NAMESFOREVER's Personal Name List

Zara 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature, English
Pronounced: ZAHR-ə(English)
Used by William Congreve for a character in his tragedy The Mourning Bride (1697), where it belongs to a captive North African queen. Congreve may have based it on the Arabic name Zahra 1. In 1736 the English writer Aaron Hill used it to translate Zaïre for his popular adaptation of Voltaire's French play Zaïre (1732).

In England the name was popularized when Princess Anne gave it to her daughter in 1981. Use of the name may also be influenced by the trendy Spanish clothing retailer Zara.

Yara 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic
Other Scripts: يارا(Arabic)
Pronounced: YA-ra
From Persian یار (yār) meaning "friend, helper".
Ximena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish
Pronounced: khee-MEH-na
Feminine form of Ximeno. This was the name of the wife of El Cid.
Waliyha
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Pakistani
Pakistani form of Waleeya.
Vira
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ukrainian
Other Scripts: Віра(Ukrainian)
Ukrainian cognate of Vera 1.
Uiara
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Tupi
Variant of Iara.
Tiara
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: tee-AHR-ə
From the English word for a semicircle crown, ultimately of Greek origin.
Samara
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern), Portuguese (Brazilian)
Possibly derived from the name of the city of Samarra (in Iraq) or Samara (in Russia). The former appears in the title of the novel Appointment in Samarra (1934) by John O'Hara, which refers to an ancient Babylonian legend about a man trying to evade death. Alternatively, this name could be derived from the word for the winged seeds that grow on trees such as maples and elms.

The name received a boost in popularity after it was borne by the antagonist in the horror movie The Ring (2002).

Ria
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Dutch
Pronounced: REE-a
Short form of Maria.
Quiana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: African American (Modern)
Variant of Qiana.
Peace
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (African)
Pronounced: PEES
From the English word peace, ultimately derived from Latin pax. This name is most common in Nigeria and other parts of Africa.
Olivia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Spanish, French, German, Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch
Pronounced: o-LIV-ee-ə(English) ə-LIV-ee-ə(English) o-LEE-vya(Italian, German) o-LEE-bya(Spanish) AW-LEE-VYA(French) O-lee-vee-ah(Finnish) o-LEE-vee-ya(Dutch)
This name was used in this spelling by William Shakespeare for a character in his comedy Twelfth Night (1602). This was a rare name in Shakespeare's time [1] that may have been based on Oliva or Oliver, or directly on the Latin word oliva meaning "olive". In the play Olivia is a noblewoman wooed by Duke Orsino. Instead she falls in love with his messenger Cesario, who is actually Viola in disguise.

Olivia has been used in the English-speaking world since the 18th century, though it did not become overly popular until the last half of the 20th century. Its rise in popularity in the 1970s may have been inspired by a character on the television series The Waltons (1972-1982) [2] or the singer Olivia Newton-John (1948-2022). In 1989 it was borne by a young character on The Cosby Show, which likely accelerated its growth. It reached the top rank in England and Wales by 2008 and in the United States by 2019.

A famous bearer was the British-American actress Olivia de Havilland (1916-2020).

Nabila
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arabic
Other Scripts: نبيلة(Arabic)
Pronounced: na-BEE-la
Feminine form of Nabil.
Mika 2
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Japanese
Other Scripts: 美香, 美加, etc.(Japanese Kanji) みか(Japanese Hiragana)
Pronounced: MEE-KA
From Japanese (mi) meaning "beautiful" combined with (ka) meaning "fragrance" or (ka) meaning "increase". Other kanji combinations are also possible.
Lila 2
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: LIE-lə
Variant of Leila.
Kaylee
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: KAY-lee
Combination of the popular phonetic elements kay and lee. This name, in various spellings, steadily rose in popularity starting in the 1980s. This particular spelling peaked in America in 2009, ranked 26th, and has since declined.
Jorja
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: JAWR-jə
Variant of Georgia.
Ilana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hebrew
Other Scripts: אִילָנָה(Hebrew)
Feminine form of Ilan.
Hera
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ἥρα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: HEH-RA(Classical Greek) HEHR-ə(English) HEE-rə(English)
Uncertain meaning, possibly from Greek ἥρως (heros) meaning "hero, warrior"; ὥρα (hora) meaning "period of time"; or αἱρέω (haireo) meaning "to be chosen". In Greek mythology Hera was the queen of the gods, the sister and wife of Zeus. She presided over marriage and childbirth.
Gabriela
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Portuguese, Polish, Romanian, Spanish, German, Czech, Slovak, Croatian, Bulgarian
Other Scripts: Габриела(Bulgarian)
Pronounced: gab-RYEH-la(Polish) ga-BRYEH-la(Spanish) ga-bree-EH-la(German) GA-bri-yeh-la(Czech) GA-bree-eh-la(Slovak)
Feminine form of Gabriel.
Farah
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Malay
Other Scripts: فرح(Arabic, Persian, Urdu)
Pronounced: FA-rah(Arabic)
Means "joy, happiness" in Arabic, from the root فرح (fariḥa) meaning "to be happy".
Emmy
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, French, Swedish, Dutch, German
Pronounced: EHM-ee(English) EH-mee(Dutch)
Diminutive of Emma or Emily.
Darby
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: DAHR-bee
From an English surname, which was derived from the name of the town of Derby, itself from Old Norse djúr "animal" and býr "farm, settlement".
Carter
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KAHR-tər
From an English surname that meant "one who uses a cart". A famous bearer of the surname is former American president Jimmy Carter (1924-).
Beatrix
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Hungarian, Dutch, English, Late Roman
Pronounced: beh-A-triks(German) BEH-a-triks(German) BEH-aw-treeks(Hungarian) BEH-ya-triks(Dutch) BEE-ə-triks(English) BEE-triks(English)
Probably from Viatrix, a feminine form of the Late Latin name Viator meaning "voyager, traveller". It was a common name amongst early Christians, and the spelling was altered by association with Latin beatus "blessed, happy". Viatrix or Beatrix was a 4th-century saint who was strangled to death during the persecutions of Diocletian.

In England the name became rare after the Middle Ages, but it was revived in the 19th century, more commonly in the spelling Beatrice. Famous bearers include the British author and illustrator Beatrix Potter (1866-1943), the creator of Peter Rabbit, and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands (1938-).

Astra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: AS-trə
Means "star", ultimately from Greek ἀστήρ (aster). This name has only been (rarely) used since the 20th century.
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