Riez's Personal Name List

Feminine form of Zorion.

Hebrew form of Jotham.

Greek form of the Old Persian name 𐎧𐏁𐎹𐎠𐎼𐏁𐎠 (Xšayarša), which meant "ruler over heroes". This was the name of a 5th-century BC king of Persia, the son of Darius the Great. He attempted an invasion of Greece, which ended unsuccessfully at the battle of Salamis.

Means "firstborn daughter" in Dakota or Lakota. According to folklore, this was the name of a daughter of a Dakota chief (possibly Wapasha III) who leapt from a cliff to her death rather than marry a man she hated. Numerous places in the United States have been named after her. The actress Winona Ryder (1971-) was named after the city in Minnesota where she was born.

Dutch and German feminine form of Wilhelm. This name was borne by a queen of the Netherlands (1880-1962).

German cognate of Wayland.

English form of Gwrtheyrn.

Ukrainian cognate of Vera 1.

From Lithuanian viltis "hope" and tauta "people, nation".

Means "gentle" in Finnish.

Latin form of Virgil.

Means "king over warriors" from Gaulish wer "on, over" combined with kingeto "marching men, warriors" and rix "king". This name was borne by a 1st-century BC chieftain of the Gaulish tribe the Arverni. He led the resistance against Julius Caesar's attempts to conquer Gaul, but he was eventually defeated, brought to Rome, and executed.

Derived from the Slavic elements velĭ "great" and mirŭ "peace, world".

Diminutive of Varvara.

Means "twinflower" in Finnish.

Variant of Valerie.

From the Old Norse name Þórgeirr, which meant "Thor's spear" from the name of the Norse god Þórr (see Thor) combined with geirr "spear".

Possibly from Nahuatl tlālloh meaning "covered with earth" [1], derived from tlālli meaning "earth, land, soil". This was the name of the Aztec god of rain and fertility, the husband of Chalchiuhtlicue.

Means "avenging murder" in Greek, derived from τίσις (tisis) meaning "vengeance" and φόνος (phonos) meaning "murder". This was the name of one of the Furies or Ἐρινύες (Erinyes) in Greek mythology. She killed Cithaeron with the bite of one of the snakes on her head.

Means "daughter of twilight, nightingale" in the fictional language Sindarin. In the Silmarillion (1977) by J. R. R. Tolkien, Tinuviel was another name of Lúthien, the daughter of Thingol the elf king. She was the beloved of Beren, who with her help retrieved one of the Silmarils from the iron crown of Morgoth.

Frisian form of Diede.

From Akkadian tâmtu meaning "sea". In Babylonian myth Tiamat was the personification of the sea, appearing in the form of a huge dragon. By Apsu she gave birth to the first of the gods. Later, the god Marduk (her great-grandson) defeated her, cut her in half, and used the pieces of her body to make the earth and the sky.

Means "third" in Spanish. This name was traditionally given to the third child born.

Either a Portuguese form of Thelma or a feminine form of Telmo.

Short form of Terence or Terry 1.

Finnish short form of Dorothea.

From an English surname that was originally derived from a place name meaning "Tata's homestead" in Old English. It was brought to public attention by the child actress Tatum O'Neal (1963-) in the 1970s, though it did not catch on. It attained a modest level of popularity after 1996, when it was borne by a character in the movie Scream.

This is the name of waterfalls in Georgia. Popularly claimed to mean "leaping waters" in the Choctaw language, it may actually mean "town" in the Creek language. It was borne by American actress Tallulah Bankhead (1902-1968), who was named after her grandmother, who may have been named after the waterfalls.

Italian form of Thaïs.

Means "star" in Finnish and Estonian.

Means "gazelle" in Aramaic. Tabitha in the New Testament was a woman restored to life by Saint Peter. Her name is translated into Greek as Dorcas (see Acts 9:36). As an English name, Tabitha became common after the Protestant Reformation. It was popularized in the 1960s by the television show Bewitched, in which Tabitha (sometimes spelled Tabatha) is the daughter of the main character.

Means "smiling" in Arabic.

Simply from the English word, ultimately deriving from Greek σύμφωνος (symphonos) meaning "concordant in sound".

Anglicized form of the Old Norse name Sumarliði meaning "summer traveller". This was the name of a 12th-century Norse-Gaelic king of Mann and the Scottish Isles.

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).

Latin form of Solange.

Means "solitude" in Spanish. It is taken from the title of the Virgin Mary, María de la Soledad, meaning "Mary of Solitude".

French form of the Late Latin name Sollemnia, which was derived from Latin sollemnis "religious". This was the name of a French shepherdess who became a saint after she was killed by her master.

Variant of Zisel.

Diminutive of Siet.

Means "feather" in Choctaw.

Means "red, scarlet" in Hebrew.

Feminine form of Septimus.

Meaning unknown, possibly a short form of Anselma. It could also have been inspired by James Macpherson's 18th-century poems, in which it is the name of Ossian's castle.

From a Late Latin name that was derived from scholasticus meaning "rhetorician, orator". Saint Scholastica was a 6th-century Benedictine abbess, the sister of Saint Benedict of Nursia.

Anglicized form of Shahrazad.

Meaning uncertain, possibly a derivative of Mapuche ayün "love".

Means "of the sun" in Sanskrit. This is the name of a hymn in the Rigveda dedicated to Savitr, a sun god. This is also the name of Savitr's daughter, a wife of Brahma, considered an aspect of Saraswati. In the Hindu epic the Mahabharata it is borne by King Satyavan's wife, who successfully pleas with Yama, the god of death, to restore her husband to life.

Means "fairy tale, fable" in Finnish.

From Japanese 里 (sato) meaning "village" or 聡 (sato) meaning "intelligent, clever, bright" combined with 美 (mi) meaning "beautiful". Other kanji combinations are possible.

Means "moonlight" in Mongolian, from саран (saran) meaning "moon" and гэрэл (gerel) meaning "light".

From an Aramaic name that was related to the Hebrew word שָׁלוֹם (shalom) meaning "peace". According to the historian Josephus this was the name of the daughter of Herodias (the consort of Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee). In the New Testament, though a specific name is not given, it was a daughter of Herodias who danced for Herod and was rewarded with the head of John the Baptist, and thus Salome and the dancer have traditionally been equated.

As a Christian given name, Salome has been in occasional use since the Protestant Reformation. This was due to a second person of this name in the New Testament: one of the women who witnessed the crucifixion and later discovered that Jesus' tomb was empty. It is used in Georgia due to the 4th-century Salome of Ujarma, who is considered a saint in the Georgian Church.

Greek form of Shealtiel. This form is also used in some English translations of the Bible (including the King James Version).

Diminutive of Sari 1.

Diminutive of Sarah.

From Japanese 幸 (sachi) meaning "happiness, good luck" and 子 (ko) meaning "child". Other kanji combinations are possible.

From a now extinct English surname that was derived from a Norman place name. It was occasionally given in honour of the English preacher Henry Sacheverell (1674-1724), especially by the Sitwell noble family.

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

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

Means "ruddy, rosy" in Bulgarian and Macedonian.

Croatian diminutive of Rozalija.

Means "rose" in Russian, Bulgarian and Macedonian. It is a cognate of Rosa 1.

Variant of Hrodohaidis.

Catalan (feminine) form of Rosario.

French, German and Dutch form of Rosalia. In the English-speaking this name received a boost after the release of the movie Rosalie (1938), which was based on an earlier musical.

Generally this can be considered to be from Latin rosa meaning "rose", though originally it may have come from the unrelated Germanic name Roza 2. This was the name of a 13th-century saint from Viterbo in Italy. In the English-speaking world it was first used in the 19th century. Famous bearers include the Polish-German revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg (1871-1919) and the American civil rights activist Rosa Parks (1913-2005).

Means "singer" in Sanskrit.

Finnish, Estonian, Macedonian and Serbian short form of Christopher.

From Sanskrit ऋषि (ṛṣi) meaning "sage, poet", perhaps ultimately deriving from a root meaning "to see".

Means "white antelope" in Arabic.

Derived from Arabic الرجل (al-Rijl) meaning "foot". This is the name of the star that forms the left foot of the constellation Orion.

Variant of Rhiannon.

Means "one that moves" in Sanskrit. This is another name of the Hindu goddess Rati.

Latin form of Rémy.

Means "remedy" in Catalan, a Catalan equivalent of Remedios.

German form of Rayner.

Finnish form of Raymond.

From Japanese 鈴 (rei) meaning "bell", 麗 (rei) meaning "beautiful, lovely" or 玲 (rei) meaning "the tinkling of jade". This name can also be formed by other kanji with the same pronunciation.

Means "queen" in Latin (or Italian). It was in use as a Christian name from early times, and was borne by a 2nd-century saint. In England it was used during the Middle Ages in honour of the Virgin Mary, and it was later revived in the 19th century. A city in Canada bears this name, in honour of Queen Victoria.

From the Hebrew name רִבְקָה (Rivqa), probably from a Semitic root meaning "join, tie, snare". This is the name of the wife of Isaac and the mother of Esau and Jacob in the Old Testament. It came into use as an English Christian name after the Protestant Reformation, and it was popular with the Puritans in the 17th century. It has been consistently used since then, becoming especially common in the second half of the 20th century.

This name is borne by a Jewish woman in Walter Scott's novel Ivanhoe (1819), as well as the title character (who is deceased and unseen) in Daphne du Maurier's novel Rebecca (1938).

Feminine form of Raziel.

Means "flower" in Mapuche.

Diminutive of Rayna 1 or Raisa 1.

Diminutive of Raisa 2.

Simply from the English word rain, derived from Old English regn.

Italian form of Rachel.

From Egyptian rꜥ meaning "sun" or "day". Ra was an important Egyptian sun god originally worshipped in Heliopolis in Lower Egypt. He was usually depicted as a man with the head of a falcon crowned with a solar disc. In later times his attributes were often merged with those of other deities, such as Amon, Atum and Horus.

Italian form of Prosper. This is the name of the main character, a shipwrecked magician, in The Tempest (1611) by William Shakespeare.

Latinized form of the Greek name Πρόχορος (Prochoros) meaning "leader of the dance". Saint Prochorus was one of the original seven deacons of the church, as told in Acts in the New Testament.

Short form of Priscilla.

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".

Derived from Albanian pranverë meaning "spring", itself from pranë "nearby, close" and verë "summer".

Meaning unknown, probably of Pre-Greek origin, but perhaps related to Greek πέρθω (pertho) meaning "to destroy" and φόνος (phonos) meaning "murder". In Greek myth she was the daughter of Demeter and Zeus. She was abducted to the underworld by Hades, but was eventually allowed to return to the surface for part of the year. The result of her comings and goings is the changing of the seasons. With her mother she was worshipped in the Eleusinian Mysteries, which were secret rites practiced at the city of Eleusis near Athens.

Derived from Latin perpetuus meaning "continuous". This was the name of a 3rd-century saint martyred with another woman named Felicity.

Meaning unknown, possibly an early American alteration of Pamela.

Russian form of Pelagia.

Contracted form of Petronel. In the later Middle Ages it became a slang term for a promiscuous woman, and the name subsequently fell out of use.

Means "all gifts", derived from a combination of Greek πᾶν (pan) meaning "all" and δῶρον (doron) meaning "gift". In Greek mythology Pandora was the first mortal woman. Zeus gave her a jar containing all of the troubles and ills that mankind now knows, and told her not to open it. Unfortunately her curiosity got the best of her and she opened it, unleashing the evil spirits into the world.

Feminine form of Palmiro.

Derived from Hebrew נוֹי (noi) meaning "beauty, ornament".

Elaborated form of Norma.

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.

From Japanese 典 (nori) meaning "rule, ceremony" or 紀 (nori) meaning "chronicle" combined with 子 (ko) meaning "child". Other kanji combinations are possible.

From the Breton phrase Noyal Gwenn meaning "holy one from Noyal". This was the epithet of a 6th-century saint and martyr from Brittany.

Short form of names that end in nina, such as Antonina or Giannina. It was imported to Western Europe from Russia and Italy in the 19th century. This name also nearly coincides with the Spanish word niña meaning "little girl" (the word is pronounced differently than the name).

A famous bearer was the American jazz musician Nina Simone (1933-2003).

From the Greek name Νικόδημος (Nikodemos) meaning "victory of the people", derived from Greek νίκη (nike) meaning "victory" and δῆμος (demos) meaning "the people". This is the name of a character in the New Testament who helps Joseph of Arimathea entomb Jesus.

Short form of Geneva.

Italian form of Nestor.

Latinized form of Germanic *Nerþuz, which is also the root of the Old Norse god's name Njǫrðr (see Njord). Nerthus was a Germanic goddess of fertility as described by the Roman historian Tacitus in the 1st century.

From Basque nere, a dialectal variant of nire meaning "mine".

Means "delicate, beautiful, coy" in Persian.

Form of Nathanael used in the Latin Bible.

Means "sun flower" in Mongolian, from наран (naran) meaning "sun" and цэцэг (tsetseg) meaning "flower".

Means "my struggle, my strife" in Hebrew, a derivative of פָּתַל (paṯal) meaning "to twist, to struggle, to wrestle". 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.

From the name of a Basque village where there is a sanctuary dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

Anglicized form of Muadhnait. It is also associated with Greek monos "one" and Leonardo da Vinci's painting the Mona Lisa (in which case it is a contraction of Italian ma donna meaning "my lady").

From Japanese 百 (momo) meaning "hundred" or 桃 (momo) meaning "peach" combined with 子 (ko) meaning "child". This name can be constructed from other kanji combinations as well.

From Japanese 美 (mi) meaning "beautiful" and 羽 (u) meaning "feather". Other kanji combinations are possible.

German diminutive of Maria.

Russian diminutive of Mikhail.

From Serbo-Croatian miran meaning "peaceful, calm".

Form of Mary used in the Old Testament, where it belongs to the elder sister of Moses and Aaron. She watched over the infant Moses as the pharaoh's daughter drew him from the Nile. The name has long been popular among Jews, and it has been used as an English Christian name (alongside Mary) since the Protestant Reformation.

Variant of Mireia.

From Sanskrit मीर (mīra) meaning "sea, ocean". This was the name of a 16th-century Indian princess who devoted her life to the god Krishna.

Short form of Araminta.

Means "love" in Old German, specifically medieval courtly love. It is also used as a short form of Wilhelmina. This is the name of the title character in the play Minna von Barnhelm (1767) by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing.

Means "fish catcher" in Sanskrit.

Diminutive of Maria and other names beginning with M.

Dutch diminutive of Maria or Bartholomeus.

Means "ruling with peace", from Latvian miers "peace" and valdīt "to rule".

Means "man of the dart" in Hebrew, from מַת (maṯ) meaning "man" and שֶׁלַח (shelaḥ) meaning "dart, weapon". In the Old Testament he is the father of Lamech and the grandfather of Noah. He lived to age 969, making him the longest-lived person in the Bible.

Old French form of Millicent.

Probably a combination of Mel (from names such as Melanie or Melissa) with the suffix antha (from Greek ἄνθος (anthos) meaning "flower"). John Dryden used this name in his play Marriage a la Mode (1672).

Means "tall and slender, beautiful maiden" in Welsh (a compound of main "slender" and hir "tall").

From Chinese 美 (měi) meaning "beautiful" or 梅 (méi) meaning "Chinese plum" (species Prunus mume), as well as other characters that are pronounced similarly.

Old German form of Meinrad.

German form of Matilda.

Means "illusion, magic" in Sanskrit. In Buddhist tradition this is the name of the mother of Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha). This is also another name of the Hindu goddess Durga.

Means "martyrdom" in Spanish. It is taken from the title of the Virgin Mary, Nuestra Señora del Martirio, the patron saint of the Spanish town of Ugíjar.

Italian, Spanish and Portuguese combination of Maria and Luisa.

Medieval French diminutive of Marie.

French diminutive of Marie.

Polish form of Malvina.

From an English surname meaning "son of Maud". It was not commonly used as a feminine name until after the movie Splash (1984), in which the main character adopted it as her name after seeing a street sign for Madison Avenue in New York City. It was ranked second for girls in the United States by 2001. This rise from obscurity to prominence in only 18 years represents an unprecedented 550,000 percent increase in usage.

A famous bearer of the surname was James Madison (1751-1836), one of the authors of the American constitution who later served as president (and after whom Madison Avenue was named).

Meaning unknown. In Finnish mythology Loviatar, also known as Louhi, was a goddess of death and plague.

Combination of Lise and Charlotte.

Possibly from the patronymic Manannán mac Lir, in which case Lir is the genitive case of the name Ler. The medieval Irish legend the Children of Lir tells how Lir of the Tuatha Dé Danann had his children transformed into swans by his third wife Aoife. The legendary characters Lir and Ler seem to be distinct.

Russian, Ukrainian and Bulgarian cognate of Lily.

German and Dutch diminutive of Elisabeth.

Dutch diminutive of Angelique or names ending in lia.

Simply from the English word liberty, derived from Latin libertas, a derivative of liber "free". Interestingly, since 1880 this name has charted on the American popularity lists in three different periods: in 1918 (at the end of World War I), in 1976 (the American bicentennial), and after 2001 (during the War on Terrorism) [1].

Possibly from Lycian lada meaning "wife". Other theories connect it to Greek λήθω (letho) meaning "hidden, forgotten". In Greek mythology she was the mother of Apollo and Artemis by Zeus.

Means "love" in Finnish.

Derived from Greek λαλαγέω (lalageo) meaning "to babble, to prattle". The Roman poet Horace used this name in one of his odes.

Bulgarian, Serbian and Macedonian form of Cosmas.

Short form of names beginning with the Old German element kunni meaning "clan, family". It can also be a short form of Konrad.

German variant of Cora.

Means "lily of the valley" in Finnish (species Convallaria majalis).

From the Hebrew name קְטוּרָה (Qeṭura) meaning "incense". In the Old Testament she is Abraham's wife after Sarah dies.

From Lithuanian kęsti meaning "to cope, to endure" combined with a diminutive suffix. This was the name of a 14th-century ruler of Lithuania.

From the name of the bird of prey, ultimately derived from Old French crecelle "rattle", which refers to the sound of its cry.

Norwegian short form of Katarina.

From Greek καλός Ἰωάννης (kalos Ioannes) meaning "handsome John", the nickname of a 13th-century emperor of Bulgaria. He successfully defended the empire from the Fourth Crusade.

From the name of the mythological ancestor of the Finns, which is of unknown meaning. The name of the Finnish epic the Kalevala means "the land of Kaleva".

Finnish and Estonian diminutive of Katherine.

From the English word for the type of tree, derived ultimately from Latin iuniperus.

Latinate form of Greek Ioanna (see Joanna).

Means "archway" in Latin. Janus was the Roman god of gateways and beginnings, often depicted as having two faces looking in opposite directions. The month of January is named for him.

French feminine form of Jacques, also commonly used in the English-speaking world.

Newer form of the Old Church Slavic name Іѡаннъ (Ioannŭ), which was derived from Greek Ioannes (see John). This was the name of six Russian rulers, including the 15th-century Ivan III the Great and 16th-century Ivan IV the Terrible, the first tsar of Russia. It was also borne by nine emperors of Bulgaria. Other notable bearers include the Russian author Ivan Turgenev (1818-1883), who wrote Fathers and Sons, and the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936), who is best known for his discovery of the conditioned reflex.

Latin form of Junia.

Means "spark" in South Slavic.

Means "trinity" in Basque, derived from hiru meaning "three". It was proposed by Sabino Arana in 1910 as an equivalent of the Spanish name Trinidad.

German form of Ermengard.

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.

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.

Possibly a Portuguese and Galician form of Irene. This was the name of a 7th-century saint (also known as Irene) from Tomar in Portugal. This is also the name of an ancient town in Galicia (now a district of Padrón).

Means "watchful" in Hebrew. In the Old Testament this is the name of King David's priest. As an English Christian given name, Ira began to be used after the Protestant Reformation. In the 17th century the Puritans brought it to America, where remained moderately common into the 20th century.

Older form of Jove.

Finnish and Frisian feminine form of Inge.

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).

English form of Inés.

The name of the daughter of King Cymbeline in the play Cymbeline (1609) by William Shakespeare. He based her on a legendary character named Innogen, but it was printed incorrectly and never emended. Innogen is probably derived from Gaelic inghean meaning "maiden". As a given name it is chiefly British and Australian.

Latin form of Inmaculada.

Means "air" in Finnish.

Latinized form of Ὧρος (Horos), the Greek form of Egyptian ḥrw (reconstructed as Heru and other forms) possibly from ḥr "above, over" or ḥrj "distant". In Egyptian mythology Horus was a god of the sky and light, often depicted as a man with the head of a falcon. In some versions of the mythology he was the son of Osiris and Isis, and avenged his father's murder by killing his uncle Seth.

From the English word hope, ultimately from Old English hopian. This name was first used by the Puritans in the 17th century.

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.

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.

Latinized form of Heinrich. As a Dutch name, it is used on birth certificates though a vernacular form such as Hendrik is typically used in daily life.

Short form of Wilhelmine.

Portuguese form of Hector.

Low German diminutive of Henrike or Henrik.

German diminutive of Adelheid. This is the name of the title character in the children's novel Heidi (1880) by the Swiss author Johanna Spyri. The name began to be used in the English-speaking world shortly after the 1937 release of the movie adaptation, which starred Shirley Temple.

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.

From the English word hazel for the tree or the light brown colour, derived ultimately from Old English hæsel. It was coined as a given name in the 19th century and quickly became popular, reaching the 18th place for girls in the United States by 1897. It fell out of fashion in the second half of the 20th century, but has since recovered.

Greek form of Egyptian ḥwt-ḥrw (reconstructed as Hut-Heru) meaning "the house of Horus", derived from Egyptian ḥwt "house" combined with the god Horus. In Egyptian mythology she was the goddess of love, often depicted with the head of a cow.

Means "harmony, agreement" in Greek. She was the daughter of Ares and Aphrodite, given by Zeus to Cadmus to be his wife.

From the Old Norse name Halli, a diminutive of names containing the element hallr meaning "rock".

Means "wind" in Basque.

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

Diminutive of Grete. It is well-known as a character from an 1812 Brothers Grimm fairy tale who is captured, with her brother Hansel, by a witch. The Grimm's story was based on earlier European folktales.

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-).

From a biblical place name, the garden where Jesus was arrested, located on the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem. It is derived from Γεθσημανί (Gethsemani), the Greek form of an Aramaic name meaning "oil vat". It is very rarely used as a given name.

Means "birth, origin" in Greek. This is the name of the first book of the Old Testament in the Bible. It tells of the creation of the world, the expulsion of Adam and Eve, Noah and the great flood, and the three patriarchs.

Means "joy, happiness" in Swahili, borrowed from Arabic فرح (fariḥa).

Means "love me" in Igbo.

Means "lord" in Old Norse, derived from the Germanic root *fraujô. This is the name of a Norse god. He may have originally been called Yngvi, with the name Freyr being his title. Freyr is associated with fertility, sunlight and rain, and is the husband of the giantess Gerd. With his twin sister Freya and father Njord he is one of the group of deities called the Vanir.

Feminine form of Frederico or Frederick.

Variant of Freya.

German feminine form of Franciscus (see Francis).

Simply from the word fortune, ultimately from Latin fortuna, a derivative of fors "luck".

Short form of Alfons.

Russian form of Thomas.

Welsh form of Valentine 1.

From Old Irish Fiachrae, possibly from fiach "raven" or fích "battle" combined with rí "king". This was the name of several legendary figures, including one of the four children of Lir transformed into swans for a period of 900 years. This is also the name of the patron saint of gardeners: a 7th-century Irish abbot who settled in France, usually called Saint Fiacre.

Form of Fionnuala used by Walter Scott for a character in his novel Peveril of the Peak (1823).

Latin name meaning "good luck, fortune". In Roman mythology the goddess Felicitas was the personification of good luck. It was borne by a 3rd-century saint, a slave martyred with her master Perpetua in Carthage.

Variant of Faigel.

Feminine form of Eutropios (see Eutropius).

Means "rain" in Basque.

English form of the Germanic name Adallinda. The name was very rare in medieval times, but it was revived in the early 19th century.

From the Hebrew name אֶסְתֵר (ʾEsṯer), which possibly means "star" in Persian. Alternatively it could be a derivative of the name of the Near Eastern goddess Ishtar. The Book of Esther in the Old Testament tells the story of Queen Esther, the Jewish wife of the king of Persia. The king's advisor Haman persuaded the king to exterminate all the Jews in the realm. Warned of this plot by her cousin Mordecai, Esther revealed her Jewish ancestry and convinced the king to execute Haman instead. Her original Hebrew name was Hadassah.

This name has been used in the English-speaking world since the Protestant Reformation. In America it received a boost in popularity after the birth of Esther Cleveland (1893-1980), the daughter of President Grover Cleveland [1].

Old German form of Hermenegildo.

Feminine form of Erik. It also coincides with the word for "heather" in some languages.

Swedish feminine form of Aemilius (see Emily).

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).

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.

Means "snow" in Welsh. This is a recently created name.

Spanish feminine form of Adelmar.

Derived from Latin desiderium meaning "longing, desire". It was the name of several early saints. It was also borne in the 8th century by the last king of the Lombard Kingdom.

Derived from Greek δυσδαίμων (dysdaimon) meaning "ill-fated". This is the name of the wife of Othello in Shakespeare's play Othello (1603).

Medieval short form of Durante. The most notable bearer of this name was Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), the Italian poet who wrote the Divine Comedy.

Latinized form of Greek Κυνθία (Kynthia), which means "woman from Cynthus". This was an epithet of the Greek moon goddess Artemis, given because Cynthus was the mountain on Delos on which she and her twin brother Apollo were born. It was not used as a given name until the Renaissance, and it did not become common in the English-speaking world until the 19th century. It reached a peak of popularity in the United States in 1957 and has declined steadily since then.

Either a French form of Koralia, or a derivative of Latin corallium "coral" (see Coral).

Means "consoled" in Italian. It is taken from the title of the Virgin Mary, Maria Consolata.

French form of Cosmas.

Means simply "chalice, goblet" from the English word, derived from Latin calix.

English form of Cecilia. This was the usual English form during the Middle Ages.

French form of Katherine, and also a common English variant.

From the Greek name Κασσάνδρα (Kassandra), possibly derived from κέκασμαι (kekasmai) meaning "to excel, to shine" and ἀνήρ (aner) meaning "man" (genitive ἀνδρός). In Greek myth Cassandra was a Trojan princess, the daughter of Priam and Hecuba. She was given the gift of prophecy by Apollo, but when she spurned his advances he cursed her so nobody would believe her prophecies.

In the Middle Ages this name was common in England due to the popularity of medieval tales about the Trojan War. It subsequently became rare, but was revived in the 20th century.

Latin form of Charles.

Variant of Carmen.

Medieval Spanish form of Carmel, appearing in the devotional title of the Virgin Mary Nuestra Señora del Carmen meaning "Our Lady of Mount Carmel". The spelling has been altered through association with the Latin word carmen meaning "song". This was the name of the main character in George Bizet's opera Carmen (1875).

From the title of the Virgin Mary Our Lady of Mount Carmel. כַּרְמֶל (Karmel) (meaning "garden" in Hebrew) is a mountain in Israel mentioned in the Old Testament. It was the site of several early Christian monasteries. As an English given name, it has mainly been used by Catholics. As a Jewish name it is unisex.

Means "Candlemas" in Spanish, ultimately derived from Spanish candela "candle". This name is given in honour of the church festival of Candlemas, which commemorates the presentation of Christ in the temple and the purification of the Virgin Mary.

The name of the star that marks the right shoulder of the constellation Orion. It is derived from Arabic يد الجوزا (yad al-Jawzā) meaning "the hand of Jawza". جوزا (Jawzā) meaning "central one" was the old Arabic name for the constellation Orion (also for Gemini).

Latinized feminine form of Berengar. This name was borne by a 13th-century queen of Castile.

Means "worthless" in Hebrew. In the Old Testament this term is used to refer to various wicked people. In the New Testament, Paul uses it as a name for Satan. In later Christian tradition Belial became an evil angel associated with lawlessness and lust.

Form of Basemath and Basmath used in the Greek Old Testament.

Means "moon flood" in Turkish and Azerbaijani, derived from ay "moon" and sel "flood, stream" (of Arabic origin).

Hebrew form of Abital, sometimes used as a masculine name in modern times.

Roman family name that was derived from Latin aureus meaning "golden, gilded". Marcus Aurelius was a 2nd-century Roman emperor and philosophical writer. This was also the name of several early saints.

From Atholl, the name of a district in Scotland, from Scottish Gaelic Athall, possibly derived from Old Irish ath Fhotla "new Ireland".

From the Greek name Ἀθανάσιος (Athanasios) meaning "immortal", from Greek ἀ (a), a negative prefix, combined with θάνατος (thanatos) meaning "death". Saint Athanasius was a 4th-century bishop of Alexandria who strongly opposed Arianism.

Greek form of Ashtoreth.

From עַשְׁתֹרֶת (ʿAshṯoreṯ), the Hebrew form of the name of a Phoenician goddess of love, war and fertility. Her name is cognate to that of the East Semitic goddess Ishtar.

Feminine variant of Ashley.

Variant of Araceli.

Means "condor of the sun" in Mapuche, from antü "sun" and mañku "condor".

Combination of Anne 1 and Liese.

Means "minuteness" from Sanskrit अणिमन (aṇiman). In yoga texts, this is the name of the ability to make oneself infinitely small so to be invisible.

Means "God is my kinsman" in Hebrew, from the roots עַם (ʿam) meaning "people, nation, kinsman" and אֵל (ʾel) meaning "God". This is the name of one of the spies sent out by Moses in the Old Testament.

Means "shining over heaven", from Japanese 天 (ama) meaning "heaven, sky" and 照 (terasu) meaning "shine". This was the name of the Japanese sun goddess, the ruler of the heavens. She was born when Izanagi washed his left eye after returning from the underworld. At one time the Japanese royal family claimed descent from her.

Late Latin name meaning "lovable". Saint Amabilis was a 5th-century priest in Riom, central France.

Middle English form of Ælfheah.

Variant of Elmira 1. Handel used it for the title character in his opera Almira (1705).

This name became popular after the Battle of Alma (1854), which took place near the River Alma in Crimea and ended in a victory for Britain and France. However, the name was in rare use before the battle; it was probably inspired by Latin almus "nourishing". It also coincides with the Spanish word meaning "the soul".

Variant of Akhenaton.

From the Greek name Αἴας (Aias), perhaps deriving from Greek αἰαστής (aiastes) meaning "mourner" or αἶα (aia) meaning "earth, land". In Greek mythology this was the name of two of the heroes who fought for the Greeks in the Trojan War: the son of Telamon and the son of Oileus. When the armour of the slain hero Achilles was not given to Ajax Telamonian, he became mad with jealousy and killed himself.

Possibly means "very steadfast" in Greek. In Greek mythology he was the brother of Menelaus. He led the Greek expedition to Troy to recover his brother's wife Helen. After the Trojan War Agamemnon was killed by his wife Clytemnestra.

Means "my lord is exalted" in Hebrew, derived from אָדוֹן (ʾaḏon) meaning "lord, master" and רוּם (rum) meaning "to exalt". In the Old Testament this is the name of an overseer of tribute under the kings David, Solomon and Rehoboam. He was stoned to death when the Israelites revolted.

German and Dutch form of Adelaide.

Means "eldest daughter of her father" in Igbo.

Derived from the Old German elements adal "noble" and bern "bear".