Originally, سایه (sāyeh) was a poetic way to refer to Sufi mystics in Persian. It literally means "shade" with the connotation of "protective" and "influential." Sayeh in of itself is a name among Iranians. With the Mughal conquest of India, it was loaned into many languages. Sindhi Sufis added the suffix ین ईं -ī(n) to the root word to make it the adjective سائیں साईं sāī(n) an honorific meaning "saint", "master", or "lord." In fact, Modern South Asian Sufis often refer to God as "Allāh sāī(n)". In the 19th century, a Sufi ascetic in Shirdi, now located in Maharashtra, India, with no name came to prominence as a preacher of religious tolerance and unity and drew both Muslim and Hindu devotees to him. His devotees referred to him as سائیں بابا साईं बाबा "sāī(n) bābā". Over time, the word became standard Marathi but it was corrupted so that the homorganic nasal was deleted and it became साई "sāī". Today, the name Sai is given to both boys and girls in India in reference to Sai Baba of Shirdi, however it is still relatively rare. It is often followed by a middle name which changes the overall meaning and avoids confusion with other people with the same name. It is most common among the people of Maharashtra, Andhra, Karnataka, Gujarat, and Goa.
This name was popularized in continental Europe by the works of the 18th-century Scottish poet James Macpherson [1]. Napoleon was an admirer of Macpherson, and he suggested Oscar as the second middle name of his godson, who eventually became king of Sweden as Oscar I. Other notable bearers include the Irish writer and humorist Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) and the Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer (1907-2012).
As an English Christian name, Isaac was occasionally used during the Middle Ages, though it was more common among Jews. It became more widespread after the Protestant Reformation. Famous bearers include the physicist and mathematician Isaac Newton (1643-1727) and the science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov (1920-1992).
This name has been used occasionally in England since the 12th century. It was not common in the English-speaking world until the end of the 20th century.
Arthur is the name of the central character in Arthurian legend, a 6th-century king of the Britons who resisted Saxon invaders. He may or may not have been based on a real person. He first appears in Welsh poems and chronicles (perhaps briefly in the 7th-century poem Y Gododdin and more definitively and extensively in the 9th-century History of the Britons [1]). However, his character was not developed until the chronicles of the 12th-century Geoffrey of Monmouth [2]. His tales were later taken up and expanded by French and English writers.
The name came into general use in England in the Middle Ages due to the prevalence of Arthurian romances, and it enjoyed a surge of popularity in the 19th century. Famous bearers include German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), mystery author and Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), and science-fiction author Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008).