Browse Names

Alder m English (Rare)
From the English word for the tree (comprising the genus Alnus), derived from Old English alor.

Ash m & f English
Short form of Ashley. It can also come directly from the English word denoting either the tree or the residue of fire.

Ashley f & m English
From an English surname that was originally derived from place names meaning "ash tree clearing", from a combination of Old English æsc and leah. Until the 1960s it was more commonly given to boys in the United States, but it is now most often used on girls. It reached its height of popularity in America in 1987, but it did not become the highest ranked name until 1991, being overshadowed by the likewise-popular Jessica until then. In the United Kingdom it is still more common as a masculine name.

Ashton m & f English (Modern)
From an English surname, itself derived from a place name meaning "ash tree town" in Old English. This was a rare masculine name until the 1980s, when it gradually began becoming more common for both genders. Inspired by the female character Ashton Main from the 1985 miniseries North and South, parents in America gave it more frequently to girls than boys from 1986 to 1997. Since then it has been overwhelmingly masculine once again, perhaps due in part to the fame of the actor Ashton Kutcher (1978-).

Barclay m English (Rare)
From a Scottish and English surname that was derived from the English place name Berkeley, itself from Old English beorc "birch" and leah "woodland, clearing".

Basil 1 m English
From the Greek name Βασίλειος (Basileios), which was derived from βασιλεύς (basileus) meaning "king". Saint Basil the Great was a 4th-century bishop of Caesarea and one of the fathers of the early Christian church. Due to him, the name (in various spellings) has come into general use in the Christian world, being especially popular among Eastern Christians. It was also borne by two Byzantine emperors.

Bentley m English
From a surname that was from a place name, itself derived from Old English beonet "bent grass" and leah "woodland, clearing". Various towns in England bear this name.

Benton m English
From a surname that was derived from a place name, composed of Old English beonet "bent grass" and tun "enclosure".

Berry 1 m English
Variant of Barry.

Brandon m English
From an English surname that was derived from a place name meaning "hill covered with broom" in Old English.... [more]

Briar m & f English (Modern)
From the English word for the thorny plant.

Briscoe m English (Rare)
From an English surname that was derived from a place name meaning "birch wood" in Old Norse.

Bud m English
Short form of Buddy.

Cedar f & m English (Rare)
From the English word for the coniferous tree, derived (via Old French and Latin) from Greek κέδρος (kedros). Besides the true cedars from the genus Cedrus, it is also used to refer to some tree species in the cypress family.

Chesley m & f English (Rare)
From a surname that was originally from a place name meaning "camp meadow" in Old English.

Cosmo m Italian, English
Italian variant of Cosimo. It was introduced to Britain in the 18th century by the second Scottish Duke of Gordon, who named his son and successor after his friend Cosimo III de' Medici. On the American sitcom Seinfeld (1989-1998) this was the seldom-used first name of Jerry's neighbour Kramer.

Dallas m & f English
From a surname that could either be of Old English origin meaning "valley house" or of Scottish Gaelic origin meaning "meadow dwelling". A city in Texas bears this name, probably in honour of American Vice President George M. Dallas (1792-1864).

Darnell m English, African American
From an English surname that was derived from Old French darnel, a type of grass. In some cases the surname may be from a place name, itself derived from Old English derne "hidden" and halh "nook".

Deforest m English
From a French surname meaning "from the forest". It was originally given in honour of American author John Deforest (1826-1906).

Deforrest m English (Rare)
Variant of Deforest.

Delano m English
From a surname, recorded as de la Noye in French, indicating that the bearer was from a place called La Noue (ultimately Gaulish meaning "wetland, swamp"). It has been used in honour of American president Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945), whose middle name came from his mother's maiden name.

Elmer m English
From a surname that was derived from the Old English name Æðelmær. In the United States it is sometimes given in honour of brothers Jonathan (1745-1817) and Ebenezer Elmer (1752-1843), who were active in early American politics.

Elwood m English
From an English surname that was derived from a place name meaning "elder tree forest" in Old English.

Eustace m English
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.

Fabian m German, Dutch, Polish, Romanian, English
From the Roman cognomen Fabianus, which was derived from Fabius. Saint Fabian was a 3rd-century pope.

Farley m English (Rare)
From a surname that was originally from a place name meaning "fern clearing" in Old English. A notable bearer of this name was Canadian author Farley Mowat (1921-2014).

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

Forest m English
Variant of Forrest, or else directly from the English word forest.

Forrest m English
From an English surname meaning "forest", originally belonging to a person who lived near a forest. In America it has sometimes been used in honour of the Confederate Civil War general Nathan Bedford Forrest (1821-1877). This name was borne by the title character in the movie Forrest Gump (1994) about a loveable simpleton. Use of the name increased when the movie was released, but has since faded away.

Gareth m Welsh, English (British), Arthurian Cycle
Meaning uncertain. It appears in this form in Thomas Malory's 15th-century compilation of Arthurian legends Le Morte d'Arthur, in which the knight Gareth (also named Beaumains) is a brother of Gawain. He goes with Lynet to rescue her sister Lyonesse from the Red Knight. Malory based the name on Gaheriet or Guerrehet, which was the name of a similar character in French sources. It may ultimately have a Welsh origin, possibly from the name Gwrhyd meaning "valour" (found in the tale Culhwch and Olwen) or Gwairydd meaning "hay lord" (found in the chronicle Brut y Brenhinedd).

Garland m English
From a surname meaning "triangle land" from Old English gara and land. The surname originally belonged to a person who owned a triangle-shaped piece of land.

Garrick m English
From an English surname, of French Huguenot origin, that was derived from Occitan garric meaning "oak tree grove".

Garth m English
From an English surname meaning "garden" in Old Norse, originally denoting one who lived near or worked in a garden.

Gresham m English (Rare)
From a surname that was derived from a place name meaning "grazing homestead" in Old English.

Grover m English
From an English surname derived from Old English graf meaning "grove of trees". A famous bearer was the American president Grover Cleveland (1837-1908), who popularized the name in the United States at the end of the 19th century. The name is now associated with a muppet character from the children's television program Sesame Street.

Hadley f & m English
From an English surname that was derived from a place name meaning "heather field" in Old English.

Hayden m & f English
From an English surname that was derived from place names meaning either "hay valley" or "hay hill", derived from Old English heg "hay" and denu "valley" or dun "hill". Its popularity at the end of the 20th century was due to the sound it shared with other trendy names of the time, such as Braden and Aidan.

Haze m & f English (Rare)
Variant of Hayes, sometimes used as a short form of Hazel.

Headley m English (Rare)
Variant of Hedley.

Heath m English
From an English surname that denoted one who lived on a heath. It was popularized as a given name by the character Heath Barkley from the 1960s television series The Big Valley.

Hedley m English (Rare)
From a surname that was derived from a place name meaning "heather clearing" in Old English.

Herb m English
Short form of Herbert.

Hollis m & f English
From an English surname that was derived from Middle English holis "holly trees". It was originally given to a person who lived near a group of those trees.

Indigo f & m English (Modern)
From the English word indigo for the purplish-blue dye or the colour. It is ultimately derived from Greek Ἰνδικόν (Indikon) meaning "Indic, from India".

Ivor m Irish, Scottish, Welsh, English (British)
From the Old Norse name Ívarr, which was probably derived from the elements ýr "yew tree, bow" and herr "army, warrior". During the Middle Ages it was brought to Britain by Scandinavian settlers and invaders, and it was adopted in Ireland (Irish Íomhar), Scotland (Scottish Gaelic Iomhar) and Wales (Welsh Ifor).

Jade f & m English, French
From the name of the precious stone that is often used in carvings. It is derived from Spanish (piedra de la) ijada meaning "(stone of the) flank", relating to the belief that jade could cure renal colic. As a given name, it came into general use during the 1970s. It was initially unisex, though it is now mostly feminine.

Kiefer m English (Modern)
From a German surname meaning either "pine tree" or "barrel maker".

Lauren f & m English
Variant or feminine form of Laurence 1. Originally a masculine name, it was first popularized as a feminine name by actress Betty Jean Perske (1924-2014), who used Lauren Bacall as her stage name.

Laurence 1 m English
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).... [more]

Laverne f & m English
From a French surname that was derived from a place name, ultimately from the Gaulish word vern "alder". It is sometimes associated with the Roman goddess Laverna or the Latin word vernus "of spring".

Layton m English
From a surname that was originally derived from the name of English towns meaning "town with a leek garden" in Old English. Like similar-sounding names such as Peyton and Dayton, this name began rising in popularity in the 1990s.

Les m English
Short form of Leslie or Lester.

Lesley f & m English
Variant of Leslie.

Leslie f & m English
From a Scottish surname that was derived from a place in Aberdeenshire, probably from Gaelic leas celyn meaning "garden of holly". It has been used as a given name since the 19th century. In America it was more common as a feminine name after the 1940s.

Linden m & f English
From a German and Dutch surname that was derived from Old High German linta meaning "linden tree".

Lindon m English (Rare)
From a surname that was a variant of Lyndon.

Linford m English (Rare)
From a surname that was originally taken from place names meaning either "flax ford" or "linden tree ford" in Old English.

Linton m English
From a surname that was originally from place names meaning either "flax town" or "linden tree town" in Old English.

Linwood m English
From an English surname that was originally from a place name meaning "stream forest" in Old English.

Lyndon m English
From an English surname that was derived from a place name meaning "linden tree hill" in Old English. A famous bearer was American president Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973).

Lynton m English (Rare)
Variant of Linton.

Lynwood m English
Variant of Linwood.

Moss m English (Archaic), Jewish
Medieval form of Moses.

Nash m English (Modern)
From an English surname that was derived from the Middle English phrase atten ash "at the ash tree". A famous bearer of the surname was the mathematician John Nash (1928-2015).... [more]

Odell m & f English
From an English surname that was originally from a place name, itself derived from Old English wad "woad" (a plant that produces a blue dye) and hyll "hill".

Ogden m English (Rare)
From a surname that was derived from a place name meaning "oak valley" in Old English. A famous bearer was the humorous American poet Ogden Nash (1902-1971).

Oli m English
Short form of Oliver.

Oliver m English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Estonian, Catalan, Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, Czech, Slovak, Carolingian Cycle
From Old French Olivier, which was possibly derived from Latin oliva "olive tree". Alternatively there could be an underlying Germanic name, such as Old Norse Áleifr (see Olaf) or Frankish Alawar (see Álvaro), with the spelling altered by association with the Latin word. In the Middle Ages the name became well-known in Western Europe because of the French epic La Chanson de Roland, in which Olivier is a friend and advisor to the hero Roland.... [more]

Ollie m & f English
Diminutive of Oliver, Olivia or Olive.

Palmer m & f English
From an English surname meaning "pilgrim". It is ultimately from Latin palma "palm tree", since pilgrims to the Holy Land often brought back palm fronds as proof of their journey.

Pepper f & m English (Modern)
From the English word for the spice, which is prepared from the dried berries of the pepper plant. The word is derived from Latin piper, ultimately from an Indo-Aryan source. In popular culture, Pepper is the nickname of Virginia Potts from the Iron Man series of comic books and movies, created 1963.

Perry m English
From a surname that is either English or Welsh in origin. It can be derived from Middle English perrie meaning "pear tree", or else from Welsh ap Herry, meaning "son of Herry". A famous bearer of the surname was Matthew Perry (1794-1858), the American naval officer who opened Japan to the West.

Ramsey m & f English
From an English and Scottish surname that was derived from a place name meaning "garlic island" in Old English.

Reed m English
From an English surname that was derived from Old English read meaning "red", originally a nickname given to a person with red hair or a ruddy complexion. Unconnected, this is also the English word for tall grass-like plants that grow in marshes.

Ridley m & f English (Rare)
From an English surname that was originally derived from various place names meaning either "reed clearing" or "stripped clearing" in Old English.

Riley m & f English
From a surname that comes from two distinct sources. As an Irish surname it is a variant of Reilly. As an English surname it is derived from a place name meaning "rye clearing" in Old English.... [more]

Roosevelt m English
From a Dutch surname meaning "rose field". This name is often given in honour of American presidents Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) or Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945).

Roscoe m English
From an English surname, originally derived from a place name, itself derived from Old Norse rá "roebuck" and skógr "wood, forest".

Rowan m & f Irish, English (Modern)
Anglicized form of the Irish name Ruadhán. As an English name, it can also be derived from the surname Rowan, itself derived from the Irish given name. It could also be given in reference to the rowan tree, a word of Old Norse origin (coincidentally sharing the same Indo-European root meaning "red" with the Irish name).

Royle m English (Rare)
From a surname that was derived from a place name meaning "rye hill" from Old English ryge "rye" and hyll "hill".

Sage f & m English (Modern)
From the English word sage, which denotes either a type of spice or else a wise person.

Selby m & f English (Rare)
From an English surname that was from a place name meaning "willow farm" in Old Norse.

Sequoia f & m English (Rare)
From the name of huge trees that grow in California. The tree got its name from the 19th-century Cherokee scholar Sequoyah (also known as George Guess), the inventor of the Cherokee writing system.

Shaw m English (Rare)
From a surname. As an English surname it is derived from Old English sceaga meaning "thicket". As a Scottish surname it is derived from the Gaelic byname Sitheach meaning "wolf".

Shelby m & f English
From an English surname, which was possibly a variant of Selby. Though previously in use as a rare masculine name, it was popularized as a feminine name by the main character in the movie The Woman in Red (1935). It was later reinforced by the movie Steel Magnolias (1989) in which Julia Roberts played a character by this name.

Sherwood m English
From an English place name (or from a surname that was derived from it) meaning "bright forest". This was the name of the forest in which the legendary outlaw Robin Hood made his home.

Silas m English, Greek, Danish, German, Biblical, Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek
The name of a companion of Saint Paul in the New Testament. It is probably a short form of Silvanus, a name that Paul calls him by in the epistles. It is possible that Silvanus and Silas were Latin and Greek forms of the Hebrew name Saul (via Aramaic).... [more]

Silvester m Slovak, Slovene, Serbian, German, English, Late Roman
From a Latin name meaning "wooded, wild", derived from silva "wood, forest". This was the name of three popes, including Saint Silvester I who supposedly baptized the first Christian Roman emperor, Constantine the Great. As an English name, Silvester (or Sylvester) has been in use since the Middle Ages, though it became less common after the Protestant Reformation.

Sly m English
Short form of Sylvester. The actor Sylvester Stallone (1946-) is a well-known bearer of this nickname.

Sylas m English (Modern), Biblical Polish
Variant of Silas, as well as the form found in the Polish New Testament.

Sylvan m English
Either a variant of Silvanus or directly from the Latin word silva meaning "wood, forest".

Sylvanus m English (Archaic)
Variant of Silvanus.

Sylvester m English, German, Danish
Medieval variant of Silvester. This is currently the usual English spelling of the name. A famous bearer is the American actor Sylvester Stallone (1946-).

Thorley m English (Rare)
From a surname that was derived from a place name meaning "thorn clearing" in Old English.

Thornton m English
From a surname that was derived from a place name meaning "thorn town" in Old English.

Timothy m English, Biblical
English form of the Greek name Τιμόθεος (Timotheos) meaning "honouring God", derived from τιμάω (timao) meaning "to honour" and θεός (theos) meaning "god". Saint Timothy was a companion of Paul on his missionary journeys and was the recipient of two of Paul's epistles that appear in the New Testament. He was of both Jewish and Greek ancestry. According to tradition, he was martyred at Ephesus after protesting the worship of Artemis. As an English name, Timothy was not used until after the Protestant Reformation.

Tyrone m English, African American
From the name of a county in Northern Ireland, which is derived from Irish Gaelic Tir Eoghain meaning "land of Eoghan". This name was popularized by American actor Tyrone Power (1914-1958), who was named after his great-grandfather, an Irish actor.

Vere m English (Rare)
From a Norman surname, which was from a French place name, which was itself derived from a Gaulish word meaning "alder".

Vernon m English
From a Norman surname, which was from a French place name, ultimately derived from the Gaulish word vern meaning "alder".

Wes m English
Short form of Wesley.

Wesley m English
From an English surname that was derived from a place name, itself meaning "west meadow" from Old English west "west" and leah "woodland, clearing". It has been sometimes given in honour of John Wesley (1703-1791), the founder of Methodism.

Wilford m English
From a surname that was originally derived from a place name meaning "willow ford" in Old English.

Willoughby m & f English (Rare)
From a surname that was originally derived from a place name meaning "willow town" in Old English.

Wilt m English
Short form of Wilton. This name was borne by basketball player Wilt Chamberlain (1936-1999).

Wilton m English
From a surname that was derived from the names of several English towns. The town names mean variously "willow town", "well town" or "town on the River Wylye" in Old English. The river name is itself of Celtic origin, possibly meaning "tricky".

York m English
From an English surname that was derived from York, the name of a city in northern England. The city name was originally Eburacon, Latinized as Eboracum, meaning "yew" in Brythonic. In the Anglo-Saxon period it was corrupted to Eoforwic, as if from Old English eofor "boar" and wic "village". This was rendered as Jórvík by the Vikings and eventually reduced to York.