Behind the Name: SulfurSkyy's Personal Name List

Addison

Gender: Feminine & Masculine

Usage: English

Pronounced: AD-i-sən

From an English surname meaning "son of Adam". Its recent popularity as a feminine name stems from its similarity in sound to Madison.

Araminta

Gender: Feminine

Usage: English (Rare)

Meaning unknown. This name was (first?) used by William Congreve in his comedy The Old Bachelor (1693) and later by John Vanbrugh in his comedy The Confederacy (1705). This was the original given name of abolitionist Harriet Tubman (1820-1913), who was born Araminta Ross.

Kaori

Gender: Feminine

Usage: Japanese

Other Scripts: 香, 香織, etc.(Japanese Kanji) かおり(Japanese Hiragana)

Pronounced: KA-O-REE

From Japanese 香 (kaori) meaning "fragrance". It can also come from an alternate reading of 香 (ka) combined with 織 (ori) meaning "weaving". Other kanji combinations are possible. It is often written using the hiragana writing system.

Leda

Gender: Feminine

Usage: Greek Mythology, Italian

Other Scripts: Λήδα(Ancient Greek)

Pronounced: LEH-DA(Classical Greek) LEE-də(English) LAY-də(English) LEH-da(Italian)

Meaning unknown. In Greek myth she was a Spartan queen and the mother of Castor, Pollux, Helen and Clytemnestra by the god Zeus, who came upon her in the form of a swan.

Lena

Gender: Feminine

Usage: Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, German, Dutch, Polish, Finnish, Russian, Ukrainian, English, Italian, Portuguese, Greek, Georgian, Armenian

Other Scripts: Лена(Russian, Ukrainian) Λένα(Greek) ლენა(Georgian) Լենա(Armenian)

Pronounced: LEH-na(Swedish, German, Dutch, Polish, Italian) LYEH-nə(Russian) LEE-nə(English) LEH-NA(Georgian) leh-NAH(Armenian)

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

Magdalena

Gender: Feminine

Usage: Polish, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Lithuanian, Spanish, Catalan, Occitan, Slovene, Czech, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Croatian, Serbian, Romanian, English

Other Scripts: Магдалена(Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbian)

Pronounced: mag-da-LEH-na(Polish) mak-da-LEH-na(German) mahgh-da-LEH-na(Dutch) magh-dha-LEH-na(Spanish) məg-də-LEH-nə(Catalan) MAG-da-leh-na(Czech) mag-də-LAY-nə(English)

Latinate form of Magdalene.

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".

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).

Tristan

Gender: Masculine

Usage: English, French, Arthurian Cycle

Pronounced: TRIS-tən(English) TREES-TAHN(French)

Probably from the Celtic name Drustan, a diminutive of Drust, which occurs as Drystan in a few Welsh sources. As Tristan, it first appears in 12th-century French tales, probably altered by association with Old French triste "sad". According to the tales Tristan was sent to Ireland by his uncle King Mark of Cornwall in order to fetch Iseult, who was to be the king's bride. On the way back, Tristan and Iseult accidentally drink a potion that makes them fall in love. Later versions of the tale make Tristan one of King Arthur's knights. His tragic story was very popular in the Middle Ages, and the name has occasionally been used since then.