lunarssong's Personal Name List

From Old Irish Aífe, derived from oíph meaning "beauty" (modern Irish aoibh). This was the name of several characters in Irish legend, including a woman at war with Scáthach (her sister in some versions). She was defeated in single combat by the hero Cúchulainn, who spared her life on the condition that she bear him a child (Connla). Another legendary figure by this name appears in the Children of Lir as the jealous third wife of Lir.

This name is sometimes Anglicized as Eve or Eva.

Possibly means "bear penis" in Noric.

From the Welsh intensifying prefix ar- and gwyn meaning "white, blessed".

Derived from Old Irish beoll "(glowing) fire" and the diminutive suffix -án. Beollán mac Ciarmaic (died 969) was a king of Brega.

Derived from Gaulish *blando- "soft, sweet" (referring to speaking with a soft or sweet voice).

Derived from the Archaic or Primitive Irish ᚁᚏᚐᚅᚑᚌᚓᚅᚔ (Branogeni) meaning "raven clan".

Derived from Old Irish bráen "rain, moisture, drop" combined with a diminutive suffix.

Means "hill, mound" in Welsh. In Wales it is almost always a masculine name, though elsewhere in the English-speaking world it can be unisex (see Brynn).

Short form of Catrin.

From Old Irish cáel meaning "slender". In Irish legend Cáel was a warrior of the Fianna and the lover of Créd.

Derived from the Welsh elements caer "fortress" and gwyn "white, blessed".

Variant of Cain.

Derived from Irish caomh meaning "dear, beloved, gentle".

From an Irish surname, the Anglicized form of Ó Ciardha, which is a patronymic derived from the given name Ciardha.

Derived from Old Irish cath "battle" combined with a diminutive suffix. Saint Cathán was a 6th-century Irish monk, a missionary to the Isle of Bute.

Welsh form of Katherine, as well as a German short form of Katharina.

Means "holly" in Welsh. It appears briefly in the Welsh tale Culhwch and Olwen [1], belonging to a son of Caw, but was not typically used as a given name until the 20th century.

Irish byname derived from ciar meaning "black".

Derived from Old Irish cú "hound, dog, wolf" (genitive con) and cobar "desiring". It has been in use in Ireland for centuries and was the name of several Irish rulers. It was borne by the Ulster king Conchobar mac Nessa, one of the central characters in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology, known for his tragic desire for Deirdre and his war with Queen Medb of Connacht.

Anglicized form of Conchobar (or the Modern Irish form Conchúr).

Means "fruitful, fertile" in Irish. This name is borne by many figures in Irish legend, including the Ulster chief Dáire mac Fiachna who reneged on his promise to loan the Brown Bull of Cooley to Medb, starting the war between Connacht and Ulster as told in the Irish epic The Cattle Raid of Cooley.

From the Welsh prefix dy meaning "to, toward" and llanw meaning "tide, flow". According to the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi [1], Dylan was a son of Arianrhod and the twin brother of Lleu Llaw Gyffes. Immediately after he was baptized he took to the sea, where he could swim as well as a fish. He was slain accidentally by his uncle Gofannon. According to some theories the character might be rooted in an earlier and otherwise unattested Celtic god of the sea.

Famous bearers include the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas (1914-1953) and the American musician Bob Dylan (1941-), real name Robert Zimmerman, who took his stage surname from the poet's given name. Due to those two bearers, use of the name has spread outside of Wales in the last half of the 20th century. It received a further boost in popularity in the 1990s due to a character on the television series Beverly Hills 90210.

Modern Irish form of Emer.

Scottish Gaelic form of Emer.

From Éireann, the genitive case of Irish Gaelic Éire, meaning "Ireland". It is commonly Anglicized as Erin.

Means "snowdrop (flower)" in Welsh, a compound of eira "snow" and llys "plant".

Meaning unknown. In Irish legend she was the wife of Cúchulainn. She was said to possess the six gifts of womanhood: beauty, voice, speech, needlework, wisdom and chastity.

Means "rainbow" in Welsh. This name was first used in the 19th century.

Derived from Gaulish epos meaning "horse" with the divine or augmentative suffix -on. This was the name of a Gaulish goddess of horses and fertility. She was worshipped not only in Gaul, but elsewhere in the Roman Empire.

Anglicized form of Éireann. It was initially used by people of Irish heritage in America, Canada and Australia. It was rare until the mid-1950s.

Old Irish form of Faolán.

Means "foxglove" in Welsh (species Digitalis purpurea). This is a recently created Welsh name.

Derived from Old Irish fïach "raven". This name was borne by several High Kings of Ireland.

Means "wild, wild animal, deer" (modern Irish fia) or "respect" in Irish.

Perhaps related to Irish forgella "testifies". In Irish legend he was the father of Emer, nicknamed "the cunning, dextrous, wily". The Wily Lord of Lusca tried to prevent his daughter marrying Cúchulainn and, rather than face the champion's wrath, leapt to his death from the ramparts of his fortress.

From the name of the kingdom of Gwynedd, which was located in northern Wales from the 5th century. It is now the name of a Welsh county. The name may be related to Old Irish Féni meaning "Irish people", itself possibly related to the Celtic root *wēnā meaning "band of warriors" [1].

Irish short form of William. It became popular in the United Kingdom in the 1980s, and elsewhere in Europe and the Americas after that. It was the top ranked name for boys in the United States beginning in 2017. Famous bearers include British actor Liam Neeson (1952-), British musician Liam Gallagher (1972-), and Australian actor Liam Hemsworth (1990-).

Derived from Gaulish litu- "festival, celebration, feast" and the Proto-Celtic name element *genos "born; family".

Romanized Celtic name meaning "vixen", derived from Brythonic *louernos "fox".

Derived from Gaulish lubitiata, itself the past participle of lubi- "to love".

Probably an Irish form of Lugus. In Irish mythology Lugh Lámfada was a divine hero who led the Tuatha Dé Danann against his grandfather Balor and the Fomorians. Lugh killed Balor by shooting a stone into his giant eye.

Derived from Celtic lugu "light" combined with Celtic rix "king." The first element of the name might also refer to the Celtic god Lugus or Lugh.

Possibly from one of the Indo-European roots *lewk- "light, brightness", *lewg- "dark" or *lewgh- "oath". This was the name of a Celtic (Gaulish) god of commerce and craftsmanship, who was equated by the Romans with Mercury. He probably forms the basis for the characters and names of Lugh (Irish) and Lleu (Welsh).

Irish form of Maria (see Mary). The form Muire is used to refer to the Virgin Mary.

From Old French maloret meaning "unfortunate, unlucky", a term introduced to England by the Normans.

From an English surname that meant "unfortunate" in Norman French. It first became common in the 1980s due to the American sitcom Family Ties (1982-1989), which featured a character by this name.

From Gaelic Maol Anfaidh meaning "devotee of the storm", from maol "bald, tonsured one" (later "as of someone who is devoted to God") and anfadh "tempest, storm". This was the name of a saint.

Gaelic form of Mella.

From Old Irish Mellán, derived from mell meaning either "pleasant, delightful" or "lump, ball" combined with a diminutive suffix. This was the name of a few early saints.

Original Irish form of Maeve.

Means either "demon queen" or "great queen", derived from Old Irish mor "demon, evil spirit" or mór "great, big" combined with rígain "queen". In Irish mythology Morrígan (called also The Morrígan) was a goddess of war and death who often took the form of a crow.

Modern Irish form of Morrígan.

Means "descendant of Cathán".

Means "descendant of a nobleman" from the Irish Gaelic mál.

Means "descendant of Ruadhán" in Irish.

Irish Gaelic form of Sullivan.

Irish and Scottish Gaelic byname meaning "red", often a nickname for one with red hair. This was the nickname of the Scottish outlaw Raibeart Ruadh MacGregor (1671-1734), known as Rob Roy in English.

Séadna, also Séanna, is an Irish Gaelic personal name known mostly due to the popularity of the book Séadna, by Father Peadar Ua Laoghaire (occasionally known in English as Peter O'Leary), which was published in 1904. The story of Séadna, which concerns a cobbler who makes a deal with the devil, is thought to be an Irish folk tale related to the story of Faust.

A fairy name of the Aes Sídhe and pleasant people.

From the name of the patron saint of Zennor, a village in Cornwall, which is of obscure origin. Conceivably it may be derived from the Breton name Azenor or the old Celtic Senovara. According to local legend Saint Senara was originally Princess Azenor of Brest in Lower Brittany, the mother of Saint Budoc. She is also said to have been a mermaid before her conversion (though even after becoming a Christian, "she continued to pine for the sea"). This name was given to 52 girls born in England and Wales in the years 1916-2005.

Romanized Celtic name, in which the first element is ultimately from the Indo-European root *sen meaning "old" (the second element, uaro, is uncertain, possibly meaning "war"). It was found scratched onto a metal "curse tablet" (c.2nd-century) at the temple of Sulis Minerva at Bath (Somerset, South West England). The masculine form Senovarus is also attested.

Latinized form of the Gaulish (Celtic) name Sicauna, which is argued to mean "sacred river" or "the fast flowing one". This was the name of the Gallo-Roman goddess of the River Seine.

From the name of the River Shannon, the longest river in Ireland, called an tSionainn in Irish. It is associated with the legendary figure Sionann and is sometimes said to be named for her. However it is more likely she was named after the river, which may be related to Old Irish sen "old, ancient" [1]. As a given name, it first became common in America after the 1940s.

Derived from sidheach meaning "wolf".

Most likely related to the word "peace". Compare Siochain "peace" and Siodhachain

Derived from Irish síodhach "peaceful" or "otherworldly" combined with a diminutive suffix. The adjective síodhach is a variant of sítheach, from síth, basically meaning "settlement", hence both "peace" and "place inhabited by other world beings".

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

Modern Irish form of Síthmaith.

In Irish legend this was the name of a granddaughter of the sea god Lir who went to Connla's Well, which was forbidden. The well burst and drowned her, leaving her body in the river thereafter known as the Sionainn (see Shannon).

Means "peaceful" or "fairy-like" in Irish, from Old Irish síd. Alternatively, it could be from sídach "wolf".

From Old Irish síd meaning "peace" or "fairy mound, tumulus" and maith meaning "good".

Derived from Breton sterenn "star" (cf. Steren), this name is occasionally considered the Breton equivalent of Saint Asteria.

Anglicized form of the Irish name Ó Súileabháin meaning "descendant of Súileabhán". The name Súileabhán means "dark eye".

Means "spell, charm" in Welsh, ultimately from Latin signum "sign".