missBridget's Personal Name List
Wren
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: REHN
From the English word for the small songbird. It is ultimately derived from Old English wrenna.
Winter
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: WIN-tər(American English) WIN-tə(British English)
From the English word for the season, derived from Old English winter.
Willow
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: WIL-o
From the name of the tree, which is ultimately derived from Old English welig.
Vivian
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish
Pronounced: VIV-ee-ən(English)
From the Latin name
Vivianus, which was derived from Latin
vivus "alive".
Saint Vivian was a French bishop who provided protection during the Visigoth invasion of the 5th century. It has been occasionally used as an English (masculine) name since the Middle Ages. In modern times it is also used as a feminine name, in which case it is either an Anglicized form of
Bébinn or a variant of
Vivien 2.
Violet
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: VIE-lit, VIE-ə-lit
From the English word violet for the purple flower, ultimately derived from Latin viola. It was common in Scotland from the 16th century, and it came into general use as an English given name during the 19th century.
Valentina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Russian, Lithuanian, German, Croatian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Slovene, Albanian, Romanian, Spanish, Greek, Ancient Roman
Other Scripts: Валентина(Russian, Bulgarian, Macedonian) Βαλεντίνα(Greek)
Pronounced: va-lehn-TEE-na(Italian) və-lyin-TYEE-nə(Russian) vu-lyehn-tyi-NU(Lithuanian) ba-lehn-TEE-na(Spanish)
Feminine form of
Valentinus (see
Valentine 1). A famous bearer is the Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova (1937-), who in 1963 became the first woman to visit space.
Trisha
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: TRISH-ə
Topaz
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: TO-paz
From the English word for the yellow precious stone, the traditional birthstone of November, ultimately derived from Greek
τόπαζος (topazos).
Teal
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: TEEL
From the English word for the type of duck or the greenish-blue colour.
Tawny
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: TAW-nee
From the English word, ultimately deriving from Old French tané, which means "light brown".
Sydney
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: SID-nee
From a surname that was a variant of the surname
Sidney. This is the name of the largest city in Australia, which was named for Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney in 1788. Formerly used by both genders, since the 1980s this spelling of the name has been mostly feminine.
Summer
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: SUM-ər(American English) SUM-ə(British English)
From the name of the season, ultimately from Old English sumor. It has been in use as a given name since the 1970s.
Stella 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Dutch, German
Pronounced: STEHL-ə(English) STEHL-la(Italian) STEH-la(Dutch)
Means "star" in Latin. This name was created by the 16th-century poet Philip Sidney for the subject of his collection of sonnets Astrophel and Stella. It was a nickname of a lover of Jonathan Swift, real name Esther Johnson (1681-1728), though it was not commonly used as a given name until the 19th century. It appears in Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), belonging to the sister of Blanche DuBois and the wife of Stanley Kowalski.
Star
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: STAHR(American English) STAH(British English)
From the English word for the celestial body, ultimately from Old English steorra.
Spring
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: SPRING
From the name of the season, ultimately from Old English springan "to leap, to burst forth".
Skye
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: SKIE
From the name of the Isle of Skye off the west coast of Scotland. It is sometimes considered a variant of
Sky.
Sky
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: SKIE
Simply from the English word sky, which was ultimately derived from Old Norse ský "cloud".
Sierra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: see-EHR-ə
Means "mountain range" in Spanish, referring specifically to a mountain range with jagged peaks.
Sienna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: see-EHN-ə
From the English word meaning "orange-red". It is ultimately from the name of the city of Siena in Italy, because of the colour of the clay there.
Seraphina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare), German (Rare), Late Roman
Pronounced: sehr-ə-FEEN-ə(English) zeh-ra-FEE-na(German)
Feminine form of the Late Latin name
Seraphinus, derived from the biblical word
seraphim, which was Hebrew in origin and meant
"fiery ones". The seraphim were an order of angels, described by Isaiah in the Bible as having six wings each.
This was the name of a 13th-century Italian saint who made clothes for the poor. As an English name, it has never been common.
Sapphire
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: SAF-ie-ər(American English) SAF-ie-ə(British English)
From the name of the gemstone, typically blue, which is the traditional birthstone of September. It is derived from Greek
σάπφειρος (sappheiros), ultimately from the Hebrew word
סַפִּיר (sappir).
Sandy
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: SAN-dee
Sabrina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese
Pronounced: sə-BREEN-ə(English) sa-BREE-na(Italian, Spanish) za-BREE-na(German) SA-BREE-NA(French) su-BREE-nu(European Portuguese) sa-BREE-nu(Brazilian Portuguese)
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.
Russell
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: RUS-əl
From an English surname, of Norman origin, meaning
"little red one" (a
diminutive of Old French
rous "red"). A notable bearer of the surname was the agnostic British philosopher Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), who wrote on many subjects including logic, epistemology and mathematics. He was also a political activist for causes such as pacifism and women's rights.
This name was common throughout the English-speaking world for most of the 20th century, though in the 1960s it began a slow decline in most places.
Ruby
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: ROO-bee
Simply from the name of the precious stone (which ultimately derives from Latin
ruber "red"), which is the traditional birthstone of July. It came into use as a given name in the 16th century
[1].
Ross
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish, English
Pronounced: RAWS(English)
From a Scottish and English surname that originally indicated a person from a place called Ross (such as the region of Ross in northern Scotland), derived from Gaelic ros meaning "promontory, headland". A famous bearer of the surname was James Clark Ross (1800-1862), an Antarctic explorer.
Rose
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, French
Pronounced: ROZ
Originally a Norman French form of the Germanic name
Hrodohaidis meaning
"famous type", composed of the elements
hruod "fame" and
heit "kind, sort, type". The
Normans introduced it to England in the forms
Roese and
Rohese. From an early date it was associated with the word for the fragrant flower
rose (derived from Latin
rosa). When the name was revived in the 19th century, it was probably with the flower in mind.
Rita
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, English, German, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Estonian
Pronounced: REE-ta(Italian, Spanish, German) REET-ə(English) REE-taw(Hungarian) ryi-TU(Lithuanian)
Short form of
Margherita and other names ending in
rita.
Saint Rita (born Margherita Lotti) was a 15th-century nun from Cascia, Italy. Another famous bearer was the American actress Rita Hayworth (1918-1987).
Rain 1
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: RAYN
Simply from the English word rain, derived from Old English regn.
Phoenix
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: FEE-niks
From the name of a beautiful immortal bird that appears in Egyptian and Greek
mythology. After living for several centuries in the Arabian Desert, it would be consumed by fire and rise from its own ashes, with this cycle repeating every 500 years. The name of the bird was derived from Greek
φοῖνιξ (phoinix) meaning "dark red".
Penny
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: PEHN-ee
Diminutive of
Penelope. It can also be given in reference to the copper coin (a British pound or an American dollar are worth 100 of them), derived from Old English
penning.
Penelope
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology, English
Other Scripts: Πηνελόπη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: PEH-NEH-LO-PEH(Classical Greek) pə-NEHL-ə-pee(English)
Probably derived from Greek
πηνέλοψ (penelops), a type of duck. Alternatively it could be from
πήνη (pene) meaning "threads, weft" and
ὄψ (ops) meaning "face, eye". In
Homer's epic the
Odyssey this is the name of the wife of
Odysseus, forced to fend off suitors while her husband is away fighting at Troy.
It has occasionally been used as an English given name since the 16th century. It was moderately popular in the 1940s, but had a more notable upswing in the early 2000s. This may have been inspired by the Spanish actress Penélope Cruz (1974-), who gained prominence in English-language movies at that time. It was already rapidly rising when celebrities Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick gave it to their baby daughter in 2012.
Pearl
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: PURL(American English) PUL(British English)
From the English word pearl for the concretions formed in the shells of some mollusks, ultimately from Late Latin perla. Like other gemstone names, it has been used as a given name in the English-speaking world since the 19th century. The pearl is the traditional birthstone for June, and it supposedly imparts health and wealth.
Paulina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Swedish, Lithuanian, English, Ancient Roman
Pronounced: pow-LEE-na(Spanish, Polish, Swedish) paw-LEE-nə(English)
Feminine form of
Paulinus (see
Paulino).
Opal
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: O-pəl
From the English word
opal for the iridescent gemstone, the birthstone of October. The word ultimately derives from Sanskrit
उपल (upala) meaning "jewel".
Ocean
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: O-shən
Simply from the English word
ocean for a large body of water. It is ultimately derived from Greek
Ὠκεανός (Okeanos), the name of the body of water thought to surround the Earth.
Nora 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Irish, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Latvian, German, Dutch, Italian, Spanish
Pronounced: NAWR-ə(English) NO-ra(German, Dutch, Spanish)
Short form of
Honora or
Eleanor. Henrik Ibsen used it for a character in his play
A Doll's House (1879).
Mina 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Dutch
Pronounced: MEE-nə(English) MEE-na(Dutch)
Short form of
Wilhelmina and other names ending in
mina. This was the name of a character in the novel
Dracula (1897) by Bram Stoker.
Mila
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Serbian, Croatian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Slovene, Ukrainian, Russian
Other Scripts: Мила(Serbian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian) Міла(Ukrainian)
Pronounced: MYEE-lə(Russian)
From the Slavic element
milŭ meaning
"gracious, dear", originally a short form of names containing that element.
Meryl
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MEHR-əl
Variant of
Muriel. A famous bearer is American actress Meryl Streep (1949-), whose real name is Mary Louise Streep.
Lotus
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: LO-təs
From the name of the lotus flower (species Nelumbo nucifera) or the mythological lotus tree. They are ultimately derived from Greek
λωτός (lotos). In Greek and Roman
mythology the lotus tree was said to produce a fruit causing sleepiness and forgetfulness.
Lorelei
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature, English
Pronounced: LAWR-ə-lie(English)
From German
Loreley, the name of a rock headland on the Rhine River. It is of uncertain meaning, though the second element is probably old German
ley meaning "rock" (of Celtic origin). German romantic poets and songwriters, beginning with Clemens Brentano in 1801, tell that a maiden named the Lorelei lives on the rock and lures boaters to their death with her song.
In the English-speaking world this name has been occasionally given since the early 20th century. It started rising in America after the variant Lorelai was used for the main character (and her daughter, nicknamed Rory) on the television series Gilmore Girls (2000-2007).
Lolicia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Lilac
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: LIE-lək
From the English word for the shrub with purple or white flowers (genus Syringa). It is derived via Arabic from Persian.
Lavender
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: LAV-ən-dər(American English) LAV-ən-də(British English)
From the English word for the aromatic flower or the pale purple colour.
Laurel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: LAWR-əl
From the name of the laurel tree, ultimately from Latin laurus.
Lacey
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: LAY-see
Variant of
Lacy. This is currently the most popular spelling of this name.
Kiyoko
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Japanese
Other Scripts: 清子, 聖子, etc.(Japanese Kanji) きよこ(Japanese Hiragana)
Pronounced: KYEE-YO-KO
From Japanese
清 (kiyo) meaning "clear, pure, clean" or
聖 (kiyo) meaning "holy" and
子 (ko) meaning "child". This name can also be formed from other combinations of kanji characters.
Joy
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: JOI
Simply from the English word joy, ultimately derived from Norman French joie, Latin gaudium. It has been regularly used as a given name since the late 19th century.
Jasmine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, French
Pronounced: JAZ-min(English) ZHAS-MEEN(French)
From the English word for the climbing plant with fragrant flowers that is used for making perfumes. It is derived via Arabic from Persian
یاسمین (yāsamīn), which is also a Persian name. In the United States this name steadily grew in popularity from the 1970s, especially among African Americans
[1]. It reached a peak in the early 1990s shortly after the release of the animated Disney movie
Aladdin (1992), which featured a princess by this name.
Jahan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Persian
Other Scripts: جهان(Persian)
Pronounced: ja-HAWN
Means "world" in Persian. This name was borne by Shah Jahan, a 17th-century Mughal emperor who is best known as the builder of the Taj Mahal.
Ivy
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: IE-vee
From the English word for the climbing plant that has small yellow flowers. It is ultimately derived from Old English ifig.
Iris
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology, English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, French, Spanish, Catalan, Italian, Slovene, Croatian, Greek
Other Scripts: Ἶρις(Ancient Greek) Ίρις(Greek)
Pronounced: IE-ris(English) EE-ris(German, Dutch) EE-rees(Finnish, Spanish, Catalan, Italian) EE-REES(French)
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.
Irene
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, German, Dutch, Ancient Greek (Latinized), Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Εἰρήνη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: ie-REEN(English) ie-REE-nee(English) ee-REH-neh(Italian, Spanish) EE-reh-neh(Finnish) ee-REH-nə(German, Dutch)
From Greek
Εἰρήνη (Eirene), derived from a word meaning
"peace". This was the name of the Greek goddess who personified peace, one of the
Ὥραι (Horai). It was also borne by several early Christian
saints. The name was common in the Byzantine Empire, notably being borne by an 8th-century empress, who was the first woman to lead the empire. She originally served as regent for her son, but later had him killed and ruled alone.
This name has traditionally been more popular among Eastern Christians. In the English-speaking world it was not regularly used until the 19th century.
Ireland
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: IER-lənd(American English) IE-ə-lənd(British English)
From the name of the European island country, derived from Irish Gaelic Éire, which may mean something like "abundant land" in Old Irish.
Hazel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: HAY-zəl
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.
Ginger
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: JIN-jər(American English) JIN-jə(British English)
From the English word
ginger for the spice or the reddish-brown colour. It can also be a
diminutive of
Virginia, as in the case of actress and dancer Ginger Rogers (1911-1995), by whom the name was popularized.
Gary
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: GAR-ee, GEHR-ee
From an English surname that was derived from a Norman given name, which was itself originally a short form of names beginning with the Old German element
ger meaning
"spear". This name was popularized in the late 1920s the American actor Gary Cooper (1901-1961), who took his
stage name from the city of Gary in Indiana where his agent was born. It was especially popular in the 1940s and 50s, breaking into the American top ten in 1950, though it has since waned.
Garnet 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: GAHR-nət(American English) GAH-nət(British English)
From the English word garnet for the precious stone, the birthstone of January. The word is derived from Middle English gernet meaning "dark red".
Flora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Dutch, French, Greek, Albanian, Roman Mythology
Other Scripts: Φλώρα(Greek)
Pronounced: FLAWR-ə(English) FLAW-ra(Italian) FLO-ra(Spanish, German, Dutch, Latin) FLAW-ru(Portuguese) FLAW-RA(French)
Derived from Latin
flos meaning
"flower" (genitive case
floris). Flora was the Roman goddess of flowers and spring, the wife of Zephyr the west wind. It has been used as a given name since the Renaissance, starting in France. In Scotland it was sometimes used as an Anglicized form of
Fionnghuala.
Flannery
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: FLAN-ə-ree
From an Irish surname, an Anglicized form of Ó Flannghaile, derived from the given name Flannghal meaning "red valour". A famous bearer was American author Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964).
Fern
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: FURN(American English) FUN(British English)
From the English word for the plant, ultimately from Old English fearn. It has been used as a given name since the late 19th century.
Fauna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Roman Mythology
Pronounced: FOW-na(Latin) FAW-nə(English)
Feminine form of
Faunus. Fauna was a Roman goddess of fertility, women and healing, a daughter and companion of Faunus.
Faith
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: FAYTH
Simply from the English word
faith, ultimately from Latin
fidere "to trust". This was one of the virtue names adopted by the
Puritans in the 17th century.
Emerald
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: EHM-ə-rəld
From the word for the green precious stone, which is the traditional birthstone of May. The emerald supposedly imparts love to the bearer. The word is ultimately from Greek
σμάραγδος (smaragdos).
Ellie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: EHL-ee
Diminutive of
Eleanor,
Ellen 1 and other names beginning with
El. This name became popular in the United Kingdom in the 1990s, being ranked second for girls in 2003.
Elise
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Dutch, English
Pronounced: eh-LEE-zə(German) eh-LEE-seh(Norwegian, Danish, Swedish) i-LEES(English) EE-lees(English)
Eliisabet
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Estonian
Diamond
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare), African American (Modern)
Pronounced: DIE-mənd(English)
From the English word diamond for the clear colourless precious stone, the traditional birthstone of April. It is derived from Late Latin diamas, from Latin adamas, which is of Greek origin meaning "unconquerable, unbreakable".
Dawn
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: DAWN
From the English word dawn, ultimately derived from Old English dagung.
Daisy
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: DAY-zee
Simply from the English word for the white flower, ultimately derived from Old English
dægeseage meaning "day eye". It was first used as a given name in the 19th century, at the same time many other plant and flower names were coined.
This name was fairly popular at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th. The American author F. Scott Fitzgerald used it for the character of Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby (1925). The Walt Disney cartoon character Daisy Duck was created in 1940 as the girlfriend of Donald Duck. It was at a low in popularity in the United States in the 1970s when it got a small boost from a character on the television series The Dukes of Hazzard in 1979.
Crystal
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KRIS-təl
From the English word
crystal for the clear, colourless glass, sometimes cut into the shape of a gemstone. The English word derives ultimately from Greek
κρύσταλλος (krystallos) meaning "ice". It has been in use as a given name since the 19th century.
Christina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Greek
Other Scripts: Χριστίνα(Greek)
Pronounced: kris-TEE-nə(English) kris-TEE-na(German, Swedish, Dutch)
From
Christiana, the Latin feminine form of
Christian. This was the name of an early, possibly legendary,
saint who was tormented by her pagan father. It was also borne by a 17th-century Swedish queen and patron the arts who gave up her crown in order to become a Roman Catholic.
In the English-speaking world the form Christine was more popular for most of the 20th century, though Christina eventually overtook it. Famous bearers include actress Christina Ricci (1980-) and singer Christina Aguilera (1980-).
Chika 2
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Japanese
Other Scripts: 千佳, 智佳, 千花, 智花, 散花, etc.(Japanese Kanji) ちか(Japanese Hiragana)
Pronounced: CHEE-KA
From Japanese
千 (chi) meaning "thousand",
智 (chi) meaning "wisdom, intellect" or
散 (chi) meaning "scatter" combined with
佳 (ka) meaning "good, beautiful" or
花 (ka) meaning "flower". Other kanji combinations are also possible.
Cheryl
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: SHEHR-əl
Elaboration of
Cherie, perhaps influenced by
Beryl. This name was very rare before the 20th century. It seems to have been popularized in America by the actress Cheryl Walker (1918-1971), who had a prominent role in the 1943 movie
Stage Door Canteen. After peaking in the 1950s the name has subsequently faded from the popularity charts.
Charlotte
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch
Pronounced: SHAR-LAWT(French) SHAHR-lət(American English) SHAH-lət(British English) shar-LAW-tə(German) sha-LOT(Swedish) shahr-LAW-tə(Dutch)
French feminine
diminutive of
Charles. It was introduced to Britain in the 17th century. It was the name of a German-born 18th-century queen consort of Great Britain and Ireland. Another notable bearer was Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855), the eldest of the three Brontë sisters and the author of
Jane Eyre and
Villette. A famous fictional bearer is the spider in the children's novel
Charlotte's Web (1952) by E. B. White.
This name was fairly common in France, England and the United States in the early 20th century. It became quite popular in France and England at the end of the 20th century, just when it was at a low point in the United States. It quickly climbed the American charts and entered the top ten in 2014.
Carmen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish, English, Italian, Portuguese, French, Romanian, German
Pronounced: KAR-mehn(Spanish, Italian) KAHR-mən(American English) KAH-mən(British English)
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).
Carmel
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English, Jewish
Other Scripts: כַּרְמֶל(Hebrew)
Pronounced: KAHR-məl(American English) KAR-məl(American English) KAH-məl(British English)
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.
Brooke
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: BRUWK
Variant of
Brook. The name came into use in the 1950s, probably influenced by American socialite Brooke Astor (1902-2007). It was further popularized by actress Brooke Shields (1965-).
Azure
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: AZH-ər(American English) AZH-ə(British English)
From the English word that means "sky blue". It is ultimately (via Old French, Latin and Arabic) from Persian
لاجورد (lājvard) meaning "azure, lapis lazuli".
Azura
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: ə-ZHUWR-ə, AZH-rə
Autumn
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AW-təm
From the name of the season, ultimately from Latin autumnus. This name has been in general use since the 1960s.
Aurora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, English, Romanian, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, Roman Mythology
Pronounced: ow-RAW-ra(Italian) ow-RO-ra(Spanish, Latin) ə-RAWR-ə(English) OW-ro-rah(Finnish)
Means "dawn" in Latin. Aurora was the Roman goddess of the morning. It has occasionally been used as a given name since the Renaissance.
Aurelia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Roman, Romanian, Italian, Spanish, Polish
Pronounced: ow-REH-lee-a(Latin) ow-REH-lya(Italian, Spanish, Polish)
Aura
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Spanish, Finnish
Pronounced: AWR-ə(English) OW-ra(Italian, Spanish) OW-rah(Finnish)
From the word
aura (derived from Latin, ultimately from Greek
αὔρα meaning "breeze") for a distinctive atmosphere or illumination.
Ariella
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: ar-ee-EHL-ə, ehr-ee-EHL-ə
Strictly feminine form of
Ariel.
Ariana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Portuguese, English (Modern)
Pronounced: ar-ee-AN-ə(English) ar-ee-AHN-ə(English)
Portuguese form of
Ariadne. This name steadily grew in popularity in America in the last few decades of the 20th century. A famous bearer is the American pop singer Ariana Grande (1993-).
April
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AY-prəl
From the name of the month, probably originally derived from Latin aperire "to open", referring to the opening of flowers. It has only been commonly used as a given name since the 1940s.
Anneliese
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Dutch
Pronounced: A-nə-lee-zə(German) ah-nə-LEE-sə(Dutch)
Amelia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Medieval French
Pronounced: ə-MEE-lee-ə(English) ə-MEEL-yə(English) a-MEH-lya(Spanish, Italian, Polish)
Variant of
Amalia, though it is sometimes confused with
Emilia, which has a different origin. The name became popular in England after the German House of Hanover came to the British throne in the 18th century — it was borne by daughters of both George II and George III. The author Henry Fielding used it for the title character in his novel
Amelia (1751). Another famous bearer was Amelia Earhart (1897-1937), the first woman to make a solo flight over the Atlantic Ocean.
This name experienced a rise in popularity at the end of the 20th century. It was the most popular name for girls in England and Wales from 2011 to 2015.
Amber
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Dutch
Pronounced: AM-bər(American English) AM-bə(British English) AHM-bər(Dutch)
From the English word
amber that denotes either the gemstone, which is formed from fossil resin, or the orange-yellow colour. The word ultimately derives from Arabic
عنبر (ʿanbar) meaning "ambergris". It began to be used as a given name in the late 19th century, but it only became popular after the release of Kathleen Winsor's novel
Forever Amber (1944).
Aidan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish, English (Modern)
Pronounced: AY-dən(English)
Anglicized form of
Aodhán. In the latter part of the 20th century it became popular in America due to its sound, since it shares a sound with such names as
Braden and
Hayden. It peaked ranked 39th for boys in 2003.
Adrianna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Polish
Pronounced: ay-dree-AN-ə(English) ay-dree-AHN-ə(English) a-DRYAN-na(Polish)
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