annileaf's Personal Name List

Variant or feminine form of Aaron.

Probably a Latinized form of a Germanic name of unknown meaning. This was the name of the mother of Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Means "born in the morning" in Luo.

Derived from Arabic المدينة (al-mudayna) meaning "the citadel", a diminutive form of the word مدينة (madīna) meaning "city". According to legend, it was in a building by this name that a concealed statue of the Virgin Mary was discovered during the Reconquista in Madrid. The Virgin of Almudena, that is Mary, is the patron saint of Madrid.

Meaning uncertain; possibly a variant of Afra 1, or possibly a variant of Aphrah, a biblical place name meaning "dust". This name was borne by the English writer Aphra Behn (1640-1689).

Means "altar of the sky" from Latin ara "altar" and coeli "sky". This is an epithet of the Virgin Mary in her role as the patron saint of Lucena, Spain.

From the name of the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland.

Variant of Athena.

Means "orange blossom" in Spanish, ultimately from Arabic زهْرة (zahra) meaning "flower". It is taken from the title of the Virgin Mary, Nuestra Señora del Azahar, meaning "Our Lady of the Orange Blossom", because of the citrus trees that surround a church devoted to her near Murcia.

From the name of a city in England meaning "the site of the bridge".

Means "Candlemas" in Spanish, ultimately derived from Spanish candela "candle". This name is given in honour of the church festival of Candlemas, which commemorates the presentation of Christ in the temple and the purification of the Virgin Mary.

Anglicized form of Irish Ó Cearmada meaning "descendant of Cearmaid", a Gaelic given name.

Means "moon-faced girl" from Khmer ចន្ទ (chan) meaning "moon" and នារី (neari) meaning "woman, girl".

Means "star" in Nahuatl [1].

Medieval form of Constantia. The Normans introduced this name to England (it was the name of a daughter of William the Conqueror).

French feminine form of Cyril.

Altered form of Dolores.

Means "fawn" in Welsh. This name was created in the 19th century [1].

Feminine form of Esmé.

From the Hebrew name אֶסְתֵר (ʾEsṯer), which possibly means "star" in Persian. Alternatively it could be a derivative of the name of the Near Eastern goddess Ishtar. The Book of Esther in the Old Testament tells the story of Queen Esther, the Jewish wife of the king of Persia. The king's advisor Haman persuaded the king to exterminate all the Jews in the realm. Warned of this plot by her cousin Mordecai, Esther revealed her Jewish ancestry and convinced the king to execute Haman instead. Her original Hebrew name was Hadassah.

This name has been used in the English-speaking world since the Protestant Reformation. In America it received a boost in popularity after the birth of Esther Cleveland (1893-1980), the daughter of President Grover Cleveland [1].

Dutch form of Evelina.

Derived from the given name Aveline.

Derived from Middle High German falke "falcon" and rat "counsel, advice".

Referred to a person who came from various places named Fay or Faye in northern France, derived from Old French fau "beech tree", from Latin fagus.

Means "turquoise (gemstone)" in Arabic, ultimately of Persian origin.

Means "birth, origin" in Greek. This is the name of the first book of the Old Testament in the Bible. It tells of the creation of the world, the expulsion of Adam and Eve, Noah and the great flood, and the three patriarchs.

English form of Geneviève.

Means "glass worker, glazier", from Old English glæs meaning "glass".

Means "to dawn" in Norwegian, Danish and Swedish.

Means "rose faced" in Persian. This was the name of a wife of the Mughal emperor Babur.

Feminine form of Gwenaël.

Means "rust" in Hebrew. In the Old Testament this name is mentioned as one of the wives of Ashur.

From a nickname meaning "tallest" in Middle English. It is most common in the southwest of England in the county of Devon.

From the given name Hildebrand.

The name of the daughter of King Cymbeline in the play Cymbeline (1609) by William Shakespeare. He based her on a legendary character named Innogen, but it was printed incorrectly and never emended. Innogen is probably derived from Gaelic inghean meaning "maiden". As a given name it is chiefly British and Australian.

English form of Inés.

Means "honey lips" in Tupi, from yra "honey" and tembe "lips". This is the name of an 1865 novel by José de Alencar, about the relationship between a Tupi woman and a Portuguese man during the early colonial period. Alencar may have constructed the name so that it would be an anagram of America.

Late Latin name meaning "from Isauria". Isauria was the name of a region in Asia Minor.

Feminine form of Isidore. This was the name of a 4th-century Egyptian saint and hermitess.

German form of Iseult, appearing in the 13th-century German poem Tristan by Gottfried von Strassburg. In 1865 the German composer Richard Wagner debuted his popular opera Tristan und Isolde and also used the name for his first daughter.

Slovene and Croatian cognate of Kohut.

From the name of a mountain in Navarre in northern Spain, the site of the old monastery of San Salvador of Leyre. It is from Basque Leire, possibly derived from Latin legionarius meaning "pertaining to a legion".

Form of Mahalath used in the Greek and Latin Old Testament.

Feminine form of Maël.

From the Hebrew name מָחֲלַת (Maḥalaṯ) meaning "lyre". In the Old Testament she is the daughter of Ishmael and the wife of Esau.

Means "garland of flowers" in Thai.

Means "angel" in Arabic.

Variant of Margot.

Medieval French diminutive of Marie.

Combination of Maria and Liese.

From the name of a town in southern France, said to derive from Occitan mair "mother" and French lys "lily". It is also sometimes considered a combination of Marie and lys.

Alternate transcription of Hebrew מֵיטַל (see Meital).

From the Occitan name Mirèio, which was first used by the poet Frédéric Mistral for the main character in his poem Mirèio (1859). He probably derived it from the Occitan word mirar meaning "to admire". It is spelled Mirèlha in classical Occitan orthography. A notable bearer is the French singer Mireille Mathieu (1946-).

From Greek νέφος (nephos) meaning "cloud". In Greek legend Nephele was created from a cloud by Zeus, who shaped the cloud to look like Hera in order to trick Ixion, a mortal who desired her. Nephele was the mother of the centaurs by Ixion, and was also the mother of Phrixus and Helle by Athamus.

Derived from Greek Νηρηΐδες (Nereides) meaning "nymphs, sea sprites", ultimately derived from the name of the Greek sea god Nereus, who supposedly fathered them.

From the name of a Ukrainian city that sits on the north coast of the Black Sea, which was named after the ancient Greek city of Ὀδησσός (Odessos), of uncertain meaning. This name can also be used as a feminine form of Odysseus.

Means "pigeon keeper" from Latin palumbes "pigeon".

Means "the soul", derived from Greek ψύχω (psycho) meaning "to breathe". The Greeks thought that the breath was the soul. In Greek mythology Psyche was a beautiful maiden who was beloved by Eros (or Cupid in Roman mythology). She is the subject of Keats's poem Ode to Psyche (1819).

German feminine form of Raymond.

Means "little seal", derived from Old Irish rón "seal" combined with a diminutive suffix. This was the name of several early Irish saints, including a pilgrim to Brittany who founded the hermitage at Locronan in the 6th century.

Derived from the Old German elements hros meaning "horse" and lind meaning "soft, flexible, tender". The Normans introduced this name to England, though it was not common. During the Middle Ages its spelling was influenced by the Latin phrase rosa linda "beautiful rose". The name was popularized by Edmund Spencer, who used it in his poetry, and by William Shakespeare, who used it for the heroine in his comedy As You Like It (1599).

Derived from the Old German elements hros "horse" and munt "protection". This name was borne by the wife of the Lombard king Alboin in the 6th century. The Normans introduced it to England. It was subsequently interpreted as coming from Latin rosa munda "pure rose" or rosa mundi "rose of the world". This was the name of the mistress of Henry II, the king of England in the 12th century. According to legends she was murdered by his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Means "evening conversation" in Arabic, from the root سمر (samara) meaning "to talk in the evening".

Means "the moon" in Thai (a poetic word).

From a Hebrew musical term that occurs many times in the Old Testament Psalms. It was probably meant to indicate a musical pause.

From an Old Testament place name possibly meaning "tranquil" in Hebrew. It is also used prophetically in the Old Testament to refer to a person, often understood to be the Messiah (see Genesis 49:10). This may in fact be a mistranslation.

This name was brought to public attention after actors Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt gave it to their daughter in 2006.

Means "tit (bird)" in Polish.

French feminine form of Simon 1. A famous bearer was Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986), a French feminist and philosopher.

Means "elf, sprite" in Irish. This name was created in the 20th century.

From an Old Norse name, which was derived from the elements sól "sun" and veig "strength". This is the name of the heroine in Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt (1876).

Variant of Sovann.

Scandinavian form of the Old English name Sunngifu, which meant "sun gift" from the Old English elements sunne "sun" and giefu "gift". This was the name of a legendary English saint who was shipwrecked in Norway and killed by the inhabitants.

Variant of Sylvaine.

Norwegian variant of Sunniva.

Means "heavenly, celestial" in Georgian, a derivative of ცა (tsa) meaning "sky, heaven".

Russian diminutive of Vera 1.

Probably a Roman cognate of Hestia. Vesta was the Roman goddess of the hearth. A continuous fire, tended by the Vestal Virgins, was burned in the Temple of Vesta in Rome.

Feminine form of the Roman family name Verginius or Virginius, which is of unknown meaning, but long associated with Latin virgo "maid, virgin". According to a legend, it was the name of a Roman woman killed by her father so as to save her from the clutches of a crooked official.

This was the name of the first English baby born in the New World: Virginia Dare in 1587 on Roanoke Island. Perhaps because of this, the name has generally been more popular in America than elsewhere in the English-speaking world, though in both Britain and America it was not often used until the 19th century. The baby was named after the Colony of Virginia, which was itself named for Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen. A more recent bearer was the English novelist Virginia Woolf (1882-1941).

Derived from Polish wrona meaning "crow".

Means "dawn, aurora" in the South Slavic languages, as well as Czech and Slovak.

Perhaps means "enchanting" or "dawn" in Arabic. This was the name of a minor 12th-century Spanish saint, a convert from Islam. The name was used by Cervantes for a character in his novel Don Quixote (1606), in which Zoraida is a beautiful Moorish woman of Algiers who converts to Christianity and elopes with a Spanish officer.

Meaning uncertain, possibly of Arabic origin. According to medieval tradition, notably related by the 15th-century Persian poet Jami, this was the name of the biblical Potiphar's wife. She has been a frequent subject of poems and tales.