE-bə(English)
Rating: 60% based on 4 votes
Means
"daughter of the oath" in Hebrew. According to the
Old Testament, this was the name of a woman married to
Uriah the Hittite. She became pregnant by King
David, so he arranged to have her husband killed in battle and then married her. She was the mother of
Solomon.
Benedetta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: beh-neh-DEHT-ta
Rating: 60% based on 2 votes
Bruno
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Croatian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Latvian, Germanic [1]
Pronounced: BROO-no(German, Italian, Spanish, Czech) BROO-noo(Portuguese) BRUY-NO(French) BROO-naw(Polish, Slovak)
Rating: 60% based on 9 votes
Derived from the Old German element
brunna meaning
"armour, protection" (Proto-Germanic *
brunjǭ) or
brun meaning
"brown" (Proto-Germanic *
brūnaz).
Saint Bruno of Cologne was a German monk of the 11th century who founded the Carthusian Order. The surname has belonged to Giordano Bruno, a philosopher burned at the stake by the Inquisition. A modern bearer is the American singer Bruno Mars (1985-), born Peter Gene Hernandez.
Cleïs
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Greek (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Κλεϊς, Κλεις(Ancient Greek)
Rating: 60% based on 2 votes
From the Greek name Κλεις
(Kleis), perhaps a derivative of
Kleio. This was the name of
Sappho's mother and daughter.
Clemence
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KLEHM-əns
Rating: 60% based on 4 votes
Feminine form of
Clementius (see
Clement). It has been in use since the Middle Ages, though it became rare after the 17th century.
Cyprian
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Polish, History (Ecclesiastical)
Pronounced: TSI-pryan(Polish) SIP-ree-ən(English)
Rating: 60% based on 37 votes
From the Roman family name
Cyprianus, which meant
"from Cyprus".
Saint Cyprian was a 3rd-century bishop of Carthage and a martyr under the emperor Valerian.
Dragomir
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Serbian, Croatian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Slovene, Medieval Slavic [1]
Other Scripts: Драгомир(Serbian, Bulgarian)
Rating: 60% based on 19 votes
Derived from the Slavic element
dragu meaning "precious" combined with
miru meaning "peace, world".
Ernestine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, German, English
Pronounced: EHR-NEHS-TEEN(French) ehr-nehs-TEE-nə(German) UR-nis-teen(English)
Rating: 60% based on 4 votes
Hecate
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ἑκάτη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: HEHK-ə-tee(English)
Rating: 60% based on 2 votes
From the Greek
Ἑκάτη (Hekate), possibly derived from
ἑκάς (hekas) meaning
"far off". In Greek
mythology Hecate was a goddess associated with witchcraft, crossroads, tombs, demons and the underworld.
Jeanne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, English
Pronounced: ZHAN(French) JEEN(English)
Rating: 60% based on 3 votes
Modern French form of
Jehanne, an Old French feminine form of
Iohannes (see
John). This has been the most reliably popular French name for girls since the 13th century. Joan of Arc is known as Jeanne d'Arc in France.
Jerusha
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: יְרוּשָׁה(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: jə-ROO-shə(English)
Rating: 60% based on 2 votes
Jethro
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: יִתְרוֹ(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: JETH-ro(English)
Rating: 60% based on 2 votes
From the Hebrew name
יִתְרוֹ (Yitro), which was derived from the Hebrew word
יֶתֶר (yeter) meaning
"abundance". According to the
Old Testament, Jethro was a Midianite priest who sheltered
Moses when he fled Egypt. He was the father of
Zipporah, who became Moses's wife. A famous bearer of the name was Jethro Tull (1674-1741), an English inventor and agriculturist.
Mayuri
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Indian, Marathi, Thai
Other Scripts: मयुरी(Marathi) มยุรี(Thai)
Pronounced: ma-yoo-REE(Thai)
Rating: 60% based on 1 vote
Means "peahen (female peacock)" in Sanskrit.
Naphtali
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: נַפְתָלִי(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: NAF-tə-lie(English)
Rating: 60% based on 1 vote
Means
"my struggle, my strife" in Hebrew. In the
Old Testament he is a son of
Jacob by
Rachel's servant
Bilhah, and the ancestor of one of the twelve tribes of Israel.
Nephele
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Νεφέλη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: NEH-PEH-LEH(Classical Greek) NEHF-ə-lee(English)
Rating: 60% based on 2 votes
From Greek
νέφος (nephos) meaning
"cloud". In Greek legend Nephele was created from a cloud by
Zeus, who shaped the cloud to look like
Hera in order to trick Ixion, a mortal who desired her. Nephele was the mother of the centaurs by Ixion, and was also the mother of Phrixus and Helle by Athamus.
Norma
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Literature
Pronounced: NAWR-mə(English)
Rating: 60% based on 2 votes
Created by Felice Romani for the main character in the opera
Norma (1831). He may have based it on Latin
norma "rule". This name is also frequently used as a feminine form of
Norman.
Pearl
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: PURL
Rating: 60% based on 3 votes
From the English word pearl for the concretions formed in the shells of some mollusks, ultimately from Late Latin perla. Like other gemstone names, it has been used as a given name in the English-speaking world since the 19th century. The pearl is the traditional birthstone for June, and it supposedly imparts health and wealth.
Persis
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical, Biblical Greek
Other Scripts: Περσίς(Ancient Greek)
Rating: 60% based on 6 votes
Greek name meaning
"Persian woman". This was the name of a woman mentioned in
Paul's epistle to the Romans in the
New Testament.
Philippa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (British), German
Pronounced: FI-li-pə(English)
Rating: 60% based on 24 votes
Latinate feminine form of
Philip. As an English name, it is chiefly British.
Primula
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: PRIM-yuw-lə
Rating: 60% based on 4 votes
From the name of a genus of several species of flowers, including the primrose. It is derived from the Latin word primulus meaning "very first".
Tanvi
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Indian, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati
Other Scripts: तन्वी(Hindi, Marathi) તન્વી(Gujarati)
Rating: 60% based on 1 vote
Means "slender woman" in Sanskrit.
Valentino
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: va-lehn-TEE-no
Rating: 60% based on 2 votes
Eloisa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: eh-lo-EE-za
Rating: 60% based on 28 votes
Euphrosyne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Εὐφροσύνη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: yoo-FRAH-si-nee(English)
Rating: 60% based on 21 votes
Means
"mirth, merriment, cheerfulness" in Greek, a derivative of
εὖ (eu) meaning "good" and
φρήν (phren) meaning "mind, heart". She was one of the three Graces or
Χάριτες (Charites) in Greek
mythology.
Virginia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Greek, Ancient Roman
Other Scripts: Βιργινία(Greek)
Pronounced: vər-JIN-yə(English) veer-JEE-nya(Italian) beer-KHEE-nya(Spanish)
Rating: 59% based on 58 votes
Feminine 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.
This was the name of the first English baby born in the New World: Virginia Dare in 1587 on Roanoke Island. Perhaps because of this, the name has generally been more popular in America than elsewhere in the English-speaking world, though in both Britain and America it was not often used until the 19th century. The baby was named after the Colony of Virginia, which was itself named for Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen. A more recent bearer was the English novelist Virginia Woolf (1882-1941).
Sigrid
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, German, Estonian, Finnish (Archaic)
Pronounced: SEE-grid(Swedish) SEEG-reed(Finnish)
Rating: 59% based on 57 votes
From the Old Norse name
Sigríðr, which was derived from the elements
sigr "victory" and
fríðr "beautiful, beloved".
Cybele
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Near Eastern Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Κυβέλη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: SIB-ə-lee(English)
Rating: 59% based on 55 votes
Meaning unknown, possibly from Phrygian roots meaning either "stone" or "hair". This was the name of the Phrygian mother goddess associated with fertility and nature. She was later worshipped by the Greeks and Romans.
Constance
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, French
Pronounced: KAHN-stəns(English) KAWNS-TAHNS(French)
Rating: 59% based on 67 votes
Medieval form of
Constantia. The
Normans introduced this name to England (it was the name of a daughter of William the Conqueror).
Simona
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Czech, Slovak, Romanian, Lithuanian, Slovene, Bulgarian, Macedonian
Other Scripts: Симона(Bulgarian, Macedonian)
Pronounced: see-MO-na(Italian) SI-mo-na(Czech) SEE-maw-na(Slovak)
Rating: 59% based on 11 votes
Angelica
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Romanian
Pronounced: an-JEHL-i-kə(English) an-JEH-lee-ka(Italian)
Rating: 59% based on 19 votes
Derived from Latin
angelicus meaning
"angelic", ultimately related to Greek
ἄγγελος (angelos) meaning "messenger". The poets Boiardo and Ariosto used this name in their
Orlando poems (1483 and 1532), where it belongs to
Orlando's love interest. It has been used as a given name since the 18th century.
Celandine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: SEHL-ən-deen, SEHL-ən-dien
Rating: 59% based on 52 votes
From the name of the flower, which is derived from Greek
χελιδών (chelidon) meaning "swallow (bird)".
Etheldreda
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Medieval English
Rating: 59% based on 17 votes
Cornelia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Romanian, Italian, Dutch, English, Ancient Roman
Pronounced: kawr-NEH-lya(German) kor-NEH-lya(Italian) kawr-NEH-lee-a(Dutch) kawr-NEE-lee-ə(English) kor-NEH-lee-a(Latin)
Rating: 59% based on 67 votes
Feminine form of
Cornelius. In the 2nd century BC it was borne by Cornelia Scipionis Africana (the daughter of the military hero Scipio Africanus), the mother of the two reformers known as the Gracchi. After her death she was regarded as an example of the ideal Roman woman. The name was revived in the 18th century.
Thaddeus
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Biblical, Biblical Latin
Other Scripts: Θαδδαῖος(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: THAD-ee-əs(English) tha-DEE-əs(English)
Rating: 58% based on 48 votes
From
Θαδδαῖος (Thaddaios), the Greek form of the Aramaic name
Thaddai. It is possibly derived from a word meaning
"heart", but it may in fact be an Aramaic form of a Greek name such as
Θεόδωρος (see
Theodore). In the Gospel of Matthew, Thaddaeus is listed as one of the twelve apostles, though elsewhere in the
New Testament his name is omitted and
Jude's appears instead. It is likely that the two names refer to the same person.
Ivo 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Dutch, Czech, Italian, Portuguese, Estonian, Latvian, Germanic [1]
Pronounced: EE-vo(German, Dutch, Italian) EE-fo(German) I-vo(Czech) EE-voo(Portuguese)
Rating: 58% based on 11 votes
Germanic name, originally a short form of names beginning with the element
iwa meaning
"yew". Alternative theories suggest that it may in fact be derived from a
cognate Celtic element
[2]. This was the name of
saints (who are also commonly known as Saint
Yves or
Ives), hailing from Cornwall, France, and Brittany.
Amedeo
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: a-meh-DEH-o
Rating: 58% based on 5 votes
Italian form of
Amadeus. A notable bearer of this name was Amedeo Avogadro (1776-1856), an Italian chemist most famous for the constant that now bears his name: Avogadro's Number. Another famous bearer was the Italian painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920).
Isidora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish, Serbian, Portuguese (Rare), Italian (Rare), English (Rare), Ancient Greek
Other Scripts: Исидора(Serbian, Russian) Ἰσιδώρα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: ee-see-DHO-ra(Spanish) ee-zee-DAW-ra(Italian) iz-ə-DAWR-ə(English)
Rating: 58% based on 52 votes
Feminine form of
Isidore. This was the name of a 4th-century Egyptian
saint and hermitess.
Albertina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Portuguese
Pronounced: al-behr-TEE-na(Italian)
Rating: 58% based on 4 votes
Celestina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish, Italian
Pronounced: theh-lehs-TEE-na(European Spanish) seh-lehs-TEE-na(Latin American Spanish) cheh-leh-STEE-na(Italian)
Rating: 57% based on 15 votes
Ursula
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Swedish, Danish, German, Dutch, Finnish, Late Roman
Pronounced: UR-sə-lə(English) UR-syoo-lə(English) UWR-zoo-la(German) OOR-soo-lah(Finnish)
Rating: 57% based on 60 votes
Means
"little bear", derived from a
diminutive form of the Latin word
ursa "she-bear".
Saint Ursula was a legendary virgin princess of the 4th century who was martyred by the Huns while returning from a pilgrimage. In England the saint was popular during the Middle Ages, and the name came into general use at that time.
Amaryllis
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: am-ə-RIL-is(English)
Rating: 57% based on 70 votes
Derived from Greek
ἀμαρύσσω (amarysso) meaning
"to sparkle". This was the name of a heroine in
Virgil's epic poem
Eclogues [1]. The amaryllis flower is named for her.
Cyril
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, Czech, Slovak
Pronounced: SIR-əl(English) SEE-REEL(French) TSI-ril(Czech)
Rating: 57% based on 35 votes
From the Greek name
Κύριλλος (Kyrillos), which was derived from Greek
κύριος (kyrios) meaning
"lord", a word used frequently in the Greek Bible to refer to God or Jesus.
This name was borne by a number of important saints, including Cyril of Jerusalem, a 4th-century bishop and Doctor of the Church, and Cyril of Alexandria, a 5th-century theologian. Another Saint Cyril was a 9th-century linguist and a Greek missionary to the Slavs. The Cyrillic alphabet, which is still used today, was created by him and his brother Methodius in order to translate the Bible into Slavic, and thus this name has been especially popular in Eastern Christianity. It came into general use in England in the 19th century.
Piera
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: PYEH-ra
Rating: 57% based on 7 votes
Italian feminine form of
Peter.
Sophronia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature, Late Greek
Other Scripts: Σωφρονία(Ancient Greek)
Rating: 57% based on 54 votes
Feminine form of
Sophronius. Torquato Tasso used it in his epic poem
Jerusalem Delivered (1580), in which it is borne by the lover of Olindo.
Linus
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized), Ancient Greek (Latinized), Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, German
Other Scripts: Λίνος(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: LIE-nəs(English) LEE-nuys(Swedish) LEE-nuws(German)
Rating: 57% based on 59 votes
From the Greek name
Λίνος (Linos) meaning
"flax". In Greek legend he was the son of the god
Apollo, who accidentally killed him in a contest. Another son of Apollo by this name was the music teacher of
Herakles. The name was also borne by the second pope, serving after
Saint Peter in the 1st century. In modern times this was the name of a character in Charles Schulz's comic strip
Peanuts.
Odette
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: AW-DEHT
Rating: 57% based on 58 votes
French
diminutive of
Oda or
Odilia. This is the name of a princess who has been transformed into a swan in the ballet
Swan Lake (1877) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
Leopoldine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German (Rare), German (Austrian, Rare)
Rating: 57% based on 3 votes
Prudence
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, French
Pronounced: PROO-dəns(English) PRUY-DAHNS(French)
Rating: 57% based on 3 votes
Medieval English form of
Prudentia, the feminine form of
Prudentius. In France it is both the feminine form and a rare masculine form. In England it was used during the Middle Ages and was revived in the 17th century by the
Puritans, in part from the English word
prudence, ultimately of the same source.
Anjali
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Indian, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Nepali
Other Scripts: अञ्जली, अंजली(Hindi) अंजली(Marathi, Nepali) அஞ்சலி(Tamil) అంజలి(Telugu) അഞ്ജലി(Malayalam)
Rating: 56% based on 5 votes
Means "salutation" in Sanskrit.
Irene
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, German, Dutch, Ancient Greek (Latinized), Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Εἰρήνη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: ie-REEN(English) ie-REE-nee(English) ee-REH-neh(Italian, Spanish) EE-reh-neh(Finnish) ee-REH-nə(German, Dutch)
Rating: 56% based on 15 votes
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.
Oenone
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Οἰνώνη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: ee-NO-nee(English)
Rating: 56% based on 15 votes
Latinized form of the Greek
Οἰνώνη (Oinone), derived from
οἶνος (oinos) meaning
"wine". In Greek
mythology Oenone was a mountain nymph who was married to Paris before he went after Helen.
Ludovic
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: LUY-DAW-VEEK
Rating: 56% based on 32 votes
French form of
Ludovicus, the Latinized form of
Ludwig. This was the name of an 1833 opera by the French composer Fromental Halévy.
Maud
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, French, Dutch, Swedish
Pronounced: MAWD(English) MOD(French)
Rating: 56% based on 57 votes
Medieval English and French form of
Matilda. Though it became rare after the 14th century, it was revived and once more grew popular in the 19th century, perhaps due to Alfred Tennyson's 1855 poem
Maud [1].
Euphrasia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Εὐπρασία(Ancient Greek)
Rating: 56% based on 20 votes
Means "good cheer" in Greek.
Sibylla
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Late Roman, German
Other Scripts: Σίβυλλα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: zee-BI-la(German)
Rating: 56% based on 40 votes
Ismene
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ἰσμήνη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: EEZ-MEH-NEH(Classical Greek) is-MEE-nee(English)
Rating: 55% based on 13 votes
Possibly from Greek
ἰσμή (isme) meaning
"knowledge". This was the name of the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta in Greek legend.
Silvia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, German, Dutch, English, Late Roman, Roman Mythology
Pronounced: SEEL-vya(Italian) SEEL-bya(Spanish) ZIL-vya(German) SIL-vee-ə(English)
Rating: 55% based on 52 votes
Feminine 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.
Araminta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Rating: 55% based on 6 votes
Meaning unknown. This name was (first?) used by William Congreve in his comedy The Old Bachelor (1693) and later by Sir 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.
Arcangelo
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: ar-KAN-jeh-lo
Rating: 55% based on 6 votes
Means "archangel" in Italian.
Berenice
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Ancient Greek (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Βερενίκη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: bər-NEES(English) behr-ə-NIE-see(English) behr-ə-NEE-see(English) beh-reh-NEE-cheh(Italian)
Rating: 55% based on 4 votes
Latinized form of
Βερενίκη (Berenike), the Macedonian form of the Greek name
Φερενίκη (Pherenike), which meant
"bringing victory" from
φέρω (phero) meaning "to bring" and
νίκη (nike) meaning "victory". This name was common among the Ptolemy ruling family of Egypt, a dynasty that was originally from Macedon. It occurs briefly in Acts in the
New Testament (in most English bibles it is spelled
Bernice) belonging to a sister of King Herod Agrippa II. As an English name,
Berenice came into use after the
Protestant Reformation.
Donatello
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: do-na-TEHL-lo
Rating: 55% based on 2 votes
Diminutive of
Donato. The Renaissance sculptor Donato di Niccolo di Bette Bardi was better known as Donatello.
Flutura
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Albanian
Rating: 55% based on 2 votes
Means "butterfly" in Albanian.
Lucrezia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: loo-KREHT-tsya
Rating: 55% based on 26 votes
Oswald
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, German
Pronounced: AHZ-wawld(English) AWS-valt(German)
Rating: 55% based on 14 votes
Derived from the Old English elements
os "god" and
weald "powerful, mighty".
Saint Oswald was a king of Northumbria who introduced Christianity to northeast England in the 7th century before being killed in battle. There was also an Old Norse
cognate Ásvaldr in use in England, being borne by the 10th-century Saint Oswald of Worcester, who was of Danish ancestry. Though the name had died out by the end of the Middle Ages, it was revived in the 19th century.
Quentin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French, English
Pronounced: KAHN-TEHN(French) KWEHN-tən(English)
Rating: 55% based on 2 votes
French form of the Roman name
Quintinus. It was borne by a 3rd-century
saint, a missionary who was martyred in Gaul. The
Normans introduced this name to England. In America it was brought to public attention by president Theodore Roosevelt's son Quentin Roosevelt (1897-1918), who was killed in World War I. A famous bearer is the American movie director Quentin Tarantino (1963-).
Rosina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: ro-ZEE-na
Rating: 55% based on 44 votes
Italian
diminutive of
Rosa 1. This is the name of a character in Rossini's opera
The Barber of Seville (1816).
Iseult
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arthurian Romance
Pronounced: i-SOOLT(English) i-ZOOLT(English) EE-ZUU(French)
Rating: 55% based on 43 votes
The origins of this name are uncertain, though some Celtic roots have been suggested. It is possible that the name is ultimately Germanic, from a hypothetical name like *
Ishild, composed of the elements
is "ice" and
hilt "battle".
According to tales first recorded in Old French in the 12th century, Yseut or Ysolt was an Irish princess betrothed to King Mark of Cornwall. After accidentally drinking a love potion, she became the lover of his nephew Tristan. Their tragic story, which was set in the Arthurian world, was popular during the Middle Ages and the name became relatively common in England at that time. It was rare by the 19th century, though some interest was generated by Richard Wagner's opera Tristan und Isolde (1865).
Clio
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized), Italian (Rare)
Other Scripts: Κλειώ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: KLEE-o(English, Italian) KLIE-o(English)
Rating: 55% based on 56 votes
Cosimo
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: KAW-zee-mo
Rating: 54% based on 23 votes
Italian form of
Cosmas. A famous bearer was Cosimo de' Medici, the 15th-century founder of Medici rule in Florence, who was a patron of the Renaissance and a successful merchant. Other members of the Medici family have also borne this name.
Edmond
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French, Albanian
Pronounced: EHD-MAWN(French)
Rating: 54% based on 60 votes
French and Albanian form of
Edmund. A notable bearer was the English astronomer Edmond Halley (1656-1742), for whom Halley's comet is named.
Myrtle
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MUR-təl
Rating: 54% based on 43 votes
Simply from the English word
myrtle for the evergreen shrub, ultimately from Greek
μύρτος (myrtos). It was first used as a given name in the 19th century, at the same time many other plant and flower names were coined.
Bertram
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, German, Germanic [1]
Pronounced: BUR-trəm(English) BEHR-tram(German)
Rating: 54% based on 65 votes
Means
"bright raven", derived from the Old German element
beraht "bright" combined with
hram "raven". This name has long been conflated with
Bertrand. The
Normans introduced it to England, and Shakespeare used it in his play
All's Well That Ends Well (1603).
Eugenia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish, Romanian, Polish, English, Ancient Greek (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Εὐγένεια(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: ew-JEH-nya(Italian) ew-KHEH-nya(Spanish) eh-oo-JEH-nee-a(Romanian) ew-GEH-nya(Polish) yoo-JEE-nee-ə(English) yoo-JEEN-yə(English)
Rating: 53% based on 63 votes
Feminine form of
Eugenius (see
Eugene). It was borne by a semi-legendary 3rd-century
saint who escaped persecution by disguising herself as a man. The name was occasionally found in England during the Middle Ages, but it was not regularly used until the 19th century.
Eudora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Εὐδώρα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: yoo-DAWR-ə(English)
Rating: 53% based on 58 votes
Means
"good gift" in Greek, from the elements
εὖ (eu) meaning "good" and
δῶρον (doron) meaning "gift". This was the name of a nymph, one of the Hyades, in Greek
mythology.
Apollonia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Greek, Italian
Other Scripts: Ἀπολλωνία(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: A-POL-LAW-NEE-A(Classical Greek)
Rating: 53% based on 3 votes
Feminine form of
Apollonios. This was the name of a 3rd-century
saint and martyr from Alexandria.
Gilbert
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, Dutch, Germanic [1]
Pronounced: GIL-bərt(English) ZHEEL-BEHR(French) GHIL-bərt(Dutch)
Rating: 53% based on 3 votes
Means
"bright pledge", derived from the Old German elements
gisal "pledge, hostage" and
beraht "bright". The
Normans introduced this name to England, where it was common during the Middle Ages. It was borne by a 12th-century English
saint, the founder of the religious order known as the Gilbertines.
Bernadette
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, English, German, Dutch
Pronounced: BEHR-NA-DEHT(French) bər-nə-DEHT(English)
Rating: 53% based on 67 votes
French feminine form of
Bernard. Bernadette Soubirous (1844-1879) was a young woman from Lourdes in France who claimed to have seen visions of the Virgin
Mary. She was declared a
saint in 1933.
Sophonisba
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Phoenician (Latinized), History
Other Scripts: 𐤑𐤐𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋(Phoenician)
Rating: 53% based on 26 votes
From the Punic name
𐤑𐤐𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋 (Ṣapanbaʿl) probably meaning
"Ba'al conceals", derived from Phoenician
𐤑𐤐𐤍 (ṣapan) possibly meaning "to hide, to conceal" combined with the name of the god
Ba'al. Sophonisba was a 3rd-century BC Carthaginian princess who killed herself rather than surrender to the Romans. Her name was recorded in this form by Roman historians such as Livy. She later became a popular subject of plays from the 16th century onwards.
Balthazar
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Judeo-Christian-Islamic Legend
Pronounced: BAL-thə-zahr(English)
Rating: 53% based on 30 votes
Variant of
Belshazzar. Balthazar is the name traditionally assigned to one of the wise men (also known as the Magi, or three kings) who visited the newborn
Jesus. He was said to have come from Arabia. This name was utilized by Shakespeare for minor characters in
The Comedy of Errors (1594) and
The Merchant of Venice (1596).
Celia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Spanish
Pronounced: SEEL-yə(English) SEE-lee-ə(English) THEHL-ya(European Spanish) SEHL-ya(Latin American Spanish)
Rating: 53% based on 15 votes
Feminine form of the Roman family name
Caelius. Shakespeare used it in his play
As You Like It (1599), which introduced the name to the English-speaking public at large. It is sometimes used as a short form of
Cecilia.
Roswitha
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German
Pronounced: raws-VEE-ta
Rating: 53% based on 38 votes
Derived from the Old German elements
hruod "fame" and
swind "strong". This was the name of a 10th-century nun from Saxony who wrote several notable poems and dramas.
Edwina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: ehd-WEEN-ə, ehd-WIN-ə
Rating: 52% based on 29 votes
Lucretia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Roman, Roman Mythology
Pronounced: loo-KREH-tee-a(Latin) loo-KREE-shə(English)
Rating: 52% based on 57 votes
Feminine form of the Roman family name
Lucretius, possibly from Latin
lucrum meaning
"profit, wealth". According Roman legend Lucretia was a maiden who was raped by the son of the king of Rome. This caused a great uproar among the Roman citizens, and the monarchy was overthrown. This name was also borne by a 4th-century
saint and martyr from Mérida, Spain.
Marianthe
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek
Other Scripts: Μαριανθη(Greek)
Rating: 52% based on 30 votes
Rufus
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Ancient Roman, English, Biblical
Pronounced: ROO-foos(Latin) ROO-fəs(English)
Rating: 52% based on 56 votes
Roman
cognomen meaning
"red-haired" in Latin. Several early
saints had this name, including one mentioned in one of
Paul's epistles in the
New Testament. As a nickname it was used by William II Rufus, a king of England, because of his red hair. It came into general use in the English-speaking world after the
Protestant Reformation.
Carlotta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: kar-LAWT-ta
Rating: 52% based on 23 votes
Antigone
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ἀντιγόνη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: AN-TEE-GO-NEH(Classical Greek) an-TIG-ə-nee(English)
Rating: 52% based on 71 votes
Derived from Greek
ἀντί (anti) meaning "against, compared to, like" and
γονή (gone) meaning "birth, offspring". In Greek legend Antigone was the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta. King Creon of Thebes declared that her slain brother Polynices was to remain unburied, a great dishonour. She disobeyed and gave him a proper burial, and for this she was sealed alive in a cave.
Elfriede
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German
Pronounced: ehl-FREE-də
Rating: 52% based on 24 votes
Thulile
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Southern African, Zulu
Rating: 52% based on 13 votes
Means "quiet, peaceful" in Zulu.
Ferdinand
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, French, Dutch, English, Slovak, Czech, Slovene, Croatian
Pronounced: FEHR-dee-nant(German) FEHR-DEE-NAHN(French) FEHR-dee-nahnt(Dutch) FUR-də-nand(English) FEHR-dee-nand(Slovak) FEHR-di-nant(Czech)
Rating: 52% based on 59 votes
From
Fredenandus, the Latinized form of a Gothic name composed of the elements
friþus "peace" (or perhaps
farþa "journey"
[1]) and
nanþa "boldness, daring". The Visigoths brought the name to the Iberian Peninsula, where it entered into the royal families of Spain and Portugal. From there it became common among the Habsburg royal family of the Holy Roman Empire and Austria, starting with the Spanish-born Ferdinand I in the 16th century. A notable bearer was Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521), called Fernão de Magalhães in Portuguese, who was the leader of the first expedition to sail around the earth.
Fiammetta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: fyam-MEHT-ta
Rating: 51% based on 49 votes
Bernard
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, Dutch, Polish, Croatian, Slovene, Czech, Germanic [1]
Pronounced: bər-NAHRD(American English) BU-nəd(British English) BEHR-NAR(French) BEHR-nahrt(Dutch) BEHR-nart(Polish, Croatian, Czech)
Rating: 51% based on 61 votes
Derived from the Old German element
bern "bear" combined with
hart "hard, firm, brave, hardy". The
Normans brought it to England, where it replaced the Old English
cognate Beornheard. This was the name of several
saints, including Saint Bernard of Menthon who built hospices in the Swiss Alps in the 10th century, and Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, a 12th-century theologian and Doctor of the Church. Other famous bearers include the Irish playwright and essayist George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) and the British World War II field marshal Bernard Montgomery (1887-1976).
Gloria
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Spanish, Italian, German
Pronounced: GLAWR-ee-ə(English) GLO-rya(Spanish) GLAW-rya(Italian)
Rating: 51% based on 9 votes
Means
"glory", from the Portuguese and Spanish titles of the Virgin
Mary Maria da Glória and
María de Gloria. Maria da Glória (1819-1853) was the daughter of the Brazilian emperor Pedro I, eventually becoming queen of Portugal as Maria II.
The name was introduced to the English-speaking world by E. D. E. N. Southworth's novel Gloria (1891) and George Bernard Shaw's play You Never Can Tell (1898), which both feature characters with a Portuguese background [1]. It was popularized in the early 20th century by American actress Gloria Swanson (1899-1983). Another famous bearer is feminist Gloria Steinem (1934-).
Ignatius
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Late Roman
Pronounced: ig-NAY-shəs(English)
Rating: 51% based on 55 votes
From the Roman family name
Egnatius, meaning unknown, of Etruscan origin. The spelling was later altered to resemble Latin
ignis "fire". This was the name of several
saints, including the third bishop of Antioch who was thrown to wild beasts by Emperor Trajan, and by Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), founder of the Jesuits, whose real birth name was in fact
Íñigo.
Ethel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: ETH-əl
Rating: 51% based on 51 votes
Short form of names beginning with the Old English element
æðele meaning
"noble". It was coined in the 19th century, when many Old English names were revived. It was popularized by the novels
The Newcomes (1855) by William Makepeace Thackeray and
The Daisy Chain (1856) by C. M. Yonge. A famous bearer was American actress and singer Ethel Merman (1908-1984).
Judith
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Jewish, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Spanish, French, Biblical
Other Scripts: יְהוּדִית(Hebrew)
Pronounced: JOO-dith(English) YOO-dit(German) khoo-DHEET(Spanish) ZHUY-DEET(French)
Rating: 51% based on 55 votes
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.
Barnaby
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (British)
Pronounced: BAHR-nə-bee
Rating: 51% based on 67 votes
English form of
Barnabas, originally a medieval vernacular form.
Pia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, German, Slovene, Late Roman
Pronounced: PEE-a(Italian, Danish, Swedish, German)
Rating: 51% based on 25 votes
Anatole
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: A-NA-TAWL
Rating: 51% based on 33 votes
Letitia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: li-TISH-ə
Rating: 51% based on 51 votes
From the Late Latin name
Laetitia meaning
"joy, happiness". This was the name of an obscure
saint, who is revered mainly in Spain. It was in use in England during the Middle Ages, usually in the spelling
Lettice, and it was revived in the 18th century.
Anthea
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ἄνθεια(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: AN-thee-ə(English)
Rating: 51% based on 19 votes
From the Greek
Ἄνθεια (Antheia), derived from
ἄνθος (anthos) meaning
"flower, blossom". This was an epithet of the Greek goddess
Hera.
Ernest
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, Catalan, Polish, Slovak, Slovene
Pronounced: UR-nist(English) EHR-NEST(French) ər-NEST(Catalan) EHR-nest(Polish)
Rating: 51% based on 59 votes
Derived from Old High German
ernust meaning
"serious, earnest". It was introduced to England by the German House of Hanover when they inherited the British throne in the 18th century, though it did not become common until the following century. The American author and adventurer Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) was a famous bearer of the name. It was also used by Oscar Wilde for a character in his comedy
The Importance of Being Earnest (1895).
Bibiana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish, Italian, Late Roman
Pronounced: bee-BYA-na(Spanish, Italian)
Rating: 50% based on 22 votes
Possibly an early variant of
Viviana. Alternatively, it may be a feminine derivative of the earlier Roman
cognomen Vibianus.
Ida
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Italian, French, Polish, Finnish, Hungarian, Slovak, Slovene, Germanic [1]
Pronounced: IE-də(English) EE-da(German, Norwegian, Dutch, Italian, Polish) EE-dah(Swedish, Danish) EE-daw(Hungarian)
Rating: 50% based on 51 votes
Derived from the Germanic element
id possibly meaning
"work, labour" (Proto-Germanic *
idiz). The
Normans brought this name to England, though it eventually died out there in the Middle Ages. It was strongly revived in the 19th century, in part due to the heroine in Alfred Tennyson's poem
The Princess (1847), which was later adapted into the play
Princess Ida (1884) by Gilbert and Sullivan.
Though the etymology is unrelated, this is the name of a mountain on the island of Crete where, according to Greek myth, the god Zeus was born.
Annunziata
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: an-noon-TSYA-ta
Rating: 50% based on 27 votes
Means
"announced" in Italian, referring to the event in the
New Testament in which the angel Gabriel tells the Virgin
Mary of the imminent birth of
Jesus.
Arkady
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Russian
Other Scripts: Аркадий(Russian)
Pronounced: ur-KA-dyee
Rating: 50% based on 23 votes
Cecil
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: SEE-səl, SEHS-əl
Rating: 50% based on 11 votes
From the Roman name
Caecilius (see
Cecilia). This was the name of a 3rd-century
saint, a companion of Saint
Cyprian. Though it was in use during the Middle Ages in England, it did not become common until the 19th century when it was given in honour of the noble Cecil family, who had been prominent since the 16th century. Their surname was derived from the Welsh given name
Seisyll, which was derived from the Roman name
Sextilius, a derivative of
Sextus.
Clarence
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KLAR-əns, KLEHR-əns
Rating: 50% based on 2 votes
From the Latin title Clarensis, which belonged to members of the British royal family. The title ultimately derives from the name of the town of Clare in Suffolk. As a given name it has been in use since the 19th century.
Clytie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Greek Mythology (Latinized), Literature
Other Scripts: Κλυτίη(Ionic Greek)
Rating: 50% based on 13 votes
Latinized form of
Klytië. It was used by British author Joseph Hatton for the heroine of his novel 'Clytie' (1874), and borne by Australian opera singer Clytie Hine (1887–1983); it was also the birth name of Australian ceramic artist Klytie Pate (1912-2010). American author William Faulkner used it for a minor character in his novel 'Absalom, Absalom!' (1936), in which case it was a diminutive of
Clytemnestra, and Eudora Welty for the title character of her story 'Clytie' (1941).
Dario
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian, Croatian
Pronounced: DA-ryo(Italian) DA-ree-o(Croatian)
Rating: 50% based on 2 votes
Doris
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German, Swedish, Danish, Croatian, Ancient Greek [1], Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Δωρίς(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: DAWR-is(English) DO-ris(German)
Rating: 50% based on 7 votes
From the Greek name
Δωρίς (Doris), which meant
"Dorian woman". The Dorians were a Greek tribe who occupied the Peloponnese starting in the 12th century BC. In Greek
mythology Doris was a sea nymph, one of the many children of Oceanus and Tethys. It began to be used as an English name in the 19th century. A famous bearer is the American actress Doris Day (1924-2019).
Emil
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, German, Romanian, Bulgarian, Czech, Slovak, Polish, Russian, Slovene, Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, Hungarian, Icelandic, English
Other Scripts: Емил(Bulgarian, Serbian, Macedonian) Эмиль(Russian)
Pronounced: EH-mil(Swedish, Czech) EH-meel(German, Slovak, Hungarian) eh-MEEL(Romanian) EHN-myeel(Polish) eh-MYEEL(Russian) ə-MEEL(English) EHM-il(English)
Rating: 50% based on 2 votes
From the Roman family name Aemilius, which was derived from Latin aemulus meaning "rival".
Francine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, English
Pronounced: FRAHN-SEEN(French) fran-SEEN(English)
Rating: 50% based on 2 votes
Irma
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, English, Dutch, Finnish, Swedish, Danish, Spanish, Italian, Georgian, Lithuanian, Hungarian, Slovene, Germanic [1]
Other Scripts: ირმა(Georgian)
Pronounced: IR-ma(German) UR-mə(English) EER-mah(Finnish) EER-ma(Spanish) EER-maw(Hungarian)
Rating: 50% based on 2 votes
German short form of names beginning with the Old German element
irmin meaning
"whole, great" (Proto-Germanic *
ermunaz). It is thus related to
Emma. It began to be regularly used in the English-speaking world in the 19th century.
Jerome
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: jə-ROM
Rating: 50% based on 52 votes
From the Greek name
Ἱερώνυμος (Hieronymos) meaning
"sacred name", derived from
ἱερός (hieros) meaning "sacred" and
ὄνυμα (onyma) meaning "name".
Saint Jerome was responsible for the creation of the Vulgate, the Latin translation of the Bible, in the 5th century. He is regarded as a Doctor of the Church. The name was used in his honour in the Middle Ages, especially in Italy and France, and has been used in England since the 12th century
[1].
Semiramis
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Assyrian (Hellenized)
Other Scripts: Σεμίραμις(Ancient Greek)
Rating: 50% based on 1 vote
Probably from a Greek form of the name
Shammuramat. According to ancient Greek and Armenian sources, Semiramis (
Շամիրամ (Shamiram) in Armenian) was an Assyrian queen who conquered much of Asia. Though the tales are legendary, she might be loosely based on the real Assyrian queen.
Vito
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian, Spanish
Pronounced: VEE-to(Italian) BEE-to(Spanish)
Rating: 50% based on 2 votes
Italian and Spanish form of
Vitus. A notable fictional bearer is Vito Corleone from
The Godfather novel (1969) and movie (1972).
Zolzaya
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Mongolian
Other Scripts: Золзаяа(Mongolian Cyrillic)
Rating: 50% based on 21 votes
Derived from Mongolian зол (zol) meaning "fortune, luck, blessing" and заяа (zayaa) meaning "future, fate, destiny".
Pascal
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French, German, Dutch
Pronounced: PAS-KAL(French) pas-KAL(German) pahs-KAHL(Dutch)
Rating: 50% based on 53 votes
From the Late Latin name
Paschalis, which meant
"relating to Easter" from Latin
Pascha "Easter", which was in turn from Hebrew
פֶּסַח (pesach) meaning "Passover". Passover is the ancient Hebrew holiday celebrating the liberation from Egypt. Because it coincided closely with the later Christian holiday of Easter, the same Latin word was used for both. The name Pascal can also function as a surname, as in the case of Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), the French philosopher, mathematician and inventor.
Frederica
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Portuguese, English
Pronounced: fri-di-REE-ku(European Portuguese) freh-deh-REE-ku(Brazilian Portuguese) frehd-ə-REE-kə(English) frehd-REE-kə(English)
Rating: 49% based on 58 votes
Hester
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Dutch, Biblical Latin
Pronounced: HEHS-tər(English, Dutch)
Rating: 49% based on 55 votes
Latin form of
Esther. Like
Esther, it has been used in England since the
Protestant Reformation. Nathaniel Hawthorne used it for the heroine of his novel
The Scarlet Letter (1850), Hester Prynne, a
Puritan woman forced to wear a red letter
A on her chest after giving birth to a child out of wedlock.
Varinia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Roman, Spanish (Rare)
Rating: 49% based on 18 votes
Flavia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish, Romanian, Ancient Roman
Pronounced: FLA-vya(Italian) FLA-bya(Spanish) FLA-wee-a(Latin)
Rating: 49% based on 53 votes
Wolfram
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German
Pronounced: VAWL-fram
Rating: 49% based on 52 votes
Derived from the Old German element
wolf meaning "wolf" combined with
hram meaning "raven".
Saint Wolfram (or Wulfram) was a 7th-century archbishop of Sens. This name was also borne by the 13th-century German poet Wolfram von Eschenbach, the author of
Parzival.
Anselm
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, English (Rare), Germanic [1]
Pronounced: AN-zelm(German) AN-selm(English)
Rating: 49% based on 62 votes
Derived from the Old German elements
ansi "god" and
helm "helmet, protection". This name was brought to England in the late 11th century by
Saint Anselm, who was born in northern Italy. He was archbishop of Canterbury and a Doctor of the Church.
Austėja
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Lithuanian, Baltic Mythology
Rating: 49% based on 24 votes
Means "to weave" in Lithuanian. This was the name of the Lithuanian goddess of bees.
Bartholomew
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Biblical
Pronounced: bahr-THAHL-ə-myoo(English)
Rating: 49% based on 57 votes
English form of
Βαρθολομαῖος (Bartholomaios), which was the Greek form of an Aramaic name meaning
"son of Talmai". In the
New Testament Bartholomew is the byname of an apostle, possibly the same person as the apostle
Nathanael. According to tradition he was a missionary to India before returning westward to Armenia, where he was martyred by flaying. Due to the popularity of this
saint the name became common in England during the Middle Ages.
Margalit
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hebrew
Other Scripts: מַרְגָלִית(Hebrew)
Rating: 49% based on 47 votes
Prisca
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical, Ancient Roman, Biblical Latin
Pronounced: PRIS-kə(English)
Rating: 49% based on 8 votes
Feminine form of
Priscus, a Roman family name meaning
"ancient" in Latin. This name appears in the epistles in the
New Testament, referring to
Priscilla the wife of Aquila.
Nevena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Bulgarian, Macedonian, Croatian, Serbian
Other Scripts: Невена(Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbian)
Rating: 49% based on 29 votes
Derived from South Slavic neven meaning "marigold".
Tassilo
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German (Rare), Medieval German, Medieval Italian, Medieval French, Lombardic
Rating: 49% based on 14 votes
Diminutive of
Tasso. The Blessed Tassilo III (c. 741 – c. 796) was duke of Bavaria from 748 to 788, the last of the house of the Agilolfings. Modern-day bearers include Tassilo Thierbach (1956-), a German former pair skater, and Prince Tassilo Preslavski of Bulgaria (2002-).
Pelagia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Greek [1], Greek, Polish (Rare)
Other Scripts: Πελαγία(Greek)
Pronounced: peh-LA-gya(Polish)
Rating: 48% based on 19 votes
Feminine form of
Pelagius. This was the name of a few early
saints, including a young 4th-century martyr who threw herself from a rooftop in Antioch rather than lose her virginity.
Una
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: OO-nə
Rating: 48% based on 6 votes
Anglicized form of Irish
Úna or Scottish
Ùna. It is also associated with Latin
una, feminine form of
unus meaning
"one". The name features in Edmund Spenser's poem
The Faerie Queene (1590).
Wilbur
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: WIL-bər
Rating: 48% based on 48 votes
From an English surname that was originally derived from the nickname Wildbor meaning "wild boar" in Middle English. This name was borne by Wilbur Wright (1867-1912), one half of the Wright brothers, who together invented the first successful airplane. Wright was named after the Methodist minister Wilbur Fisk (1792-1839). A famous fictional bearer is the main character (a pig) in the children's novel Charlotte's Web (1952) by E. B. White.
Imelda
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish
Pronounced: ee-MEHL-da
Rating: 48% based on 51 votes
Italian and Spanish form of
Irmhild. The Blessed Imelda Lambertini was a young 14th-century nun from Bologna.
Hephzibah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: חֶפְצִי־בָּה(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: HEHF-zi-bə(English) HEHP-zi-bə(English)
Rating: 48% based on 28 votes
Algernon
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AL-jər-nən
Rating: 48% based on 72 votes
Originally a Norman French nickname, derived from aux gernons "having a moustache", which was applied to William de Percy, a companion of William the Conqueror. It was first used a given name in the 15th century (for a descendant of William de Percy). This name was borne by a character (a mouse) in the short story Flowers for Algernon (1958) and novel of the same title (1966) by the American author Daniel Keyes.
Wolfgang
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Germanic [1]
Pronounced: VAWLF-gang(German) WUWLF-gang(English)
Rating: 48% based on 22 votes
Derived from the Old German elements
wolf meaning "wolf" and
gang meaning "path, way".
Saint Wolfgang was a 10th-century bishop of Regensburg. Two other famous bearers of this name were Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) and German novelist and poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832).
Vivian
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish
Pronounced: VIV-ee-ən(English)
Rating: 48% based on 27 votes
From 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.
Jocasta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Anglicized)
Other Scripts: Ἰοκάστη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: jo-KAS-tə(English)
Rating: 48% based on 52 votes
From the Greek name
Ἰοκάστη (Iokaste), which is of unknown meaning. In Greek
mythology she was the mother
Oedipus by the Theban king
Laius. In a case of tragic mistaken identity, she married her own son.
Boudicca
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Brythonic (Latinized)
Pronounced: BOO-di-kə(English)
Rating: 48% based on 31 votes
Derived from Brythonic
boud meaning
"victory" [1]. This was the name of a 1st-century queen of the Iceni who led the Britons in revolt against the Romans. Eventually her forces were defeated and she committed suicide. Her name is first recorded in Roman histories, as
Boudicca by Tacitus
[2] and
Βουδουῖκα (Boudouika) by Cassius Dio
[3].
Patience
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: PAY-shəns
Rating: 48% based on 4 votes
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.
Septimus
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Ancient Roman
Pronounced: SEHP-tee-moos
Rating: 48% based on 16 votes
Roman
praenomen, or given name, which meant
"seventh" in Latin.
Wilfrid
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: WIL-frəd
Rating: 48% based on 24 votes
Zuleika
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: zoo-LAY-kə(English)
Rating: 47% based on 53 votes
Meaning uncertain, possibly of Arabic origin. According to medieval tradition, notably related by the 15th-century Persian poet Jami, this was the name of the biblical Potiphar's wife. She has been a frequent subject of poems and tales.
Arnold
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, German, Dutch, Polish, Germanic [1]
Pronounced: AHR-nəld(English) AR-nawlt(German, Polish) AHR-nawlt(Dutch)
Rating: 47% based on 17 votes
From a Germanic name meaning
"eagle power", derived from the elements
arn "eagle" and
walt "power, authority". The
Normans brought it to England, where it replaced the Old English
cognate Earnweald. It died out as an English name after the Middle Ages, but it was revived in the 19th century.
Saints bearing the name include an 8th-century musician in the court of Charlemagne and an 11th-century French bishop who is the patron saint of brewers. It was also borne by Arnold of Brescia, a 12th-century Augustinian monk who rebelled against the Church and was eventually hanged. Famous modern bearers include American golfer Arnold Palmer (1929-2016) and Austrian-American actor and politician Arnold Schwarzenegger (1947-).
Isidore
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, Georgian (Rare), Jewish
Other Scripts: ისიდორე(Georgian)
Pronounced: IZ-ə-dawr(English) EE-ZEE-DAWR(French)
Rating: 47% based on 52 votes
From the Greek name
Ἰσίδωρος (Isidoros) meaning
"gift of Isis", derived from the name of the Egyptian goddess
Isis combined with Greek
δῶρον (doron) meaning "gift".
Saint Isidore of Seville was a 6th-century archbishop, historian and theologian.
Though it has never been popular in the English-speaking world among Christians, it has historically been a common name for Jews, who have used it as an Americanized form of names such as Isaac, Israel and Isaiah.
Polissena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian (Rare)
Rating: 47% based on 22 votes
Leonato
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Spanish, Portuguese, Theatre
Rating: 47% based on 28 votes
Spanish and Portuguese form of
Leonnatus. This is the name of the father of
Hero and/or
Beatrice in William Shakespeare's romantic comedy 'Much Ado About Nothing' (1599).
Hilda
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Spanish, Hungarian, Anglo-Saxon (Latinized), Germanic [1]
Pronounced: HIL-də(English) HIL-da(German, Dutch) EEL-da(Spanish) HEEL-daw(Hungarian)
Rating: 47% based on 62 votes
Originally a short form of names containing the Old Frankish element
hildi, Old High German
hilt, Old English
hild meaning
"battle" (Proto-Germanic *
hildiz). The short form was used for both Old English and continental Germanic names.
Saint Hilda (or Hild) of Whitby was a 7th-century English saint and abbess. The name became rare in England during the later Middle Ages, but was revived in the 19th century.
Clotilda
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: klə-TIL-də
Rating: 47% based on 58 votes
Horatio
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: hə-RAY-shee-o, hə-RAY-sho
Rating: 47% based on 58 votes
Variant of
Horatius. Shakespeare used it for a character in his tragedy
Hamlet (1600). It was borne by the British admiral Horatio Nelson (1758-1805), famous for his defeat of Napoleon's forces in the Battle of Trafalgar, in which he was himself killed. Since his time the name has been occasionally used in his honour.
Barnabas
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German (Rare), English (Rare), Biblical, Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek
Other Scripts: Βαρναβᾶς(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: BAR-na-bas(German) BAHR-nə-bəs(English)
Rating: 47% based on 64 votes
Greek form of an Aramaic name. In Acts in the
New Testament the byname Barnabas was given to a man named
Joseph, a Jew from Cyprus who was a companion of
Paul on his missionary journeys. The original Aramaic form is unattested, but it may be from
בּר נביא (bar naviya') meaning
"son of the prophet", though in
Acts 4:36 it is claimed that the name means
"son of encouragement".
As an English name, Barnabas came into occasional use after the 12th century. It is now rare, though the variant Barnaby is still moderately common in Britain.
Béla
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Hungarian
Pronounced: BEH-law
Rating: 47% based on 3 votes
The meaning of this name is not known for certain. It could be derived from Hungarian
bél meaning "guts, bowel" or Slavic
бѣлъ (belu) meaning "white". This was the name of four Hungarian kings.
Inez
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: i-NEHZ, ee-NEHZ, ie-NEHZ
Rating: 47% based on 38 votes
Silvestra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Slovene, Italian (Rare)
Pronounced: seel-VEH-stra(Italian)
Rating: 46% based on 8 votes
Agnieszka
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Polish
Pronounced: ag-NYEH-shka
Rating: 46% based on 12 votes
Sieglinde
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Germanic Mythology
Pronounced: zeek-LIN-də(German)
Rating: 46% based on 50 votes
Derived from the Old German elements
sigu "victory" and
lind "soft, flexible, tender". Sieglinde was the mother of
Siegfried in the medieval German saga the
Nibelungenlied.
Ulysses
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Roman Mythology, English
Pronounced: yoo-LI-seez(Latin) yoo-LIS-eez(American English) YOOL-i-seez(British English)
Rating: 46% based on 52 votes
Latin form of
Odysseus. It was borne by Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885), the commander of the Union forces during the American Civil War, who went on to become an American president. Irish author James Joyce used it as the title of his book
Ulysses (1922), which loosely parallels
Homer's epic the
Odyssey.
Petunia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: pə-TOON-yə
Rating: 46% based on 9 votes
From the name of the flower, derived ultimately from a Tupi (South American) word.
Perpetua
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish, Late Roman
Pronounced: pehr-PEH-twa(Spanish)
Rating: 46% based on 20 votes
Derived from Latin
perpetuus meaning
"continuous". This was the name of a 3rd-century
saint martyred with another woman named Felicity.
Wystan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Rating: 45% based on 24 votes
From the Old English name
Wigstan, composed of the elements
wig "battle" and
stan "stone". This was the name of a 9th-century Anglo-Saxon
saint. It became rare after the
Norman Conquest, and in modern times it is chiefly known as the first name of the British poet W. H. Auden (1907-1973).
Hildegarde
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French (Rare)
Pronounced: EEL-DU-GARD
Rating: 45% based on 51 votes
Bartolomea
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: bar-to-lo-MEH-a
Rating: 45% based on 12 votes
Erasmus
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Late Greek (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ἔρασμος(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: i-RAZ-məs(English)
Rating: 45% based on 24 votes
Derived from Greek
ἐράσμιος (erasmios) meaning
"beloved".
Saint Erasmus, also known as Saint
Elmo, was a 4th-century martyr who is the patron saint of sailors. Erasmus was also the name of a Dutch scholar of the Renaissance period.
Leander
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Λέανδρος(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: lee-AN-dər(English)
Rating: 45% based on 2 votes
Latinized form of the Greek name
Λέανδρος (Leandros), derived from
λέων (leon) meaning "lion" and
ἀνήρ (aner) meaning "man" (genitive
ἀνδρός). In Greek legend Leander was the lover of Hero. Every night he swam across the Hellespont to meet her, but on one occasion he was drowned when a storm arose. When Hero saw his dead body she threw herself into the waters and perished.
Ottaviano
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian
Rating: 45% based on 16 votes
Italian form of
Octavianus (see
Octavian).
Sufyan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic, Indonesian, Urdu
Other Scripts: سفيان(Arabic) سفیان(Urdu)
Pronounced: soof-YAN(Arabic) SOOF-yan(Indonesian)
Rating: 45% based on 19 votes
Meaning uncertain. It could be derived from Arabic صوف (suf) meaning "wool", صفا (safa) meaning "pure, clean" or صعف (sa'f) meaning "slim, thin". Sufyan al-Thawri was an 8th-century Islamic scholar.
Wojciech
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Polish
Pronounced: VOI-chekh
Rating: 45% based on 17 votes
Derived from the Slavic elements
voji "warrior, soldier" and
tekha "solace, comfort, joy".
Saint Wojciech (also known by the Czech form of his name
Vojtěch or his adopted name
Adalbert) was a Bohemian missionary to Hungary, Poland and Prussia, where he was martyred in the 10th century.
Sylvestra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare, Archaic)
Pronounced: sil-VES-tra
Rating: 45% based on 11 votes
Giuditta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: joo-DEET-ta
Rating: 44% based on 31 votes
Otieno
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Eastern African, Luo
Rating: 44% based on 12 votes
Means "born at night" in Luo.
Amycus
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ἄμυκος(Ancient Greek)
Rating: 44% based on 17 votes
This was the name of the first king of the Bebryces tribe in eastern Bithynia (northwestern Anatolia) in Greek legend, the son of
Poseidon and the nymph
Melia. When the Argonauts passed through his territory, Polydeuces managed to defeat Amycus boxing.
It is probably associated with Latin amicus "friend".
Tertia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Roman
Rating: 44% based on 17 votes
Melusine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Mythology
Rating: 44% based on 40 votes
Meaning unknown. In European folklore Melusine was a water fairy who turned into a serpent from the waist down every Saturday. She made her husband, Raymond of Poitou, promise that he would never see her on that day, and when he broke his word she left him forever.
Swithin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: History
Rating: 44% based on 25 votes
From the Old English name
Swiðhun or
Swiþhun, derived from
swiþ "strong" and perhaps
hun "bear cub".
Saint Swithin was a 9th-century bishop of Winchester.
Eglantine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: EHG-lən-tien, EHG-lən-teen
Rating: 44% based on 58 votes
From the English word for the flower also known as sweetbrier. It is derived via Old French from Vulgar Latin *aquilentum meaning "prickly". It was early used as a given name (in the form Eglentyne) in Geoffrey Chaucer's 14th-century story The Prioress's Tale (one of The Canterbury Tales).
Elif
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Turkish
Pronounced: eh-LEEF
Rating: 44% based on 20 votes
Turkish form of
Alif, the name of the first letter of the Arabic alphabet,
ا. It also means
"slender", from the Turkish phrase
elif gibi, literally "shaped like elif".
Leopoldina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German (Rare), English (Rare), Portuguese (Rare), Galician, Romanian, Slovene, Hungarian
Rating: 43% based on 23 votes
German, Portuguese and English variant and Galician, Romanian, Hungarian and Slovene form of
Leopoldine. Leopoldina of Austria (1797 – 1826) was the first Brazilian empress.
Zillah
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: צִלָּה(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: ZIL-ə(English)
Rating: 43% based on 44 votes
Muriel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, French, Irish, Scottish, Medieval Breton (Anglicized)
Pronounced: MYUWR-ee-əl(English) MUY-RYEHL(French)
Rating: 43% based on 44 votes
Anglicized form of Irish
Muirgel and Scottish
Muireall. A form of this name was also used in Brittany, and it was first introduced to medieval England by Breton settlers in the wake of the
Norman Conquest. In the modern era it was popularized by a character from Dinah Craik's novel
John Halifax, Gentleman (1856).
Consuelo
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish
Pronounced: kon-SWEH-lo
Rating: 43% based on 21 votes
Means
"consolation" in Spanish. It is taken from the title of the Virgin
Mary,
Nuestra Señora del Consuelo, meaning "Our Lady of Consolation".
Dora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, Croatian, Serbian, Bulgarian, English, German, Dutch
Other Scripts: Ντόρα(Greek) Дора(Serbian, Bulgarian)
Pronounced: DO-ra(Spanish, Croatian, Serbian) DAWR-ə(English)
Rating: 43% based on 54 votes
Rohese
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Medieval English
Rating: 43% based on 18 votes
Jocosa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Medieval English
Rating: 43% based on 47 votes
Medieval variant of
Joyce, influenced by the Latin word
iocosus or
jocosus "merry, playful".
Humphrey
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: HUM-free
Rating: 43% based on 56 votes
From the Old German elements
hun "bear cub" and
fridu "peace". The
Normans introduced this name to England, where it replaced the Old English
cognate Hunfrith, and it was regularly used through the Middle Ages. A famous bearer was the American actor Humphrey Bogart (1899-1957), who starred in
The Maltese Falcon and
Casablanca.
Rex
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: REHKS
Rating: 43% based on 12 votes
From Latin rex meaning "king". It has been used as a given name since the 19th century.
Zebulun
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: זְבוּלֻן(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: ZEHB-yə-lən(English)
Rating: 43% based on 24 votes
From Hebrew
זְבוּל (zevul) meaning
"exalted house". In the
Old Testament Zebulun is the tenth son of
Jacob (his sixth son by
Leah) and the ancestor of one of the twelve tribes of Israel.
Genesis 30:20 connects the name to the related verb
זָבַל (zaval), translated as "exalt, honour" or "dwell with" in different versions of the Bible, when Leah says
my husband will exalt/dwell with me.
Melitta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Greek [1], German
Other Scripts: Μέλιττα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: meh-LI-ta(German)
Rating: 42% based on 9 votes
Ancient Attic Greek variant of
Melissa.
Ritva
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: REET-vah
Rating: 42% based on 19 votes
Means "birch branch" in Finnish.
Phyllida
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: FIL-i-də
Rating: 42% based on 49 votes
From
Φυλλίδος (Phyllidos), the genitive form of
Phyllis. This form was used in 17th-century pastoral poetry.
Prunella
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: proo-NEHL-ə
Rating: 42% based on 32 votes
From the English word for the type of flower, also called self-heal, ultimately a derivative of the Latin word pruna "plum".
Gertrude
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, French, German
Pronounced: GUR-trood(English) ZHEHR-TRUYD(French) gehr-TROO-də(German)
Rating: 42% based on 60 votes
Means
"spear of strength", derived from the Old German elements
ger "spear" and
drud "strength".
Saint Gertrude the Great was a 13th-century nun and mystic writer from Thuringia. It was probably introduced to England by settlers from the Low Countries in the 15th century. Shakespeare used the name in his play
Hamlet (1600) for the mother of
Hamlet. Another famous bearer was the American writer Gertrude Stein (1874-1946).
Romola
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian (Rare)
Pronounced: RAW-mo-la
Rating: 41% based on 42 votes
Ivaylo
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Bulgarian
Other Scripts: Ивайло(Bulgarian)
Rating: 41% based on 17 votes
Perhaps derived from an old Bulgar name meaning "wolf". This was the name of a 13th-century emperor of Bulgaria. It is possible that this spelling was the result of a 15th-century misreading of his real name Vulo from historical documents.
Bernadine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: BUR-nə-deen
Rating: 41% based on 9 votes
Andromache
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ἀνδρομάχη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: AN-DRO-MA-KEH(Classical Greek)
Rating: 41% based on 30 votes
Derived from the Greek elements
ἀνήρ (aner) meaning "man" (genitive
ἀνδρός) and
μάχη (mache) meaning "battle". In Greek legend she was the wife of the Trojan hero
Hector. After the fall of Troy
Neoptolemus killed her son Astyanax and took her as a concubine.
Arcangela
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Rating: 41% based on 30 votes
Bethsabée
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical French
Pronounced: BEHT-SA-BEH(French)
Rating: 41% based on 41 votes
Eustacia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Rating: 41% based on 57 votes
Dragana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian
Other Scripts: Драгана(Serbian, Macedonian)
Rating: 41% based on 13 votes
Brunhilde
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German
Pronounced: bruwn-HIL-də
Rating: 41% based on 59 votes
Albertine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: AL-BEHR-TEEN
Rating: 41% based on 75 votes
French feminine form of
Albert.
Mildred
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MIL-drid
Rating: 41% based on 59 votes
From the Old English name
Mildþryð meaning
"gentle strength", derived from the elements
milde "gentle" and
þryþ "strength".
Saint Mildred was a 7th-century abbess, the daughter of the Kentish princess Saint Ermenburga. After the
Norman Conquest this name became rare, but it was revived in the 19th century.
Enid
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh, English, Arthurian Romance
Pronounced: EH-nid(Welsh) EE-nid(English)
Rating: 40% based on 48 votes
Probably derived from Welsh
enaid meaning
"soul, spirit, life". In Arthurian tales she first appears in the 12th-century French poem
Erec and Enide by Chrétien de Troyes, where she is the wife of Erec. In later adaptations she is typically the wife of
Geraint. The name became more commonly used after the publication of Alfred Tennyson's Arthurian poem
Enid in 1859, and it was fairly popular in Britain in the first half of the 20th century.
Odile
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: AW-DEEL
Rating: 40% based on 55 votes
Archibald
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish, English
Pronounced: AHR-chi-bawld
Rating: 40% based on 67 votes
Derived from the Germanic name
Ercanbald, composed of the elements
erkan meaning "pure, holy, genuine" and
bald meaning "bold, brave". The first element was altered due to the influence of Greek names beginning with the element
ἀρχός (archos) meaning "master". The
Normans brought this name to England. It first became common in Scotland in the Middle Ages (sometimes used to Anglicize the Gaelic name
Gilleasbuig, for unknown reasons).
Aparna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hinduism, Indian, Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Bengali
Other Scripts: अपर्णा(Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi) അപർണ(Malayalam) அபர்ணா(Tamil) ಅಪರ್ಣಾ(Kannada) అపర్ణా(Telugu) অপর্ণা(Bengali)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Means
"leafless, not having eaten leaves" in Sanskrit. This is another name of the Hindu goddess
Parvati.
Domitilla
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Ancient Roman
Pronounced: do-mee-TEEL-la(Italian)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Feminine
diminutive of the Roman family name
Domitius. This was the name of the wife of the Roman emperor Vespasian and the mother of emperors Titus and Domitian.
Domiziana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: do-meett-TSYAH-nah
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Lois 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Biblical, Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek
Other Scripts: Λωΐς(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: LO-is(English)
Rating: 40% based on 7 votes
Possibly derived from Greek
λωίων (loion) meaning
"more desirable" or
"better". Lois is mentioned in the
New Testament as the mother of
Eunice and the grandmother of
Timothy. As an English name, it came into use after the
Protestant Reformation. In fiction, this is the name of the girlfriend of the comic book hero Superman.
Olimpia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish, Romanian, Polish (Rare), Hungarian (Rare)
Pronounced: o-LEEM-pya(Spanish) aw-LYEEM-pya(Polish) O-leem-pee-aw(Hungarian)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Ptolemais
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Greek
Other Scripts: Πτολεμαΐς(Ancient Greek)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Feminine form of
Ptolemaios (see
Ptolemy).
Sibylle
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, French
Pronounced: zee-BI-lə(German) SEE-BEEL(French)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
German and French form of
Sibyl.
Urania
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Οὐρανία(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: yoo-RAY-nee-ə(English)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Zosime
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Greek
Other Scripts: Ζωσίμη(Ancient Greek)
Rating: 40% based on 1 vote
Feminine form of
Zosimos (see
Zosimus).
Nausicaa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ναυσικάα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: naw-SIK-ee-ə(English)
Rating: 40% based on 22 votes
Latinized form of Greek
Ναυσικάα (Nausikaa) meaning
"burner of ships". In
Homer's epic the
Odyssey this is the name of a daughter of Alcinous who helps
Odysseus on his journey home.
Tacita
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Roman
Rating: 40% based on 40 votes
Melpomene
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Μελπομένη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: MEHL-PO-MEH-NEH(Classical Greek) mehl-PAHM-ə-nee(English)
Rating: 39% based on 46 votes
Derived from Greek
μέλπω (melpo) meaning
"to sing, to celebrate with song". This was the name of one of the nine Muses in Greek
mythology, the muse of tragedy.
Helga
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, German, Dutch, Finnish, Hungarian, Czech, Portuguese, Old Norse [1]
Pronounced: HEHL-ga(German) HEHL-gaw(Hungarian) EHL-gu(European Portuguese) EW-gu(Brazilian Portuguese)
Rating: 39% based on 60 votes
Richenza
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Polish, Medieval English, American (Rare), Medieval German
Pronounced: ree-khen-zah(Polish)
Rating: 39% based on 30 votes
Polish and medieval English and medieval German form of
Rikissa.
Sappho
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Greek
Other Scripts: Σαπφώ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: SAP-PAW(Classical Greek) SA-fo(English)
Rating: 39% based on 39 votes
Possibly from Greek
σάπφειρος (sappheiros) meaning
"sapphire" or
"lapis lazuli". This was the name of a 7th-century BC Greek poetess from Lesbos.
Parthenope
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Παρθενόπη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: pahr-THEHN-ə-pee(English)
Rating: 39% based on 47 votes
Means
"maiden's voice", derived from Greek
παρθένος (parthenos) meaning "maiden, virgin" and
ὄψ (ops) meaning "voice". In Greek legend this is the name of one of the Sirens who enticed
Odysseus.
Eustace
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: YOO-stis
Rating: 38% based on 58 votes
English form of
Eustachius or
Eustathius, two names of Greek origin that have been conflated in the post-classical period.
Saint Eustace, who is known under both spellings, was a 2nd-century Roman general who became a Christian after seeing a vision of a cross between the antlers of a stag he was hunting. He was burned to death for refusing to worship the Roman gods and is now regarded as the patron saint of hunters. Due to him, this name was common in England during the Middle Ages, though it is presently rare.
Zimri
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: זִמְרִי(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: ZIM-ree(English) ZIM-rie(English)
Rating: 38% based on 46 votes
Means
"my praise" or
"my music" in Hebrew. This was the name of a king of Israel according to the
Old Testament. He ruled for only seven days, when he was succeeded by the commander of the army
Omri. Another Zimri in the Old Testament was the the lover of the Midianite woman
Cozbi.
Moses
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Jewish, Biblical, Biblical Latin
Other Scripts: מֹשֶׁה(Hebrew)
Pronounced: MOZ-is(English)
Rating: 38% based on 21 votes
From the Hebrew name
מֹשֶׁה (Mosheh), which is most likely derived from Egyptian
mes meaning
"son", but could also possibly mean
"deliver" in Hebrew. The meaning suggested in the
Old Testament of
"drew out" from Hebrew
משה (mashah) is probably an invented etymology (see
Exodus 2:10).
The biblical Moses was drawn out of the Nile by the pharaoh's daughter and adopted into the royal family, at a time when the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. With his brother Aaron he demanded the pharaoh release the Israelites, which was only done after God sent ten plagues upon Egypt. Moses led the people across the Red Sea and to Mount Sinai, where he received the Ten Commandments from God. After 40 years of wandering in the desert the people reached Canaan, the Promised Land, but Moses died just before entering it.
In England, this name has been commonly used by Christians since the Protestant Reformation, though it had long been popular among Jews.
Jolyon
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Rating: 38% based on 24 votes
Medieval form of
Julian. The author John Galsworthy used it for a character in his
Forsyte Saga novels (published between 1906 and 1922).
Purnima
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Indian, Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, Kannada
Other Scripts: पूर्णिमा(Hindi, Marathi) পূর্ণিমা(Bengali) பூர்ணிமா(Tamil) ಪೂರ್ಣಿಮಾ(Kannada)
Rating: 38% based on 16 votes
Means "full moon" in Sanskrit.
Terpsichore
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Τερψιχόρη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: TEHR-PSEE-KO-REH(Classical Greek) tərp-SIK-ə-ree(English)
Rating: 38% based on 48 votes
Means
"enjoying the dance" from Greek
τέρψις (terpsis) meaning "delight" and
χορός (choros) meaning "dance". In Greek
mythology she was the goddess of dance and dramatic chorus, one of the nine Muses.
Griselda
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Spanish, Literature
Pronounced: gri-ZEHL-də(English) gree-SEHL-da(Spanish)
Rating: 37% based on 56 votes
Possibly derived from the Old German elements
gris "grey" and
hilt "battle". It is not attested as a Germanic name. This was the name of a patient wife in medieval folklore, adapted into tales by Boccaccio (in
The Decameron) and Chaucer (in
The Canterbury Tales).
Aino
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish, Estonian, Finnish Mythology
Pronounced: IE-no(Finnish)
Rating: 37% based on 18 votes
Means
"the only one" in Finnish. In the Finnish epic the
Kalevala this is the name of a girl who drowns herself when she finds out she must marry the old man
Väinämöinen.
Olga
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic, Finnish, Estonian, Latvian, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Czech, Slovene, Serbian, Bulgarian, Greek
Other Scripts: Ольга(Russian, Ukrainian) Олга(Serbian, Bulgarian) Όλγα(Greek)
Pronounced: OL-gə(Russian) AWL-ga(Polish, German) AWL-ka(Icelandic) OL-gaw(Hungarian) OL-gha(Spanish) OL-ga(Czech)
Rating: 37% based on 60 votes
Russian form of the Old Norse name
Helga. The 10th-century
Saint Olga was the wife of
Igor I, the ruler of Kievan Rus (a state based around the city of Kyiv). Like her husband she was probably a Varangian, who were Norse people who settled in eastern Europe beginning in the 9th century. Following Igor's death she ruled as regent for her son
Svyatoslav for 18 years. After she was baptized in Constantinople she attempted to convert her subjects to Christianity, though this goal was only achieved by her grandson
Vladimir.
Homer
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Ancient Greek (Anglicized)
Other Scripts: Ὅμηρος(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: HO-mər(English)
Rating: 36% based on 56 votes
From the Greek name
Ὅμηρος (Homeros), derived from
ὅμηρος (homeros) meaning
"hostage, pledge". Homer was the Greek epic poet who wrote the
Iliad, about the Trojan War, and the
Odyssey, about
Odysseus's journey home after the war. There is some debate about when he lived, or if he was even a real person, though most scholars place him in the 8th century BC. In the modern era,
Homer has been used as a given name in the English-speaking world (chiefly in America) since the 18th century. This name is borne by the oafish cartoon father on the television series
The Simpsons.
Roberta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Pronounced: rə-BUR-tə(English) ro-BEHR-ta(Italian, Spanish)
Rating: 36% based on 8 votes
Arachne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ἀράχνη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: A-RA-KNEH(Classical Greek) ə-RAK-nee(English)
Rating: 36% based on 26 votes
Means
"spider" in Greek. In Greek
myth Arachne was a mortal woman who defeated
Athena in a weaving contest. After this Arachne hanged herself, but Athena brought her back to life in the form of a spider.
Éleuthère
Gender: Masculine
Usage: History (Ecclesiastical), French (Rare)
Rating: 36% based on 13 votes
French form of
Eleutherius. This name was borne by French-born American industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834).
Polymnia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Πολύμνια, Πολυύμνια(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: PO-LUYM-NEE-A(Classical Greek)
Rating: 36% based on 47 votes
Means
"abounding in song", derived from Greek
πολύς (polys) meaning "much" and
ὕμνος (hymnos) meaning "song, hymn". In Greek
mythology she was the goddess of dance and sacred songs, one of the nine Muses.
Bogdana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Bulgarian, Slovene, Romanian, Polish, Serbian, Medieval Slavic [1]
Other Scripts: Богдана(Bulgarian, Serbian)
Pronounced: bawg-DA-na(Polish)
Rating: 35% based on 20 votes
Dido
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Roman Mythology, Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Διδώ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: DEE-do(Latin) DIE-do(English)
Rating: 35% based on 38 votes
Meaning unknown, probably of Phoenician origin. Dido, also called
Elissa, was the queen of Carthage in
Virgil's
Aeneid. She threw herself upon a funeral pyre after Aeneas left her. Virgil based the story on earlier Greco-Roman accounts.
Mnemosyne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Μνημοσύνη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: MNEH-MO-SUY-NEH(Classical Greek) ni-MAWS-i-nee(English)
Rating: 34% based on 19 votes
Means
"remembrance" in Greek. In Greek
mythology Mnemosyne was a Titan goddess of memory. She was the mother by
Zeus of the nine Muses.
Rhoda
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical, English
Other Scripts: Ῥόδη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: RO-də(English)
Rating: 34% based on 42 votes
Derived from Greek
ῥόδον (rhodon) meaning
"rose". In the
New Testament this name was borne by a maid in the house of Mary the mother of John Mark. As an English given name,
Rhoda came into use in the 17th century.
Timarete
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Greek
Other Scripts: Τιμαρέτη(Ancient Greek)
Rating: 33% based on 13 votes
Derived from Greek τιμάω
(timao) meaning "to honour" and ἀρετή
(arete) meaning "virtue, excellence". It was borne by a female painter of ancient Greece (5th century BC).
Hubert
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, German, Dutch, French, Polish, Czech, Germanic [1]
Pronounced: HYOO-bərt(English) HOO-behrt(German) HUY-bərt(Dutch) UY-BEHR(French) KHOO-behrt(Polish)
Rating: 33% based on 23 votes
Means
"bright heart", derived from the Old German elements
hugu "mind, thought, spirit" and
beraht "bright".
Saint Hubert was an 8th-century bishop of Maastricht who is considered the patron saint of hunters. The
Normans brought the name to England, where it replaced an Old English
cognate Hygebeorht. It died out during the Middle Ages but was revived in the 19th century
[2].
Ermengarde
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Germanic
Rating: 33% based on 7 votes
Phryne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: History, Literature
Other Scripts: Φρύνη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: FRIE-nee
Rating: 32% based on 14 votes
Ancient Greek nickname meaning "toad", literally "the brown animal". Phryne was a 4th-century BC hetaira or courtesan, famed for her beauty, whose stage name - like those of many hetairai - was based on a physical feature; she was called that either because of a dark complexion (*
phrynos being cognate with
brown) or because of a "snub nose" (
phrynē "a kind of toad"). This stage name was borne by other hetairai also.
It is also the name of the detective in Australian author Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher mystery series, beginning in 1989.
Tadesse
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Eastern African, Amharic
Other Scripts: ታደሠ(Amharic)
Rating: 32% based on 5 votes
Means "revived" in Amharic.
Fabiano
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian, Portuguese
Pronounced: fa-BYA-no(Italian) fu-BYU-noo(European Portuguese) fa-BYU-noo(Brazilian Portuguese)
Rating: 31% based on 9 votes
Italian and Portuguese form of
Fabianus (see
Fabian).
Hortense
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, English
Pronounced: AWR-TAHNS(French) HAWR-tehns(English)
Rating: 31% based on 55 votes
Waldo 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: WAWL-do
Rating: 31% based on 48 votes
From a surname that was derived from the Anglo-Scandinavian given name
Waltheof [1]. Its present use in the English-speaking world is usually in honour of Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), an American transcendentalist, poet and author. His name came from a surname from his father's side of the family.
Amyas
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Rating: 30% based on 1 vote
Meaning unknown, perhaps a derivative of
Amis. Alternatively, it may come from a surname that originally indicated that the bearer was from the city of Amiens in France. Edmund Spenser used this name for a minor character in his epic poem
The Faerie Queene (1590).
Lalage
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Rating: 30% based on 30 votes
Derived from Greek
λαλαγέω (lalageo) meaning
"to babble, to prattle". The Roman poet Horace used this name in one of his odes.
Maurice
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French, English
Pronounced: MAW-REES(French) maw-REES(English) MAWR-is(English)
Rating: 30% based on 1 vote
From the Roman name
Mauritius, a derivative of
Maurus.
Saint Maurice was a 3rd-century Roman soldier from Egypt. He and the other Christians in his legion were supposedly massacred on the orders of Emperor Maximian for refusing to worship Roman gods. Thus, he is the patron saint of infantry soldiers.
This name was borne by a 6th-century Byzantine emperor. Another notable bearer was Maurice of Nassau (called Maurits in Dutch), a 17th-century prince of Orange who helped establish the Dutch Republic. The name has been used in England since the Norman Conquest, usually in the spelling Morris or Moris.
Undine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: UN-deen(English) un-DEEN(English)
Rating: 30% based on 1 vote
Derived from Latin unda meaning "wave". The word undine was created by the 16th-century Swiss author Paracelsus, who used it for female water spirits.
Gudrun
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Norse Mythology, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, German
Pronounced: GOO-droon(German)
Rating: 29% based on 46 votes
From the Old Norse name
Guðrún meaning
"god's secret lore", derived from the elements
guð "god" and
rún "secret lore, rune". In Norse legend Gudrun was the wife of
Sigurd. After his death she married
Atli, but when he murdered her brothers, she killed her sons by him, fed him their hearts, and then slew him. Her story appears in Norse literature such as the
Eddas and the
Völsungasaga. She is called
Kriemhild in German versions of the tale. This is also an unrelated character in the medieval German epic
Kudrun.
Rufina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian, Spanish, Ancient Roman
Other Scripts: Руфина(Russian)
Pronounced: roo-FEE-na(Spanish)
Rating: 28% based on 5 votes
Bogumiła
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Polish
Pronounced: baw-goo-MYEE-wa
Rating: 28% based on 9 votes
Remedios
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish
Pronounced: reh-MEH-dhyos
Rating: 27% based on 14 votes
Means
"remedies" in Spanish. It is taken from the title of the Virgin
Mary,
Nuestra Señora de los Remedios, meaning "Our Lady of the Remedies".
Allegra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, English (Rare)
Pronounced: al-LEH-gra(Italian) ə-LEHG-rə(English)
Rating: 25% based on 2 votes
Means "cheerful, lively" in Italian. It was borne by a short-lived illegitimate daughter of Lord Byron (1817-1822).
Alecto
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ἀληκτώ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: ə-LEHK-to(English)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Latinized form of Greek
Ἀληκτώ (Alekto), which was derived from
ἄληκτος (alektos) meaning
"unceasing". This was the name of one of the Furies or
Ἐρινύες (Erinyes) in Greek
mythology.
Bronimir
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Polish (Rare)
Other Scripts: Бронимир(Church Slavic)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Eve
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Estonian, Biblical
Other Scripts: חַוָּה(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: EEV(English)
Rating: 20% based on 2 votes
From 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.
Despite this potentially negative association, the name was occasionally used by Christians during the Middle Ages. In the English-speaking world both Eve and the Latin form Eva were revived in the 19th century, with the latter being more common.
Kermit
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KUR-mit
Rating: 20% based on 9 votes
From a rare (Americanized) Manx surname, a variant of the Irish surname
Mac Diarmada, itself derived from the given name
Diarmaid. This was the name of a son of Theodore Roosevelt born in 1889. He was named after a relative of his mother, Robert Kermit. The name is now associated with Kermit the Frog, a Muppet created by puppeteer Jim Henson in 1955.
Polyxena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Πολυξένη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: pə-LIK-sin-ə(English)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Latinized form of Greek
Πολυξένη (Polyxene), which was from the word
πολύξενος (polyxenos) meaning
"entertaining many guests, very hospitable", itself derived from
πολύς (polys) meaning "many" and
ξένος (xenos) meaning "foreigner, guest". In Greek legend she was a daughter of
Priam and
Hecuba, beloved by
Achilles. After the Trojan War, Achilles' son
Neoptolemus sacrificed her.
Radoslav
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Czech, Slovak, Serbian, Croatian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Medieval Slavic [1]
Other Scripts: Радослав(Serbian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Church Slavic, Russian)
Pronounced: RA-do-slaf(Czech) RA-daw-slow(Slovak)
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Ulrika
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swedish
Pronounced: uyl-REE-ka
Rating: 20% based on 1 vote
Swedish feminine form of
Ulrich. This was the name of two queens of Sweden.
Hippolyta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ἱππολύτη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: hi-PAHL-i-tə(English)
Rating: 15% based on 2 votes
Latinized form of
Hippolyte 1. In Shakespeare's comedy
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595) she is the queen of the Amazons, due to marry
Theseus the Duke of Athens.
Jemima
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical, English
Other Scripts: יְמִימָה(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: jə-MIE-mə(English)
Rating: 15% based on 2 votes
Means
"dove" in Hebrew. This was the oldest of the three daughters of Job in the
Old Testament. As an English name,
Jemima first became common during the
Puritan era.
Topazia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian (Rare)
Pronounced: to-PA-tsya, to-PA-tsee-a
Rating: 10% based on 1 vote
Elaborated from the Italian word
topazio meaning "topaz".
A notable bearer was Italian painter Topazia Alliata (1913-2015).
Claudio
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian, Spanish
Pronounced: KLOW-dyo(Italian) KLOW-dhyo(Spanish)
Clemency
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: KLEH-mən-see, KLEH-mənt-see
Medieval variant of
Clemence. It can also simply mean "clemency, mercy" from the English word, ultimately from Latin
clemens "merciful".
Didem
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Turkish
Meaning unknown, possibly from Persian
دیده (dideh) meaning
"eye".
Elmira 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: ehl-MIE-rə(English) ehl-MEER-ə(English)
Possibly a shortened form of
Edelmira. It appears in the play
Tartuffe (1664) by the French playwright Molière (often spelled in the French style
Elmire).
Ezio
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: EHT-tsyo
Fernanda
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish, Portuguese, Italian
Pronounced: fehr-NAN-da(Spanish)
Spanish, Portuguese and Italian feminine form of
Ferdinand.
Fortunata
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish, Portuguese (Rare), Late Roman
Pronounced: for-too-NA-ta(Italian, Spanish)
Georgette
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: ZHAWR-ZHEHT
French feminine form of
George.
Herleva
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Germanic (Latinized)
Possibly from the Old German elements
heri "army" and
leiba "remainder, remnant, legacy" (or the Old Norse cognates
herr and
leif, see
Herleif). This was the name of the mother of William the Conqueror, who, according to tradition, was a commoner.
Ilinca
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Romanian
Jabez
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: יַעְבֵץ(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: JAY-behz(English)
Means
"sorrow" in Hebrew. This is the name of a character in the
Old Testament who is blessed by God.
Janet
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: JAN-it
Medieval
diminutive of
Jane. This was a popular name throughout the English-speaking world in the 20th century, especially the 1930s to the 60s. Its popularity has since faded.
Lăcrămioara
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Romanian
Means
"lily of the valley" in Romanian (species Convallaria majalis). It is derived from a
diminutive form of
lacrămă "tear".
Leona
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Czech
Pronounced: lee-O-nə(English) LEH-o-na(Czech)
Lucero
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish (Mexican), Spanish (Latin American)
Pronounced: loo-SEH-ro(Latin American Spanish) loo-THEH-ro(European Spanish)
Means
"light source, bright star, morning star" in Spanish, a derivative of
luz "light". Occasionally it is used as a
diminutive of the name
Luz. It is most common in Mexico and Colombia.
Ludovico
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: loo-do-VEE-ko
Luisa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish, Italian
Pronounced: LWEE-sa(Spanish) LWEE-za(Italian)
May
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MAY
Derived from the name of the month of May, which derives from
Maia, the name of a Roman goddess. May is also another name of the hawthorn flower. It is also used as a
diminutive of
Mary,
Margaret or
Mabel.
Radmila
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Serbian, Croatian, Czech
Other Scripts: Радмила(Serbian)
Pronounced: RAD-mi-la(Czech)
Serbian, Croatian and Czech feminine form of
Radomil.
Roland
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, German, Swedish, Dutch, Hungarian, Polish, Slovak, Albanian, Georgian, Medieval French
Other Scripts: როლანდ(Georgian)
Pronounced: RO-lənd(English) RAW-LAHN(French) RO-lant(German) RO-lahnt(Dutch) RO-lawnd(Hungarian) RAW-lant(Polish)
From the Old German elements
hruod meaning "fame" and
lant meaning "land", though some theories hold that the second element was originally
nand meaning "brave"
[1].
Roland was an 8th-century military commander, serving under Charlemagne, who was killed by the Basques at the Battle of Roncevaux. His name was recorded in Latin as Hruodlandus. His tale was greatly embellished in the 11th-century French epic La Chanson de Roland, in which he is a nephew of Charlemagne killed in battle with the Saracens. The Normans introduced the name to England.
Thirza
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Dutch
Pronounced: TIR-za
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