Cinnabar's Personal Name List

Means "lion of God" in Hebrew, from אֲרִי (ʾari) meaning "lion" and אֵל (ʾel) meaning "God". In the Old Testament it is used as another name for the city of Jerusalem. Shakespeare utilized it for a spirit in his play The Tempest (1611) and Alexander Pope utilized it for a sylph in his poem The Rape of the Lock (1712), and one of the moons of Uranus bears this name in his honour. As an English name, it became more common for females in the 1980s, especially after it was used for the title character in the Disney film The Little Mermaid (1989).

Alternate transcription of Russian Аркадий (see Arkadiy).

From Sanskrit अश्विन् (aśvin) meaning "possessed of horses". The Ashvins are twin Hindu gods of the sunrise and sunset.

From an English surname that was originally derived from the feminine given name Eoforhild.

Means "doe, female deer, gazelle". It is taken from the Hebrew phrase אַיֶלֶת הַשַׁחַר (ʾayeleṯ hashaḥar), literally "gazelle of dawn", which is a name of the morning star.

Basque form of Bernard.

Old German name derived from the elements bern "bear" and ger "spear". This was the name of two medieval kings of Italy and a Holy Roman emperor.

Latinized feminine form of Berengar. This name was borne by a 13th-century queen of Castile.

Old Norse diminutive of Bjǫrn and other names containing the element bjǫrn meaning "bear".

From an Old Norse byname derived from bjǫrn meaning "bear".

Means "salmon" in Irish. It could also be formed from Irish brad "thief" and a diminutive suffix.

Means "raven" in Irish. In Irish legend Bran mac Febail was a mariner who was involved in several adventures on his quest to find the Otherworld.

Most likely related to Hebrew כֶּלֶב (kelev) meaning "dog" [1]. An alternate theory connects it to Hebrew כֹּל (kol) meaning "whole, all of" [2] and לֵב (lev) meaning "heart" [3]. In the Old Testament this is the name of one of the twelve spies sent by Moses into Canaan. Of the Israelites who left Egypt with Moses, Caleb and Joshua were the only ones who lived to see the Promised Land.

As an English name, Caleb came into use after the Protestant Reformation. It was common among the Puritans, who introduced it to America in the 17th century.

Scottish Gaelic form of Columba.

Anglicized form of Scottish Cailean.

Probably means "calf, heifer, girl" from Greek δάμαλις (damalis). In the New Testament this is the name of a woman converted to Christianity by Saint Paul.

Possibly from the Welsh word deryn, a variant of aderyn meaning "bird".

From a surname, either the Irish surname Devin 1 or the English surname Devin 2.

Alternate transcription of Hebrew דְּבוֹרָה (see Devora).

Derived from Welsh eilir "butterfly; regneration; spring".

Means "swallow (bird)" in Basque.

Variant of Asbjørn.

From Japanese 蛍 (hotaru) meaning "firefly".

Form of Yelena in several languages. In Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia it is also associated with the South Slavic words jelen meaning "deer, stag" and jela meaning "fir tree".

From Lakota kimímela meaning "butterfly".

Latinized form of the Greek name Λέανδρος (Leandros), derived from λέων (leon) meaning "lion" and ἀνήρ (aner) meaning "man" (genitive ἀνδρός). In Greek legend Leander was the lover of Hero. Every night he swam across the Hellespont to meet her, but on one occasion he was drowned when a storm arose. When Hero saw his dead body she threw herself into the waters and perished.

Georgian form of Leon.

Either a variant of Lynette or else from the name of the small bird, a type of finch.

Possibly from the old Celtic root *matus meaning "bear". According to the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi [1], Math ap Mathonwy was a king of Gwynedd and a magician. Whenever he was not at war, it was required that he rest his feet in the lap of a virgin. He was the uncle of the hero Gwydion, with whom he shared most of his adventures.

Means "bee" in Greek. In Greek mythology this was the name of a daughter of Procles, as well as an epithet of various Greek nymphs and priestesses. According to the early Christian writer Lactantius [2] this was the name of the sister of the nymph Amalthea, with whom she cared for the young Zeus. Later it appears in Ludovico Ariosto's 1532 poem Orlando Furioso [3] belonging to the fairy who helps Ruggiero escape from the witch Alcina. As an English given name, Melissa has been used since the 18th century.

Means "butterfly" in Persian.

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.

From the Greek name Φίλιππος (Philippos) meaning "friend of horses", composed of the elements φίλος (philos) meaning "friend, lover" and ἵππος (hippos) meaning "horse". This was the name of five kings of Macedon, including Philip II the father of Alexander the Great. The name appears in the New Testament belonging to two people who are regarded as saints. First, one of the twelve apostles, and second, an early figure in the Christian church known as Philip the Deacon.

This name was initially more common among Eastern Christians, though it came to the West by the Middle Ages. It was borne by six kings of France and five kings of Spain. It was regularly used in England during the Middle Ages, although the Spanish king Philip II, who attempted an invasion of England, helped make it less common by the 17th century. It was revived in the English-speaking world in the 19th century. Famous bearers include the Elizabethan courtier and poet Philip Sidney (1554-1586) and the American science fiction novelist Philip K. Dick (1928-1982).

Latinate feminine form of Philip. As an English name, it is chiefly British.

Variant of Porcia, the feminine form of the Roman family name Porcius, used by William Shakespeare for the heroine of his play The Merchant of Venice (1596). In the play Portia is a woman who disguises herself as a man in order to defend Antonio in court. It is also the name of a moon of Uranus, after the Shakespearean character.

From the name of the bird, ultimately from Old English hræfn. The raven is revered by several Native American groups of the west coast. It is also associated with the Norse god Odin.

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.

Form of Yeruslan used by Aleksandr Pushkin in his poem Ruslan and Ludmila (1820), which was loosely based on Russian and Tatar folktales of Yeruslan Lazarevich.

Feminine form of Ruslan.

From the English word meaning "black", derived from the name of the black-furred mammal native to northern Asia, ultimately of Slavic origin.

Probably from Hidatsa tsakáka wía meaning "bird woman". Alternatively it could originate from the Shoshone language and mean "boat puller". This name was borne by a Native American woman who guided the explorers Lewis and Clark. She was of Shoshone ancestry but had been abducted in her youth and raised by a Hidatsa tribe.

Probably derived from Cherokee ᏏᏆ (siqua) meaning "hog". This was the name of the Cherokee man (also known as George Guess) who devised the Cherokee writing system in the 19th century.

Means "falcon" in Persian, referring more specifically to the Barbary falcon (species Falco pelegrinoides). The bird's name is a derivative of Persian شاه (shāh) meaning "king".

Short form of Svanhildur.

Form of Tamaz with the nominative suffix, used when the name is written stand-alone.

Meaning unknown. This was the name of the Phoenician goddess of love, fertility, the moon and the stars. She was particularly associated with the city of Carthage, being the consort of Ba'al Hammon.

Means "panther passing across" in Shawnee. This name was borne by the Shawnee leader Tecumseh (1768-1813), who resisted American expansion along with his brother the spiritual leader Tenskwatawa.

From the English word for the small songbird. It is ultimately derived from Old English wrenna.