koshchei's Personal Name List

Short form of Wesley.

Italian form of Vincent.

From the Roman name Vincentius, which was derived from Latin vincere meaning "to conquer". This name was popular among early Christians, and it was borne by many saints. As an English name, Vincent has been in use since the Middle Ages, though it did not become common until the 19th century. Famous bearers include the French priest Saint Vincent de Paul (1581-1660) and the Dutch post-impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890).

Means "little girl" from Norwegian vesle "little" and møy "girl". This name was created by Norwegian writer Arne Garborg for the main character in his poem Haugtussa (1895).

Short form of Giovanni.

Short form of Valentine 1, Valerie and other names beginning with Val.

Meaning uncertain. It is used as a Russian form of the saintly name Bademus. Alternatively it may be derived from Slavic vaditi "to accuse, to argue" or from an Old Norse source. According to legend, this was the name of a legendary leader of the Ilmen Slavs who fought against the Varangians.

Feminine form of Ultimo.

Russian form of Timothy.

Scots form of Thomas.

Meaning unknown, perhaps related to Old Norse stilling "calm", or perhaps of German origin.

Danish form of Severinus. Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) was a Danish philosopher who is regarded as a precursor of existentialism.

From a nickname that is commonly used to denote a young boy, derived from the English word son.

From the name of the Isle of Skye off the west coast of Scotland. It is sometimes considered a variant of Sky.

Variant of Skaði.

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).

As an English name it was not used until after the Protestant Reformation. It was utilized by George Eliot for the title character in her novel Silas Marner (1861).

From the name of the largest lake in Armenia, which may be from the Urartian word suinia simply meaning "lake".

From the Latin name Sebastianus, which meant "from Sebaste". Sebaste was the name a town in Asia Minor, its name deriving from Greek σεβαστός (sebastos) meaning "venerable" (a translation of Latin Augustus, the title of the Roman emperors). According to Christian tradition, Saint Sebastian was a 3rd-century Roman soldier martyred during the persecutions of the emperor Diocletian. After he was discovered to be a Christian, he was tied to a stake and shot with arrows. This however did not kill him. Saint Irene of Rome healed him and he returned to personally admonish Diocletian, whereupon the emperor had him beaten to death.

Due to the saint's popularity, the name came into general use in medieval Europe, especially in Spain and France. It was also borne by a 16th-century king of Portugal who died in a crusade against Morocco.

Cognate of Saško.

Short form of Sally, Salvador and other names beginning with Sal.

Created by the 12th-century French poet Chrétien de Troyes for his poem Perceval, the Story of the Grail. Chrétien may have derived the name from Old French perce val "pierce the valley", or he may have based it loosely on the Welsh name Peredur [1]. In the poem Perceval is a boy from Wales who hopes to become a knight under King Arthur. Setting out to prove himself, he eventually comes to the castle of the Fisher King and is given a glimpse of the Grail.

Means "my teacher" in Hebrew, also diminutive of Mor, which means "myrrh".

Means "prince" from Persian میرزا (mīrzā), earlier امیرزاده (amīrzādeh), which is ultimately from Arabic أمير (ʾamīr) meaning "commander" combined with Persian زاده (zādeh) meaning "offspring".

Diminutive of Masha or Mariya.

Diminutive of Martin.

German diminutive of Ludwig.

From the Germanic name Hludwig meaning "famous in battle", composed of the elements hlut "famous, loud" and wig "war, battle". This was the name of three Merovingian kings of the Franks (though their names are usually spelled as Clovis) as well as several Carolingian kings and Holy Roman emperors (names often spelled in the French form Louis). Other famous bearers include the German composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) and the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951), who contributed to logic and the philosophy of language.

From the title Marquis of Lorne, which was based on the Scottish place name Lorne, itself possibly derived from the name of the legendary king of Dál Riata, Loarn mac Eirc. This was the title of the first Governor General of Canada, where it has since been most frequently used as a given name. A famous bearer was the Canadian actor Lorne Greene (1915-1987).

Short form of names ending in lena, such as Helena, Magdalena or Yelena. It is often used independently.

Derived from the Slavic elements krasa "beauty, adornment" and mirŭ "peace, world".

A antagonistic figure from traditional Russian fairy tales. Known as “Koschei the Deathless”, he is portrayed as an evil and powerful wizard who cannot be killed by traditional means since his soul is hidden inside an object, often an egg nested inside other protective objects.

Form of Constantine in several languages.

Variant transcription of Keizou.

Czech form of Castus.

From an occupational surname meaning "judge, officer of justice" in Old French. This name can also be given in direct reference to the English word justice.

From the Hebrew name יוֹנָה (Yona) meaning "dove". This was the name of a prophet swallowed by a fish, as told in the Old Testament Book of Jonah. Jonah was commanded by God to preach in Nineveh, but instead fled by boat. After being caught in a storm, the other sailors threw Jonah overboard, at which point he was swallowed. He emerged from the fish alive and repentant three days later.

Jonah's story was popular in the Middle Ages, and the Hellenized form Jonas was occasionally used in England. The form Jonah did not become common until after the Protestant Reformation.

From Ἰεσσαί (Iessai), the Greek form of the Hebrew name יִשַׁי (Yishai). This could be a derivative of the word שַׁי (shai) meaning "gift" or יֵשׁ (yesh) meaning "existence". In the Old Testament Jesse is the father of King David. It began to be used as an English given name after the Protestant Reformation.

A famous bearer was Jesse James (1847-1882), an American outlaw who held up banks and stagecoaches. He was eventually shot by a fellow gang member for a reward. Another famous bearer was the American athlete Jesse Owens (1913-1980), whose real name was James Cleveland (or J. C.) Owens.

Variant of Jenny. Use of the name was popularized in the 1980s by the character Jenna Wade on the television series Dallas [1].

Diminutive of Jennifer.

English form of the Late Latin name Iacomus, a variant of the Biblical Latin form Iacobus, from the Hebrew name Yaʿaqov (see Jacob). This was the name of two apostles in the New Testament. The first was Saint James the Greater, the apostle John's brother, who was beheaded under Herod Agrippa in the Book of Acts. The second was James the Lesser, son of Alphaeus. Another James (known as James the Just) is also mentioned in the Bible as being the brother of Jesus.

This name has been used in England since the 13th century, though it became more common in Scotland where it was borne by several kings. In the 17th century the Scottish king James VI inherited the English throne, becoming the first ruler of all Britain, and the name grew much more popular. In American name statistics (recorded since 1880) this name has never been out of the top 20, making it arguably the era's most consistently popular name. It was the top ranked name for boys in the United States from 1940 to 1952.

Famous bearers include the English explorer James Cook (1728-1779), the Scottish inventor James Watt (1736-1819), and the Irish novelist and poet James Joyce (1882-1941). This name has also been borne by six American presidents. A notable fictional bearer is the British spy James Bond, created by author Ian Fleming in 1953.

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.

Hungarian form of Emmerich. This was the name of an 11th-century Hungarian saint, the son of Saint Istvan. He is also known as Emeric.

German short form of Johannes, now used independently. This name has been very common in German-speaking areas of Europe since the late Middle Ages. From an early period it was transmitted to the Low Countries and Scandinavia. Two famous bearers were Hans Holbein (1497-1543), a German portrait painter, and Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875), a Danish writer of fairy tales.

Means "emperor, ruler" in Turkish.

Possibly means "staff of the Geats", derived from the Old Norse elements gautr meaning "Geat" and stafr meaning "staff". However, the root name Gautstafr is not well attested in the Old Norse period. Alternatively, it might be derived from the Old Slavic name Gostislav.

This name has been borne by six kings of Sweden, including the 16th-century Gustav I Vasa. Another notable bearer was the Austrian painter Gustav Klimt (1862-1918).

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.

This name can also be given in reference to the city in Italy, as in the case of Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), who was born there to British parents. She was a nurse in military hospitals during the Crimean War and is usually considered the founder of modern nursing.

Anglicized form of Éireann. It was initially used by people of Irish heritage in America, Canada and Australia. It was rare until the mid-1950s.

Means "ever ruler", from the Old Norse name Eiríkr, derived from the elements ei "ever, always" and ríkr "ruler, king". A notable bearer was Eiríkr inn Rauda (Eric the Red in English), a 10th-century navigator and explorer who discovered Greenland. This was also the name of several early kings of Sweden, Denmark and Norway.

This common Norse name was first brought to England by Danish settlers during the Anglo-Saxon period. It was not popular in England in the Middle Ages, but it was revived in the 19th century, in part due to the children's novel Eric, or Little by Little (1858) by Frederic William Farrar.

The meaning of this name is uncertain. In some cases it seems to be an old Italian form of Heinz, though in other cases it could be a variant of the Germanic name Anzo. In modern times it is also used as a short form of names ending in enzo, such as Vincenzo or Lorenzo.

A famous bearer was the Italian racecar driver and industrialist Enzo Ferrari (1898-1988).

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.

From Sumerian 𒌉 (dumu) meaning "son, child" and 𒍣 (zid) meaning "true, loyal". This was the name of a Sumerian god of shepherds and vegetation, the husband of Inanna. He was said to spend half of each year in the underworld, resulting in the yearly cycle of seasons. He was known to the Semitic peoples of Mesopotamia as Tammuz.

The name was first used by Oscar Wilde in his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), which tells the story of a man whose portrait ages while he stays young. Wilde may have taken it from the name of the ancient Greek tribe the Dorians.

Form of Dominic used in various languages.

Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian form of Daria.

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.

Diminutive of Ciar. This was the name of two 6th-century Irish saints: Ciarán the Elder, the founder of the monastery at Saighir, and Ciarán the Younger, the founder of the monastery at Clonmacnoise.

Short form of Christina.

Created by Shakespeare for the monstrous son of Sycorax in his play The Tempest (1611). It has been suggested that it is a variant or anagram of the Spanish word caníbal "cannibal".

From an English nickname meaning simply "buck, male deer", ultimately from Old English bucc.

From Brendanus, the Latinized form of the Old Irish name Bréanainn, which was derived from Old Welsh breenhin meaning "king, prince". Saint Brendan was a 6th-century Irish abbot who, according to legend, crossed the Atlantic and reached North America with 17 other monks.

Means "given by God" from the Slavic elements bogŭ "god" and danŭ "given". This pre-Christian name was later used as a translation of Theodotus.

Derived from Latin bellare meaning "to fight". This was the name of the Roman goddess of war, a companion of Mars.

Denoted a person who worked or lived in a barn. The word barn is derived from Old English bere "barley" and ærn "dwelling".

From a surname that was derived from the Old English given name Ealdwine.

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.