Browse Names - Behind the Name

Aline f French, Portuguese (Brazilian), English
Medieval short form of Adeline. As an English name, in modern times it has sometimes been regarded as a variant of Eileen. This was the name of a popular 1965 song by the French singer Christophe.

Amel 2 f Arabic (Maghrebi)
Alternate transcription of Arabic آمال (see Aamaal) chiefly used in North Africa.

Anaëlle f French
Created in the 20th century, probably modelled on Breton names such as Gaëlle and Maëlle.

Angélique f French
French form of Angelica.

Ania f Polish, Russian
Polish diminutive of Anna, and an alternate transcription of Russian Аня (see Anya).

Asiye f Turkish
Turkish form of Asiya.

Ayaka f Japanese
From Japanese 彩 (aya) meaning "colour" combined with 花 (ka) or 華 (ka) both meaning "flower". Other kanji combinations are possible.

Badr m & f Arabic
Means "full moon" in Arabic.

Chantal f French, English, Dutch
From a French surname that was derived from a place name meaning "stony". It was originally given in honour of Saint Jeanne-Françoise de Chantal, the founder of the Visitation Order in the 17th century. It has become associated with French chant "song".

Charmaine f English
Meaning unknown, perhaps a combination of Charmian or the English word charm with the aine suffix from Lorraine. It was (first?) used for a character in the play What Price Glory (1924), which was made into a popular movie in 1926.

Chiara f Italian
Italian form of Clara. Saint Chiara (commonly called Clare in English) was a follower of Saint Francis of Assisi.

Dakota m & f English (Modern)
From the name of the Native American people of the northern Mississippi Valley, or from the two American states that were named for them: North and South Dakota (until 1889 unified as the Dakota Territory). The tribal name means "allies, friends" in the Dakota language.... [more]

Débora f Spanish, Portuguese, French (Rare)
Spanish, Portuguese and French form of Deborah.

Ekaterina f Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian
Bulgarian and Macedonian form of Katherine, and an alternate transcription of Russian Екатерина (see Yekaterina).

Elina f Finnish, Estonian, Swedish
Finnish, Estonian and Swedish form of Helen.

Emi f Japanese
From Japanese 恵 (e) meaning "favour, benefit" or 絵 (e) meaning "picture, painting" combined with 美 (mi) meaning "beautiful". Other kanji combinations are possible.

Germaine f French
French feminine form of Germain. Saint Germaine was a 16th-century peasant girl from France.

Hatice f Turkish
Turkish form of Khadija.

Hélène f French
French form of Helen.

Hinata f & m Japanese
From Japanese 日向 (hinata) meaning "sunny place", 陽向 (hinata) meaning "toward the sun", or a non-standard reading of 向日葵 (himawari) meaning "sunflower". Other kanji compounds are also possible. Because of the irregular readings, this name is often written using the hiragana writing system.

Hiroko f Japanese
From Japanese 寛 (hiro) meaning "tolerant, generous", 裕 (hiro) meaning "abundant" or 浩 (hiro) meaning "prosperous" combined with 子 (ko) meaning "child". Other kanji combinations are possible.

Hülya f Turkish
Means "daydream" in Turkish.

Ilonka f Hungarian, Czech
Hungarian and Czech diminutive of Ilona.

Iman f & m Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Indonesian, Malay
Means "faith" in Arabic, derived from أمن (ʾamuna) meaning "to be faithful". It is typically feminine in Arabic and masculine in Persian.

Jasminka f Croatian
Croatian diminutive of Jasmina.

Josefine f Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, German
Scandinavian and German form of Joséphine.

Julija f Slovene, Croatian, Lithuanian
Slovene, Croatian and Lithuanian form of Julia.

Kaitlin f English (Modern)
Variant of Caitlin.

Karolina f Polish, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Hungarian, Slovene, Croatian, Macedonian, Lithuanian, German
Feminine form of Carolus.

Laëtitia f French
French form of Laetitia.

Ludivine f French
Possibly from a feminine form of Leutwin. It was popularized in the 1970s by a character from the French miniseries Les Gens de Mogador.

Mai 2 f Japanese
From Japanese 舞 (mai) meaning "dance" or 麻衣 (mai) meaning "linen robe". It can also come from 真 (ma) meaning "real, genuine" combined with 愛 (ai) meaning "love, affection". Other kanji or kanji combinations can also form this name.

Megumi f Japanese
From Japanese 恵 (megumi) meaning "favour, benefit" or 愛 (megumi) meaning "love, affection", as well as other kanji or kanji combinations that have the same reading. It is often written using the hiragana writing system.

Mellony f English (Rare)
Variant of Melanie.

Meryem f Turkish, Uyghur
Turkish and Uyghur form of Miriam (see Mary).

Misaki f Japanese
From Japanese 美 (mi) meaning "beautiful" and 咲 (saki) meaning "blossom". This name can be formed from other combinations of kanji as well.

Mizuki f Japanese
From Japanese 瑞 (mizu) meaning "felicitous omen, auspicious" and 希 (ki) meaning "hope", besides other kanji combinations.

Naoko f Japanese
From Japanese 直 (nao) meaning "straight, direct" and 子 (ko) meaning "child", as well as other kanji combinations.

Nevenka f Croatian, Serbian, Slovene
Variant of Nevena.

Nili f Hebrew
Acronym of the phrase נצח ישׂראל לא ישׁקר (Netzach Yisrael Lo Yishaker) meaning "the eternity of Israel will not lie". This phrase appears in the Old Testament in 1 Samuel 15:29. It was used as the name of a Jewish spy network in Palestine during World War I.

Oksana f Ukrainian, Russian
Ukrainian form of Xenia.

Özlem f Turkish
Means "yearning" in Turkish.

Qiu m & f Chinese
From Chinese 秋 (qiū) meaning "autumn", 丘 (qiū) meaning "hill, mound", or other characters with a similar pronunciation. The given name of the philosopher Confucius was 丘.

Remy m & f English (Modern)
English form of Rémy, occasionally used as a feminine name.

Sabriye f Turkish
Turkish form of Sabriyya.

Sakura f Japanese
From Japanese 桜 (sakura) meaning "cherry blossom", though it is often written using the hiragana writing system. It can also come from 咲 (saku) meaning "blossom" and 良 (ra) meaning "good, virtuous, respectable" as well as other kanji combinations.

Sammy m & f English
Diminutive of Samuel, Samson or Samantha.

Saori f Japanese
From Japanese 沙 (sa) meaning "sand" or 早 (sa) meaning "already, now" combined with 織 (ori) meaning "weaving". Other kanji combinations can also form this name.

Saskia f Dutch, German
From the Old German element sahso meaning "a Saxon". The Saxons were a Germanic tribe, their name ultimately deriving from the Germanic word *sahsą meaning "knife". Saskia van Uylenburgh (1612-1642) was the wife of the Dutch painter Rembrandt.

Tessa f English, Dutch
Contracted form of Theresa.

Wakana f Japanese
From Japanese 和 (wa) meaning "harmony, peace" and 奏 (kana) meaning "play music, complete", as well as other combinations of kanji that are pronounced the same way.

Wei m & f Chinese
From Chinese 威 (wēi) meaning "power, pomp", 巍 (wēi) meaning "high, lofty, towering" or 伟 (wěi) meaning "great, robust, extraordinary". As a feminine name it can come from 微 (wēi) meaning "small" or 薇 (wēi) meaning "fern". This name can be formed by other Chinese characters besides those shown here.

Wu m & f Chinese
From Chinese 武 (wǔ) meaning "military, martial" (which is generally only masculine) or 务 (wù) meaning "affairs, business", as well as other characters that are pronounced similarly. This was the name of several Chinese rulers, including the 2nd-century BC emperor Wu of Han (a posthumous name, spelled 武) who expanded the empire and made Confucianism the state philosophy.

Yuki f & m Japanese
From Japanese 幸 (yuki) meaning "happiness" or 雪 (yuki) meaning "snow". It can also come from 由 (yu) meaning "reason, cause" combined with 貴 (ki) meaning "valuable" or 紀 (ki) meaning "chronicle". Other kanji or kanji combinations are also possible.

Yulia f Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian
Alternate transcription of Russian Юлия or Ukrainian/Belarusian Юлія (see Yuliya).

Zehra f Turkish, Urdu
Turkish and Urdu form of Zahra 1 or Zahra 2.

Zoila f Spanish
Spanish feminine form of Zoilus.

Usage	clear
Language	clear
Place	clear

Initial	clear
Start	clear
End	clear
Substring	clear
Pattern	clear help?
the letters in the pattern are compared to the letters in the name * is a wildcard that matches zero or more letters example: oo matches names which contain oo _ is a wildcard that matches exactly one letter example: __z matches names which have two letters and then z

Meaning	clear help?
	expand search to include grammatical forms
	expand search to include close synonyms
	expand search to include subclasses
	expand search to related names
separate search terms with spaces search for an exact phrase by surrounding it with double quotes this field understands simple boolean logic force a term to be included by preceding it with a + sign force a term to be excluded by preceding it with a - sign expand search to include grammatical forms: attempt to include grammatical forms of the meanings example: speak includes spoke expand search to include close synonyms: attempt to include synonyms of the meanings example: brave includes courageous expand search to include search narrower synonyms: attempt to include subclasses of the meanings example: reptile includes turtle expand search to related names: allow related names to inherit the meaning of the main form
Description	clear help?
	ignore name meanings
the description is the meaning and history write-up for the name separate search terms with spaces search for an exact phrase by surrounding it with double quotes example: "lord of the rings" matches names from the novel 'The Lord of the Rings' this field understands simple boolean logic force a term to be included by preceding it with a + sign force a term to be excluded by preceding it with a - sign example: +greek +(legend myth) -zeus matches Greek names of myths or legends not about Zeus ignore name meanings: keywords from the name meanings are ignored

Pronunciation	clear help?
	case sensitive
see the pronunciation key for a guide on how to write the sounds sounds can only be searched in names that have been assigned pronunciations * is a wildcard that will match zero or more letters in the pronunciation example: lee matches names which end with the sound lee* _ is a wildcard that will match exactly one letter in the pronunciation example: __z matches names which have two letters and then a z (s) matches exactly one syllable in the pronunciation example: (s)(s)ra matches names which have two syllables and then the sound rah (c) matches a consonant (k) matches a consonant or consonant cluster (v) matches a vowel (p) matches a plosive or stop consonant (f) matches a fricative consonant (n) matches a nasal consonant case sensitive: check this if you wish distinguish between unstressed lowercase sounds and stressed uppercase sounds
Syllables	clear help?
syllables can only be counted in names that have been assigned pronunciations names without pronunciations are excluded from results

Related name	clear
Relationship	clear help?
	expand search to ancestral names
the "relationship" is how the name relates to its parent name example: searching for diminutive matches Betsy because it is a diminutive of its parent Elizabeth selecting *(all core forms)* excludes peripheral forms such as diminutives, short forms, and combinations expand search to ancestral names: relationships between names further up the family tree are included

Impression	clear help?
name impressions are based on the ratings left by the behindthename.com community
Impression	clear help?
name impressions are based on the ratings left by the behindthename.com community
Impression	clear help?
name impressions are based on the ratings left by the behindthename.com community

Category	clear help?
names have been assigned to categories by members of the behindthename.com community (the name's categories are listed at the bottom of the name's page) to search for multiple categories, separate with a comma * is a wildcard that matches zero or more letters in the category

List	clear
Year	clear
Rank	clear

Country	clear
Month	clear
Day	clear

Sort	clear
Display	clear