Browse Names - Behind the Name

Ai 1 f Japanese
From Japanese 愛 (ai) meaning "love, affection", 藍 (ai) meaning "indigo", or other kanji with the same pronunciation.

Aoi f & m Japanese
From Japanese 葵 (aoi) meaning "hollyhock, althea" or an adjectival form of 碧 (ao) meaning "green, blue". Other kanji with the same reading can form this name as well.

Asena f Turkish
Possibly of Scythian origin meaning "blue". In Turkic mythology Asena was a grey wolf who gave birth to the ancestor of the Ashina tribe of Turks.

Astrit m Albanian
Means "green whip snake, dragon" in Albanian.

Azzurra f Italian
Means "azure, sky blue" in Italian.

Bíborka f Hungarian
Derived from Hungarian bíbor meaning "purple".

Bích f & m Vietnamese
From Sino-Vietnamese 碧 (bích) meaning "bluish green, cyan".

Blerta f Albanian
Derived from Albanian blertë meaning "green".

Blue m & f English (Rare)
From the English word for the colour, derived via Norman French from a Frankish word (replacing the native Old English cognate blaw). Despite the fact that this name was used by the American musicians Beyoncé and Jay-Z in 2012 for their first daughter, it has not come into general use in the United States.

Bora 3 f Korean
Means "purple" in Korean.

Caeso m Ancient Roman
Roman praenomen, or given name, that was probably derived from Latin caesius meaning "blue-grey". This praenomen was only used by a few families.

Chloe f English, Biblical, Biblical Latin, Biblical Greek, Ancient Greek, Greek Mythology
Means "green shoot" in Greek, referring to new plant growth in the spring. This was an epithet of the Greek goddess Demeter. The name is also mentioned by Paul in one of his epistles in the New Testament.... [more]

Chloris f Greek Mythology
Derived from Greek χλωρός (chloros) meaning "pale green". Chloris, in Greek mythology, was a minor goddess of vegetation.

Cyan f & m English (Rare)
From the English word meaning "greenish blue, cyan", ultimately derived from Greek κύανος (kyanos).

Diindiisi f & m Ojibwe
Means "blue jay" in Ojibwe.

Gökçe f Turkish
Means "blue" in Turkish.

Gormlaith f Old Irish
Derived from Old Irish gorm "blue" or "illustrious" and flaith "ruler, sovereign, princess". This was the name of several medieval Irish royals, including the wife of the 11th-century king Brian Boru.

Irvine m English, Scottish
From a surname that was a variant of Irving.

Irving m English, Jewish
From a Scottish surname that was derived from the town of Irvine in North Ayrshire, itself named for the River Irvine, which is derived from Brythonic elements meaning "green water". Historically this name has been relatively common among Jews, who have used it as an American-sounding form of Hebrew names beginning with I such as Isaac, Israel and Isaiah. A famous bearer was the Russian-American songwriter and lyricist Irving Berlin (1888-1989), whose birth name was Israel Beilin.

Kahurangi f & m Maori
From the name of a type of green gemstone found in New Zealand, meaning "sky blue" in Maori.

Kaltrina f Albanian
Possibly from Albanian kaltër meaning "blue, azure".

Khazhak m Armenian
Means "blue-eyed" in Armenian.

Legolas m Literature
Means "green leaves" in the fictional language Sindarin, from laeg "green" combined with go-lass "collection of leaves". In The Lord of the Rings (1954) by J. R. R. Tolkien, Legolas is the son of the elf lord Thranduil and a member of the Fellowship of the Ring.

Livius m Ancient Roman
Roman family name that may be related to either Latin liveo "to envy" or lividus "blue, envious". Titus Livius, also known as Livy, was a Roman historian who wrote a history of the city of Rome.

Midori f Japanese
From Japanese 緑 (midori) meaning "green", as well as other kanji or kanji combinations that have the same pronunciation.

Nila f Tamil, Hindi, Indonesian, Burmese
From Sanskrit नील (nīla) meaning "dark blue".

Nilam f & m Hindi, Marathi
From Sanskrit नील (nīla) meaning "dark blue".

Nilesh m Marathi
From Sanskrit नील (nīla) meaning "dark blue" and ईश (īśa) meaning "lord, ruler".

Nilima f Marathi, Hindi, Telugu
From Sanskrit नील (nīla) meaning "dark blue".

Ntsuab f Hmong
Means "green" in Hmong.

Porfirio m Spanish, Italian (Rare)
Derived from the Greek name Πορφύριος (Porphyrios), which was derived from the word πορφύρα (porphyra) meaning "purple dye". This was the name of several early saints.

Qing f & m Chinese
From Chinese 青 (qīng) meaning "blue, green, young", as well as other characters pronounced in a similar way.

Qinglong m Chinese Mythology
From Chinese 青 (qīng) meaning "blue, green" and 龙 (lóng) meaning "dragon". This is the Chinese name of the Azure Dragon, associated with the east and the spring season.

Shyama m & f Hinduism, Hindi
Derived from Sanskrit श्याम (śyāma) meaning "dark, black, blue". This is a transcription of both the masculine form श्याम (another name of the Hindu god Krishna) and the feminine form श्यामा (another name of the goddess Kali).

Shyamal m Bengali
From Sanskrit श्यामल (śyāmala), a derivative of श्याम (śyāma) meaning "dark, black, blue".

Shyamala f Tamil, Telugu, Marathi
Feminine form of Shyamal.

Sini f Finnish
Means "blue" in Finnish. More specifically, sini is a poetic term for the colour blue.

Sirje f Estonian
Possibly from Estonian sinisirje meaning "blue-feathered", a word associated with a magical bird in the Estonian national epic Kalevipoeg (1857) by Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald. Apparently this name was suggested by the linguist Julius Mägiste in the 1920s. It was subsequently used in the 1945 opera Tasuleegid by Eugen Kapp.

Sunil m Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Assamese, Gujarati, Punjabi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Nepali
From Sanskrit सु (su) meaning "good, very" combined with नील (nīla) meaning "dark blue".

Thanh f & m Vietnamese
From Sino-Vietnamese 青 (thanh) meaning "blue, green, young" or 聲 (thanh) meaning "sound, voice, tone".

Uaithne m Medieval Irish
Possibly from Old Irish úaine meaning "green". Alternatively, it may come from the name of the Irish tribe the Uaithni.

Žydrė f Lithuanian
From Lithuanian žydra meaning "light blue".

Žydrūnas m Lithuanian
From Lithuanian žydra meaning "light blue" (using the patronymic suffix ūnas).

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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

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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
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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

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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

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name impressions are based on the ratings left by the behindthename.com community
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name impressions are based on the ratings left by the behindthename.com community

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